CopperCyclist
Veteran
As they bloody deserve it. This follows on from a post I made in the "Frame Warranties" thread, so let me give you the short version...
Bought a brand new Trek 6500 in October 2011. At start of March 2012 took it to LBS for some minor servicing which I should do myself, but too lazy/uneducated - i.e. hydraulic brakes needed adjusting and new cabling. LBS noticed a bend in the seat stay where it met the rear axle that meant they would not recommend using the frame for MTB riding, as it was liable to snap when exposed to hard drops etc.
Now the weird bit - they asked if I'd had any 'massive crashes', when the answer was that I hadn't. I had come off the bike only once, but the fall it experienced was more akin to a clipless moment than anything else - i.e. a topple over onto my side, no forward momentum. It was on a wet day, where my braking wasn't as effective as I hoped, and I managed to lose all my speed whilst panicking that I wasn't going to be able to due to sliding in the sludge and mud, and eventually managed to stop the bike without any mishap (though taking a 'diversion' off the path), but in doing so 'doh' forgot to unclip due to the panic. Cue the embarassing moment of that second of relief as the bike comes to a stop, followed by the moment of realisation as you topple over. The fall was nothing that I would have believed should cause 'fatal' frame damage. Twice after that fall on the same day, I slid about again but had learnt my lesson and unclipped both times, keeping the bike upright despite coming off the path! So, only the one fall, and the truth was the bike would have taken more damage if I'd have simply stood it up and dropped it - hell, with me on it my hip cushioned most of the fall for it!
The LBS noted that the bike was in pristine condition - not even scratches on it, no scuffs on the pedals, bar ends completely unmarked, no scratches on the frame, hell anywhere. They said they'd never seen a bike sustain damage of this nature without managing to get another mark on it. They thought it unusual, and worth querying with regards to the warranty.
So, off I went to the store I bought it from to get their view. Their initial assessment wasn't promising. The chap in the store said three times "I'm not calling you a liar but..." reference the bike not being in a big crash. He the settled with "Perhaps you were hit by a bike wheel, or a car wheel and you didn't notice". This was how he suggested that the frame remained uncracked, unscratched, and untarnished opposite the bend. Hit by a car, bending the frame, and didn't notice. Riiight. Regardless, they said that they would contact Trek and see what they said, but he said "I wouldn't hold your breath on it. I suspect when we tell them 'this is what we think' they'll simply say 'No, it must have been in a crash' and not even want to pay shipping to get it to them".
The very next day, I had a phone call from the shop backpedalling a little. He said how he had sent off pictures to Trek, and their reply had been "Thats very strange, we've never seen anything like that before, please send us the bike". He commented how he agreed with this and said that he'd never seen anything like it before either.
I bit my tongue.
He said it would be sent off to Trek, and he'd contact me once they had looked at it.
About five days later I received another call from him. He apologised, stressed again how he'd never seen anything like it, but said that a Trek engineers reply was that he had checked the frame for a 'Bad heat treatment' and found that it had passed this test. He couldn't suggest how else the damage had been caused, and recommended replacing the frame, with me footing the bill but at a 20% discount (which is Treks 'Crash Replacement' scheme).
So the saga continued. I remember seeing in the Trek booklet when I first got the bike (so glad I read it now) a 'welcome' notice from the 'President' of Trek, John Burke, giving his email address and inviting you to contact him if you were ever less than satisfied with your Trek.
So, I sent my email, explaining all the points above. I didn't hold up too much hope, but thought it was worth a try. I had the response today. The Trek representative stated he had been able to personally look at my bike. He said it was clear it was a well maintained, well looked after bike, and agreed it had no scratch on it. Whilst he was happy with the engineers response, and he was happy that the frame should not have bent in the way it did, as a 'goodwill' gesture to recover my faith in the brand he would be happy to replace the frame. Not with the 6500 frame I had though, but the 6700, the next model up!
Now, I know there little to no difference between the frames other than the colour scheme, but frankly I was lost for words. I had anticipated this being a losing battle as it was simply my word against theirs as to whether the frame 'should' have been damaged. In taking this attitude, Trek have blown me away, so I can't recommend their customer service and aftercare highly enough. I know it, you know it, and they know it - if they had wanted to dig their heels in here, I wouldn't have had anywhere to go.
The one thing they have guaranteed for me is that all my future mountain bikes are Treks. They've got my brand loyalty now. I also wanted to share the story (sorry for blabbing on so long) to give an example of excellent customer aftercare, as they deserve it!
