# Campy let me down



## DaveG (Feb 4, 2004)

On my ride last weekend my 2013 Athena rear shifter started getting wonky. It would jump multiple gears with one press of the thumb lever. Eventually it would jump to the smallest cog every time. I could feel the thumb button "buzzing" as it skipped through multiple stops. Oddly, shifting with the inner lever to larger cogs worked fine. I took it to the shop and they agreed it was toast. They attempted to contact Campy to see if they would warranty it (it is one month beyond the warranty period) but Campy was unresponsive. I remember when Campy did away with repairable levers; their answer was that these would be much more reliable. I recently sold a 16 year old bike; the Campy Veloce Ergopower/g-spring levers still worked as good a new (overhauled twice). Very disappointed.


----------



## Notvintage (May 19, 2013)

Time for Shimano. Move on with the times.


----------



## 1Butcher (Mar 15, 2011)

If you are trying to get goodwill help from a manufacturer [since you are out of warranty], some of the things they look for is 1] Are you a repeat customer? 2] Do you bring your product to the factory service dept? 3] And most importantly, do you complain about the product [internet/friends]? 4] Will the customer buy from us again?

Why would a company offer goodwill if you are bad mouthing their product? Goodwill is like advertising, there is no way a company wants to spend money on bad advertising.

I worked with a upper end product line and those were the guidelines that would allow goodwill to be given. Campagnolo probably has the same guidelines.

Stuff breaks, yours lasted the warranty period so they honored their side. If you knew that they did not offer repair parts when you purchased the groupset, then it should be no surprise that you have to buy a new shifter.


----------



## DaveG (Feb 4, 2004)

1Butcher said:


> If you are trying to get goodwill help from a manufacturer [since you are out of warranty], some of the things they look for is 1] Are you a repeat customer? 2] Do you bring your product to the factory service dept? 3] And most importantly, do you complain about the product [internet/friends]? 4] Will the customer buy from us again?
> 
> Why would a company offer goodwill if you are bad mouthing their product? Goodwill is like advertising, there is no way a company wants to spend money on bad advertising.
> 
> ...


The shop called Campy numerous times over the last 2 weeks. Campy did not even respond to their calls. That cannot be connected to my post of yesterday. My disappointment is not so much that they did not extend the expired warranty period but that the stuff lasted only 3 years. I've paid a premium for Campy over the years because the stuff was highly reliable and repairable. While I am a Campy fan I am going to be a Campy toady and when they dont live up to my expectations, I did not see a problem pointing that out. This is after all, a review site


----------



## 1Butcher (Mar 15, 2011)

If I was Campagnolo and I read your post, I would not think of it as good publicity. 

If my local shop could not get a hold of Campagnolo, I would. If my local shop could not get a hold of Campagnolo, I would find a shop that will. My LBS [Branford Bike] has never let me down in both aspects. Bad mouthing Campagnolo [when it could be your LBS] is jumping to conclusions. Call Campagnolo yourself and express your disappointment politely. Ask them what they can do.

If you thought you could repair a shifter that was not repairable, that seems to be an issue with your thought process. You mentioned in the original post, that Campagnolo no longer makes parts for those shifters.

If you think that Campagnolo must make and design every part perfect, your expectations are too high. Crap happens and sometimes it happens to you. I had a SR EPS v1 groupset. My Power Unit was NFG within days of installation. Campagnolo had a new one within a week in my hands. Of course, we [LBS and I] had to confirm what was the issue, but once found, it was resolved. Never was I disappointed. Nothing in life is perfect. Campy and the LBS were both there to assist me.


----------



## David Loving (Jun 13, 2008)

I'm in Texas and Branford Bike is my favorite, too! Call Campy yourself. "Politely" is the key. Nobody wants to help someone *****ing at them on the telephone.


----------



## DaveG (Feb 4, 2004)

1Butcher said:


> If I was Campagnolo and I read your post, I would not think of it as good publicity.
> 
> If my local shop could not get a hold of Campagnolo, I would. If my local shop could not get a hold of Campagnolo, I would find a shop that will. My LBS [Branford Bike] has never let me down in both aspects. Bad mouthing Campagnolo [when it could be your LBS] is jumping to conclusions. Call Campagnolo yourself and express your disappointment politely. Ask them what they can do.
> 
> ...


