All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

It’s always been my understanding that while the manufacturer covers the frame, they will not cover any labor related costs of stripping or rebuilding your bike.

I don’t understand why the whole damn thing needed to be sent away when they could have just sent a new triangle and honestly just replacing it is not that intensive of a job.

Yes, I’m aware you’re probably going to have to cut at least the brake hose and replace it, but ultimately not the end of the world.

It looks like most of the ass raping was on the shipping end. Which once again I don’t understand why it had to be done.

By the way, what they charged you is essentially what it costs here in California for a full bare frame up build… From scratch.

 

Your LBS should have been more forthcoming about your out of pocket cost, but i'd frankly take this back at Pivot, not the LBS. Its their issue really, you took it back to the LBS you bought it from and this is how they handled it as a certified dealer. They're not a direct to consumer brand, i'd go at Pivot and see if they'll step up.

 

I had a similar problem with Santa Cruz and they told me to get fucked.

This was over poor assembly quality of a chameleon I bought from a licensed dealer during Covid that needed a new rear brake and new headset, the LBS and Santa Cruz went back-and-forth saying that neither of them want to pay for it and I should go through the third party manufacturers.

Eventually SRAM and Cane Creek sent me a new brake lever, caliper, rotor, and headset but I would have to install them myself.

This was after I reached out to them personally and explained the situation, first they wanted me to send the bad parts to them so they could inspect them but after explaining the entire situation they caved.

I installed everything myself because I was fed up at this point.

I’ve never been back to that bike shop, I still buy Santa Cruz but I don’t expect anything from them besides getting a new frame if I break one of my bikes.

 

It may not be a popular opinion, but this ix where i see the direct to consumer brands doing well. I had issues with mine, they helped me diagnose it over the phone then told me i needed to take it to a professional. My carbon fork was broken, they covered all the shipping and i had to pay the LBS for the labor. I reached back out to the manufacturer and they gave me a gift certificate to their shop for what i had paid (they sell gear and components also). I'd expect at least the same or better out of the 'big names', otherwise there are plenty of other smaller brands that have excellent customer service i'd rather give my money to.

 

Yeah I think that’s something they need to look into. They should have told you that cost would be associated up front. Especially since the bike is basically brand new. Maybe drop a comment about Bernard Kerr’s prototype bike breaking in half at crankworks or hardline or whatever it was haha.

my friend cracked his canyon, they sent him a new frame and paid for one of those mobile shops to move over the parts if I remember correctly. Definitely a perk haha.

 

Thanks for chiming in everyone. It's all a terrible game of bad expectations being set I guess. I get it, hours of labor stripping and rebuilding a bike ain't free but I just found it ridiculous that at the end of the day it's passed off to the customer. Specially if it's less than a year old.

I guess there's a reason I've decided to learn to work on my own bikes and will avoid bike shops at all means necessary. Definitely not saying they're all evil as I've had a few very fair shops but the surprise on the wallet is not fun.

 

Agreed on the shipping and rear triangle. This sounds like an exercise in incompetence.

There is truth in "cooler heads prevail", hopefully you can get something worked out.

 

I had the same experience with Pivot. They insisted that I send the whole bike back through an LBS. Charged to me ship the frame back.

However, the bike shop was upfront about the costs, so I stripped everything off myself and gave the LBS just the frame. When I got the new frame back (the ended up warranting the whole frame), I then had to rebuild.

My opinion: the bike shop should have been more upfront about the costs associated. Also, if you bought the complete bike from that shop, they should have done this at a discounted rate. Maybe even free. A premium brand like Pivot should be factoring this sort of cost into their warranty and price model. This is what drives customers away from the pivot brand and/or shop involved.

 

I have also been in the exact situation...I broke a rear tringle on a Mach 5.5. LBS only wanted the rear triangle, sent it to Pivot and I received a new rear end about 5 days later. Did not cost me anything! I'm sure my LBS "absorbed" those costs. It wasn't free for them to break down and rebuild my rear triangle - but they did it anyway. A free hour of labor is not going to hurt that shop at the end of the day and they've earned a multiple-return customer. That's just one more reason I visit the same shop over and over. They took care of me when I needed it and they know I'll be back.

You can blame your shop all day long. I feel like the manufacturer is absolved in this situation...they received a broken part and replaced it. The shop charged you for labor and shipping. As said already, the shop should have been upfront about those costs.

It sucks all around anyway. It can sour you on the brand and the shop no matter where the blame lies. Good luck with your follow-up with the shop owner. I'm interested to hear what happens...

