WARNING - boardman fs comp frame failure

damo2576

Ponyfeeder wrote:

I would like to hear what Chris Boardman has to say about this ! The reason you cant contact Boardman bikes is so that Boardman bikes never get to hear about what goes wrong with the bikes and the crap service that Halfords provide to the customer. Halfords just hide these problems as they dont want to loose the exclusive retail contract for the Boardman range.

Remember its not Boardman's company - they are just using his name etc. You need to speak to the people that run the company.

Ponyfeeder

The reason you can't buy the FS pro is because they are having to spend all there time making the FS comp replacements i am on my second one in the space of 6 weeks and so is my mate ( frame snapped). Makes me wounder how well these bikes are made, up to yet i have not been inpressed.

supersonic

Ponyfeeder wrote:

The reason you can't buy the FS pro is because they are having to spend all there time making the FS comp replacements i am on my second one in the space of 6 weeks and so is my mate ( frame snapped). Makes me wounder how well these bikes are made, up to yet i have not been inpressed.

I understand you are upset, but you are also posting some stuff you can't substantiate - especially about making FS Comp replacements!

There have been very few problems with them - I do however know, as in other posts you have made, that the Halfords set up is not always good.

Ponyfeeder

Hi supersonic that was ment as a joke about the reason you cant buy the pro, i guess you did not see that. I bet the proper reason is that they have sold out.
Do you work for Halfords ?

supersonic

Lol, fair enough! It came across as a bit serious.

No, I don't work at Halfords and have no current links with them. I have worked for them in the past though and certainly know the failings of the system. Have had first hand view of this.

I do however write for What Mountain Bike, and the bikes have been very highly marked for performance.

I guess the main issue here is Halfords, and not the actual bikes. I remember in the other thread that they didn't seem forthcoming in telling you exact details of anywork done and why it may have happened.

Danlube

Interesting, this is the first case i have heard of a Boardman frame failing like this. I currently work at Halfords, the only advice i can give over this forum to the original poster is to take your Boardman back to the store from which you purchased it from, with all the paperwork 8)

Ponyfeeder

You have hit the nail on the head, i do like the bike and i think for the money it is a great buy. But i have had to return one bike for an exchange, and the second bike had the same problems as the first bike, apart from the dent. Is this a coincidence or just bad luck?
My bike is again at Halfords while they try to get it right ( taken in last tuesday) i dont want to sound like i am Halfords bashing but they advertise as being bike experts and they cant even set up a bike from new.
What makes this even more of a joke is that the Halfords i have dealings with is a bike hut and a Boardman dealer.
I am not joking when i say that the bike has spent more time at Halfords than it has with me. i my opinion Boardman cycles should drop Halfords and sell there bikes in proper bike retailers. As i will not buy another as long as Halfords sell them.
Rant over
p.s i notice all the advertising on this site from boardman/Halfords bet that brings in some money for What MTB ? ( i am joking just in case you missed it again lol)

supersonic

Aye, Chris slipped me a tenner this morning ;-)

I think you have had more than a fair share of bad luck, coupled with an inability of Halfords to communicate and sort the problems out quickly. Yeah bikes can have teething problems, take time to bed in and need periodic adjustment, but obviously it runs a little deeper.

Still very good skills to learn! Sometimes all is needed is a tweak of the cable adjuster, and that is a journey saved.

Guss-81

supersonic wrote:

Halfords sell you the bike - not Boardman. Your warranty lies with the retailer.

Not quite. The warranty lies with the manufacture, Boardman.

Halfords as a retailer have a responsibility under the sale of goods act that requires them to ensure that any product they sell must be fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality for a period of 6 years, A part of quality is durability.

If you request a repair or replacement within 6 months of purchase it is the retailers responsibility to prove the goods confirmed to the sale of goods act. I.E. were not faulty. After 6 months it is the customers responsibility.

Regardless of any warranty offered the retailer bears responsibility for any faults. Halfords can offer there own guarantee of course but it can't override the sale of goods act.

supersonic

Basically you contact Halfords, not Boardman. If the frame fails within 2 years, Boardman are not obliged to do a thing for the customer. Halfords however, are, once deemed it is faulty. The six years refers to the time you can make a claim, and is no guarantee for the parts lasting that long.

