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SantaCruz lifetime warranty experience

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18K views 85 replies 43 participants last post by  smmokan  
W
#1 ·
I'll preface this with, this is mostly a warning. Some of you may know all of this, some may not. I did not know this, and this is probably my bad, so may some learn from this:

Back in 2019 my friend bough me a SC bike (we buy each other bikes... I also do this with some other relatives where everyone pitches in and one person buys and surprise!). I registered it after a month or two with Santa Cruz then later on got the warrantied bearings. No problem at all!

This year I noticed some strange damage in the frame (not crash damage, actually, I never crashed this bike anyway, I baby'd it), so I asked SC's support. They told me to file a warranty claim, so I did. During the warranty process SC indicated that my name wasn't the buyer's name. I explained it was registered to me but that I could have the buyer file the claim directly if that was an issue. SC indicated that no, now that I filed a claim my warranty is void (!).

After this SC proposed discounted older models frames without shock instead (1500USD / frame), which I refused as it seems more expensive than other options for me, especially that none of the frames proposed were made to fit my current frame's shock and fork, and you have to destroy your own frame to benefit from the pricing. They reached out again with a price of 1200USD / frame - but my goal was never to bargain with them and to be honest, they didn't sell the frame I wanted (else I'd have probably bought it at that price).

So, keep in mind that even if you're the first owner/user of the bike, if you haven't directly paid, you won't get lifetime warranty. Other that refusing to honor the warranty, they were super nice during the whole thing, but I was quite weirded out by the "negotiation" and the fact that their website does not clearly indicate the warranty policy (Santa Cruz Bicycles | Warranty Information - you'll notice it requires registration by the original owner, not purchase - to be quite frank I'm not sure their process is very legal, but it's certainly not very clear and I hope they clarify it).

Hope that helps someone else out before they make my mistake and believe their bike will be covered by warranty. I effectively now own a frame that SC considers dangerous to ride so I can't reasonably sell to anyone though it still works fine for now.
 
#6 ·
I'm facing a similar situation right now, I bought a brand new frame in the box from a guy who got it as a warranty replacement. I've been the owner since new, the frame developed a pretty serious crack and SC said that because I wasn't the "original purchaser" that I had no warranty. No matter how much I argued, they still kept going back the "original purchaser" and that they do not support "used bikes" only "new bikes" for "original purchasers".

It was super frustrating, in the end they offered me a crash replacement but wouldn't let me upgrade to the latest generation or even move to a different model no matter how much I offered to pay. They said I was "lucky" they had the some of the older frames in stock, if not they said I would have had no options.

I will never buy a second hand frame again, I think they should amend their lifetime warranty to read "limited lifetime warranty" seems more appropriate to me. The same holds true for Reserve wheels, so I would never buy a second hand set of wheels either.
 
K
#7 ·
Ridge_Rider said:
I'm facing a similar situation right now, I bought a brand new frame in the box from a guy who got it as a warranty replacement. I've been the owner since new, the frame developed a pretty serious crack and SC said that because I wasn't the "original purchaser" that I had no warranty. No matter how much I argued, they still kept going back the "original purchaser" and that they do not support "used bikes" only "new bikes" for "original purchasers".
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You bought second hand so you were not the original purchaser. I don't really see SC being in the wrong here.

As for the OP, it kinda sounds kinda shitty of SC. Is there a big time difference between the purchase date and the registration date? Might be worth bringing that up if it is only a few days apart, and also maybe submit a letter from the guy who bought it saying he bought it for you as a gift and never used it?
 
#10 ·
Yeah, this is an unusual situation. Seems like they should have some sort of way to register a new bike as a gift, even though you're not the original purchaser on the receipt.

I've definitely seen people selling used bikes, claiming they never registered it. Using that as a basis to claim the original owner warranty could also be transferred in the transaction, which is false.
 
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#11 ·
IMO OPs best bet is to have whoever bought him the bike go to the shop and talk to them about it. Typically brands give shops a little more leeway with things like this, but he may be screwed since he already had the conversation. Maybe someone there remembers them or can back them up with Santa Cruz, I've seen stuff warrantied that through shops that I am pretty confident the end user would be denied on including crash damage and used bikes.
 
