Am I being fobbed off.(Freewheel faulty on 1 week old allez)

fastbatard
fastbatard Posts: 137
edited September 2011 in Road beginners
I've had a Specialized Allez Elite for 1 week and covered 50 miles on it. From day 1 there was a slight noise which I thought was coming from bb area, thought maybe it was down to newness, maybe the pedals etc. Noise turned into a clanging (bit like a bag of spanners!) so I took it back to LBS where I purchased it.

After inspection they advised me that the freewheel is faulty and making the noise and that they need to replace it and also possibly may have to change the wheel. They tell me that it's OK to carry on riding and the part will take a week to arrive. I tried the bike again when I got home and the noise is worse, no way I want to carry on riding it and really not happy at my 1 week old bike being out of action for at least a week.

I phoned LBS again and spoke to the manager, asked why it takes 1 week for part. Leave it with me he says. Manager phones me back and says he's spoken to Specialised UK and they've advised him that the freewheel just needs removing and regreasing?!? not replacing.

Sorry for the long essay but I wondered if this sounds right to anyone with more experience as I'm quite new to this and feel like I'm being fobbed off.

Comments

  • Essex Man
    Essex Man Posts: 283
    Think you should have carried on riding and waited for your new hub/wheel as initially adivsed...

    I wouldn't accept dismantling and regreasing now.
  • ris
    ris Posts: 392
    i'm not quite sure that you helped your own cause there, fastbatard! i know it's a pain to wait a week but it is such a short time if the fix is going to be the best in the long term, and a proper replacement freewheel would have been the better option in my opinion. if you can still get that then i'd take it and just hope it rains a lot so you can't go out. :wink:


    it's a shame the shop couldn't have swapped out the wheel for another in stock and then sorted your one with spesh at their leisure, or given you a loan wheel for that week.
  • tmg
    tmg Posts: 651
    I know from experience that if Spech have the part in stock they will ship same day its ordered as they are pretty good. I would have the bike at the LBS and be having words again with manager, it takes no time for them to have a look at the freewheel and determine if it does in fact need regreasing or whether it needs replacing, any LBS worht there sort should be able to work that out PDQ.

    So get LBS to strip the bike down to find out the problem rather than everyone just guessing, tell them you feel as if they are messing you about and you want them to do it before lunch so that if it does need a new one they can order it in or if it is a simple clean and regrease then you can get the bike back same day and then ride it to see if it is fixed.

    A call to Spesh telling them your not happy may also help things along.

    Good luck
  • fastbatard
    fastbatard Posts: 137
    I must admit I feel like I shot myself in the foot! I was just trying to make them get the part quicker :roll:

    Thanks for the replies, I'll give Specialized a call in the morning. I've told LBS that my wife will take the wheel in for me tomorrow as I can't get but having second thoughts on that now.
  • zanes
    zanes Posts: 563
    Greasing is the usual maintenance for a freewheel, and I don't think 50 miles would be enough to do serious damage to it (even ungreased). Let em regrease it, then see how it goes from there. :)
  • lef
    lef Posts: 728
    i bought an allez elite in March and after six weeks the freehub became faulty, there was excess play and it was sticking which caused some chain slap. Evans contacted Specialized who confirmed there was a fault with some of the CXP-22s and replaced the wheelset for a brand new set of RS-10s.

    You might want to mention to the LBS theres been problems with the freehub on the stock wheelset and maybe raise it again with Specialized. The wheels came the next day I think.
  • Mynameisdann
    Mynameisdann Posts: 665
    if you still deem it faulty after the regreasing go back and take them up on the offer for a replacement
  • spursn17
    spursn17 Posts: 284
    I'm not sure but I think that once you accept a repair you lose the right to a replacement, sale of goods act I think?
  • fastbatard
    fastbatard Posts: 137
    Well it's been regreased and only done 12 miles since but it seems ok now. Time will tell I suppose. If I have any more probs I will tell them there's a known problem. I partly went for the elite as I was told the wheels were better :roll:
  • fastbatard
    fastbatard Posts: 137
    Well the noise started up again! I expressed my concerns to the manager who contacted Specialized about it and they've upgraded the wheelset to Mavic Aksiums. Result! :D
  • ris
    ris Posts: 392
    that's great! i'd say that's top service from the shop and spesh.
  • fastbatard
    fastbatard Posts: 137
    Must say I was very impressed with the excellent customer service. I can only assume Spesh are very aware of the potential problems with the original wheelset. I'll be interested to see if they're still putting them on their 2011 models.
  • Full Merckx
    Full Merckx Posts: 143
    Cool to get it sorted 8) Got an Allez, Transition and a Tarmac S-works and never had probs so hopefully your sorted. Transition went back twice with a clunky bottom bracket and spesh were pretty good getting it sorted.
  • mmxbreaks
    mmxbreaks Posts: 11
    Yeah you're being fobbed off. Similar thing happened to me. I took it to their workshop three times and each time they just greased it. I was rather annoyed the third time and was explaining that with a bearing problem it wasn't good enough to ride. Had to contact the manager, parent company, etc, and eventually got it changed for free.

Categories