frame warrenty (which company does lifetime warranty - mod title edit)
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trek..................
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Not all lifetime warranties are as literal as you may think, read the fine print for each and your dealer and the manufacturer's rep will also have a lot to do with it. Personally I've had Trek tell me my "lifetime" warranty was no more.
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I had no questions asked when i made a warranty claim through giant. dealer verified the crack, and shipped it out. it took a while to get a replacement (maybe because I'm in Canada, or the time of year it was) but a new frame did come, and i continue to ride it happily.
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Don't know if the LBS was blowing smoke, but I was told that most companies look for reasons to void the warranty, and that a couple of things that would almost certainly void the warranty would be changing shocks and forks, not necessarily just longer travel, but to any that perform differently than the OEM stuff.
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538 Posts
The real problem with a warranty is most folks will confuse it with insurance. Hitting a tree, not a warranty. Modifying in a way that leads to a failure, not a warranty.
If you look at dirt bikes they come with a sticker on the fender stating there is no warranty for anything even manufacturing booboo's like the wrong bearing on the crank for example. Why? Because in the boom days when everyone had a dirtbike the folks making them were being hammered with claims, valid and otherwise. The big guys got together and made a gentlemen's agreement that there would be no more coverage.
With the huge number of bike companies out there I can't ever see something like this happening, but I can see the large companies becoming as aggressive as the small ones in cases like this. The buzzword around business is "Lost Revenue", no so much the money you could make, but plugging holes in the leaky boat. That means all the frames that the sales reps give out to win friends and influence people will dry up.
Oakley and SIDI both had "lifetime warranties" on their products. I could have my shoes replaced yearly, and get a new frame for ten year old glasses no sweat. They stopped offering lifetime coverage on new products, and also yanked the coverage on the older ones. They now offer a discount on a new pair if you send back your Mumbo's, and SIDI will send your shoes out to a cobbler.
If you look at dirt bikes they come with a sticker on the fender stating there is no warranty for anything even manufacturing booboo's like the wrong bearing on the crank for example. Why? Because in the boom days when everyone had a dirtbike the folks making them were being hammered with claims, valid and otherwise. The big guys got together and made a gentlemen's agreement that there would be no more coverage.
With the huge number of bike companies out there I can't ever see something like this happening, but I can see the large companies becoming as aggressive as the small ones in cases like this. The buzzword around business is "Lost Revenue", no so much the money you could make, but plugging holes in the leaky boat. That means all the frames that the sales reps give out to win friends and influence people will dry up.
Oakley and SIDI both had "lifetime warranties" on their products. I could have my shoes replaced yearly, and get a new frame for ten year old glasses no sweat. They stopped offering lifetime coverage on new products, and also yanked the coverage on the older ones. They now offer a discount on a new pair if you send back your Mumbo's, and SIDI will send your shoes out to a cobbler.
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I've never had a problem with a company not living up to it's warranty, or looking for reasons to void it. I have even had a couple companies go outside the boundaries of their warranty to make sure I was a happy camper.btadlock said:
I HAVE had LBS' try to wriggle out of dealing with warranty issues. Not sure why, other than it creates work for them when they are not getting any tangible benefits. Then when I contact the company itself, they make everything right.
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I have had to warranty 3 bikes. 1 giant, 1 specialized stumpy and 1 Turner flux. The giant was taken care of by my LBS within 2 weeks. The Specialized was dealt with by the same shop no problems. The Turner broke because I screwed up and hit a stump and a rock. It had a very small crack near the weld on the head tube. Almost unnoticable. I called them and sent a pic and they had a new front triangle at my shop the next day no questions asked. Turner has by far the best customer service I have ever experienced.forkboy said:
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Pick a good, reputable company and don't forget what Tom Callahan said...
Tommy: Let's think about this for a sec, Ted, why do they put a guarantee on a box? Hmm, very interesting.
Ted: I'm listening.
Tommy: Here's how I see it. A guy puts a guarantee on the box 'cause he wants you to fell all warm and toasty inside.
Ted: Yeah, makes a man feel good.
Tommy: 'Course it does. Ya think if you leave that box under your pillow at night, the Guarantee Fairy might come by and leave a quarter.
Ted: What's your point?
Tommy: The point is, how do you know the Guarantee Fairy isn't a crazy glue sniffer? "Building model airplanes" says the little fairy, but we're not buying it. Next thing you know, there's money missing off the dresser and your daughter's knocked up, I seen it a hundred times.
Ted: But why do they put a guarantee on the box then?
Tommy: Because they know all they solda ya was a guaranteed piece of ****. That's all it is. Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for right now, for your sake, for your daughter's sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality item from me.
Ted: Hmm. Okay, I'll buy from you.
