Gt Sensor 4.0 finally arrived today :) but badly scratched:(

Galfinnan

New bike finally arrived today. Felt like a kid at xmas, but then got a sinking feeling when I saw the fist sized hole in the side of the box. My aunt signed for it while I was at work, so I wasn't there to inspect the box.

When I looked at the bike I saw this.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/F ... directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/o ... directlink

The scratch is down to the bare metal and has marked the surface of the frame slightly.

Having phoned the company there have said they will launch a claim verus the courier when they get the pictures of the scratch.

They have told me that it will likely take up to 4 weeks to get a new one in. built and out to me by the time the courier has sorted things out. They guy did mention the possibility of credit towards items in their online shop as a way of compensation. Having waited over 2 months for the cycle to work scheme to be sorted out by my employer I don't want to wait another 4 weeks so the idea of the compensation is sort of appealing.

Essentially, any advice as to what do expect in the way of compensation for something like this would be appreciated or would I be better off waiting the 4 weeks.? I don't reckon a minor scratch like that is going to cause the frame to fail later at that point ? The warranty too wouldn't cover the frame if it failed at that point either as it isn't one of the welds or am I wrong on this? If I do accept the compensation then I would need to cover the scratch any easy way to do this or should I put it into a car body shop ?

Very annoying having a new bike I can't ride sitting in the house particularly as the weather is so good just now but any advice appreciated.

supersonic

The scratch should not cause any structural problems, and should they occur the warranty will cover it (that is if the company say it is safe to ride).

Should be easy to touch black paint up, or cover with a sticker. Or just leave, will cause no probs.

Compensation? Some tools, parts etc. Not sure how this works with C2W as you do not own the bike, it belongs to your employer, but if you did own it, for a minor scratch like thatI wouldn't give you more than £25.

kenan

I would get out there and ride the bike.

Fight for some free stuff and cover the scrach over like SuperSonic advised. You'll end up scratching the bike at some point anyway and if you don't you ain't going fast enough

xand_xand

Personally I'd be gutted and demand a replacement.
Yes you are gonna get it scratched at some point but why the hell should you accept a brand new Mtb with this damage.
I like many of us here we love and cherish our bikes that weve paid or are paying good money for this is why we are all looking at taking shares out in helicopter tape!!
We protect our bikes as much as we can and then as and when we do get them scratched we know it's of our own doing through sheer hard work on the trails or clumsiness of course.

Think I might be overreacting a little but hey for me .... I'd want if immaculate from the start.

andy46

+1

I agree completely

The Northern Monkey

I sent a bike back with a chip in the paint about the size of 2 smarties, right on the top tube.

Galfinnan

Thanks for the advice, will wait and see what they offer but I reckon if they offer £25 then I'll be asking for a new bike. I was thinking more in the region of 10% of the value of the bike, however, I'm thinking I might not be in the strongest of positions. I do know that if they don't sort it out well, my employer may well change the scheme they use and that would cost the company I few customers (I work for the council).

Looking at the website of the company it doesn't look to have the greatest range of products either so having most of the stuff I need and them not having a lot of stuff I want would likely struggle to spend it anyway. New bike is looking the most likely option.

The Northern Monkey

To be fair, the bike will be insured through the parcel company for the full value and was probably included in the delivery charges.

Don't think you're screwing the bike shop over, it is the parcel company that will lose out.

You paid for a new, undamaged bike... why accept anything less?

supersonic

I was thinking more in the region of 10% of the value of the bike

Absolutely no chance. It would be cheaper for them to collect and replace it.

Galfinnan

Judging from the website its not a local bike shop its more like a large company and cycling is only one aspect of their business. If it was a local bike shop that I was going to be going into regularly and buying bits and asking for advice then chances are I would have let it go for the sake of the relationship.

If I had gone to the shop and they had offered me £25 off the bike for the scratch I would not have accepted it there and then so its unlikely I would accept it now. If they take the bike back it likely would be cheaper for them to come and get it from Nottingham to Glasgow and back (than offer 10%) but then they would be stuck in the situation of having a scratched bike to sell also. Surely it would be easier all round to persuade me to accept the scratched bike. Tricky one really, guess it will depend a lot on the terms of the couriers insurance etc. Will update after I have spoke to them tommorow.

apreading

My LBS generally gives 10% off for shop display bikes that might have the odd mark - not scratches as big as this though. I dont know if you shop sold it for RRP or already heavily discounted it.

