I think a lot depends on where you bought it and the timeframe of the service needed. I would venture to guess Performance will take it back and they'll deal with the manufacturer.

If you're after say 90 days or whatever you'll likely deal with the manufacturer.

I bought my TACX from Bike-Discount in Europe due to price but many shy away due to "just in case" it needs service. In my case it's a chance I'm willing to take.

The only trainers that don't break are rollers 😁. Just replace bands.

I think Performance is usually pretty good about returns, no? for smart trainers, cycleops has a good customer support reputation. I had a cycleops fluid trainer that leaked after a couple years and they replaced the resistance unit no questions asked.

I buy directly from wahoo and they have great customer service. i am finding more and more straight to the manufacturer is the best way

Thanks. I just went to their website and it seems so much more accessible than Elite's. I'm sending emails to Italy and waiting around for responses which is probably hindered by the time difference.

I may be trying to get a refund for my trainer and go with a wahoo.

Saris/Cycleops went above and beyond for me on a previous trainer out of warranty. I was so impressed I turned around and bought their high end smart trainer. I *felt* it wasn't matching up as well to my other PM's after a year or two of LOTS of use and they calibrated and shipped it back to me like it was their pleasure to do so. I only live an hour from them, so it wasn't a big deal to drop it off. One of their customer service people recognized me at a local event last winter and made a point to come say hi and ask how my trainer was doing. My current trainer works as well as it did new, but I think their H2 is calling me. Great people there.

Thanks. I'm not trying to bad mouth Elite, but the lag in responses, possibly due to the time difference is aggravating.

I was really impressed with the Elite Direto, while it worked.

I bought mine there too and had it shipped to the states. A known clicking/grinding issue with the main part of the unit began to occur after 8 months of use. TacX company sent me a new part to install.

I was happy with their customer service and willing to admit that it was a known defect.

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"If it costs you 30 minutes at Maryland so what" -dwreal

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to let people know about my recent experience with Cycleops. Seems they aren't so eager to replace resistance units anymore.

I have a only slightly used Jet Fluid Pro that is leaking oil from the resistance unit. The trainer is not used much (it is my wifes, I have an older CycleOps Fluid 2 that has a lot more miles on it and I have never had a problem with it).

Unfortunately, I do not have the original purchase receipt. Is this something that is covered under any warranty?

(CycleOps)
Jan 11, 4:53 PM CST
Good afternoon Peter,
Thanks for contacting Cycleops. Sorry that another rep was unable to address your request sooner. Without a proof of purchase we can't treat this as a warranty:

https://www.cycleops.com/support/warranty

We can, however, offer you a new resistance unit at 20% off and shipped free.

Let me know if you have any questions or need help with anything else.

Customer Support Specialist

I reached out to Wahoo regarding my Kickr Snap being between 10-20% off in power accuracy vs both my powertap and my power2max. They did nothing but tell me to do a spindown (even though I told them I always do a spindown) and then they confirmed I did my spindown correctly. But they did nothing at all to try to fix the issue. No suggestions, nothing to try or look at. I could send it back to them at my own cost for them to look at with no guarantees it would be fixed... Not a good experience and enough to put me off from buying Wahoo products.

that stinks. at least 20% off is better than nothing.

True, but slightly used fluid trainers are so easy to find. I can get a basically new entire trainer from any classifieds section for less than they want me to pay for just a resistance unit. People love to buy them, find they hate them, then turn around and sell them.

Unfortunately that doesn't seem to apply to smart trainers.

I often see smart trainer people I follow on Strava have "miraculous" changes in power over a month sometimes. They start posting up things in the title like "300w for an hour!!!!" or "340 for 20 min!!!" when in the past they couldn't crack 300 for 2 minutes, let alone 60.

Two things keeping me from buying even a used smart trainer:
-accuracy issues causing training zone woes
-interaction with Zwift and "real life feel" not being super great versus advertised

I don't like the feel of my fluid, the constant pull on you versus the minor momentum per pedal stroke of real life or a bike with a huge flywheel. That's a point I'm interested in, but not enough to deal with problems and a high cost.

I got my Fluid2 used on Craigslist for like $75 with mat and block. It just works however much the road feel sucks.

The road-feel or whatever you call it is bad enough it's easily 10-20w lower output indoors vs. outdoors on the same bike/power meter.

While it is cool when companies bend over backwards and replace things just for asking...that shouldn't be considered the norm. They sound perfectly reasonable.

Besides, did you buy this in cash at a store? If not, it should be dead easy to get a reprint receipt.

I'm not talking about guessing numbers and 'feeling' data - I always ride on the trainer with a powermeter besides the power reading from the smart trainer. It's the difference between the two that's off - in the 20 - 50 watt range. It happens both on my powertap bike (i.e. comparing Kickr vs powertap) as well as my power2max bike (comparing Kickr vs power2max).

You are correct. They are just stating what their written warranty reflects. If I hadn't seen others getting warranty replacements I wouldn't have even tried. I am not the original owner but it seems that wasn't a factor in the past.