#19 ·
Here's a big problem with that model:

Why?

Is SC going to compensate the shop for their time or something? No. Is the shop under a contractual obligation? Unless you can produce said contract, no. So we are hoping for them to do this out of the goodness of their heart.
 
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K
#13 ·
I agree with this if you have a good bike shop to deal with. But I have also contacted SC directly about warranty issues and gotten outstanding support. Of course I wasn't trying to warranty a frame, or anything really - I was asking to buy a replacement suspension bolt. They sent me some for free anyway.

Kinda makes me wonder if the new owners are trying to reign in the warranty department a little. They used to have the best warranty in the industry, but maybe Pon wants to cut some corners.
 
#23 ·
Just to be clear SC's warranty is #1 for the service life of the bike not the owner's lifetime [common misunderstanding] and #2 it's only for manufacturing defects plus free bearings. So unless the damage was a result of a manufacturing defect they'd offer a crash replacement which is a discount on a currently available frame. Sounds like the OP was offered the crash replacement option which is the same thing the purchaser would have been offered with full warranty coverage unless it was a manufacturing defect. So far there is no evidence it was a manufacturing defect.

In general I'd prefer to deal directly with the company for warranty claims, but I am pretty knowledgeable about the topic. For someone that isn't the advice to work through a bike shop is a good one. At the very least they'll give you some feedback and you can still go direct to the company.

To the larger issue of buying stuff for someone else....you can pay for a bike and have someone else's name put on the receipt. That seems like a pretty simple solution for the OP if they are going to do that sort of thing again.
 
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#31 ·
vikb said:
Just to be clear SC's warranty is #1 for the service life of the bike not the owner's lifetime [common misunderstanding] and #2 it's only for manufacturing defects plus free bearings. So unless the damage was a result of a manufacturing defect they'd offer a crash replacement which is a discount on a currently available frame. Sounds like the OP was offered the crash replacement option which is the same thing the purchaser would have been offered with full warranty coverage unless it was a manufacturing defect.
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It may be for the lifetime of the product, but it only applies to the original owner:

Santa Cruz Bicycles will repair or replace at its option any frame or rigid fork made by Santa Cruz Bicycles it determines to be defective in materials or workmanship. The warranty will be in effect for the lifetime of the frame or fork and is available only to the original owner. Notwithstanding the foregoing, frames purchased prior to May 1, 2015 are covered under the previously-existing warranty for five years from the original date of purchase.
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They determine this by whose name is on the receipt.

According to OP, they offered him crash replacement specifically because his name wasn't on the receipt and he wasn't the original owner, this is the same offer they've extended in other cases I'm aware of where secondhand owners had warranty issues.
 
#27 ·
As far as SC knows, the OP could be a professional bullshitter who bought an unused replacement frame from an original purchaser - or stole the new bike for that matter - and registered it to himself. They don't have any way of knowing. If they do it for you, they have to do it for everyone who says the same thing....

Also get ready for companies like SC to start clutching their pearls - all bike companies really - and things becoming more diificult because the big $$ ride is about to be over for a few years and every one of them is going to be looking at cost reduction and other ways to minimize operating expenses.
 
#28 ·
will1will said:
I'll preface this with, this is mostly a warning. Some of you may know all of this, some may not. I did not know this, and this is probably my bad, so may some learn from this:

Back in 2019 my friend bough me a SC bike (we buy each other bikes... I also do this with some other relatives where everyone pitches in and one person buys and surprise!). I registered it after a month or two with Santa Cruz then later on got the warrantied bearings. No problem at all!

This year I noticed some strange damage in the frame (not crash damage, actually, I never crashed this bike anyway, I baby'd it), so I asked SC's support. They told me to file a warranty claim, so I did. During the warranty process SC indicated that my name wasn't the buyer's name. I explained it was registered to me but that I could have the buyer file the claim directly if that was an issue. SC indicated that no, now that I filed a claim my warranty is void (!).