If they take it back they will need to reduce price significantly to sell it, as you say, plus the cost of getting it back and the cost of sending you the replacement.

Personally I think I would tell them to take it back and not be persuaded otherwise, but at 10% I might consider putting up with it - not 10% of goods though, I would want 10% refund.

If you take 10% of value in goods, it will not actually cost them that amount, because it will only cost them what they buy the goods in at - not their normal selling price.

£25 of goods would only cost them £10-15 in reality and I would consider a joke.

If you are considering keeping, I would push for 10% refund and maybe let them talk you into 10% value in goods - but only if they have stuff you would buy anyway and not at stupid prices.

unixnerd

Don't think you're screwing the bike shop over, it is the parcel company that will lose out.

Not entirely. I send out a lot of parcels every day by courier. Claiming is murder and takes ages. They normally offer half the value of the damage and if you don't accept that they take forever to handle the claim in the hope you'll drop it. They'll also point out that the goods were signed for as being OK and claim you caused the damage not them. All couriers are like this. Royal Mail used to be great years ago, but not now.

If it were a nice weather weekend only bike I'd demand a new one. For a commuter or something that's going be in the wars anyway I'd settle for a partial refund or some freebies.

Galfinnan

Well its a cycle to work bike so any form of refund is most likely to be goods, technically my employer owns the bike and I am only hiring it off them. If they were to refund cash who would get it ? My employer or me ? How would it affect the payments and the tax I pay? Sounds like an admin nightmare to me.

How would the calculate what half the damage is worth ? Half the value of the bike ?

Seems like an awful lot of questions to me but the point that it has already been signed for is a very valid one.

Having spoke to them today, it appears that they are having a meeting with their couriers next week to discuss their contract and the damage that has occurred to certain bikes they have delivered. The company seem keen to sort this out from what they say so will see what happens when they have the meeting.

supersonic

If I could get 10% of all the bikes I have bought for a scratch, I'd scratch them myself ;-).

Another problem, as pointed out above, is how can the bike shop prove the courier did the damage? Could take a long, long time.

Galfinnan

Spoke to the company today and have agreed to goods from the website to the value of £80, didn't quite get what I wanted but this seemed reasonable enough to me. At the end of the day this amounts to more than 10% of the cost of the bike to me as its a cycle to work bike.

Stuck the peddles on it and straightened the bars and took it out for a spin round the block just to see what it was like. Really different to my current bike which was actually quite a surprise, I didn't think I would be able to notice such a big difference.

However, when braking I was hearing a bit of a clunking noise and could feel a bit of wobble through the bars. When I got home had a look at the bars area and there seems to be a fair bit of play between the steerer tube and the frame. The headset is FSA and you can wobble the fork about so that the bottom piece of the headset hangs over the frame by a few mm front and back. Only bike I have owned so far is my Wahoo and there is no wobble like this on that so I'm assuming something isn't right in there ? Furthermove, the cap that sits on top of the stem isnt a solid disc, it looks more like the little plastic thing you used to get for the middle of records that had come from a juke box. This seems odd to me as it would allow water/dirt to get into that part of the bike?

Am I right in thinking the play in the steerer tube over time will result in fatigue, considering the forces that will be applied to it during riding/braking ? Is there anything I can do to fix this myself? Thanks for any advice

cooldad

You need to adjust the headset. Loosen the stem bolts, tighten the topcap until the play is gone and the forks still move freely, retighten the stem bolts.

sheepsteeth

the wobble is an easy fix,

undo the pinch bolts which hold the stem to the steerer.

apply the front brake

use an allen key to gradually tighten the top cap bolt whilst rocking th bikeback and forth using the hand you are applying the brake with.

as you rock back and forth and tighten the top cap bolt, yuo will feel the play dissapear.

at this point, re tighten the pinch bolts and check tht the forks will steer smoothly , if there is any grinding or tightness, start again.

Galfinnan

Cheers will give this a try in the morning.

diy

I think I'd send it back, you are almost at the end of the season now, should be able to pick up some bargains in 4-5 weeks

Galfinnan

Bah couldn't wait till morning, as both of you said was an easy enough fix, worked fine and no play now. Cheers for the help. I take it the non-solid top cap is common enough though ?

supersonic

All seems good: you do need to learn how to adjust it though. Headset bearings is one area.

