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Who should pay for a warranty?
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Question: You have a frame that cracked. The manufacturer agrees to send a new frame to the LBS where you bought the bike. Now, there is a substantial amount of labor in transferring the parts from one frame to another- who pays for this? The manufacturer? The customer? Should the LBS eat the cost?

Thoughts?

Justin
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Re: Who should pay for a warranty? [xcmntgeek] [ In reply to ]
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I view the frame as just another 'part'. When you buy a car, and the transmission blows, the car is repaired under warranty and returned to you in working order. The car manufacturer covers all - parts, shop supplies, labour, even the cost of a rental / loaner car for the inconvenience. Using that logic, the bike should be returned to you in working order, and all costs covered by the OEM.

Now, if you bought the frame alone, different story...
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Re: Who should pay for a warranty? [snoots] [ In reply to ]
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Interesting. We hear this very commonly (I'm coming from the perspective of an LBS); it is rare that a bike company will cover our labor to do a parts swap though. Is anyone aware of companies that do this as a matter of policy?

More and more, we're choosing a bike brand to sell because of their warranty. OR choosing to drop a brand because of their lack of customer service.

Justin
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Re: Who should pay for a warranty? [xcmntgeek] [ In reply to ]
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What did the written warranty policy say? If it didn't specify, I think the customer is obligated to pay for the swap, or they can do it themselves.
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Re: Who should pay for a warranty? [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]
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Just to be clear, this isn't about a specific warranty claim- just something that I've been thinking about for a while.
I'm not familiar with any warranty claim that offers to cover labor.

Now, if a customer does the labor themselves could it come back to bite them? Lots of manufacturers have warnings about having a bike built by a "qualified mechanic".
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Re: Who should pay for a warranty? [xcmntgeek] [ In reply to ]
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It becomes more and more of an issue when margins get squeezed by an increasingly price sensitive competition - the average consumer has NO idea how much more they pay for a car because of the 3/4/5 yr warranty, financing incentives, marketing, and profit... (and I don't mean dealer profit... they don't make that much, relatively, on the sale of a new car...)

Car buyers have been slowly trained over decades.... how much more would someone pay for a bike if it was sold with a "we'll swap your parts out free if you ever happen to break the frame under specific warranty conditions" guaranteee?
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Re: Who should pay for a warranty? [xcmntgeek] [ In reply to ]
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Typically this is an issue of expectations. It's imperative to know on down the chain what everyone's expectations are. Policy and protocol are one thing but if that is 180 degrees from what someone's expectations are, then there is going to be some problems.

More and more the warranty game in the sport specialty business is drifting towards a full-replacement policy, no matter what, even when there has been cause or negligence on the part of the end-user consumer. Why? Because for many end-user consumers coming into it, that's their expectation, and trying to change them from that view, is challenging.


Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
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Re: Who should pay for a warranty? [Fleck] [ In reply to ]
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I had a cracked Specialized SL3 Roubaix frame this year (these things happen, just unlucky I guess). In that situation it passed through the LBS who stripped it down and assembled onto a new frame. I paid nothing and as far as I am aware the LBS got a credit note from Specialized to cover the labour, as I had discussions about taking it to another LBS because the one I purchased from were dragging their feet, and they were happy to send a credit note to the new shop if that had been the direction I wanted to go.
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