Marks/damage on new bike?!

mstrmind5

Hi All,

Received a new bike and upon inspecting it, I've come across a few issues.

1. In and around the underside/bottom of the front fork on both sides you can see two small chips on both sides and another mark on the right side near the bottom of the fork.

2. There are a couple of minor blemishes on the top tube where the paint has come off on the logo/emblem.

Are these anything to worry about, especially the small chips and what action should I now take - an exchange or partial refund?

Here are the images (I hope) http://imgur.com/a/EIgjp

Thanks.

AK_jnr

Jesus, you are thorough arent you. Trust me though, a few wheel changes and those tiny marks on the drop outs will be 10x worse.

feisty

Could get those on next ride with chip from a stone. I'd think nothing of them. You won't notice them after 2 to 3 rides.

mstrmind5

Paranoid mostly, but it has it's benefits

So any water exposure to those areas won't damage the frame then?

Should I still pursue the possibility of a partial refund?

imposter2.0

mstrmind5 wrote:

Should I still pursue the possibility of a partial refund?

Seriously - don't embarrass yourself by asking.

mstrmind5

Okay, I won't.

Sorry for bothering you guys.

sloppyschleckonds

mstrmind5 wrote:

Paranoid mostly, but it has it's benefits

So any water exposure to those areas won't damage the frame then?

Should I still pursue the possibility of a partial refund?

Commensurate with the damage, would you accept 1/2p?

mstrmind5

Don't worry, learned my lesson. A poster above, rightly gave me a telling off.

StillGoing

mstrmind5 wrote:

Don't worry, learned my lesson. A poster above, rightly gave me a telling off.

If I were the dealer that sold it to you and you came in asking for a partial refund, I'd take the bike back and tell you never to darken the door again. Still, you've learned your lesson.

AK_jnr

If you are worried just put a dab of nail varnish or something over the top. As I say though, my drop outs barely have any paint left on them underneath due to all the wheels changes

ForumNewbie

philthy3 wrote:

mstrmind5 wrote:

Don't worry, learned my lesson. A poster above, rightly gave me a telling off.

If I were the dealer that sold it to you and you came in asking for a partial refund, I'd take the bike back and tell you never to darken the door again. Still, you've learned your lesson.

That's the sort of customer service that gives some local bike shops a bad name, and stops new customers/cyclists going back and giving them more business. I agree the damage is very minor and doesn't merit a refund or an exchange, but if I asked about the reason for any damage to an expensive bike I bought, I'd expect a reasonable explanation from the bike shop, rather than being looked down upon because you have asked a simple question.

StillGoing

ForumNewbie wrote:

philthy3 wrote:

mstrmind5 wrote:

Don't worry, learned my lesson. A poster above, rightly gave me a telling off.

If I were the dealer that sold it to you and you came in asking for a partial refund, I'd take the bike back and tell you never to darken the door again. Still, you've learned your lesson.

That's the sort of customer service that gives some local bike shops a bad name, and stops new customers/cyclists going back and giving them more business. I agree the damage is very minor and doesn't merit a refund or an exchange, but if I asked about the reason for any damage to an expensive bike I bought, I'd expect a reasonable explanation from the bike shop, rather than being looked down upon because you have asked a simple question.

Oh give over. The marks are virtually unnoticeable without getting down with a magnifying glass. Moaning about them and asking for a refund is wasting your own time and the shops time. Get a life for Christ sake.

ForumNewbie

philthy3 wrote:

ForumNewbie wrote:

philthy3 wrote:

mstrmind5 wrote:

Don't worry, learned my lesson. A poster above, rightly gave me a telling off.

If I were the dealer that sold it to you and you came in asking for a partial refund, I'd take the bike back and tell you never to darken the door again. Still, you've learned your lesson.

That's the sort of customer service that gives some local bike shops a bad name, and stops new customers/cyclists going back and giving them more business. I agree the damage is very minor and doesn't merit a refund or an exchange, but if I asked about the reason for any damage to an expensive bike I bought, I'd expect a reasonable explanation from the bike shop, rather than being looked down upon because you have asked a simple question.

