Cracked brand new bike!

[dan_1983m]

got the manual for the defy, but did not get manual for the vector seat post which seems to contain the critical instructions on how to not crack your frame.......

[dan_1983m]

Dan there is a solution.
Ok so you made a mistake, youve admitted that. These things happen.
First thing to do is to realise that the LBS who sold you the bike dont give a rats about your problem. They are too busy to have time to chase this up for you. So what you have to do is go straight to Giant Australia with a letter, email, phonecall or all 3. GIANT is the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world and they value their reputation. These frames come out of Taiwan at a cost to Giant of probably less than a hundred bucks. Just ask Giant Australia for a new frame and they will give you one. Get a friend or bike shop to transfer all the running gear onto the new frame.
In your letter, make the following points
Explain what happened, admit your mistake and tell them that you are not seeking a warranty replacement. Ask them if they could please send you a new frame if you send the cracked one back to them. This is preferable to having a cracked or repaired frame floating around on the market or on the road bringing bad kudos to the Giant brand and highlighting the design flaw which allowed this to happen. Tell them that all your friends, bike club members and 20,000 people on the BNA forum are horrified that such simple mistake could destroy a Giant frame and want to see whether Giant will be generous and fix the problem or not.
Think about it Dan. Will the world's biggest bike frame manufacturer want the bad press for the sake of a frame which will cost them virtually nothing to replace?

I myself bought a second hand Malvern Star C6 on Ebay, checked it when I picked it up, paid and took it home to find the frame was cracked. Lifetime frame warrany for the original owner, but not for me. I had the same dilemma. Repair it? Keep riding it? LBS / MS dealers didnt want to know but a friend told me to ring the MS head office in Melbourne. I wrote a nice email, got a phonecall the next day and they replaced it within a week. Old fashioned service. They were happy to get the cracked frame out of circulation. In return they now have a very loyal MS customer and I would buy the Australian product with their committment to customer service over overseas products any day. My nephew bought an expensive Cannondale frame from the UK, it has developed a problem, and he has nowhere to turn except to his wallet. You have GIANT Australia. Go straight to them.

Thanks Derny, this sounds like the way forward!

[Summernight]

The LBS that sold me my bike didn't give me a manual. They just fit the bike to me, I tried it, bought it and they handed the bike to me with the extras I purchased at the same time fitted onto the bike (bottle cage, clipless pedals etc.). I was interested to read one of the stickers on the bike that says 'refer to owner's manual'. I'm like "What owner's manual?"

[SmellyTofu]

When I had my fork incident, I posted a message on their FB board and they only referred me to a local Giant dealer to check it out as I wanted a replacement (at my cost). That's the other side of "service".

[trailgumby]

... outstanding service stories from Giant and Malvern Star...

One of my colleagues had a similar experience with Giant last week with his roadie. They have him for life, now, I reckon.

In contrast, one of my racing buddies had the Lefty fork blow up on his Scalpel29er over the weekend at the Mont 24, with loss of air and left-right free play, less than 50km after they themselves serviced it for him for the *exact same fault*.

On that previous occasion they accused him of abusing the fork, submerging it etc, which I think was a pretty long bow to draw, although I must admit it felt rough when I had a quick play pumping the handlebars before it failed the first time. They wouldn't warranty it. 50km later, exact same failure. They gave him grief, saying you must be doing something wrong, he said "Like, what? I've been riding my backup bike becasue the weather's been so poor, I've done one trail ride since on this bike - on a dry track!" Still waiting for an answer on that one.

They have earned themselves a reputation for being prickly and it is no coincidence that there are no longer any shops on the Sydney Northern Beaches who will promote the brand. Sure, some have accounts but none carry floor stock of their mountain bikes, and only Le Spit that I know of carries their road bikes.

When speaking about their poor reputation to a Cannondale rep at the Mont, I raised the issue in the Cannondale Lifetime Warranty thread about their attitude to fatigue service life of carbon frames. He said off the cuff "12-15 years" but as we know this has been contradicted in writing, and their formal view is that it is (paraphrasing) "5-7 years for aluminium frames, less for carbon". He made an intersting comment about Cannonale having a cult following. My view is that is true, and they are abusing it.

Apparently they've been through two CEOs and one head of marketing over the last 2 years, and the current acting head of CSG Australia is the head of the Asian distribution operation.

Will be interesting to see what if anything changes.

[Nobody]

... outstanding service stories from Giant and Malvern Star...

One of my colleagues had a similar experience with Giant last week with his roadie. They have him for life, now, I reckon.

I don't know whether Giant have me for life, but at least a couple on these forums have had steel Giants for life (20+ years). My son has outgrown mine so lent it to a friend long-term and saw him going in the opposite direction on it in SOP this morning.

...and their formal view is that it is (paraphrasing) "5-7 years for aluminium frames, less for carbon". He made an interesting comment about Cannonale having a cult following. My view is that is true, and they are abusing it...Will be interesting to see what if anything changes.

Hard for me to imagine a company with a nick name of Crack'n'fale as having a cult following. But then I have different values to the average WW-techno-geek, to whom 3 years is a long time to own a bike.

[AUbicycles]

Don't you love being accussed by the retailer for something you didn't do. Even 10 years later I still get agitated at the problem with my manual Canon SLR where the technician accused me of putting my finger in the shutter - why would I want to do that? After paying a hefty fee, I havn't purchased another Canon yet.