Galfinnan

Indeed, I am pretty handy at most things but am quite ignorant with regard to a lot of the stuff I should know about maintaining bikes. The Wahoo was really robust and needed little doing to it only ever minor adjustment to brakes and gears etc but it was never used in anger so to speak. Hopefully, the Sensor will be different, have joined a local club who have beginner nights and will be attending one soon hopefully once I get my fitness up a little. I have learned a fair bit though on here, I am a bit embarrased now, asked if the Sensor would be suitable for DH when I didn't really understand what that was. You kept me right and I do appreciate that. I frequent quite a few forums for my various interests and I have found that generally the folk on here are much more helpful than those on there.

I have read that the Park website is good so going to start there and maybe get a copy of their blue book. The last bike I had before the Wahoo was a Raleigh Equipe 12 speed 20 years ago so things have moved on from that obviously so I might even look into courses available close to me. Cheers. :P

quattrojames

I've just read this, and am glad it was sorted. Not a situation I'd like to be in, as I know my impatience to ride the bike would probably have overshadowed my annoyance at receiving a damaged bike.

On another note as a fellow newbie to bike maintenance, but someone with reasonable mechanical ability I find the Park website a good place to start.

Raymondavalon

I wouldn't send it back TBH, it's scratch, nothing more, nothing less.
Sure the OP got £80 to spend with the supplier, result, but the fact that the bike may have to sit in limbo whilst the supplier and courier squabble over the [not so serious] scratch is a ballache

benpinnick

Yeah, they come in all shapes and sizes. No problems there.

Galfinnan

Not had much luck with this so far but last night it got worse. Been riding the bike to work and back just to get used to it a bit before I take it to the trails and on the way into work yesterday the pedal fell off.

When I put the pedals on they were marked L/R so they were hand tightened on the appropriate crank and then tightened with a pedal spanner. Having read on here about people stripping the thread on the crank I was really careful to make sure I didn't do that.

On the way into work I noticed a slight vibration through the pedal but having a quick look down didnt see anything so keep going thinking I would check when I got to work. Stood up to pedal over the crest of the a hill and the pedal came off completely.

Looking at it the crank is threaded and won't hold the pedal at all. Having spoke to my LBS they have suggested that the pedal itself was faulty and could have caused this. The right hand pedal is fine and is on securely.

The crank will be replaced by the online retailer I got the bike from so it will be ok.

The problem I have is despite the care I took to make sure I put it on ok this still happened so I am worried that it might happen again. Is it plausible that a faulty pedal could have done this ? I'm going to buy new pedals anyway but I would appreciate any ideas on this and any tips to make sure if it was my fault to make sure it doesn't happen again. Cheers.

kinmofo

shame ur not closer to manchester, i could patch n paint that for you to a point the only way you'd know it had been scratched would be if you had seen it before. i used to quite regularly do my own bike. i'd just strip it down, fill in all the chips in scratches. paint. rebuild. fresh looking bike. i've not decided what color to paint my current bike yet. im tempted to do it in some garish colors lol

supersonic

Am afraid to say pedals only fall off when you do not torque them correctly. Did you use a pedal spanner? Mine is over a foot long to get the right torque - a bog standard 15mm spanner is rarely sufficient.

dmorton

People should take more note and use of the sale of goods act!

I had recent dealling with a high street jeweller who sold me a watch that the black plating flaked off after 3 weeks. Long story short, the shop tried to refer me to the manufacturer. However after I pointing them towards the sale of goods act 1979 and showing them they were in fact responsible not the manufacturer, they offered a full refund.

I actually don't believe it's right for you to have to claim off the delivery courier, the shop is liable. The shop provided you with bad quality delivery service which resulted in you receiving a faulty product. The fact you sign for it doesn't waive your consumer rights. Any claims for compensation should be between the shop and the courier. You are entitled to be able to get a replacement, repair or refund from the shop. You shouldn't have to deal with the courier, full stop.

Read here -http://whatconsumer.co.uk/delivery-and-collection-of-goods/

In C2W it still applies but your company should sort as they own the bike

In my experience intial phone calls with the usually clueless* people working at retailers don't get you far. Find their customer service dept. or shop manager and write a letter with reference to the sale of goods act 1979.

Follow the guide here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theoneshow/consumer/2009/07/03/sale_of_goods_act_letter_downl.html

*clueless to consumer rights

supersonic

He didn't deal with the courier, he got £80 of goods in compensation and accepted it!

He had the option of repair, replacement or refund if had been asked for, no doubt, in fact replacement was mentioned.

dubmodder

Would definitely take that back!