# How long for warranty answer?



## jamesdak (Aug 22, 2010)

Ok, it's been over two weeks since my 2010 Trek Mondane 4.5 failed and still no answer back from Trek. Is this normal? I'm a disabled vet (knees, lower back, left foot) who had to give up long distance running and turned into a fat slob. I started biking on the Trek this spring and lost 50 lbs. But then the rear derailleur snapped and took out the seat stay. Right now I'm riding an old steel bike since that's all I could afford and I'd really like to get my Trek back. Anyone have experience with how long it takes to work a warranty with Trek. I can understand the logistics of working the replacement but how long does it take to at least get an answer back?


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## tellico climber (Aug 14, 2006)

I would be checking with my dealer. I am currently getting a new frame replacement for my 2007 6.5 ssl. It is being replaced with an 2011 6.5 frame. My frame broke last Friday and am recieving my new frame next Tuesday. It could be that your frame size is not in stock at this time. I got lucky that my size was already in stock at Trek. Either way, I would definately push your LBS on any news, nicely that is. Good luck, I know it is frustrating. I have had to convert my cross bike to a road bike during my Madone downtime.


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## Retro Grouch (Apr 30, 2002)

You need to have your Trek dealer keep calling Waterloo at least once a week. I was in the same boat a few years ago. There was a long delay in getting my replacement Madone. It turns out that Trek sent a replacement out,but it got damaged by UPS and was sent back to the factory before it ever reached my LBS. That whole fiasco resulted in an additional week before the new frame arrived. In total, the ordeal lasted about a month for me.


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## 200miler (May 7, 2008)

*Should be about a week to hear*

Get after your LBS and push them to get your situation resolved. Trek has always been very prompt whenever I've had any type of warrantee issue. I found on one occasion that it was my LBS who was sitting on their thumbs. Everyone there thought "the other guy" had reached out to me with some questions that needed answers.

Bug 'em! That's what they are there for!
YMMV
-dg


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## jamesdak (Aug 22, 2010)

Well I emailed Trek asking about the warranty claim, this was part of the response,"I can tell you that a derailleur hanger breakage like that is not a warranty issue as it is due to an outside force or the derailleur getting caught up in the turning wheel due to a mis-shift, mis-adjustment or outside interference. Please discuss this with your local dealer and they should be able to assist you further." Now I was not shifting, the chain did not break and was not on the tallest gear but a couple over, so the is B.S. in my book. This is a brand new bike with only a couple of months on it and I am appalled the Trek is trying not to cover it. Way to loose a customer!


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## 200miler (May 7, 2008)

jamesdak said:


> Well I emailed Trek asking about the warranty claim, this was part of the response


BUT, have you even talked to your dealer? 

I guess I misinterpreted your OP and assumed you were handling this THROUGH your LBS. He's the one who pulls the trigger on getting you restitution. Going to Trek on your own gets you a generic response pretty much like you quoted. That's what your LBS is for, among other things; getting you proper attention. I personally can't imagine spending $$$ with a LBS and then not going to him when there's an issue with what he sold me. In your case, it definitely is *NOT* Trek's failure. They have a procedure for warrantee claims, and you need to follow it. Talk to YOUR LBS!
-dg


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## jamesdak (Aug 22, 2010)

My email was sent to Trek just asking how long it took to work these things since the LBS (who is supposedly handling the claim) says they've heard nothing back yet. But the rest of the email from Trek says they have not claim from the LBS so I'm like, "what's going on?" And yes I will be asking them. But lots of things come into play here. The derailleur is warranted by Shimano so who is the claim submitted to? Since the derailleur failure took out the frame does Shimano pay for the new frame also, etc, etc?? All I know is that a brand new couple of thousand dollar bike broke while in normal use and over two weeks later I have no answers. Trek chose to sell the bike with Shimano components so how is at fault when they fail. There is the whole issue of "implied warranty" that comes into play here where a retailer can reasonably expect a product to perform at the task it was manufactured and sold for. If I can't ride a road bike down the road without a major failure like this than there is a problem.. Anyway, just venting out of frustration. I knew the day this happened and I went home and reread the warranty that this was going to turn into a goatscrew.


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## Argentius (Aug 26, 2004)

I am sorry for your lost bicycle. I hope you were not hurt in the process.

I work in the bicycle industry, but not for Trek.

I have seen plenty of frames of all manufacturers broken from the kind of problem you describe. 

While I am not an engineer, in no case have I seen this be the result of a defect in materials or workmanship in the frame.

Typically what happens is that either the derailler is mis-adjusted, or, more often, something at some point has pushed the derailleur hanger just slightly inboard.

The misalligned derailleur at some point hangs up, grabs something like a spoke, and smashes the chainstay. 

