Do you think BMC is managing its FORK GATE well?

cidriver

Hi there!

With your permission, let me open this new forum in order to obtain advice or feedback from owners, users who are suffering the "Fork Gate" in his-her BMC Teammachine SLR01. I'm one of them.

20/12/2019 received a mail from BMC that literally says: "Your fork will be arrive on our stock end of January and we will ship it immediately to your dealer".

It is very frustrating to spent in July 2019, € 7299 on a bicycle which the brand itself identified a technical problem with the fork that could result in a cracked or broken steerer tube, leading to potential crashes and injuries. BMC Switzerland requests that these bikes are no longer ridden (since November 15th. 2019 to.....)

In my modest opinion, BMC is not managing this issue in the best way, BMC should give a better solution to customers who have trusted the brand.

I understand that BMC do not have the forks. They have to re-built/design it from the scratch. That´s mean a lot of waiting time for the affected customers. What happens to my workouts now? I ride a bike 4 times a week and I'm not an elite athlete.

I would like to identify people who are in the same situation, a frustrating situation in which we are going to be minimum, until March-April 2020 (in my modest opinion) and that's NOT FAIR
We have to be together and if it necessary, ask for legal help. I'm going to fight for my rights, it has taken a lot of effort and dedication to buy my BMC Teammachine SLR01 2019.

Merry Christmas to all of you and thanks in advance.

cidriver

Thank you in advance for your comments and, I hope we can meet most of those Fork affected in order to complain.

fenix

It's winter here. Ride your winter bike ?

timothyw

Yeah, to be honest, if you spent seven thousand euros on your only bike, you might have your priorities slightly off - if I were spending that sort of money and had an empty garage I'd probably end up with three bikes minimum, perhaps five or six....

Nip down to decathlon, they have bikes in stock for a few hundred euros that will tide you over for the winter months.

monkimark

Can't you just get a refund and buy a different bike (or 3).
No way I'd be letting a company sit on that amount of money for 6 months.

cidriver

fenix said:

It's winter here. Ride your winter bike ?

Winter in south of Spain is very mild, it is like a spring or autumn. So, it is a perfect season to ride your bike (well, with the permission of BMC, of course)

cidriver

monkimark said:

Can't you just get a refund and buy a different bike (or 3).
No way I'd be letting a company sit on that amount of money for 6 months.

I mailed then and asked then to return my affected bike and buy (I mean, pay) for a non affected one, but they will no said absolute nothing about it. In fact, I think is one of the possible to solutions to keep customers happy.

Did you know any other way to keep customers happy? Contributions, welcome!!!

cidriver

timothyw said:

Yeah, to be honest, if you spent seven thousand euros on your only bike, you might have your priorities slightly off - if I were spending that sort of money and had an empty garage I'd probably end up with three bikes minimum, perhaps five or six....

Nip down to decathlon, they have bikes in stock for a few hundred euros that will tide you over for the winter months.

Well, your opinion is very respectable. It is what you would do. Another would do something else. Another would choose another color. I understand that each one spends his money based on the needs he has, or because he seeks some other kind of goal.

But the point here is a brand such BMC informed not to ride his BMC Teammachine SLR01 for security reasons.

ugo.santalucia

Does your dealer not have a second hand/demo bike to lend you until yours is fixed? If you spend 7 grand on a bike, one would expect some level of support

cidriver

ugo.santalucia said:

Does your dealer not have a second hand/demo bike to lend you until yours is fixed? If you spend 7 grand on a bike, one would expect some level of support

To be honest, I don't know. The dealer it is 55 kilometers from where I live. I've only taken the bike once to check the fork. I bought my BMC SLR01 in another city.

darkhairedlord

BMC have identified a fault and are redesigning the fork. They have alerted their customers to the problem and have a remedy in hand. If you are expecting any sympathy you have come to wrong forum to come and moan about the manufacturer with the hope of squeezing some cash out of them.

thistle_

If the dealer is getting the forks in January, why will it take until April for you to receive it?
The dealer will probably want to get all the new forks out of the way as soon as possible as they'll be in the way.

