GIANT frame lifetime warranty - my experience

[mwktar]

HI all, just wanted to make a thread about my experience with regards to GIANT and their lifetime warranty on their frames (mainly because I spent aaaaages looking myself!)

Back in august I decided to treat myself to a new carbon frame bike - the Giant Defy advanced 2

After about 8 weeks and some considerable mileage i started to notice the development of a kind of faint "crack" in the seat post (image below)

I did lots of googling of the issue, did the usual tapping to see if there was a different sound etc. In the end i came to the conclusion that this was what people call a witness crack and got on with it.

With getting back on the bike I saw the crack had developed a bit so decided to pop to my LBS to ask them to take a quick look (thinking there's a 1 year warranty on the paintwork anyway so might try my luck)

My LBS took a photo and emailed it to giant - within 4 days my new frame had arrived from giant - no fuss!

The downside was, since they didn't have the same frame (not guaranteed by the warranty) they sent me last years Defy Advanced 1 (very very white).

After emailing myself I was told to go through my LBS (thinking I was being given the cold shoulder) - within the hour they had emailed to say they'd give me this years Defy Advanced 1 frame which came within 6 days (TO BE FITTED THIS SATURDAY).

Some things to bear in mind - they don't seem willing to discuss warranty issues with anyone other than a giant retailer (you can find yours here).

So if your in any doubt over the quality of your lifetime warranty, i'd say it's well worth giving you LBS a visit.

 

[Rooster1]

Certainly good to know when buying from new, or 2nd hand with the receipt!

 

[vickster]

@Rooster1 Often the lifetime warranty is not transferable, only for original owner, e.g specialized . So may not apply if buying second hand

 

[Rooster1]

right you are

 

[martint235]

I used to have a Giant SCR1 and I cracked the seatpost on it. I took it to my local Giant dealer (Action Bikes in Bexleyheath). They told me I'd hit a pothole hard and therefore it wasn't covered. I said I hadn't hit a pothole hard with it. The guy eventually agreed to call Giant who asked to speak to me. "Guy in the shop says you hit a pothole hard, did you?". "No". "We haven't got an SCR 1 in stock but we have an SCR 1 A which is carbon, would you be happy with it?" "Yes". Frame arrived at shop within 2 days. Shop charged me £65 to transfer the parts to the new frame. I paid just to get away from them even though Giant had said they'd foot the bill.

I later found out that although he isn't on the list of dealers, my local LBS could have handled it for me.

I think Action Bikes shop went out of business or changed franchise. I've certainly never been back in there.

 

[Jody]

Check on minimum insertion distance for the seatpost. Giant Anthems, although a MTB and alloy, were prone for cracking at the seat post/top tube joint if there was not enough seat post in the frame.

Not sure whether this is what has caused your frame issue but its worth a look.

 

[mwktar]

I used to have a Giant SCR1 and I cracked the seatpost on it. I took it to my local Giant dealer (Action Bikes in Bexleyheath). They told me I'd hit a pothole hard and therefore it wasn't covered. I said I hadn't hit a pothole hard with it. The guy eventually agreed to call Giant who asked to speak to me. "Guy in the shop says you hit a pothole hard, did you?". "No". "We haven't got an SCR 1 in stock but we have an SCR 1 A which is carbon, would you be happy with it?" "Yes". Frame arrived at shop within 2 days. Shop charged me £65 to transfer the parts to the new frame. I paid just to get away from them even though Giant had said they'd foot the bill.

I later found out that although he isn't on the list of dealers, my local LBS could have handled it for me.

I think Action Bikes shop went out of business or changed franchise. I've certainly never been back in there.

I think this was the kind of situation i was wary of - where a grumpy bike shop owner would act like it's money out of their pocket, when it cleasrly sin't.

Looks like it's always worth jumping over their heads in these instances as GIANT's handling of the situation left me genuinely impressed

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Check on minimum insertion distance for the seatpost. Giant Anthems, although a MTB and alloy, were prone for cracking at the seat post/top tube joint if there was not enough seat post in the frame.

Not sure whether this is what has caused your frame issue but its worth a look.

That was a completely different issue. Different materials, different mechanism, poor design.

 

[I like Skol]

I think this was the kind of situation i was wary of - where a grumpy bike shop owner would act like it's money out of their pocket, when it cleasrly sin't.

May be it is!
Just had the Aluminium frame on my GT roadbike changed after it developed cracks lengthways along the sides of the top tube where it meets the seat tube. The bike is just short of 5yrs old so I popped it in to the supplying LBS who I haven't seen since the day I collected it. Frame has been replaced with no questions asked (although it did have to shipped to the importer before the warranty was honoured due to the unusual nature of the crack) so I can't complain other than the change of colour.
In discussion with the shop owner when collecting the bike he did reveal that he doesn't get paid a penny for rebuilding the bike onto the replacement frame. This was a surprise for me as I know car dealers get paid the book labour time for warranty repairs on cars. He also mentioned getting hit badly a few years ago (I think he said it was Commencal) when there was a problem with loads of frames cracking due to a design/manufacture fault and he had to do all the labour for rebuilds and pay the rather steep postage costs to return all the faulty frames to France.

 

[mattobrien]

I recently had my CAAD12 replaced as it looked like there were two small cracks in the frame. Fortunately they replaced the entire bike as it was an easier option than trying to fin a frame. It is still a relatively new model :-)

 

[alvintc]

Holy thread resurrection batman!

This fills me with confidence... the bottom bracket shell on my 2015 Defy Advanced Pro 0 debonded from the frame (during BB removal rather than replacement) so I'm going through this process right now.

Hopefully it'll be as painless, mainly for 2 reasons:
a) I genuinely love this bike, we've done thousands of memorable miles!
b) No way in heck I can afford to replace for something as nice!

 

[alvintc]

Holy thread resurrection batman!

Warranty repair approved! Best result possible I think.

 

[Spark100]

alvintc - I know, this is the thread that never dies!! but exactly the same thing just happened to me and bike shop initial response says "warranty may not cover it if it wasn't a Giant approved mechanic who replaced the BB".. which is kinda stupid.... I wonder if you could help - did you tell Giant that you replaced the BB yourself...?

 

[Pale Rider]

alvintc - I know, this is the thread that never dies!! but exactly the same thing just happened to me and bike shop initial response says "warranty may not cover it if it wasn't a Giant approved mechanic who replaced the BB".. which is kinda stupid.... I wonder if you could help - did you tell Giant that you replaced the BB yourself...?

Pinging him in this manner - @alvintc - may help summon him back to the thread, although he's not logged on since last November.

 

[Drago]

That's hardly stupid. They're entitled to the reassurance that anyone who has done significant work to the bike is properly qualified, and thus won't do anything that might compromise the frame, such as use undue force on fasteners, clamp the frame in a workstand, etc.