Cracked Trek frame, warranty problems

Kellee999

Hi,

I returned my 18 month old Trek 1.5 to where I bought it from today with a cracked frame at the dropout. Basically without warning my rear derailleur snapped off and flung itself into the spokes damaging the dropout in the process.

I'm sure there will be many doubters out there who will say it must have been dropped/knocked/crashed etc for something so catastrophic to happen but hand on heart it hasn't,all the parts on the drivetrain are original except the chain which was replaced by my LBS so no shoddy work has taken place and I always look after my bikes.

Basically Trek will not honour there "lifetime" frame warranty on the basis that I must have abused or crashed it. They are also making this decision based on a few photographs sent in by my LBS. if they were to physically check over the bike surely they would see it hasn't been crashed?

I am disgusted by the service I am receiving from Trek and would be very interested to hear anyone else's Trek related warranty stories or advice on how I can take this forward?

Thanks

sigorman85

Hi I'm currently going through a process of a cracked frame with de Rosa ...been 3 weeks now and still no joy the bike shop that I brought the bike from are ace and are doing what they can. My bike was a de rosa idol disc 2015 and had only coverd 439 miles and 6 weeks old. Derosa said that the frame is in warranty till 2017 but still want to see it even tho pics have been sent to the in Italy! It's starting to get to me now as I have paid a lot of money for something I haven't got . I also have no idea why the frame has cracked so soon . With the lbs Bering so helio it slow moving because of other main parties it's very frustrating as like I said its a long wait just to get a replacement...

If I was you i would take this further also have you got bike insurance?

I think there is pics of my frame on the page some where . Hope you get this sorted soon

dowtcha

The frame did not fail because of a manufacturing defect but because it was damaged when the rear derailleur snapped off and damaged it. Why do you think this is treks fault ?

kajjal

If the trek bike problem happened after a month then they would likely have to sort things out. After 18 months it is a lot less likely.

MountainMonster

I'm also on Trek's side on this, unfortunately. After 18 months, and to have a replaceable part snap and cause the damage would lean me towards external reasons for the fault as opposed to manufacturing faults.

popularname

MountainMonster wrote:

I'm also on Trek's side on this, unfortunately. After 18 months, and to have a replaceable part snap and cause the damage would lean me towards external reasons for the fault as opposed to manufacturing faults.

+1 I'm afraid

cougie

Yeah not treks fault that your mech snapped. Stick in the chain or something ?

You can get carbon repaired so I'd look into that.

sloppyschleckonds

Hi -welcome to the forum.

JRA

k-dog

cougie wrote:

Yeah not treks fault that your mech snapped. Stick in the chain or something ?

You can get carbon repaired so I'd look into that.

Unfortunately the 1.5 is Aluminium though so that's not possible - but the frames aren't too expensive so wouldn't be outrageous to change the whole thing.

First.Aspect

The sales contract is between you and the shop. If Trek or Shimano don't acknowledge a manufacturing defect (if indeed there is one) that would be the shop's problem.

As I understand it, a product which is sold in the UK must be fit for purpose. Within the first year, in the event of failure/breakage, the burden of proof lies with the vendor. Thereafter, the burden of proof lies with the customer. Beyond 2 years, unless there is some other agreement in place (e.g. a lifetime warrantee), you aren't protected.

So, did the rear derailleur snap, or the hanger? If it was the hanger, why? What state was the drivetrain in? Did something catch in the drivetrain somewhere? Was it the original chain? Was the replacement chain the right length? Was the derailleur faulty? Was it clean and lubricated? etc etc

If you really do believe that its a fault with the hanger or the derailleur, these are the sort of questions you'll be up against.

Monty Dog

No mention of what gear you were riding - didn't happen to be an upshift onto the biggest rear sprocket?
9/10 it's down to a poorly adjusted mech / bent gear hanger - sent the mech into the spokes and then wraps itself around the cassette, often taking the frame drop-out with it. Can also happen due to chain jamming in the jockey wheel cage - happens lots in cyclocross.
Frame drop outs are pretty robust chunks of metal, they rarely simply break of their own volition.

terry2708

A similar thing happened to me on a Trek 2.1. My LBS sent the photos off to Trek and they sent me a new 2.3 frame!! I had actually ordered a new bike as I thought I had no chance of getting a new frame but Trek came up trumps. They asked for a couple of more pictures but it was definitely not accident damage so gave in. Try sending some more pics you might get as lucky as me. My frame was about 15 months old.

Johnterry75

Could it be due to weight issues? My LBS offered weight insurances that I took out and this covered me after my Trek frame snapped due to having put on a significant amount of bulk lately.

fenix

Funny thst it's never the riders fault.

philbar72

not treks fault. sorry.

fenix

Johnterry75 wrote:

Could it be due to weight issues? My LBS offered weight insurances that I took out and this covered me after my Trek frame snapped due to having put on a significant amount of bulk lately.

How much weight and what snapped on the frame ?

andcp

Johnterry75 wrote:

My LBS offered weight insurances that I took out

I have some snake oil for sale - would you be interested?

Johnterry75

Andcp wrote:

Johnterry75 wrote:

My LBS offered weight insurances that I took out

I have some snake oil for sale - would you be interested?

