Sram Warranty/ going to different bikeshop

sven_jto

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post so I've posted in both subforums.
Last year I bought a partial sram red grouppo from a bikeshop in Scotland at retail price . A few days ago the shift lever broke on the Left Sram Red shifter.
The problem is I live in Belgium now and the bikeshops i've been to so far, are refusing to take my warranty claim for the shifter.
Sram only does stuff like that through dealers and their europe central phone office was very unhelpful. Shouldn't bike shops take my warranty item(should i keep trying to go to sram dealers)?
It'd be quite complex to get the item to Scotland and so on.
Do you guys have any suggestions I've got training camp soon and races I really don't wanna be stuck in the 53 all the time ? :shock:

sven_jto

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post so I've posted in both subforums.
Last year I bought a partial sram red grouppo from a bikeshop in Scotland at retail price . A few days ago the shift lever broke on the Left Sram Red shifter.
The problem is I live in Belgium now and the bikeshops i've been to so far, are refusing to take my warranty claim for the shifter.
Sram only does stuff like that through dealers and their europe central phone office was very unhelpful. Shouldn't bike shops take my warranty item(should i keep trying to go to sram dealers)?
It'd be quite complex to get the item to Scotland and so on.
Do you guys have any suggestions I've got training camp soon and races I really don't wanna be stuck in the 53 all the time ? :shock:

londoncommuter

It's going to depend on how nice your local shop is! I was in the same situation and another shop kindly handled the warranty claim for me on a set of Force shifters. Was really speedy in the end.

SRAM do seem great with warranties once accepted but it's not ideal that end consumers can't ask for these directly.

Good luck.

Grill

Find another dealer and put that shop on blast.

sungod

consumer law in uk is that your contract is with the retailer you purchased from

the way distribution chains work is generally manufacturer->distributor->retailer, this applies across a vast range of products, not specific to cycling, the agreements and finances are based on each in the chain doing what it's supposed to do in its market(s) (there are exceptions, such as where a global or multinational warranty program grants the right to local service, but that's not as common)

for you as the consumer buying from another country that may not be convenient, but that's how things are, local distributors/retailers aren't paid/obliged to handle warranty on something they didn't sell, a local retailer will probably get no support for parts that weren't supplied by their local distributor

this is the risk with cross border purchase, it may save money, but you have no automatic right to support from local channels, so you will incur extra cost/hassle in the event of a problem

it isn't complex to get it from belgium to scotland, postal services within the eu are good, there's no customs declaration etc., you just pack it and send it

you really do need to contact the retailer and take it from there

wolfsbane2k

sven_jto wrote:

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post so I've posted in both subforums.
Last year I bought a partial sram red grouppo from a bikeshop in Scotland at retail price . A few days ago the shift lever broke on the Left Sram Red shifter.
The problem is I live in Belgium now and the bikeshops i've been to so far, are refusing to take my warranty claim for the shifter.
Sram only does stuff like that through dealers and their europe central phone office was very unhelpful. Shouldn't bike shops take my warranty item(should i keep trying to go to sram dealers)?
It'd be quite complex to get the item to Scotland and so on.
Do you guys have any suggestions I've got training camp soon and races I really don't wanna be stuck in the 53 all the time ? :shock:

Basic response, as not aware of all the country laws.

The problem is as I see it within the first year of ownership responsibility for repair is all with the original shop under the uk sale of goods act, so you might have to contact them and ask them to get it fixed for you, including covering the postage and packaging.
Might be worth calling them and asking their advice, see if they can get SRAM to help you out.

crankycrank

Try calling their headquarters in the USA. I have no idea if they will help but when you get no satisfaction from the lower rungs of the business try going to the top of the chain.

sven_jto

A little follow up. Had to send it to original bike shop... Waiting for 3-4 weeks now.. not even returned by sram. Anyone had warranty experience with Sram UK?

StillGoing

sven_jto wrote:

A little follow up. Had to send it to original bike shop... Waiting for 3-4 weeks now.. not even returned by sram. Anyone had warranty experience with Sram UK?

How do you know the bike shop has forwarded it to SRAM? It could just be sitting on a shelf in their workshop or under the counter. This should be a simple response for you; you send it back as faulty, the shop agree it's faulty and replace it. They take it up with SRAM. If, on the other hand, they don't agree it is faulty and has been broken through excessive force, the problem is just your's and you'll have to pay for replacement parts or a new shifter.

Salsa

I've sent a few shifters back to SRAM (Fisher) in the UK and they were really fast, generally post on a Monday and receive new ones Weds/Thurs. I'd chase up the shop.

sven_jto

Yep I'll do that... it's been long enough will see how it goes...