# Concerns about buying wheels from England?



## somno (May 3, 2009)

The Shimano wheels are much less expensive from British online stores. The C24 wheels have a 3 year warranty but to get warranty service if you buy from the UK will require shipping the wheels back there.

I have bought tires and other accessories from England but this is a much bigger purchase.

Is it worth it to buy the wheels from England in order to save substantial money or is it too risky if warranty problems occur?


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## bikerjulio (Jan 19, 2010)

Just depends how much you value the warranty.

Personally, I don't value them at all. With shipping costs it is not worthwhile.

So just look at the price difference between UK online and your LBS, and decide if the warranty is worth that to you.


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## Wheelman55 (Jul 10, 2009)

The warranty s a manufacturers warranty...meaning that it would go through Shimano in whatever country you live in.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Wheelman55 said:


> The warranty s a manufacturers warranty...meaning that it would go through Shimano in whatever country you live in.


It is not that clear. The USA warranty is different to the European warranty, and both are limited to their geographical regions. The typical way to initiate a warranty claim is through a Shimano dealer, often the bike store that sold you the product but not necessarily. The first thing they are going to look at is your receipt to verify that the item is within the warranty claim period and to check where you bought it from. The Shimano rep will likely double check this.

Maybe you can get away with an "I lost the receipt" claim, but this will be at their discretion, so maybe not. In borderline cases it may depend on whether you have a good relationship with a local bike store that will go to bat for you, but why should they when you didn't buy the item from them?

Shimano, dealers and stores are very aware that this is a global internet economy, and that gray goods importing goes on all the time. When you do this you have to take the risk that you may end up with no warranty in the USA. You will have to judge the value of that warranty for yourself. Ultimately you may have to send the product back to the UK at your cost, and then you are going to have to wait and see what happens.

Also, note that you might get hit with import fees at customs. Whole wheels are exempt I believe but the fees seem to be applied somewhat arbitrarily in practice and you have to pay the fees to get your goods.


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## CABGPatchKid (Dec 5, 2011)

I had a warranty issue with wheels a bought from Chain Reaction Cycles.
I got the following info from Shimano's web site.

' In all other cases: 
Refer back to the bicycle dealer that sold you the product or contact Shimano American Corp. directly at (949) 951-5003.'

I called, told them where I purchased them, they said send them in
I had no issues.
YMMV


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## Mannyfern09 (Oct 17, 2012)

Mavic CXP


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