Anonymous

supersonic wrote:

Boardman are not obliged to do a thing for the customer.

seems a shame though, i can get in touch with specialized and they will square me away, even as a second hand owner, also bionicon were super dooper when i had to deal with them , infact they were alot quicker than the shop from where the bike was bought

supersonic

They probably would do something though - many do! But this is why we have retailers and distributors.

Specialized have a great company that goes well past what they are obliged to do!

Ponyfeeder

I feel a 2010 Specialized Stunt jumper coming on, and sell the Boardman any takers ?

st4n

Update.....After suffering such a severe frame failure I have lost confidence with the Boardman FS comp to do anything other than ride it on tarmac. This is taking into account that i'd only had the bike for nearly 2 months and rode it 4 times covering about 50 miles on easy going tracks.
With this in mind i returned the bike to Halfords in Mansfield and asked for it to be replaced with the Team model. I was informed by Halfords that the Team frame was stronger and better put together than the Comp. I offered to pay the £200 difference in price. Halfords informed me that Boardman would not allow this but that I could pay £50 to have all the components of my not so old comp put onto a Team frame. I declined this offer as for only £150 extra i could have had the full Team model. Halfords told me that because it was only the frame that was defected they would only exchange the frame. I explained to him that a colleague had received a Boardman Comp with a small dent on the frame and received a complete new bike - this seem to be a bit unfair to me.
As there was no compromise i asked Halfords to take the bike back for a refund. The Halfords bike manager told me that they did not have to nor would they give me a refund for the bike, it was their policy to only repair/replace the faulty item and not give refunds!!!. I asked him if this would be true of a cash sale and he replied the same.
I suggested to him that may not be entirely true.
I am now in the process of cancelling the cycle2work at work and i will definately be advising my company not to exclusively use Halfords again. Hopefully i will get to use this good scheme elsewhere.

Anonymous

arent they the same frame but withdifferent components?

supersonic

Yes, the Comp and the Team have the same frame. The Pro gets a lighter tubeset.

Halfords are under no obligation to give you a complete new bike, however I thought they would swap the components over for free. Nor are they obliged to refund you this time, they are well within their rights to replace the faulty part.

They should however remedy the situation in a quick and reasonable time at no cost to you: you may be able to claim compensation. From SOGA:

"If you've bought something not of satisfactory quality, not fit for a particular purpose or not as described, the law gives you a number of remedies.



If you complain to the retailer within a reasonable time, you're entitled to get a full refund. However, the law does not say what a reasonable time is. Each case may be different. So the sooner you make your complaint, the better.



Once you go beyond a reasonable time to reject the goods, you're only entitled to claim compensation. You can also claim for any consequential losses that result directly from the goods being unsatisfactory.



These remedies are in the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended).



Up until 31 March 2003, these were the only remedies available. Since that date, you can now also ask, in the first instance, for a repair or replacement.



Such repair or replacement has to be carried out within a reasonable time and without any great inconvenience to you. The retailer has to bear any costs, such as transporting the goods.



However, the retailer can refuse either of these remedies, if it can be shown that the other one would be less costly.



If a quick and trouble-free repair or replacement is not possible, you can ask for a full or part-refund. Whatever benefit you may have already had from the goods will be taken into account in deciding any refund.
"

Northwind

"I'd like the moon on a stick"
"Sorry, you can't have it. But for £50 we can fit your existing moon to a new stick"
"No, I DEMAND the moon on a stick"

Anonymous

this is unbelievably bad service and a real shame for a brilliant product. am i the only person who thinks someting should be done about these jokers (halfords) they may not have to do anything under whatever legislation but surely a big company must feel obliged to stand by their sales?

i read the statement on the roadie forum by chris boardman and if he is happy with halfords and what his company has got from them then fair enough, but i wouldnt want to put my name to a product and then have it ruined by an absolute sham of a bike retailer.