[Bob_TAS]

Don't you love being accussed by the retailer for something you didn't do. Even 10 years later I still get agitated as the problem with my manual Canon SLR where the technition accused me of putting my finger in the shutter - why would I want to do that? After paying a hefty fee, I havn't purchased another Canon yet.

Come over to the Nikon darkside. You'll never look back.

[AUbicycles]

Yep, been happy with Nikon, just have to improve my photography skills.

[kukamunga]

.....but did not get manual for the vector seat post which seems to contain the critical instructions on how to not crack your frame.......

If this is the case, the bike shop have not done their job properly as a Giant dealer, and if they do not support you, tell them that you will go over their heads and tell Giant Australia directly that they never provided you with the vitally important seatpost manual, were never instructed not to adjust the saddle, and you didn't feel comfortable with the seat height.....

Like I alluded to earlier, bike shops are doing themselves a disservice by not providing all parts and manuals to customers as provided to them by the supplier for each particular model of bike*- and by this I mean everything including all manuals, bells, reflectors, QR skewer instructions, frame protection and warning stickers etc..... You'll be surprised at how many shops don't do this

(*Yes, a lot of 'average/standard/general' bikes are much the same as one another, and can get away with just a 'generic' owners manual)

[InTheWoods]

.....but did not get manual for the vector seat post which seems to contain the critical instructions on how to not crack your frame.......

If this is the case, the bike shop have not done their job properly as a Giant dealer, and if they do not support you, tell them that you will go over their heads and tell Giant Australia directly that they never provided you with the manual.....

Yep that is probably the best way to *try* to get it fixed/replaced without cost to you if that's the way you want to go. You'd especially have a case if they didn't fit the bike up for you in the first place, ie provided you with a bike without fitting it for you, and no manual for dealing with the seat post. I would presume that Giant would blame the bike shop, and unless Giant are really nice would expect the bike shop to wear the costs.

Although there is still an element of common sense here, that you shouldn't try to force a post into a tube that is smaller than the post... And as already raised, there is the question of whether or not Giant should pre-cut the seat posts on the XS, S and M size frames if that wouldn't remove the option of valid high seat heights.

What size frame was it? How tall are you? Just wanted to look up if you've been sold the right size frame in general...

[AUbicycles]

Also, it makes sense to stay on good terms with a bike shop when possible. In retail there are plenty of customers who "try it on" and that costs money, so a shop is not necessarily being customer unfriendly but trying to get a balanced.

If a non confrontational solution oriented approach is possible, it is worth starting with that.

[dan_1983m]

Happy days, the local bike store has replaced the bike, I'm not sure if this was after they contacted Giant, but they have been very helpful now.

Lesson learned! 1) dont adjust anything 2) read manual

I think the fact that there was no manual for the seatpost would have helped to resolve the issue, but it didnt come to this, so all good!

Now to get out and start riding!

thanks for everyones input!

[MichaelB]

Worked out well in the end, but hopefully a lesson learnt by many !!!

[toolonglegs]

Nice ... Lesson learnt

[you cannot be sirrus]

Excellent result

[sogood]

Lesson learned! 1) dont adjust anything 2) read manual

Good outcome!

But it should be, 1) Read manual. 2) Adjust by following official instruction.

[kukamunga]

Good on Giant and your LBS!

[MarkG]

Giant are pretty awesome with customer service in my experience

[macca33]

Excellent outcome for you.

[Nobody]

Can't help but think this thread had something to do with it. Makes me wonder how many industry people shadow these forums.

[MarkG]

Can't help but think this thread had something to do with it. Makes me wonder how many industry people shadow these forums.

I know some douchebag WA store does as they cried to Specialized AU cos I bought my Venge from a non WA Specialized dealer. They got that information straight from this forum.

My mate then got reamed by Specialized for "encroachment in to WA territory" .

End result- I will now buy my Specialized gear online, purely to spite the WA specialized dealers

[London Boy]

Can't help but think this thread had something to do with it. Makes me wonder how many industry people shadow these forums.

I know some douchebag WA store does as they cried to Specialized AU cos I bought my Venge from a non WA Specialized dealer. They got that information straight from this forum.

My mate then got reamed by Specialized for "encroachment in to WA territory" .

End result- I will now buy my Specialized gear online, purely to spite the WA specialized dealers

Better not to buy Specialized at all. I like Specialized gear, make no mistake, but I loathe their business practices. They try to control the retail market, understandable to the extent that it protects somewhat their dealers, but at the same time it leads to anti-competitive behaviour.

Their gear is not significantly better or worse than anyone else's, so I don't sweat it. I just buy other brand kit.

[jasonc]

I didn't think you could buy specialized gear online. If you find it let me know - their gloves are excellent

edit
this thread says otherwise

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=47774&start=25" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Baalzamon]

Can't help but think this thread had something to do with it. Makes me wonder how many industry people shadow these forums.

I know some douchebag WA store does as they cried to Specialized AU cos I bought my Venge from a non WA Specialized dealer. They got that information straight from this forum.

My mate then got reamed by Specialized for "encroachment in to WA territory" .

End result- I will now buy my Specialized gear online, purely to spite the WA specialized dealers

Yep...
No way will I be buying specialized EVER from australia after can't even buy interstate.... Shipitto, comgateway are my friends in this regards so specialized US will get my business