 

I don’t agree that “understandably a Pivot warranty doesn’t cover labor and shipping costs for warranty issues”. On a 6 month old bike unless this was explicitly determined to be crash damage, Pivot should cover 100% of the cost. so I was curious and looked it up, and the warranty is very explicit about not covering labor and transportation. I’ve never heard of a parts-only warranty for something that is typically repaired by an authorized dealer and not just a simple swap-out. When I (briefly) worked at a bike shop several years ago we got comp’ed by the manufacturer for warranty labor. Based on their flat rate which was pretty tight, but still. No charge to customer.

 

I think the flat rate brings up a good point too, a shop shouldn't be making money from a warranty job if they are going to charge. I think it's fair to charge but if you are going to charge it should probably be at cost. Not sure how much profit is built in at $400 but it seems like some would be.

Obviously shops can do whatever they choose but at the end of the day those are decision riders are going to see and think maybe I won't go back to that shop next time.

 

It doesn't make much sense but apparently according to the shop and other sources, Pivot wants the whole frame because they have jigs where everything aligns. In other words they're anal about the fitment. It's reassuring to hear but it makes me wonder what the proper way of replacing linkage bearings is...

Thanks for sharing, I agree, at the end of the day I should've been given a heads up if there were going to be costs associated. I was a very happy customer of the shop and Pivot up until I was told there was a $400 charge.

Thank you, and agreed. I think it should fall on both the shop and manufacturer since they are both "partners" in the sale but apparently when it comes to a warranty issue it's every man for themselves. That said, I'm still very happy with Pivot. About 2 weeks turn around time and no questions asked. Plus new linkage bearings all around!

I spoke to a few buddies yesterday and one of them wondered the same. He thought it would be worth reaching out to Pivot again to explain my situation and make sure the shop isn't doubling up on reimbursements for the labor. Again, waiting to have a follow up with the owner before I escalate anything. I try to be a very fair customer and person when these crappy situations arise but sometimes it feels like I'm being taken advantage of.

 

Bike warranty unfortunately doesn’t work like a car warranty.

With that said, they (Pivot and LBS) could have easily lowered the cost if they just acted more sensibly.

I don’t for a second think that the frame had to be completely stripped down and shipped off when only the rear triangle was broken, and any good bike mechanic cab easily evaluate a carbon frame for signs of damage, I seriously doubt Pivot are going to be x-raying it and taking high resolution photographs of every inch of it to look for additional cracks.

And if Pivot want to autopsy the frame, they really need to cover the additional LBS labor cost over just replacing the rear triangle.

 

yeah requiring the whole frame is odd. I've only had to do a frame warranty once on a trek frame, trek just shipped the chainstay to the shop and they replaced. Similar on the Ibis which also uses DW link, you can easily remove the rear triangle. In Pivot's defense though, the Ibis rear triangle was a pain in the ass to get aligned correctly. None of the bolts wanted to go in smoothly. That was with like a 2 or 3 year old aluminum frame and I'm like 230ish pounds haha so some shifting probably happens with age and use on aluminum frames.

 

I'm not entirely sure what's new and what's old. Creekside is a long ride down though and has some amazing scenery. Feels like I'm riding on the forest moon of endor.

 

Yeah, I'd agree with most people. Lbs should have been more upfront. That sucks that they didn't really mention it.

But I get it, manufacturers aren't usually covering bike shop labor. Either the bike shop gets screwed on their time and money (if they don't charge) or the customer gets screwed. It's kinda a lose lose. For example, rocky mountain did a full recall on aluminum front triangles on instincts a few years ago. They gave everyone a carbon front triangle in exchange but...they didn't reimburse the shops for their time to do the warranty work to my knowledge. :/

I'd love to see more manufacturers cover labor costs on warranties.

I've had to do two frame fixes but not a full transfer. One was a full rear triangle and the other was a seat stay. But I did the labor all myself.

I did do a full transfer from and old bike to a newer Gen of same model. And it's a lot of work even if you know what you're doing and can breeze through a lot of it. Took me the better part of 2 maybe 3 hours.

 

This morning was freaking awesome for riding! Nice, cool morning, especially for the end of June. Very cloudy so there was no real sunrise but the temps and humidity were both absolutely perfect :chefskiss:

 

Lotta good stuff in Bham and Squamish on the way up.

Even Whistler trails like Earth Circus would be right up your alley.

 

Gimme a date and Ill be there. Im 100% down.

Already looking at the calendar to see when i can make a trip up next.

 

In case anyone is interested…
https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/3888214/