Need to know my rights!

beckyr86

I bought a child's bike from halfords last week for my sons birthday, he went out on it for the first time yesterday and fell off while he was learning, the left hand brake has completely snapped off the bike due to the fall, I called halfords to ask if they could send me a replacement brake and they said I would have to purchase one, does this sound right? Surely a child's bike should be built to stand a fall? do I have any rights?

cono1717

The only way halfords would have to resupply you a brake is if the brake itself was faulty. Proving that not surviving a fall makes it faulty would be very difficult.

ThumbRemote

Surely a childs bike would be expected to withstand falls

Undervalued

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Surely a childs bike would be expected to withstand falls

Within reason!

Nothing will withstand every eventuality so it comes down to whether it was of merchantable quality or not.

If the levers have an inherent weakness so that they will not survive fair use then the OP has a case. If this one got such a bang that any brake lever was unlikely to withstand then they don't.

Like most things I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle.

Paully232000

If it was me I would write to them in the old fashioned way stating the facts and that you are not happy with the brakes snapping so quickly.

See what they say as it i easy to try to fob you off on the phone.

For what it is worth, I would expect a child's bike to withstand falls, as from experience it happens quite a bit when learning.

bris

You have no rights, accidental damage is beyond a retailers control.


What special material would you expect on a cheap Halfords bike that would me it child proof?

maninthestreet

What? If I crash my brand new car and damage it, would I expect the dealer to supply me with replacement parts for free??

ThumbRemote

bris wrote: »

You have no rights, accidental damage is beyond a retailers control.


What special material would you expect on a cheap Halfords bike that would me it child proof?

What a load of tripe.

The Consumer Rights Act says goods must be fit for "all the purposes for which goods of that kind are usually supplied;"

It's a child bike. The expectation is that a child will be riding it. Of course it should be designed for children, and to cope with the rough and tumble that entails.

Exile_geordie

ThumbRemote wrote: »

What a load of tripe.

The Consumer Rights Act says goods must be fit for "all the purposes for which goods of that kind are usually supplied;"

It's a child bike. The expectation is that a child will be riding it. Of course it should be designed for children, and to cope with the rough and tumble that entails.

that's very true, however, and the OP will need to confirm this, it all depends on where it broke


if it was near to the brake handle as shown below where it screws in and this is what hit the ground then I don think they should cover it

Exile_geordie

Plus I think its impossible to make something like a pedal cycle indestructible whether its for kids or not, unless you can show me anything different?


Even my cycle had a broken component when I fell off it and its quite an expensive cycle too.

powerful_Rogue

ThumbRemote wrote: »

What a load of tripe.

The Consumer Rights Act says goods must be fit for "all the purposes for which goods of that kind are usually supplied;"

It's a child bike. The expectation is that a child will be riding it. Of course it should be designed for children, and to cope with the rough and tumble that entails.

But a bike is designed to be ridden. If the pedals turn the wheels and the brakes stop the wheels then its fit for purpose.

Never heard something so ludicrous that a bike isnt fit for purpose because it breaks when dropped.