Yes

darkhairedlord

at least put a picture up of the crack, might just be the paint.
When was it last serviced?
what were you doing when it broke all on its own?
Did you remove the dork disk?

veronese68

Thread resurrection warning, OP was over a year ago.
I'm intrigued by this weight insurance, never heard of such a thing.

PTestTeam

Veronese68 wrote:

Thread resurrection warning, OP was over a year ago.
I'm intrigued by this weight insurance, never heard of such a thing.

He spelt it wrong. It's actually 'Wait Insurance'

It was introduced by Canyon...

itboffin

So if I take out this insurance and gain weight can I make a claim?

svetty

itboffin wrote:

So if I take out this insurance and gain weight can I make a claim?

This thread is a trolling grave-dig. Best not feed the troll......

Kellee999

Hi,

For anyone who's actually interested the outcome to this story was this.

My LBS sent off some pictures of the frame to trek and trek turned down my warranty claim. I went back to the LBS and asked them how trek could turn down this claim without actually inspecting the bike themselves. They said there was nothing more could be done and then tried selling me a new bike.

Not happy with this I decided to contact trek directly myself and was astonished by what I heard back. Trek said that they had offered to take the frame back for inspection but the LBS had told them I did not want this to be done! They did say they were willing to inspect it though.

I therefore rather angrily returned to the LBS who returned my frame, after 2 days trek (who I have to say we're excellent throughout) agreed to replace my frame with an upgraded version although they weren't willing to accept it was a fault in the frame.

The morale of the story for me is that you feel you have a genuine claim don't always rely on your LBS follow your claim through completely, go direct to the supplier and you may reach a different outcome. Thankyou to Trek for there professional dealings with me.

lesfirth

Name and shame the LBS involved.

kajjal

lesfirth wrote:

Name and shame the LBS involved.

Assuming it is true, i would name them to stop others being mislead.

gaffer_slow

that is terrible LBS service.

name them.

PTestTeam

Kellee999 wrote:

Hi,

For anyone who's actually interested the outcome to this story was this.

My LBS sent off some pictures of the frame to trek and trek turned down my warranty claim. I went back to the LBS and asked them how trek could turn down this claim without actually inspecting the bike themselves. They said there was nothing more could be done and then tried selling me a new bike.

Not happy with this I decided to contact trek directly myself and was astonished by what I heard back. Trek said that they had offered to take the frame back for inspection but the LBS had told them I did not want this to be done! They did say they were willing to inspect it though.

I therefore rather angrily returned to the LBS who returned my frame, after 2 days trek (who I have to say we're excellent throughout) agreed to replace my frame with an upgraded version although they weren't willing to accept it was a fault in the frame.

The morale of the story for me is that you feel you have a genuine claim don't always rely on your LBS follow your claim through completely, go direct to the supplier and you may reach a different outcome. Thankyou to Trek for there professional dealings with me.

That's a great outcome and well done on your perseverance but its a bit odd that Trek are quite willing to give you a new frame even though they say it wasn't a fault with their frame?

Kellee999

PTestTeam wrote:

Kellee999 wrote:

Hi,

That's a great outcome and well done on your perseverance but its a bit odd that Trek are quite willing to give you a new frame even though they say it wasn't a fault with their frame?

Because they said that the crack in the frame was caused by a faulty part, rather than a fault in the manufacturing of the frame. However because the parts were original from new and I could prove it had been serviced by CYTECH mechanics they accepted it shouldn't have happened and the upgraded frame replacement was a good will gesture. As I mentioned earlier Trek were excellent throughout I can't fault them, whichever way they want to explain it is fine by me.

With regards to naming the LBS I have had several positive dealings with them before this problem, I don't think it is right to lay blame completely at their door when really I believe it was the fault of a couple of members of staff.

Needless to say they were informed that I will take any future business elsewhere.

Firefighterbob

I have a 3 year old Treck 7.7 hybrid with about less than one hundred miles.I am not particularly a bike person but my wife wanted to make sure I did some exercise after my retirement.I am 68 years old and about 158 lbs.A bout 5 weeks ago a neighbor got me into biking with him 2 days a week so I started to actually put some real miles on the bike.We would do about 15/20 miles a day.On my fourth trip I shifted down to the smaller main sprocket set because of a pretty steep hill (I'm wasn't in the best shape to use the larger one).Eventually had to shift the rear gears to the lowest,when I did I heard crunch then the bike jammed.Found the rear gear set jammed between the spokes and the frame.After removing noticed 2 slices into the drop down about 1/4-5/16 long.The bracket that holds the gear set is made of what looks like cast aluminum which is very easily broken.Also because the gear set is mounted on the inside of the drop down it cannot breakaway safely.Was told by my local dealer/repair shop where I bought the bike that the frame was cracked.They sent photos to the Treck company who denied any frame warranty.They offered to sell me an upgraded frame for 800.00.I will be pursuing this.

fenix

You can get CF repaired pretty cheaply.

Cant see you have much of a claim on the frame. The gears have gone into the rear wheel (did you check this over the three years ? You really don't want your mech to go into the wheel) - the gear hanger is sacrificial - its meant to break or else you'd rip the end off the frame.

It's unfortunate that its broken the chainstay - but you do know that CF isnt great for impacts.

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/produ ... mes-175025