At this point I purchased a new lever body and its on its way. I really dont care if Campy thinks this is bad publicity or not. I am not adding any inflammatory, inaccurate info here, I am stating the fact that the shifter only lasted 3 years. I dont call that bad-mouthing. Its exactly what occurred


----------



## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

David Loving said:


> I'm in Texas and Branford Bike is my favorite, too! Call Campy yourself. "Politely" is the key. Nobody wants to help someone *****ing at them on the telephone.


Negative.

Proper warranty channels is to seek warranty via whomever you purchased the hardware from. IOW, if you''re in the USA but bought Campag from Wiggle or Ribble....you shouldn't be contacting Campagnolo USA or Campagnolo Europe....you should be talking to Ribble or Wiggle.


----------



## DaveG (Feb 4, 2004)

Marc said:


> Negative.
> 
> Proper warranty channels is to seek warranty via whomever you purchased the hardware from. IOW, if you''re in the USA but bought Campag from Wiggle or Ribble....you shouldn't be contacting Campagnolo USA or Campagnolo Europe....you should be talking to Ribble or Wiggle.


I purchased the bike and group through the shop here in NJ that called Campy. I have bought groups from the UK, and fully understand that in that case I may not have a warranty


----------



## mackgoo (Mar 2, 2004)

Have you talked with the guys in Carlsbad? I've talked with them atleast 3 times in the last month.


----------



## roox (May 14, 2008)

sometimes things break. Live and learn. Its outta warranty, they owe you nothing, it sucks, but that's the way it is mate.


----------



## 1Butcher (Mar 15, 2011)

DaveG said:


> I am not adding any inflammatory, inaccurate info here, I am stating the fact that the shifter only lasted 3 years.


And you were asking for help from Campagnolo to take care of the costs, since it was out of warranty. I would have waited until Campagnolo said 'NO' before posting your comments. By waiting for their answer, you may have had the same complaint, but would have ended with saying that Campagnolo stepped up and took care of the repair. 

I was also expressing what happens behind the curtains of big business when it comes to goodwill. It probably will not help you now.


----------



## 1Butcher (Mar 15, 2011)

Marc said:


> Proper warranty channels is to seek warranty via whomever you purchased the hardware from.


Yes, you're right, but what if the LBS is not helping? Then what do you do? You take the next step and call the company. Most companies would love to understand why the local franchise is not helping you. 

Again, follow the guidelines. Allow the system to work but if it does not, take the next step.


----------



## DaveG (Feb 4, 2004)

1Butcher said:


> And you were asking for help from Campagnolo to take care of the costs, since it was out of warranty. I would have waited until Campagnolo said 'NO' before posting your comments. By waiting for their answer, you may have had the same complaint, but would have ended with saying that Campagnolo stepped up and took care of the repair.
> 
> I was also expressing what happens behind the curtains of big business when it comes to goodwill. It probably will not help you now.


I did not ask nor was expecting Campy to warranty it. The shop offered that as a possible option and they agreed to pursue it. My complaint was that the shifter failed after 3 years. That's it. I think most people would be unhappy with shifters from any manufacturer that lasted only 3 years. 

I am pretty sure that Campy does not have a team of people scoring the internet looking for negative product comments so they can blacklist them. Why are you so concerned with suppressing any negative Campy comments?


----------



## 1Butcher (Mar 15, 2011)

I was concerned that you were asking for goodwill and then complaining about the product. I was pointing out that if you were nice about it, you will most likely get what you want. I was giving advice since I was responsible for handing out goodwill in the past [different higher end product line].

I like Campy, I have since I purchased my first SR groupset in 1976. That's all.

Sorry to hear your product did not last long enough. Would you feel better if you bought a Shimano component that lasted over a year longer than the warranty expiration and had to buy a completely new product because they offer no way to repair their parts? 

Campy is following the rest of the world. Many companies are not making parts for their products like they used to. Try the automotive field. If a cylinder head gets warped, the factory says to replace it. If you have to unbolt a piston rod, you have to replace it. Welcome to the new world. We are a throw away society.


----------



## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

https://www.amazon.com/Campagnolo-R...F8&qid=1474080802&sr=1-21&keywords=campagnolo

$100 and you can dump the whole cassette on purpose.


----------



## rm -rf (Feb 27, 2006)

My Athena just started doing this too. The thumb shifter doesn't "catch", it started skipping two or three cogs, then by the end of the ride, it jumps all the way to the smallest cog. The downshifts with the other lever still work correctly.

Grrr.

