So I recently had my bike warranted for the rear derailleur. I took it to my preferred bike store. They said yes, it needed to be warrantied, blah blah blah. But I had to take it to the store I bought it at to have the part warranted. I took it to the bike store where I bought it. Told them the problem. They said ok. All they did was say ok and send in a warranty claim, as it had already been approved to be under warranty. The week goes by and I have not been contacted. Not a problem. They called me today and said they got the part and everything. However, it will be 25 dollars for alignment and adjustment. I know that does not sound like a lot, but I am a broke college student. If this were mechanical, I would say thatās fair. However, this is Rival axs. I can throw a derailer on and have it tuned up in 2 minutes. Am I a douch to go to them in full lawyer mode and argue that I should not be charged?
Warranties usually do not include the labor service cost. Shop I use charges $50 to submit the warranty unless it was a bike purchased from them.
I mean I did purchase the bike from them, along with some other stuff so im not sure if that factors any/
They need to make money to pay the mechanic. I do all my own work but if I need them, for some odd reason like you did, I donāt mind paying just to keep them in business. If there is a next time perhaps ask them if you can do the removal and install.
If you ever intend to call on this shop in the future, Iād probably suck it up and pay the $25 instead of going in and demanding they do service for free. Iām not sure what the communication was like prior to this but it seems like there was a lack of communication somewhere.
Might mention to them after settling up that it was an unexpected surprise. Thatās what Iād do anyway.
This $25 fee is fair, IMO. Some bike brands will give shops a credit for warranty labour and some donāt. Next time you buy a bike you can ask if warranty includes labour. It might steer you to the brands that support the shops better. I know you said ā2 minutesā to set it up, but itās way more time than that, but much of it is āinvlsibleā to the consumer; processing your warranty, receiving parts, dealing with you, etc.
From what I understand, you can go to any sram authorized dealer for warranty of SRAM part, so you shouldnāt have had to go to the 2nd shop unless the first wasnāt authorized SRAM dealer. Itās part of the deal when they sign up to be an authorized dealer. If you buy parts online and have issues, SRAM will typically send you to the local authorized dealer, so the first shop telling you to go to where you bought it is just being lazy or isnāt holding up their end of being a SRAM dealer (again, assuming they are). Iām not saying the local shop is going to be excited about messing with the warranty stuff on something they didnāt sell, but thatās what they sign up for. I do try to buy my SRAM stuff local when itās something I think I might need warranty on later, that way they at least made some margin on the broken part that they are screwing with.
And no, you shouldnāt have to pay the shop labor for something like that if you said you would do it yourself, but i personally wouldnāt have brought the entire bike in for a failed RD, I would have just brought in the RD and asked for a warranty swap. And I wouldnāt have left the bike with them because thatās a hassle for them to deal with and implies they are āworking onā your bike. In the past, SRAM would actually let you deal with them directly for stuff and just coordinate with the local SRAM dealer to exchange the parts, but they seem to have gotten away from that. Also, my understanding is that SRAM does compensate authorized dealers for their time on some stuff, but I assume that is case by case. All that said, bike shop policies are all over the place and they get to make their own rules to a point. If you value the relationship and want to keep working with that shop, itās probably not worth the fight over $25. Just be clear with expectations up front next time.
They do not get reimbursed by the manufacturer for labor related to a warranty claim. Warranty in this case is parts only. Itās not like an auto warranty where the dealer gets reimbursed for labor related to a warranty repair. So charging you for this work is 100% normal.
Iām getting the impression OP didnāt ask them to replace the part though. Just to do the warranty claim and give him the replacement part.
Why bring in the whole bike? If you just wanted to pick up the part why not take it off and bring it in?
Beats me
Just speculating, but I guess there could be failure conditions on a RD that could only be shown on the bike. But there still isnāt reason to leave the bike. Show the failure and then just pull the RD off the bike and hand it to them. It takes less than a minute to pull it. And in my experience, they donāt need to keep the part to get SRAM to send the replacement. When I was dealing with a bad damper on my fork, I just brought the bike in to show them the issue. They took the serial number and got the warranty replacement damper ordered. When the replacement arrived, I pulled the damper out of the fork and went into the shop and exchanged the bad one for the warranty replacement. But part of this is probably having a decent relationship with the shop. My shop knows me and knows I do all my own maintenance and Iām somewhat capable. I will have already done troubleshooting with SRAM tech support to confirm the issue and I try to make it as painless as possible for the shop.
I work in a bike shop, so see this kind of thing often. I donāt think youāre being a douche, but you are perhaps being slightly naive as to how the economics of the industry works. Shops are under relentless pressure from manufacturers and customers to offer complimentary labour. We are asked for advice, maintenance instruction, ācan you justā¦ā on the spot fixes, warranty work and more. This very rarely translates into actual income, which is necessary to pay the overheads of a business, and while weāre doing this we canāt do the work that actually does pay our wages.
Speaking for my own shop, weād usually not charge for a warranty claim for someone whoād bought a bike. But sometimes we do need to bill people for our time, and Iād totally back up another shop charging a small fee for this. Your bike purchase is, after all, a sunk cost.
Better too generous than too cheap, 25 bucks isnāt much these days. Pay them with a smile, relationships are important.
Life lesson: time is money.
The charge of $25 is not much. If you have rival axs, then Iād suggest you can find the fee somewhere. Maybe the shop should have been upfront, but taking off, warranting, and reinstalling is a service.
Iām getting a warranty frame replacement tomorrow. Itās a straight swap, and I stripped the frame completely; there are zero parts that arenāt carbon or the BB thread inserts. Iām handing the shop a frame. They are handing me back a new frame. For context, I bought the complete bike from them.
I havenāt followed the whole thread but it seems the root problem is it wasnāt clear what the customer wanted done, what the shop would do, and what any costs would be. IMO, this is entirely on the shop for not getting this clearly established at the outset. I worked as a bike mech for 5 years we endeavored to never to surprise a customer with fees or charges. They knew what they were going to be before they left the shop, and if anything changed or we had to get more info, weād contact them to get approval.
$25, theyāve actually done some work for you even if you didnt ask for itā¦
Iād just pay it personally. Not worth an argument imo
just ask them directly:
āhey thanks for fixing that and getting my up and running. iām just curious so I know how it works in the future. I sorta thought a warranty claim means I donāt pay anything? is that standard to charge for labor for this type of thing? I am just asking so I knowā¦I donāt expect anyone to work for free. just figured maybe a warranty would cover it.ā
Correct