After this SC proposed discounted older models frames without shock instead (1500USD / frame), which I refused as it seems more expensive than other options for me, especially that none of the frames proposed were made to fit my current frame's shock and fork, and you have to destroy your own frame to benefit from the pricing. They reached out again with a price of 1200USD / frame - but my goal was never to bargain with them and to be honest, they didn't sell the frame I wanted (else I'd have probably bought it at that price).

So, keep in mind that even if you're the first owner/user of the bike, if you haven't directly paid, you won't get lifetime warranty. Other that refusing to honor the warranty, they were super nice during the whole thing, but I was quite weirded out by the "negotiation" and the fact that their website does not clearly indicate the warranty policy (Santa Cruz Bicycles | Warranty Information - you'll notice it requires registration by the original owner, not purchase - to be quite frank I'm not sure their process is very legal, but it's certainly not very clear and I hope they clarify it).

Hope that helps someone else out before they make my mistake and believe their bike will be covered by warranty. I effectively now own a frame that SC considers dangerous to ride so I can't reasonably sell to anyone though it still works fine for now.
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Enough with the warranty thing; what we all really want to know is if you have a hot cousin, or aunt? How do we get in on this family that buys bikes for other family members... :)
 
#29 ·
People are replying on the premise that the op is being truthful. They may be propagating a lie to further their purposes hoping to pressure SC to give them a free frame.
Sure, I could be wrong, but the story sounds suspect. How many of you just go out and buy your friends high end carbon bikes?
Have owned SC bikes over the years and the customer service has always been stellar.

Have had excellent experience with Specialized warranty as well.
 
#49 ·
mlx john said:
People are replying on the premise that the op is being truthful. They may be propagating a lie to further their purposes hoping to pressure SC to give them a free frame.
Sure, I could be wrong, but the story sounds suspect. How many of you just go out and buy your friends high end carbon bikes?
Have owned SC bikes over the years and the customer service has always been stellar.

Have had excellent experience with Specialized warranty as well.
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I was thinking the same thing but hopefully that's not the case. But looking at it from SC's view, I'd say it's highly unusual for a friend to buy an expensive bike for a friend. And then the friend didn't register it for a month or two. Too easily it could have been someone bought an expensive bike to try mountain biking, found they didn't like it and hadn't registered the bike so they used that fact as a selling point, Not saying that's what happened here, I have no way of knowing. But can't blame SC for protecting themselves.
 
#34 ·
I bought three Specialized bikes for me, my girlfriend(ex), and my son. LBS registered everything for me and told us to just to bring em in for any warranty issues as they would take care of it. Skipping that step and doing it themselves would probably result in same issue for them if they made the claims themselves as the op did. Use your LBS. Thats what you paid them for.
 
C
#35 ·
Here is my excellent warranty experience. I bought a new Hightower LT frame on sale at an online dealer
then assembled it a few months later for one of my kids and headed to the bike park.
A few days into riding the it starts to crack along a mold seam on the top tube, no crashes involved.
Submit my claim to SC and I had registered the frame in my name since I was original owner. I had receipt with my name on it. I got a quick response that it was warranty issue and since the LT was no longer available and the new V2 version was in stock what color did I want? V2 frame shipped the next day. No inspections required, no sending the frame to SC, no sending the frame back to the online dealer. In total four days down time.
 
K
#44 · (Edited)
Because people don't read warranties and expect companies to warranty everything, and if they don't people come to forums like this and complain. To avoid the bad press, many companies warranty things that are not manufacturer defect. Santa Cruz is a good example of this. If you crack a carbon fiber bike or wheel, they pretty much replace it no questions asked. That's why they have such a great reputation.

Now imagine them having to bend over backwards to avoid negative press from second-hand owners from whom they never made any money at all. They would effectively be subsidizing a second hand market that competes against new sales. It's not sustainable financially.
 