I have maybe 3000 to 4000 miles on this bike.



bigbill said:


> https://www.amazon.com/Campagnolo-R...F8&qid=1474080802&sr=1-21&keywords=campagnolo
> 
> $100 and you can dump the whole cassette on purpose.



I wonder why this is so low priced? I saw Athena replacement bodies for $130 when a set of Athena shifters is about $170.


----------



## bikerjulio (Jan 19, 2010)

> I wonder why this is so low priced?


It's not really. I'm seeing Athena bodies in the $50-60 range.

Both the sellers linked on Amazon are reputable.


----------



## bigbill (Feb 15, 2005)

I must be lucky. I've got an Athena bike and it's been great for the last three years. I'm also riding first generation Chorus 11 on another bike and the left shifter is just starting to demonstrate some wear. The right shifter is still flawless.


----------



## 1Butcher (Mar 15, 2011)

I do not think your lucky, just the average Campagnolo owner.


----------



## DaveG (Feb 4, 2004)

rm -rf said:


> My Athena just started doing this too. The thumb shifter doesn't "catch", it started skipping two or three cogs, then by the end of the ride, it jumps all the way to the smallest cog. The downshifts with the other lever still work correctly.
> 
> Grrr.
> 
> ...


I had less than 5000 miles on these shifters. I paid $79 for a new body (the silver ones are a bit more expensive). The body, new cables, and bar tape came in the mail yesterday, so that is tomorrow's project


----------



## Jackhammer (Sep 23, 2014)

DaveG said:


> I did not ask nor was expecting Campy to warranty it. The shop offered that as a possible option and they agreed to pursue it. My complaint was that the shifter failed after 3 years. That's it. I think most people would be unhappy with shifters from any manufacturer that lasted only 3 years.
> 
> I am pretty sure that Campy does not have a team of people scoring the internet looking for negative product comments so they can blacklist them. Why are you so concerned with suppressing any negative Campy comments?





rm -rf said:


> My Athena just started doing this too. The thumb shifter doesn't "catch", it started skipping two or three cogs, then by the end of the ride, it jumps all the way to the smallest cog. The downshifts with the other lever still work correctly.
> 
> Grrr.
> 
> ...



How dare you "badmouth" Campy on the internets! Both the Campy Police and company men are scouring the WWW making sure goodwill is not extended to ingrates. 

OTOH, you can call Tom Kattus GM at Campy North America, a nice guy, and maybe he can help you?


----------



## DaveG (Feb 4, 2004)

Jackhammer said:


> How dare you "badmouth" Campy on the internets! Both the Campy Police and company men are scouring the WWW making sure goodwill is not extended to ingrates.
> 
> OTOH, you can call Tom Kattus GM at Campy North America, a nice guy, and maybe he can help you?


I moved on. I bought a replacement lever body, installed it and all is well. I never heard back from the shop so I don't know if they pursued it or just gave up. So far no one from Campy has shown up and roughed me me up for making anti-Campy internet comments


----------



## mackgoo (Mar 2, 2004)

DaveG said:


> I moved on. I bought a replacement lever body, installed it and all is well. I never heard back from the shop so I don't know if they pursued it or just gave up. So far no one from Campy has shown up and roughed me me up for making anti-Campy internet comments


So I'm itching to know. Did you ever try the Campy USA number in Carlsbad? Just curious.


----------



## DaveG (Feb 4, 2004)

mackgoo said:


> So I'm itching to know. Did you ever try the Campy USA number in Carlsbad? Just curious.


No. I just wanted to get my bike back on the road. Once I bought the lever body, there was really no point in pursuing it further.


----------



## mackgoo (Mar 2, 2004)

DaveG said:


> No. I just wanted to get my bike back on the road. Once I bought the lever body, there was really no point in pursuing it further.


You'd have a spare.


----------



## smokva (Jul 21, 2004)

Yes, take your broken piece back for spares. Hope you bought the model with the same internals


----------



## MercRidnMike (Dec 19, 2006)

The joys of manufacturing...yours went once it got out of warranty. That sucks. Sure, it would have been nice to have it covered, but it made it 3 years. I've had new parts shred in 6 weeks or 6 months and others still go strong 6 years later. 'Tis what 'tis, but at least you're back on the road relatively quickly. I had a 6 week old freehub go (no, not Campy) and, thanks to warranty, it took me far longer to get the bike back on the road that what you experienced.


----------