Ponyfeeder

This is taken from the Goverment website relating to the sales of goods act 1979 "If goods do not conform to contract at the time of sale, purchasers can request their money back "within a reasonable time". (This is not defined and will depend on circumstances)
I would say that the frame snapping after 4 rides means that the bike is not fit for purpose, and that if he requests a refund Halfords ( spit) are obliged under law to give him that refund.

supersonic

2 months is well outside any usual 'reasonable time'. Hence they can offer a repair or replacement.

Anonymous

c'mon, you would expect a bike to survive a decade of riding, 2 months is no where near a reasonable time. would you be happy if your zaskar had failed within its first 6 months let alone 2?

Northwind

No, doesn't apply, it did conform to contract at time of sale, if it had been sold cracked this would apply but it's developed the defect in use not before contract so it's a warranty issue. All of the issues since seem to resolve around the OP expecting them to replace the frame with a different item, rather than the one which he bought, which isn't totally unreasonable but at the same time isn't covered under warranty. There's a bit of a lack of detail but I don't see much wrong with how this has been handled. I don't think a failure like this is really enough to justify expecting to reject the bike. And the whole Team vs Comp thing is just creating problems, "I demand an identical frame with different stickers, because I've lost faith in the stickers on this frame"

supersonic

sheepsteeth wrote:

c'mon, you would expect a bike to survive a decade of riding, 2 months is no where near a reasonable time. would you be happy if your zaskar had failed within its first 6 months let alone 2?

That is different from the reasonable time allowed for when a refund is not applicable. Two different matters. Yes I would expect it to last longer - hence my guarantee/warranty would replace it. Now if it failed again we move into new territory.

The 'reasonable time' statement is one of when the claim is put in - not how long the goods are expected to last. It is usually 2-4 weeks from when the goods are accepted.

It is an unfortunate incident, and yes, annoying and I can sympathise with the OP in that respect. But Halfords are doing nothing wrong in what they have offered.

To add to that, this is my second Zaskar Carbon frame as the first one was faulty ;-)

Anonymous

this is such a confusing thing, im not sure i will ever understand who has what rights and obligations. it does make me a bigger fan of my current fav manufacturer though.

if this had happened to me and halfords have offerred to exchange the frame, thats fair enough and i would be happy with that but i would expect them to do the frame swap and it shoudltn cost me. (obv i would actually do the build and swap of parts myself cause i like that kind of thing and have th kit required).

the whole upgrading thing is abit much perhaps but you never know, they might have done the decent thing.

anyway, away from the whole warranty issue, why the unk has the frame failed so badly and is this the only one?

supersonic

It is very confusing, and quite a few grey areas in the law. I am confident though that the time he has had the bike means that a refund does not have to be given, but they must sort out the replacement quickly and I believe that includes the swapping of parts.

Boardman claim this is the second frame that has cracked out of all that have been sold.

Personally I would push Halfords to have it fully resolved within say 10 days (of when they first recieved the bike) - that is a new frame with all the components swapped over.

Anonymous

supersonic wrote:

Boardman claim this is the second frame that has cracked out of all that have been sold.

Personally I would push Halfords to have it fully resolved within say 10 days (of when they first recieved the bike) - that is a new frame with all the components swapped over.

sounds more than fair i would say. i spose if you consider the number of bikes sold, thats not alot of failures, especially compared to lets say, hmm, i dont know, err, the specialized in house supension :shock:

i know there were plenty of satisfied customers but lordy there were an enormous collection of dissatisfied owners who would have loved to swap that sus out of it wasnt such an expensive thing to so, especially considering the initial outlay.

damo2576

You wouldn't expect that from any premium brand and tbh this gives you the clearest indication of where Boardman are positioning themselves.

It doesnt add up to me brand wise, paying to use Boardman's name would suggest values of quality and performance. Aligning with Halfords doesn't.

supersonic

Expect what exactly?!

damo2576

Expect a full replacement. From a premium brand I would expect a full replacement. Boardman is not a premium brand, though by use of the name it trys/wants/pretends to be.

supersonic

They have offered to replace the frame!