November to January (2 months) isn't that slow for warranty replacements.

cidriver

darkhairedlord said:

BMC have identified a fault and are redesigning the fork. They have alerted their customers to the problem and have a remedy in hand. If you are expecting any sympathy you have come to wrong forum to come and moan about the manufacturer with the hope of squeezing some cash out of them.

Sorry, I think you've misunderstood me. I don't want to get money, what I want is very simple, I want to be able to ride my bike and, I can't do it for security reasons. I wrote to BMC and informed them if is possible to exchange my affected bike and buy a non affected one. As you can see, I am not looking for money, I am looking for possible solutions valid for both parties. I didn't ride my bike since November 15 and that is not fair. But thanks for sharing your point of view.

cidriver

thistle_(mbnw) said:

If the dealer is getting the forks in January, why will it take until April for you to receive it?
The dealer will probably want to get all the new forks out of the way as soon as possible as they'll be in the way.

November to January (2 months) isn't that slow for warranty replacements.

Thanks for your note.
Since November 15th. I can't ride my BMC SLR01.
I am convinced that BMC has put all the engineers to work in order to solve the fork problem of all BMC SLR01 affected. I understand that then, Taiwan have to produce it and paint. Then Taiwan has to ship it worldwide. In my opinion, all this job is not gonna be done in just two months, it is not a simple task. But BMC has to understand that those who bought the BMC SLR01 is to use it on a race or train for a competition or whatever. In my case, I am not rich guy, I bought it with a lot of sacrifice and is my only chance to train, I only have one bicycle (the affected one) and, I understand that it is not fair that I have to stop training two o more months.

timothyw

Perhaps you could try jogging for a couple of months?

Seriously, you ought try contacting the retailer. They might be able to sort something out. They may be far away but they aren't as far away as BMC's factory.

If you really have nothing else to ride then I'd suggest just riding your BMC, with these recalls it's usually only a minority of the affected bikes that ever fail, the odds of something going wrong in the next couple of months are small, especially if you are a fairly light rider. (how long have you been riding it already?)

Honestly, if you 'understand' that BMC don't have the forks then I'm not sure what you're expecting them to do? They can't give everyone a different frameset or bike can they? BMC are hardly in great shape anyway since Andy Rihs died and the team disbanded.

If everyone kicks up a stink demanding the moon on a stick when there is a recall, then it makes companies less likely to perform recalls, which is bad for all of us.

The time will pass, you'll be back on your bike and hardly even remember this wait.

webboo

Can’t you borrow a bike of a friend or buy a second hand one to use. If you are desperate to ride spend your time acquiring a bike, rather trying to get BMC to treat you as a special case.

cidriver

timothyw said:

Perhaps you could try jogging for a couple of months?

Seriously, you ought try contacting the retailer. They might be able to sort something out. They may be far away but they aren't as far away as BMC's factory.

If you really have nothing else to ride then I'd suggest just riding your BMC, with these recalls it's usually only a minority of the affected bikes that ever fail, the odds of something going wrong in the next couple of months are small, especially if you are a fairly light rider. (how long have you been riding it already?)

Honestly, if you 'understand' that BMC don't have the forks then I'm not sure what you're expecting them to do? They can't give everyone a different frameset or bike can they? BMC are hardly in great shape anyway since Andy Rihs died and the team disbanded.

If everyone kicks up a stink demanding the moon on a stick when there is a recall, then it makes companies less likely to perform recalls, which is bad for all of us.

The time will pass, you'll be back on your bike and hardly even remember this wait.

Yes, you are right, I will have to running instead of cycling, there is no other option. But damn, it bothers you pay such amount of money and you can't use it.
By the way, thanks for your contribution, appreciate it.

cidriver

webboo said:

Can’t you borrow a bike of a friend or buy a second hand one to use. If you are desperate to ride spend your time acquiring a bike, rather trying to get BMC to treat you as a special case.

I am not looking for a special treatment, just bothers to buy a bicycle (with the money that it is worth) that you cannot use.
I visited the BMC retailer last November 15th. I'm afraid I'll be without a bicycle until February 15 (being optimistic ;-)
Thanks for your comment ;-)

flasher

timothyw said:

Nip down to decathlon, they have bikes in stock for a few hundred euros that will tide you over for the winter months.