A
#51 ·
I have had a TimBuk II messenger bag since college, bought new, original owner. Granted that was back in like 1993/94. I have literally used it almost everyday since. The stitching started coming apart about 2 years ago and finally let go. They told me the lifetime warranty applied to the lifetime of the bag. I figured it had a good life and bought another. I am not sure why people always think they should be able to buys something, use it for years and years and then get a new one when it finally does fail. Manufacturer defects sure, but at some point things just wear out.
 
#64 ·
"Lifetime" is defined by the Warranty language... NOT the manufacturer's Customer Service claiming "Lifetime" is the "Lifetime of the product unless their Warranty specifically defines it that way.

I've gotten this B.S. response from several companies over the years and simply firmly reiterate "I'm still alive" which IS the definition of "Lifetime Warranty",,, the Lifetime of the Customer, NOT their made-up Product lifetime.

The GOTCHA is usually they state they don't have another of the product you broke and offer either $$$ or a "comparable" product IF you can provide your original purchase receipt from one of their approved retailers. Otherwise you're SOL.

Worse experience was my wife's Specialized MTB. Frame CRACKED so we took it to a local Specialized dealer who said we had to deal with Specialized since the original Specialized dealer we bought it from (SuperGo Bikes) went out of business. Specialized said they didn't have a replacement frame but did offer another frame... which NONE of the components on her broken older Specialized MTB frame fit !!! OUCH. Sadly it was cheaper to buy an entire new bike than get a "free" replacement frame and have to buy all new components. Would have been better if had been stolen instead of broken.
 
#52 ·
Part of what's missing from this thread is an understanding of the warranty process. Most manufacturers do not have a bottomless supply of inventory/funds to honor product warranties with. Most companies rely on insurance policies to cover defective products.

The best analogy I can think of is a million dollar hole-in-one golf event. You purchases a ticket for $100 (or whatever price). All proceeds go to a charity. Then you get your swing/attempt at scoring a hole-in-one. If you win, the payout is funded by an insurance policy and not the proceeds generated by the event.

Back on-topic, this is why some companies have to be stringent on who purchased and who is making the claim. The insurance company will not payout on those claims which do not conform to the policy. To me, SC is being more than fair by offering crash-replacement on claims they are not able to cover due to ownership.
 
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#59 ·
bingemtbr said:
Part of what's missing from this thread is an understanding of the warranty process. Most manufacturers do not have a bottomless supply of inventory/funds to honor product warranties with. Most companies rely on insurance policies to cover defective products.
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Well they damn well should if they are going to advertise it.
 
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#57 ·
Lifetime warranties are a joke. I have a lot of bikes with lifetime warranties, a couple of Schwinn's, and a Fuji, which are now all out of business, so much for their lifetime warranty. A Trek made of lugged steel, which at the time was their 2nd from the top-of-the-line frame, they don't make lugged steel frames anymore, so much for their lifetime warranty because they can't replace it with a lugged steel bike. A Ridley scandium frame that cracked at the top of the headtube after 8 months of use, Ridley deemed the bike frame failure as fatigue?! Yes, they did, short of getting an attorney, which told me it wouldn't be worth his fee to pursue the case vs the cost of the frame, so I got screwed. Fatigue is a listed exclusion in all warranties, lifetime or not, so if my Trek had a lug fail it would be due to fatigue since it has over 160,000 miles on it. Warranties cover only material and workmanship, assuming you can prove it was one or the other, or both, that caused the failure of the frame, and once material and workmanship get to a certain time frame that the manufacturer has decided on, without mentioning that time frame in the warranty provisions, they will no longer be responsible for anything that goes wrong with the frame after that point onward.
 
#60 ·
This is a great point. There may be a wheel-company-of-the-week offering you a "lifetime warranty" for an inflated cost that includes subsidizing lifetime rims, but if the company isn't around in 5 years, what does it matter? This is why no matter how good the warranty, there are some poor designs and applications that you just avoid if you know better.
 
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#62 ·
1) For the ones that complain about my disappearance.. it's been 24h, come on, you gotta go ride sometimes :)

2) just to be clear I was only user of this bike of course and I'm technically the registered owner (I registered it about 3mo-ish after purchase when i realized i was gonna need bearing replacements). I did propose to have the purchaser to go file the warranty or register directly but they refused this as "gaming the warranty" which I found really weird, but it is what it is and I've made peace with it.

