Kinesis UK- Avoid, Second bike cracked, Poor customer service

[glasgowjim]

Bought my Kinesis 4s Disc bike in 2016, May 2017 cracked at the internal cable port so replaced under warranty (eventually) May 2020 cracked again at the internal cable port. As they only give a 3 year warranty on frames, (most manufacturers give lifetime on frames) I contacted them only to be told the warranty had expired !

Showed them proof that they replaced bike with same fault in 2017 but they said the warranty stays with the original purchase in 2016? which is bollocks ! Surely a new frame comes with new warranty? Not according to Kinesis UK or Upgrade bikes who own them. They said they might be able to offer me a frame but it will not be free or compatible with my QR wheels so I'd need new thru axle wheels too !
Crap customer service from a crap company.

 

[Cycleops]

That is very disappointing. You would have thought they night have considered their reputation and good will. Hers how you stand legally on warranties:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2002/oct/18/consumernews.consumeraffairs

 

[DCLane]

Legally they're correct. From a good customer service perspective their product appears to have defects and I'd hope they would do better than their proposed offer.

 

[RoubaixCube]

I know youre pretty disappointed. But thats exactly how warranty works everywhere. New warranty doesnt get issued with items that are replaced. When you buy a bike you pay for a contract between you and the retailer or manufacturer for whatever it says on the contract. In this case it was the 3 year frame warranty.

When they replaced your frame the first time - you should of asked if there were any extended warranty options that you could purchase for peice of mind.

Warranty usually doesnt carry over unless its lifetime warranty. Some companies allow you to transfer long warranties to other parties should you sell whatever it is but they usually come with a few hoops to jump through.

Its sad. but Kinesis are in the right.

 

[Archie_tect]

Depends if enough people have the same problem and bring a class action against Kinesis since the product is demonstrably not fit for purpose, as shown by the failure of the frame at an established weak spot, within the initial guarantee period.

Like car manufacturers they will have to be pressed very hard before admitting their product has a latent defect.

There will be a statutory period in which to bring forward a claim.... I think it's five years but someone on here will know.

 

[steveindenmark]

You have had a bad experience.

Hundreds have had great experience.

 

[glasgowjim]

That maybe so, but letting people know about poor service let's them decide if they would buy in confidence from them

 

[si_c]

Sorry to hear you've had a problem with the frame

Unfortunately warranties run from the date of purchase, if a company replaces an item within the warranty period that doesn't change the time the warranty runs from. Same for washing machines, cars or any consumable.

A lot of bike manufacturers are now starting to offer lifetime warranties but that hasn't always been the case. For example Kinesis changed their warranty policy at the beginning of this year and now they do offer a lifetime warranty on purchases after March 2019, but they are a small company relative to others like Giant that have offered this for much longer. Trek only relatively recently did this - and they are a much bigger company.

They have offered reduced cost replacement out of warranty for a long time though and whilst I appreciate that your existing wheels may not be compatible but it might be worth looking at the option of a reduced cost frame and getting a new set of wheels at the same time or changing the hubs for compatible ones, any disc braked bike you get from now on will be through axle anyway so the same applies. You could verify that the lifetime warranty would apply to this frame at that time if you did.

 

[Milkfloat]

I would suggest writing back and saying that as this has happened twice you would like to pursue a 'fir for purpose' claim as the Consumer Rights act of 2015 allows. I don't think you will get anywhere, but worth a try.

 

[RoubaixCube]

That maybe so, but letting people know about poor service let's them decide if they would buy in confidence from them

You should speak to them more and ask what sort of options were available if you were to 'scale up' with a bit more money to a frame that was compatible with your wheels. Its going to cost you money but they still might offer you a discount for sticking with them instead of buying a new bike from elsewhere.

Hopefully they'll offer you something if you havent wished a plague on all their houses yet.


(I mean yes, its a sh*ty situation. but youre gonna have to fix it one way or another -- maybe they might offer you a more expensive frame at a discounted price. You could of course throw the frame in landfill and go with another manufacturer, Thats totally upto you but either way youre going to have to spend money so best to explore what sort of options are available to you)

 

[Cycleops]

Try pushing them for the very best deal on a replacement frame and perhaps the through axles for you to swap out. Stress that helping you out on what is obviously a product fault would help their reputation on forums like this and elsewhere immeasurably

 

[HLaB]

I ended up with my Ti Kinesis because of that. Both chainstays on my old Scandium framed Kinesis developed catastrophic cracks just out of the 3 year warranty (luckily I spotted them the day before a 45mph freewheel descent down the Cairngorm mountain). I loved the bike (had done 25,000 miles on it including the full Tour of Flanders) but was dubious about getting another despite them offering a 25% discount off a new frame. When I asked them about the near identical geometry ti they said I could apply the 25% discount to that

 

[wafter]

As others have said legally they're in the right; although for an item to fail in such a way after only 3yrs of use is piss-poor IMO. This is reinforced by the fact it's the 2nd such failure you've experienced; suggesting a consistant underlying issue rather than a "one off" problem. How many miles had it covered when it failed?

Not too legally savvy but I too would be looking to pursue a "fit for purpose" case, as well as making a lot of noise on as many platforms as possible. Do they have a Twitter account? A Facebook page? If so just calmly post the facts and the images (pretty much as you have on here, but will less emotive language) and see if this incentivises them to do anything.

While I'd not touch one after your experiences, at least if they cave and give you another frame / offer a significant discount you can at least flog the bike on and buy something you have more confidence in.

 

[Arjimlad]

The legal issue here is the frame not being of satisfactory quality nor fit for purpose as it is not durable bearing in mind the price paid.

Nobody expects a bike frame to last less than three years.

The above answers are correct about the warranty replacement not extending the warranty period - but as we often see printed - your statutory rights are not affected by the warranty contract.

Take a look here : -

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/s...ne-wrong-with-a-purchase/return-faulty-goods/

It would seem that a partial refund reflecting the use you have had out of the frame would be the most likely outcome.

If you paid for it on a credit card you may have a s75 claim against the card issuer. Might be worthwhile contacting them if you paid this way.

 

[newts]

The legal issue here is the frame not being of satisfactory quality nor fit for purpose as it is not durable bearing in mind the price paid.

I think you would have a very good case on these grounds.
The 3 year warranty offered by the company doesn't excuse them from their responsibility in selling goods of merchantable quality. You would expect a frame to last well in excess of 3 years under normal usage. The previous failure in the same place is strong evidence that the frame is not fit for purpose.