RecordAceFromNew
Swinging Member
- Location
- West London
Hello from commuter world!
I ride a Montague X90 Swissbike that I bought from Evans last year and have had it serviced and maintained by them. It has had cause to go back to them on numerous occasions as they have fitted the wrong incompatible parts at times.
However my bike is a folder as I need to use a train too; and the mechanism started to sieze after the last service. It was returned and in attempting to take the mechanism apart - they have damaged it - the importers have said beyond repair. The unit is a sealed unit. Evans have been "dealing" with this now for 6 weeks and today I get an email saying that it is my fault as salt corrosion has led to damage. The report from the importers clearly states a "less destructive means of removal should have been applied" and "damage has occurred during servicing"...
Evans are seeking to blame my lack of maintaining a completely sealed unit, that they damaged.
I have bought many bikes from them in the last 10 years.
I'm absolutely staggered they'd do this...
Any ideas will be gratefully received.
Thanks
Why wouldn't it be a warranty issue given Evans sold you the bike? It also seems to me that the corroded unit that broke (by Evans) is a part of the folding frame in any case, which according to Montague's UK site is warranted for the lifetime of the original owner (you?).
In addition, irrespective of whether the unit is part of the frame or whether it is warranted for your lifetime, given it is a sealed unit not referred to in any maintenance regime you have extraordinarily strong argument that irrespective what the contract or they say UK statutes (see tab 12, SOGA) cause them to be liable to remedy it for you for up to 6 years.
I am very surprised Evans is fighting you in this case; it seems to me they haven't got a leg to stand on. Tell them* what the warranty and the law says, and let us know how it goes. Good luck!
* IME the way to do it in practice is to approach the staff with the details and get them to agree to fix it, if they disagree ask for the contact details of their line manager, i.e. going up the chain until you get to one who says yes (IME usually immediately after you asked for the contact details of their line manager). The reason why it works is because it shouldn't take long to encounter one who really doesn't want his/her manager to think he/she is in incompetent arse. Much quicker and far less trouble than (threatening to ) go to court, which has to be the last resort.