As they say, them's the breaks.

EDIT : You talk about a claim through Shimano. However, your response from Trek suggests that it was not the Shimano derailleur that started the chain reaction, but the derailleur hanger on the frame. Is that correct? Is the parallelogram of the derailleur intact?


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## jamesdak (Aug 22, 2010)

Well I'm no expert on the parts but I did look up a diagram of a derailleur. No the Parallegram is not intact. Also the lower half of the outer jockey wheel cage snapped off. While I understand what you are saying I was not shifting when it happened nor was I in the lowest gear where you would expect it to hit the spokes. Oh and the hanger is still intact and correctly aligned according to the bike shop.


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## rach (Mar 10, 2009)

10 weeks for a cracked seat stay, and result is a warrantied a 3 year old $6299 Lemond with a $3999 4.7 Madone deemed of "equal value". I am not convinced that $2300 gap can really be explained by an uplift in components and I am totally unimpressed.

Trek's service sucks.


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## tbgtbg (Mar 13, 2009)

As an aside, My boy's Al trek tipped over onto the rear derailleur in our garage, but everything seemed OK. Week or two later the hanger broke in half while he was riding, luckily slow. New hanger, all is well. Any way you can closely inspect and try to come up with a failure analysis, i.e corrosion, bending (not due to the actual snapping itself)?


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## 200miler (May 7, 2008)

rach said:


> 10 weeks for a cracked seat stay, and result is a warrantied a 3 year old $6299 Lemond with a $3999 4.7 Madone deemed of "equal value". I am not convinced that $2300 gap can really be explained by an uplift in components and I am totally unimpressed.
> 
> Trek's service sucks.


Are these in A$'s, or are you comparing one in A$ and one in US$? IIRC, in YOUR thread of a week ago you determined that it was a $700 diferential that you faced, which is pretty close to market when you are talking a 3 yo Lemond, and a 2010 Madone, technology improvements not withstanding. And I assume you are STILL talking about Trek-Australia and their purported level of service, as you were in that prior thread. 
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=224178

I would think that if you are going to contribute to a 2nd thread on a similiar topic, that you would at least be consistent, and complete.

And NO, I am in no way connected to Trek. I have one, along with 3 Lemonds and an Orbea. 

I have always felt that it is easy to be aggressive on the interwebs, but is it always correct.
-dg


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## jamesdak (Aug 22, 2010)

tbgtbg said:


> As an aside, My boy's Al trek tipped over onto the rear derailleur in our garage, but everything seemed OK. Week or two later the hanger broke in half while he was riding, luckily slow. New hanger, all is well. Any way you can closely inspect and try to come up with a failure analysis, i.e corrosion, bending (not due to the actual snapping itself)?


Well the bike was bought brand new in May and is kept in my garage. Since I have a leather Brooks saddle on it it does not see any wet conditions. So really no corrosion issues. Bike sat in a rack by itself with additional padding on the rack. Clearance of several inches for the derailleur when the bike is in the rack. Bike saw one trip on a car mounted bike rack and that was from the shop I bought it from to the house. I used a local bike shop for the tuneups and just rode the bike to them. Bike was never banged or laid over that I know of so I don't see how any damage could have happened. Also bike shop says the hanger is still spot after the derailleur failure which surprises them. 

While I've only recently taken up biking seriously, I've always owned at least one bike and take good care of them. Road a Peugeot more than I drove my car for a couple of years in Germany and have always used a bike to augment my long distance running or to rehab from running injuries. This is the first failure I've had and it's boggling because I cannot put my finger on the cause. Wish I had hit something or had something bang into the bike because then I could claim it on my homeowners insurance. But right now I can't honestly do that because I know of nothing damaging the bike.


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## rach (Mar 10, 2009)

200miler said:


> Are these in A$'s, or are you comparing one in A$ and one in US$? IIRC, in YOUR thread of a week ago you determined that it was a $700 diferential that you faced, which is pretty close to market when you are talking a 3 yo Lemond, and a 2010 Madone, technology improvements not withstanding. And I assume you are STILL talking about Trek-Australia and their purported level of service, as you were in that prior thread.
> http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=224178
> 
> I would think that if you are going to contribute to a 2nd thread on a similiar topic, that you would at least be consistent, and complete.
> ...


The thread is on warranties, and experience with them - so IMO this is relevant.
This is AUD - did someone declare a currency for RBR and I missed it??? 
I found the original receipt from where I gave it to the LBS 10 weeks ago, and realised I'd underquoted what I paid - in treks favour. Either way you look at it, $2001 or $2300 is a big gap. If you take the time to read my post before flying off the handle, you'll see I am asking the question of whether that is able to be explained by components - not that I am out of pocket as per your USD figure reference.

