Mail Order Bike Problems

Paulee

Hi everyone, I need some advice please. I bought an ex demo 2005 Marin Rock Springs mountain bike for £700 from Weymouth Cycle Centre last December. I checked out the condition etc over the telephone and was pretty confident that the deal was genuine and good. The bike was delivered by Amtrak and when I unpacked it I found that it had been damaged during shipping. It had been packed pretty well, in a cardboard bike box, but the front wheel had become dislodged, moved down the box and the axle had put some very bad dents in the side of the box section frame. Apart from that, the bike was as described to me and I would have been very pleased with my buy except for the shipping damage.

I took photos and emailed these to the supplier, along with a letter of complaint. Being Christmas it took a while to get a response and I sent a further letter, recorded delivery, voicing my concern at a lack of correspondence and formally lodging my rejection of the item, necessary under the limited time period allowed under the Sale of Goods Act 1979.

The seller finally got Amtrak to contact me and I arranged to let their claims assessor view the damage. He travelled from Yorkshire to Telford to look at the bike and its packaging for 10 mins max before telling me that it was not Amtrak's fault. I showed him my photos and told him that in my opinion it was very evident that the box had been carried on its side and not in an upright position as indicated on the side of the box and it had also been subjected to a lot of weight from other packages being piled on top of it. He agreed but said that was how it would always be moved and that the seller should have ordered a more expensive delivery tariff from Amtrak to ensure that it was shipped correctly!

I reported back to WCC & they finally had the bike collected by ANC last week for a replacement half frame. It duly arrived back to me today; would you believe it, I almost missed the delivery driver, who had left it in my rear garden - talk about security! I have to say that the packaging was superb. The shop had thoroughly wrapped every part of it in bubble wrap and put the original box inside another bike box; I was very impressed. However, when I unwrapped it all I was extremely disappointed to find that the replacement frame had some very nasty, and visible, chips in it, right through the paint to the metal; three about 3-4mm dia and one 8mm dia. It was obvious that these must have been on the frame prior to packing. In addition to this the front shifter cable had been routed over the bottom suspension link, rather than through it and the two plastic grommets in the bolt holes of the top link were missing or broken. When I phoned the shop to query this tonight, the owner told me that he wasn't sure whether the frame had any chips on it, but in any case it was a second hand bike and slight damage could be expected. He also told me that it was difficult to touch up the frame paint successfully and, because it is aluminium, it was not a big issue because it wouldn't rust. He also said that the frame had come from the bike distributors which leads me to assume that it is a new, damaged (2nd quality) frame. I can understand where he is coming from but the point is that I did enquire originally whether the frame had any damage such as this, and I would not have bought it if it had been in this condition. As I have already said, the original bike was very tidy before Amtrak got their hands on it.

Would anyone be prepared to give me some advice on what I should do. Am I expecting too much and over reacting? Thanks in anticipation and sorry for the length of the posting.

RufusA

I think the simple answer is, there isn't a simple answer! This is just my own personal opinion with no legal training:

If the bike was brand new (rather than ex-demo) and was damaged in transit, they you could either reject the goods, or request a repair or replacement under the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers 2002.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2002/20023045.htm

By the sounds of things you opted for a repair or replacement. So *if* the goods were new you'd require the repair or replacement to bring the goods to the standard you'd expect from the contract (i.e. like new). If the replaced goods didn't meet this standard then you could ask for a rescission of contract (i.e. reject them), or ask for a reduction in purchase price, or a further repair/replacement at your discretion.

However the complexity arises with used or ex-demo items. Unless the description of the goods / contract formed showed that the goods were "as new" or "free from paint defects", it would be difficult to prove that the replacement goods retrieved didn't fulfill the contract.

Personally I'd be inclined to ask the shop to replace the gromits and pay for the paint chips to be repaired professionally (or offer a reduction in price for the goods in light of the paint chips). Alu frames whilst they won't rust they will corrode if exposed to salt, so the chips do need to be treated!

Unless you have documented evidence that the bike ordered was to be free of paint defects then it would be difficult to prove your case if it had to go to court, and a judge may take the view that it would be reasonable for an ex-demo bike to have some minor cosmetic defects.

Any which way I would suggest getting advice. Consumer Direct would be a good first point of call:

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk

As it's a mountain bike I would suspect that after a few dozen outings and a couple of spills it is likely to gain enough cosmetic damage of it's own! So personally I wouldn't get too hung up about the final appearance!

HTH - Rufus.

EvilMonkey

I'ds say you've 2 issues the chips and the cabling. Chips in paint are one thing, but chips in the metal nearly 1cm wide is something else. I've ridden my MTB hard for 2 years and have nothing that big. (oh and its a fallacy that aluminium doesn't "rust", road salt in the winter will eat into it.. see here for details...

The cabling could be even worse, will it rub the way its sited now? if its not routed properly I'd not be happy either.

Just from a personal standpoint I'd want to be pretty happy with my bike if I'd paid £700 for it...