Oh give over. The marks are virtually unnoticeable without getting down with a magnifying glass. Moaning about them and asking for a refund is wasting your own time and the shops time. Get a life for Christ sake.

If you read my comments I agreed that "the damage is very minor and doesn't merit a refund or an exchange" in this case. If it was a very noticeable scratch/chip mark then I would want a refund or exchange, as I have a 5 year old bike which I bought new and it still doesn't have any noticeable chip marks. However whatever the case it would benefit the shop and customer if they treated any complaint in a professional courteous way, rather than in a dismissive way as some bike shops tend to do.

StillGoing

And my view is that any customer that is going to be so anal about a tiny mark like those, is the sort of customer that is not going to be a regular one anyway. More the kind that will source their "bargains" on the internet and then expect the LBS to match the price or try and help them honour any future warranty claims.

fudgey

I think if you are not happy you have every right to ask for an exchange. I wouldn't buy a brand new car and accept it with a scratch down the side.

I bought a Colnago C60 a couple of months ago in MHRD that has lacquer over the carbon, on one of the rear seat stays you could clearly see a dull length about 6 inches long with sanding marks in it. The frameset has an 8-10 week lead date, so i was a little upset when it arrived.

When you are paying £3500 for a frameset you want it to be perfect, so it went back. If it was a fully painted frame it would have been fine.
Yes they called me a picky anal bastard, but its my money im spending and they sent me a new frame from a cancelled order a few days later thankfully.

I have since bought my wife a Colnago from the same dealer (making that 4 Colnago's in total from them) so their customer service i know is exceptional, and i will keep using them.

sloppyschleckonds

Fudgey wrote:

Yes they called me a picky anal bastard,

The customer is always wrong

mrb123

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Fudgey wrote:

Yes they called me a picky anal bastard,

The customer is always wrong

When it comes to anal it pays to be picky.

socrates

Sorry to disagree with most on here but if you are paying for a new frame then it should be perfect. Why not? You didn't buy a pre used one, that is why not. How many here would happily buy a car, furniture etc and just ignore any blemishes.

keef66

Jesus! If I went over everything I bought in that kind of microscopic detail I'd be forever sending stuff back. And if you want your bike to stay cosmetically perfect, don't whatever you do ride the thing...

AK_jnr

Hahaha you think your brand new car is 100% blemish free? Coooome onnnn.

StillGoing

AK_jnr wrote:

Hahaha you think your brand new car is 100% blemish free? Coooome onnnn.

Very true and it doesn't matter how expensive the car is, they all have something not quite right even if it is the dirty rag and water the yard lad has washed it down with to get the protective sheets off after being stored in a wet field somewhere and then having all the grit polished in to the paintwork ready for the customer to collect.

cougie

socrates wrote:

Sorry to disagree with most on here but if you are paying for a new frame then it should be perfect. Why not? You didn't buy a pre used one, that is why not. How many here would happily buy a car, furniture etc and just ignore any blemishes.

Have you seen the pics though? The bike looks good to me.

keef66

cougie wrote:

socrates wrote:

Sorry to disagree with most on here but if you are paying for a new frame then it should be perfect. Why not? You didn't buy a pre used one, that is why not. How many here would happily buy a car, furniture etc and just ignore any blemishes.

Have you seen the pics though? The bike looks good to me.

When I viewed the photos I thought it must be a wind-up. They are without a doubt the tiniest blemishes I've ever seen posted on here, and completely inconsequential for a bike.

Looking for the same level of perfection you'd expect in a silicone wafer or a paharmaceutical product isn't reasonable IME. And if such microscopic imperfections trouble you, how are you going to feel when the first patch of gravel gives you stone chips on the downtube, or the chain takes a bite out of the chainstay when you crash through a pothole?

fudgey

Ok i only just looked at the pics, you say received it - did it come mail order and you assembled it yourself?
Tbh those are quite minor chips.