This, then sell it on once your BMC is rectified, probably wouldn't lose too much.

zest28

If your dealer is any good, he will be able to give you a loan bike to cover the period.

Also what you can do is:
1. Exchange your Teammachine for a Timemachine Road (if the Timemachine is not affected by this forkgate)
2. Exchange your bike for a different manufacturer (Specialized, Giant, Cannondale, Trek, ....)

philbar72

similar thing happened to specialized on a far bigger selling bike ( the new Allez) last year. i din;t see many complaints but the allez probably outsells the teamachine several units to one. similar issue. fork.
timings do seem long but BMC probably don't have the scale that specialized do...

cidriver

zest28 said:

If your dealer is any good, he will be able to give you a loan bike to cover the period.

Also what you can do is:
1. Exchange your Teammachine for a Timemachine Road (if the Timemachine is not affected by this forkgate)
2. Exchange your bike for a different manufacturer (Specialized, Giant, Cannondale, Trek, ....)

Thanks for your comment and suggestion.
Could be an option, but the problem is the shop where I bought the bike it in the Canary Island, (Spain) 2:30 hours by plane from the south of Spain :-(

cidriver

My Goodness!
Almost two months since the safety recall and without signals news to be replace it soon.
The waiting situation is frankly frustrating.
How long do you think it will take it?
Fingers crossed, hope it will be soon.

slowmart

So I’m on my third Tacx flux, the last one failed outside of its warranty period. Tacx in this case still honoured the warranty despite it lapsing.

The LBS I bought in Wolverhampton from was Leisure Lakes which then was my closest store to my home and then after a house move supported by the Preston branch in borrowing me a demo Neo to continue my TrainerRoad programme. No downtime, a new trainer and both LBS and Tacx have exceeded my expectations in customer service from what was originally a frustrating position from a customers perspective.

So while the OP is frustrated the manufacturer has an importer and distributor who then supports the LBS. the support from the LBS seems to be missing a narrative from the OP about a phone call to his LBS. which underlines my view support your LBS, they are usually great advocates of all things cycling, a raft of knowledge and wisdom and want your custom.

So rather than aim your frustration at the manufacturer you need to see what support you can receive from the point of purchase.

Alternatively and it depends where the OP is based, are their rights under a local Consumer Rights Act and the goods being fit for purpose.

darkhairedlord

He lives in mainland Spain and bought the bike from the canary islands to dodge the tax.

slowmart

Ahhhh, so how can someone dodging tax authentically suggest his predicament is unfair?

cidriver

slowmart said:

So I’m on my third Tacx flux, the last one failed outside of its warranty period. Tacx in this case still honoured the warranty despite it lapsing.

The LBS I bought in Wolverhampton from was Leisure Lakes which then was my closest store to my home and then after a house move supported by the Preston branch in borrowing me a demo Neo to continue my TrainerRoad programme. No downtime, a new trainer and both LBS and Tacx have exceeded my expectations in customer service from what was originally a frustrating position from a customers perspective.

So while the OP is frustrated the manufacturer has an importer and distributor who then supports the LBS. the support from the LBS seems to be missing a narrative from the OP about a phone call to his LBS. which underlines my view support your LBS, they are usually great advocates of all things cycling, a raft of knowledge and wisdom and want your custom.

So rather than aim your frustration at the manufacturer you need to see what support you can receive from the point of purchase.

Alternatively and it depends where the OP is based, are their rights under a local Consumer Rights Act and the goods being fit for purpose.

Thanks a lot for your note a guidance. Much appreciated 😉

cidriver

darkhairedlord said:

He lives in mainland Spain and bought the bike from the canary islands to dodge the tax.

Well, I paid the right taxes as per the printed bill that I have and I can show to you or anyone, I don’t mind to do it.
I bought the bike there because I was living and working there. 🤷🏼

cidriver

slowmart said:

Ahhhh, so how can someone dodging tax authentically suggest his predicament is unfair?

How easy and cheap is suppose things. I bought my bike, the bill is the proof with the right taxes. I transferred from my bank account the total amount to the dealer account. After my job contract expire I move to mainland Spain. I did not committed a crime or dodging taxes, just bought a 7K bike that the brand informed me to do not ride for security reasons, that’s it.