3) If you actually read the warranty from SC (i linked it, but here it is again, its surprisingly short), it doesn't indicate anywhere that you have to be the purchaser, just the owner - it does say that SC may or may not honor the warranty for a million reasons that is 100% up to them. And to be fair I did read it before and did understand that there's chances it wouldn't apply for a million reasons such as "we dont think its a defect". In fact, I never thought I'd ever have to warranty it after the first 6month.

I bought 2 frames in my name (1 for family 1 for friend), the friend bought one (full bike) for me in their name, funny how that works right - according to SC warranty only works on the frame I bought for the family member because we share the last name).

IMO, SC is very nice to deal overall, what bothers me most is that they're saying I shouldnt ride the frame yet wont warranty it, and the damage is definitely not from crashing or mishandling. I somehow never crashed this bike, the worse it had was falling on its side a couple of times.

4) 1200usd for a frame without a shock is 1800-1900usd with shock and that's for an old model. Remember these frames weren't hightower so the shock isnt the right size. At the time at a brand new stump jumper frame with shock was barely more (even a sworks stumpy was about 2300usd with shock), so no, its not a fantastic deal at all. If that was for a new frame, yes, it would have been a pretty good deal, and i'd probably have accepted it. I've also read the specialized warranty and it's far better as long as you register the bike in time.

Anyway, hope that helps or that you can learn from my experience. The goal is not to like or dislike santacruz, like I said, they're actually really nice and caring - it's mainly to make sure that a few other people understand how the warranty may or may not work (be it fair or unfair), i.e. learn from my misfortune.

Hope that clears stuff up, please don't panic if i dont reply before Monday or so, I do plan on riding this weekend :)
 
#63 ·
will1will said:
1) For the ones that complain about my disappearance.. it's been 24h, come on, you gotta go ride sometimes :)

2) just to be clear I was only user of this bike of course and I'm technically the registered owner (I registered it about 3mo-ish after purchase when i realized i was gonna need bearing replacements). I did propose to have the purchaser to go file the warranty or register directly but they refused this as "gaming the warranty" which I found really weird, but it is what it is and I've made peace with it.

3) If you actually read the warranty from SC (i linked it, but here it is again, its surprisingly short), it doesn't indicate anywhere that you have to be the purchaser, just the owner - it does say that SC may or may not honor the warranty for a million reasons that is 100% up to them. And to be fair I did read it before and did understand that there's chances it wouldn't apply for a million reasons such as "we dont think its a defect". In fact, I never thought I'd ever have to warranty it after the first 6month.

I bought 2 frames in my name (1 for family 1 for friend), the friend bought one (full bike) for me in their name, funny how that works right - according to SC warranty only works on the frame I bought for the family member because we share the last name).

IMO, SC is very nice to deal overall, what bothers me most is that they're saying I shouldnt ride the frame yet wont warranty it, and the damage is definitely not from crashing or mishandling. I somehow never crashed this bike, the worse it had was falling on its side a couple of times.

4) 1200usd for a frame without a shock is 1800-1900usd with shock and that's for an old model. Remember these frames weren't hightower so the shock isnt the right size. At the time at a brand new stump jumper frame with shock was barely more (even a sworks stumpy was about 2300usd with shock), so no, its not a fantastic deal at all. If that was for a new frame, yes, it would have been a pretty good deal, and i'd probably have accepted it. I've also read the specialized warranty and it's far better as long as you register the bike in time.

Anyway, hope that helps or that you can learn from my experience. The goal is not to like or dislike santacruz, like I said, they're actually really nice and caring - it's mainly to make sure that a few other people understand how the warranty may or may not work (be it fair or unfair), i.e. learn from my misfortune.

Hope that clears stuff up, please don't panic if i dont reply before Monday or so, I do plan on riding this weekend :)
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You go actual riding instead of being constantly online and posting here 24/7?!?

You Sir are not a real mtbr member!!!
🙃😛🍻
 
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