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Scott Warranty Problems (was Contact details)
GDay,
I am a long time reader of the forum and now a new poster. I was wondering if there was a contact email address to the website?. The reason I ask is I am making a formal complaint to Scott bikes and am wanting to cc as some influential people and sites in on the email to get a point across.
My complaint with Scott is failure on there behalf to warrant a cracked frame. I purchased a Scott Reflex a little over 18 months ago and while cleaning the bike last week noticed a loose bolt on the rear shock. After taking the bike back to the shop where I purchased it, I was told the 2 rear shock bolts had snapped and the frame had cracked below the shock. The bike was then sent back to Scott who then deemed it not to be warranted.
The warranty on a Scott frame is 5 years if serviced and 3 years if not so my compalaint to them and a warning to other scott owners is, why is my frame not warranted ????
Cheers
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Poor bugger, sorry to hear it. Maybe Evan can give you details about what he did with his warranty about a broken frame from a year ago(?)
To the best of my knowledge Evan has never had a broken frame.
His bike has been pretty good so far except for a bent hanger but we have all had them.
Email? Eh?
You just posted in the forum and a whole load of Scott owners (and potential Scott owners) will see this. If you have some pictures (use macro mode on your camera) feel free to post them. In fact this will help us see what you are talking about.
If you've had the bike serviced in the same shop for some time perhaps try and get something in writing from them saying how often you brought it back and what condition it was in. This will hopefully show you don't abuse your bike and is evidence that it's most likely a manufacturing/design problem (what you are trying to prove).
What was Scott's reason to not replace it? Did they say you had abused the frame? Or did they say that because you continued to ride with snapped shock bolts this had caused the damage. If it's the later you might be on to a bit of a looser.
The frame is currently with Scott, if I get it back I will certainly post some pics. They are saying that due to the bolts snapping, the frame has cracked. They say that it must have been a seveer impact to snap the bolts there for they are not warranting the frame. I wish I had the cahooners to attempt the size jump they are refering to when they say massive impact, but unfortunately I dont
. Regardless of the shock bolts snapping causing the frame to crack, I would have thought that warranty on the frame would stand. If one part on a bike gives way due to malfunction and causes damage to another, then all should be warranted.
Yeah - I don't buy that excuse either. What's to say the bolt wasn't weakened first due to improper fit in the frame? Or it was just a bad batch of steel (or whatever) in the bolt?
And if you attempted this massive huck, where's the damage to your hubs/spokes/rims to back that up? What specs are your wheels and were they damaged?
are pretty good with warranty even to the point of benefit of the doubt in some cases but its not usually a no questions asked policy.
They are also very well informed with engineering advice on the likely hood of failure due to faulty workmanship or design or just bad luck.
To snap the 2 bolts holding the shock would take a fair amount of force you would agree (or be faulty)and you might have expected to notice in the handling, performance, odd noises etc that something was astray?
It's a terrible thing that you have discovered on your pride and joy and certainly puts a sour taste in your mouth towards the brand.
What's your theory on how it happened? Where were you riding at the time?
It might help pin down the events that led to the failure and with the warranty claim.
You should absolutely get it back to check for improper fitment etc as Rob has suggested.
Good luck with it.
Hey
One of the other things to watch out for in frame warranties is that they (sometimes) DO NOT COVER the moving part of the frame for fully bikes. the reason they dont cover them is because they are moving parts... I have had this response when I had problems with both specialized and Cannondale.
It pays to check the fine print as I think this could be a basis behind not providing a warranty.
Otherwise explain the riding you do and the leadup conditions in which you were riding in just before the event.
Might seem like a silly question but were you aware of there been a different feeling in the back end of the bike on your last ride?
On the last ride I did actually notice that the cranks were hitting the ground when cornering. I thought this was odd and was heading to the shop to check the presure in the rear shock after washing the bike. Thats when I noticed the loose bolt (didnt know it had snapped at the time). The ride before that is probably when it did happen which was out at Yarramundi. There was nothing untoward with that ride and certainly no other noticable damage to the wheels. Granted, a check over after the Yarramundi ride could have picked up the issue earlier but nothing on the latest ride would have caused more damage to the frame.
Bruce, but there was no hanger on the bike. The derailleur that broke also did damage to the triangle, I believe. Wasn't that what happened?? Didn't the frame also need fixing/replacement?
I believe his bike has a non replaceable hanger/tip, his local Scott dealer was able to straighten it without any problems.
No different than straightening a replaceable hanger, except extra care is required.
Hiya kingyhunter,
The boys are right, I do own a Scott MC 40. Love it actually. I have bent the hanger but no damage to the frame. Silly idea Scott had was to integrate the hanger to the rear triangle but that's another story.
Anyway when I did the damage to my bike, I inquired about the warranty on the frame, turns out that the rear triangle is only under warranty for a year due to moving parts etc, what Supagav said. The rest of the frame is 5 years. I can confirm it is also written in one of the Manuals the came with the bike.
I wish you good luck with your frame.
Cheers
Evan
Warranty warrants the frame against *manufacturing* defects, not the user exceeding the design load limits. Now you can perhaps take issue with where those design limits should be in relation to intended use, but that's a very different conversation.
Seems to me they're taking the (not unreasonable) view that the broken bolts are prima facie evidence that you've exceeded the design load limit of the frame. The point the OP made about engineering analysis is quite true. They need to know what they're doing purely from a liability perspective, let alone protecting their market reputation. If they don't they go out of business quickly.
It's now in your court to provide evidence to the contrary. The condition of the wheels would be a good place to start, but I'd expect you're facing an uphill battle without some engineering analysis of your own. If the bolts show flaws or gaps due to improperly drawn blanks, and the frame crack is near the weld or shows evidence of improper heat treating then you might be able to assemble a case.
A furhter thing to consider is that the last ride on which you remember the frame feeling "off" may not be what caused the failure, just the final straw that broke the camel's back. The real damage may have been done months ago, stressing/weakening the frame past a critical point, and it's just taken the time since then for normal usage to fatigue the already weakened frame to the point of failure. This is far more common than instantaneous/catastrophic failure.
I know this isn't what you want to hear, but there's no way to sugar coat it, I'm afraid.
Sorry.
Hope it goes well.
With a bit of preparation you never know your luck.
... take the frame around to some of your LBS's and speak to their senior tech guys. Especially those that are in the know about frame design. You may be able to get ideas about how to prove your case. BA would be good.
Also, don't lose hope about a cracked frame. There was a recent article in a MTB magazine (can't remember which mag, but it can't have been more than a year ago) that described some places that do frame repair/welding for you at a decent price. There was this mob in Melbourne that does it. Sure it may not be under warranty, but at least you get your prized possession back for not a lot of outlay. This was even discussed on this site somewhere about a year ago. Do a search and you may come up with something useful. Rob, can you find it?
Hope it goes well mate.
You could try gripsport in Melbourne, they have a good reputation for frame repairs.
http://www.gripsport.com.au/bike_main.php?part=b...
Firstly thank you to everyone for you comments.
I have taken a deal from the shop of a new frame and re-built shock. I have held back on the letter so as not to shoot my self in the foot if they still dont warrant the frame. Overall I still feel like I have been taken for a ride but can not take the chance of getting nothing at all.
All in all it is a lesson learnt that you should always examine the bike after each and every ride and if something looks in doubt, then get it checked out !!!
Cheers