Castelli shorts and a white saddle dyed green
Ands
Posts: 1,437
Hi if anyone could offer some advice regarding this I would be grateful.
Mr A bought some Castelli Free bib shorts, colour anthracite. The first time he wore them they turned his white Fizik saddle green. He has worn numerous different pairs of black shorts on the white saddle and never had any problem.
He sent back the shorts as requested and for 2 months got nowhere (lots of promises from the retailer that Castelli would call but not a single call). After chasing again, the retailer finally asked him last week what chamois cream he used. His response: don't use chamois cream, just use a bit of Savlon. The next day he was told that because he had used Savlon his warranty was void. He was told Savlon contains solvent - end of. Husband pointed out that his Assos chamois cream also contains solvent. After chasing again (because the Castelli rep had again failed to call) he then got a response that it was the liquid paraffin in Savlon. A cursory glance at the contents of other chamois creams reveals that Dave Zabriskie’s DZ Nuts also contains liquid paraffin.
Mr A is dubious about the Savlon theory – he doesn’t apply it to the shorts, just a small amount directly on the skin, and it has never caused a problem with other shorts and a white saddle. It took them just 24hrs to conclude that it was the liquid paraffin that had caused the problem, yet had no response when asked if he would have voided his warranty if he had used DZ Nuts.
Today, after nearly 3 months, he has received shorts & saddle back with a letter that says that “savlon is not intended to be used as a chamois cream and may have contributed to the discolouration of the saddle. The product contains paraffin and can be even used to remove ink stains according to a quick search on Google”.
What would you do next? His limited knowledge of consumer law is that within the 1st 6 months, the onus is on the retailer to prove misuse. It sounds like they haven’t actually done any testing or “proved” anything, and themselves have only admitted that Savlon “may” have contributed to the problem.
Any thoughts?
Mr A bought some Castelli Free bib shorts, colour anthracite. The first time he wore them they turned his white Fizik saddle green. He has worn numerous different pairs of black shorts on the white saddle and never had any problem.
He sent back the shorts as requested and for 2 months got nowhere (lots of promises from the retailer that Castelli would call but not a single call). After chasing again, the retailer finally asked him last week what chamois cream he used. His response: don't use chamois cream, just use a bit of Savlon. The next day he was told that because he had used Savlon his warranty was void. He was told Savlon contains solvent - end of. Husband pointed out that his Assos chamois cream also contains solvent. After chasing again (because the Castelli rep had again failed to call) he then got a response that it was the liquid paraffin in Savlon. A cursory glance at the contents of other chamois creams reveals that Dave Zabriskie’s DZ Nuts also contains liquid paraffin.
Mr A is dubious about the Savlon theory – he doesn’t apply it to the shorts, just a small amount directly on the skin, and it has never caused a problem with other shorts and a white saddle. It took them just 24hrs to conclude that it was the liquid paraffin that had caused the problem, yet had no response when asked if he would have voided his warranty if he had used DZ Nuts.
Today, after nearly 3 months, he has received shorts & saddle back with a letter that says that “savlon is not intended to be used as a chamois cream and may have contributed to the discolouration of the saddle. The product contains paraffin and can be even used to remove ink stains according to a quick search on Google”.
What would you do next? His limited knowledge of consumer law is that within the 1st 6 months, the onus is on the retailer to prove misuse. It sounds like they haven’t actually done any testing or “proved” anything, and themselves have only admitted that Savlon “may” have contributed to the problem.
Any thoughts?
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Comments
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Firstly, I would ask for a copy of the results of the tests that they conducted to prove the Savlon was at fault.
I'm not an expert on these matters, they'll follow later, but that would be my next move.
I have a white Fizik Arione saddle for sale, hardly used, perfect nick, complete with 30 yard guarantee*.
* provided it's not actually used in conjunction with any solvent based cream**
** includes whipped creamStart with a budget, finish with a mortgage!0 -
speaking outside of cycling stuff tho, generally these days arent companies more worried about offering good service and keeping your custom as opposed to getting bad press.
I had a pair of jeans from H&m, and they shrunk in the wash, took them back full refund no questions asked. same thing when the stitching in some core shorts started to peel in the crotch, took them back got the power shorts as a replacement instead of the contest ones which they were.
What are the chances of using a parafin solvent based cream and heat from fiction making your shorts spontaeneously combust? that to me seems like more of an issue...
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Compare Castelli to Assos. A year ago, I bought a new bike with a seat pin that caught on a new pair of Assos S5 shorts. I sent the shorts back to Assos to see if they could effect a repair, for which I offered to pay. 2 weeks later, I received a new pair of shorts as a goodwill gesture. That's customer service.
With regard to Savlon, I've always understood that products like Savlon and the like, were bad for short inserts. I've only ever used products that were specifically designed for the job
and never had any problems.0 -
He's used Savlon for years on his skin only and never had any probs - Assos & Look shorts included, as well as less expensive/lower quality club shorts.Nickwill wrote:With regard to Savlon, I've always understood that products like Savlon and the like, were bad for short inserts. I've only ever used products that were specifically designed for the job
and never had any problems.
Retailer has singled out parafin, when it's an ingredient of other chamois creams. Doesn't seem to be much consistency or evidence on their part.0 -
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mmm, might hold off from saying at the mo and see if I can make a bit more progress.redddraggon wrote:Who's the retailer?0
