Replacement Shimano cranks following faults found during inspection

mr.b-campag

daniel_b said:

mr.b-campag said:

Ok mine passed the inspection - and the shop said they've not seen a single one fail (i realise others here have). Pretty disappointed - was hoping for a shiny new chainset!

you need to change your username

No - between my rear mech exploding and bending my frame and this chainset recall fiasco I'm getting rid of my Shimano...

Anyway my other two bikes are Campag...

daniel_b

ShimaNO in that case.

trevor.hall12

mr.b-campag said:

Anyone know if you have to bring a crankset on a bike, or can you just bring the crankset?

Either is fine as long as both cranks and chainrings are there

captain_chaos

So mine (Ultegra) had been sent to be inspected and was deemed failed. LBS rang me this Thursday to let me know that they had the replacement so I took it in Friday for it to be fitted. All OK until they told be that I needed to pay £15 labour for refitting!
I protested mildly (especially as they had not told me up front that there would be a fitting charge) and to be fair they waived it there and then.

The charge was because they don't get paid for re-fitting (they do for everything else in the process). I could not believe it - you take something in for a warranty repair and they expect you to pay to have it fitted!

This was not an issue or fault of the shop - rather Shimano still kicking and fighting about doing the job properly and trying to restore or maintain customer relationships

If I had had to pay I would have got the details and sent an invoice to Madison to get the money back.

Can you imagine taking your car to the dealer because the engine has failed and being told that the engine had been replaced but you had a huge bill for the refit?

The initial good feeling at a replacement was quickly replaced by irritation - at Shimano

ugo.santalucia

I am not surprised they waived it… fitting Shimano cranks take about 5 minutes the first time you do it… if you are experienced, you can do it in under 2 minutes.

MidlandsGrimpeur2

It is a bit of a grey area from my understanding. The shop is given a flat fee per crank, which is supposed to cover all of the inspection and installation if required. I have heard a few complaints though that this doesn't cover all labour/admin costs if a crank does end up being replaced.

I can understand the shop trying to recoup a bit of extra money quickly, but this is Shimano's issue and they need to take it up with them really (or Madison). Personally, I would not be asking a customer for money, and the fact the did not kick up a fuss suggests they felt the same really.

trevor.hall12

captain_chaos said:

So mine (Ultegra) had been sent to be inspected and was deemed failed. LBS rang me this Thursday to let me know that they had the replacement so I took it in Friday for it to be fitted. All OK until they told be that I needed to pay £15 labour for refitting!
I protested mildly (especially as they had not told me up front that there would be a fitting charge) and to be fair they waived it there and then.

The charge was because they don't get paid for re-fitting (they do for everything else in the process). I could not believe it - you take something in for a warranty repair and they expect you to pay to have it fitted!

This was not an issue or fault of the shop - rather Shimano still kicking and fighting about doing the job properly and trying to restore or maintain customer relationships

If I had had to pay I would have got the details and sent an invoice to Madison to get the money back.

Can you imagine taking your car to the dealer because the engine has failed and being told that the engine had been replaced but you had a huge bill for the refit?

The initial good feeling at a replacement was quickly replaced by irritation - at Shimano

The payment they get from shimano covers the refitting ,they shouldn't be charging you .It's literally a 2 minute job
Had it passed inspection would they ask for 15 quid to put it back on ?
The shop are at it .

MidlandsGrimpeur2

To be fair, it is probably a fair bit more admin involved, the 10mins to inspect a crank and another 5 or 10 to install is not the full picture.

The shop will have to liaise with the customer, likely fill out the paperwork, deal with the distributor, do the actual labour. They get £39 per crank I believe, which is what 2 or 3 hours work. My guess is the actual total time spent dealing with each failed crank is probably a bit more than this.

Factor in a small shop with maybe 2 or 3 staff, possibly dealing with a couple of dozen (or far more perhaps) or so requests and it quickly becomes a time consuming and costly exercise.

I do have sone sympathy with shops, this whole ballache has been thrust upon them by Shimano and they probably aren't getting properly compensated for it.

lesfirth

MidlandsGrimpeur2 said:

To be fair, it is probably a fair bit more admin involved, the 10mins to inspect a crank and another 5 or 10 to install is not the full picture.

The shop will have to liaise with the customer, likely fill out the paperwork, deal with the distributor, do the actual labour. They get £39 per crank I believe, which is what 2 or 3 hours work. My guess is the actual total time spent dealing with each failed crank is probably a bit more than this.

Factor in a small shop with maybe 2 or 3 staff, possibly dealing with a couple of dozen (or far more perhaps) or so requests and it quickly becomes a time consuming and costly exercise.

I do have sone sympathy with shops, this whole ballache has been thrust upon them by Shimano and they probably aren't getting properly compensated for it.

£39 for 2 or 3 hours work!!!
The bike shop wont stay in business long at that charge out rate.
That might pay for 1 hour probably less.

trevor.hall12

First couple took a bit longer ,now it's around an hour .
Only issue I have is on the ones to return as it involves a trip to the post office and the weeks to get reimbursement

captain_chaos

I was not blaming the - it was Shimano who should do whatever is required manage it to customer satisfaction

When I said "£15 - I'd have fitted myself" that's when they waived the fee. I have bought a few bikes on cycle to work from them and generally don't think they have bad customer service

Anyway - I have a new crank (and "warranty") so on the end all good - and whilst it was a bit irritating not to be able to ride that bike I have others and I would not have ridden that one anyway given the filthy weather

trevor.hall12

I still think they were trying their luck .
As I say if a crank passes do they charge to refit it ,and £15 for a 2 min job is pretty steep too .I get they don't want to lose money on it but if it meant doing this to a customer who has no option to get it checked by a shop then I would just refuse to do any inspections
Don't get me wrong Shimano have made a mess of this too .
The fact they instantly waived it suggests to me they know its a piss take.