Bought a brand new Trek 6500 in October 2011. At start of March 2012 took it to LBS for some minor servicing which I should do myself, but too lazy/uneducated - i.e. hydraulic brakes needed adjusting and new cabling. LBS noticed a bend in the seat stay where it met the rear axle that meant they would not recommend using the frame for MTB riding, as it was liable to snap when exposed to hard drops etc.
Now the weird bit - they asked if I'd had any 'massive crashes', when the answer was that I hadn't. I had come off the bike only once, but the fall it experienced was more akin to a clipless moment than anything else - i.e. a topple over onto my side, no forward momentum. It was on a wet day, where my braking wasn't as effective as I hoped, and I managed to lose all my speed whilst panicking that I wasn't going to be able to due to sliding in the sludge and mud, and eventually managed to stop the bike without any mishap (though taking a 'diversion' off the path), but in doing so 'doh' forgot to unclip due to the panic. Cue the embarassing moment of that second of relief as the bike comes to a stop, followed by the moment of realisation as you topple over. The fall was nothing that I would have believed should cause 'fatal' frame damage. Twice after that fall on the same day, I slid about again but had learnt my lesson and unclipped both times, keeping the bike upright despite coming off the path! So, only the one fall, and the truth was the bike would have taken more damage if I'd have simply stood it up and dropped it - hell, with me on it my hip cushioned most of the fall for it!
The LBS noted that the bike was in pristine condition - not even scratches on it, no scuffs on the pedals, bar ends completely unmarked, no scratches on the frame, hell anywhere. They said they'd never seen a bike sustain damage of this nature without managing to get another mark on it. They thought it unusual, and worth querying with regards to the warranty.
So, off I went to the store I bought it from to get their view. Their initial assessment wasn't promising. The chap in the store said three times "I'm not calling you a liar but..." reference the bike not being in a big crash. He the settled with "Perhaps you were hit by a bike wheel, or a car wheel and you didn't notice". This was how he suggested that the frame remained uncracked, unscratched, and untarnished opposite the bend. Hit by a car, bending the frame, and didn't notice. Riiight. Regardless, they said that they would contact Trek and see what they said, but he said "I wouldn't hold your breath on it. I suspect when we tell them 'this is what we think' they'll simply say 'No, it must have been in a crash' and not even want to pay shipping to get it to them".
The very next day, I had a phone call from the shop backpedalling a little. He said how he had sent off pictures to Trek, and their reply had been "Thats very strange, we've never seen anything like that before, please send us the bike". He commented how he agreed with this and said that he'd never seen anything like it before either.
I bit my tongue.
He said it would be sent off to Trek, and he'd contact me once they had looked at it.
About five days later I received another call from him. He apologised, stressed again how he'd never seen anything like it, but said that a Trek engineers reply was that he had checked the frame for a 'Bad heat treatment' and found that it had passed this test. He couldn't suggest how else the damage had been caused, and recommended replacing the frame, with me footing the bill but at a 20% discount (which is Treks 'Crash Replacement' scheme).
So the saga continued. I remember seeing in the Trek booklet when I first got the bike (so glad I read it now) a 'welcome' notice from the 'President' of Trek, John Burke, giving his email address and inviting you to contact him if you were ever less than satisfied with your Trek.
So, I sent my email, explaining all the points above. I didn't hold up too much hope, but thought it was worth a try. I had the response today. The Trek representative stated he had been able to personally look at my bike. He said it was clear it was a well maintained, well looked after bike, and agreed it had no scratch on it. Whilst he was happy with the engineers response, and he was happy that the frame should not have bent in the way it did, as a 'goodwill' gesture to recover my faith in the brand he would be happy to replace the frame. Not with the 6500 frame I had though, but the 6700, the next model up!
Now, I know there little to no difference between the frames other than the colour scheme, but frankly I was lost for words. I had anticipated this being a losing battle as it was simply my word against theirs as to whether the frame 'should' have been damaged. In taking this attitude, Trek have blown me away, so I can't recommend their customer service and aftercare highly enough. I know it, you know it, and they know it - if they had wanted to dig their heels in here, I wouldn't have had anywhere to go.
The one thing they have guaranteed for me is that all my future mountain bikes are Treks. They've got my brand loyalty now. I also wanted to share the story (sorry for blabbing on so long) to give an example of excellent customer aftercare, as they deserve it!