Unfortunately if tech advances etc etc were legally able to be taken into account anyone getting an older bike warrantied would be riding around on a 4.5 - and we both know this is not the case. Warranties are based on 'equal value or higher' and I am pretty sure that means $$.

I am offering an opinion here that in my experience (I've also had a mountain bike warrantied through trek with similar issues) Trek warranties can be terrible and take a long time. Yes the message is negative, as intended, but don't think it is aggressive. Downunder we've always blamed the intermediary - Trek Bikes Australia for poorly handled warranties. Now Trek have set up here direct and this one has been with them - not sure the experience is any better.


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## Argentius (Aug 26, 2004)

*Hanger...*

You don't have to be shfting for a failure from an outside force to take out a derailleur hanger as described, or necessarily in your lowest gear, though that is one failure method. 

Another is for the chain to become dislodged from one of the jockey wheels.

The inconsistency that concerns me is your last line.

You say the hanger is intact and aligned.

You quote Trek as claming that a "hanger breakage like that is not a warranty issue."

Of course, we can't see the bike, but if Trek believed the hanger was broken, and it is not, there's something amiss here.

Agreed that your dealer ought to be your point of contact, I hope you're getting good servie from them. A good dealer can ease the process of a warranty claim considerably.

As a whole the only time I have seen a FRAME manufacturer's product replaced under warranty as defective is when the FRAME has an issue, such as a weld cracking the metal of the frame.




jamesdak said:


> Well I'm no expert on the parts but I did look up a diagram of a derailleur. No the Parallegram is not intact. Also the lower half of the outer jockey wheel cage snapped off. While I understand what you are saying I was not shifting when it happened nor was I in the lowest gear where you would expect it to hit the spokes. Oh and the hanger is still intact and correctly aligned according to the bike shop.


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## jamesdak (Aug 22, 2010)

Argentius said:


> You don't have to be shfting for a failure from an outside force to take out a derailleur hanger as described, or necessarily in your lowest gear, though that is one failure method.
> 
> Another is for the chain to become dislodged from one of the jockey wheels.
> 
> ...


Yeah, I didn't catch Treks thought that the hanger was broken at first either. I had to email him back and clear that up. Hanger is not damaged. I also concede that something could have caused it, but what?? I was on clean pavement (actually old chipseal) but wasn't kicking up gravel or anything. I live in a fairly rural mountain valley and as such have lots of roads to ride on with little to no traffic. So, as in the case here I was in the middle of the road where things are basically clean. Heck, I've logged around 1,700 miles since the end of May and have not even had a flat.


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## davidka (Dec 12, 2001)

A stick could've jammed the chain/derailleur and come out as the damage was done, something like that. I sympathize with you, it's hard to take an expensive cost without fully understanding how it happened. FWIW, Trek's warranty service is fast, if it's taking a long time then the dealer is likely the bottleneck. Hopefully if this cannot be justified as a warranty Trek and your dealer can work out some sort of customer loyalty credit to soften the blow, this is a pretty common practice.


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## gambo2166 (Oct 20, 2004)

I'm a Trek dealer the warranty takes but one phone call after I summit the claim on there BtoB site. Sound like you shop is lagging.
But is doesn't sound like a warranty , More like a miss adj. rear Derr.. In my 22 year of shop experience.
IMO


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## jamesdak (Aug 22, 2010)

Well, I finally got an answer and Trek is going to warranty the frame. Not sure about the actual RD itself but the most expensive part is being taken care of. I really can't say what the hold up was on getting an answer but at least it is going to work out for the best. A positive aspect of this problem is that I've picked up two quality Reynolds 853 tubed steel backup bikes during the long wait. The latest is a 2000 LeMond Zurich with a full Ultegra setup for a song. 

Here it is before I added in new Conti GP 4000 tires, Look KEO Classic Pedals, and a new Brooks B17 Imperial saddle. Took the bike out yesterday for a 20 mile spin and the new saddle was perfectly comfortable. 










Curious to see how the Trek runs after I adjust the fit to be more like what I have found to work on my Schwinn Circuit.


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## jamesdak (Aug 22, 2010)

gambo2166 said:


> I'm a Trek dealer the warranty takes but one phone call after I summit the claim on there BtoB site. Sound like you shop is lagging.
> But is doesn't sound like a warranty , More like a miss adj. rear Derr.. In my 22 year of shop experience.
> IMO


Yeah, I still wonder about that. But I'm pretty sure I was not in the last gear as one would expect if it shifted into the spokes. Going to ask for copies of the pics today to confirm that. I do know to now do a full function check whenever anyone works on any of my bikes. But I'm also learning to do more and more of the work myself so that I am more comfortable with the tune ups/repairs.


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