Tommy: Let's think about this for a sec, Ted, why do they put a guarantee on a box? Hmm, very interesting.
Ted: I'm listening.
Tommy: Here's how I see it. A guy puts a guarantee on the box 'cause he wants you to fell all warm and toasty inside.
Ted: Yeah, makes a man feel good.
Tommy: 'Course it does. Ya think if you leave that box under your pillow at night, the Guarantee Fairy might come by and leave a quarter.
Ted: What's your point?
Tommy: The point is, how do you know the Guarantee Fairy isn't a crazy glue sniffer? "Building model airplanes" says the little fairy, but we're not buying it. Next thing you know, there's money missing off the dresser and your daughter's knocked up, I seen it a hundred times.
Ted: But why do they put a guarantee on the box then?
Tommy: Because they know all they solda ya was a guaranteed piece of ****. That's all it is. Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for right now, for your sake, for your daughter's sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality item from me.
Ted: Hmm. Okay, I'll buy from you.
I think a lot of whether you will get the warranty fulfilled or not is which customer service rep you reach to report the problem. I have read a lot of stories on here about companies fulfilling warranty service on bikes even though the one seeking the warranty service was not the original purchaser. Two companies come to mind which have been mentioned frequently here for fulfilling warranties that way are Giant and Specialized, not that others won't or don't. -GT2005 
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straight off the Specialized website:
Question
I have heard that your warranty on Aluminum frames has gone from lifetime to a 5 yr. warranty. Is this true?
Answer
For a period of time we went down to a 5 year warranty, but now we have decided to go back to a limited lifetime warranty on all frames. This warranty covers all older frames that were sold under the 5 year warranty change but is limited to covering the frames for manufacturer defects and is valid only for the original owner of the bicycle.
We noted that while other companies were dropping to 5 year, 1 year and 90 day warranties that their quality was dropping as well. We want to hold on to our following and let everyone know that we want to stand behind every bike we sell
All I can say about Specialized is nothin' but good. I had 2 frames replaced in less then 2 years with no questions asked. The first frame was a 99 fsr comp which was replaced with a 2003 fsr pro with a new fox shock. Ya can't beat that with a stick, I tell you.
Question
I have heard that your warranty on Aluminum frames has gone from lifetime to a 5 yr. warranty. Is this true?
Answer
For a period of time we went down to a 5 year warranty, but now we have decided to go back to a limited lifetime warranty on all frames. This warranty covers all older frames that were sold under the 5 year warranty change but is limited to covering the frames for manufacturer defects and is valid only for the original owner of the bicycle.
We noted that while other companies were dropping to 5 year, 1 year and 90 day warranties that their quality was dropping as well. We want to hold on to our following and let everyone know that we want to stand behind every bike we sell
All I can say about Specialized is nothin' but good. I had 2 frames replaced in less then 2 years with no questions asked. The first frame was a 99 fsr comp which was replaced with a 2003 fsr pro with a new fox shock. Ya can't beat that with a stick, I tell you.
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12,395 Posts
I had 2 frames replaced in less then 2 years
I have had to warranty 3 bikes. 1 giant, 1 specialized stumpy and 1 Turner flux
i made a warranty claim through giant
I've had Trek tell me my "lifetime" warranty was no more.
Maybe ol' Tommy Boy had something there...
The Trek was the only bike I had warranty issues with (multiple times, thus apparently the decision of Trek that it was my fault instead of their poor carbon gluing). I had an older Trek road bike with no issues to be fair. Since the Trek mountain bike (one of the first OCLV models), I've not had any warranty issues at all with three Santa Cruz models and one Moots.
I bought the Trek mountain bike because of the lifetime warranty, too. A friend of mine has gone through at least 4 Giant frames, he likes their warranty program. YMMV.
I have had to warranty 3 bikes. 1 giant, 1 specialized stumpy and 1 Turner flux
i made a warranty claim through giant
I've had Trek tell me my "lifetime" warranty was no more.
Maybe ol' Tommy Boy had something there...
The Trek was the only bike I had warranty issues with (multiple times, thus apparently the decision of Trek that it was my fault instead of their poor carbon gluing). I had an older Trek road bike with no issues to be fair. Since the Trek mountain bike (one of the first OCLV models), I've not had any warranty issues at all with three Santa Cruz models and one Moots.
I bought the Trek mountain bike because of the lifetime warranty, too. A friend of mine has gone through at least 4 Giant frames, he likes their warranty program. YMMV.
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Ha, thats funny, i recieved no less than four pairs of Dominators in ten years between 1990 and 2000, or thereabouts. I never lied, or misrepresented...I simply said, "I am a sales jockey/mechanic/owner(whatever it was at the time) in a busy bike shop, and I wore these out, I love them, can you hook a brotha' up?"Danke said:
Always a new pair, no questions asked.
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