Bike seat wear and tear

davegouge

Hi,

I bought a bike for my son in early september for his mid october birthday from !!!!!Bikes.

Since then, with fairly light usage, the seat coating has worn away in places. [STRIKE] As you can see from the picture, the dark blue coating is very thin.[/STRIKE] Edit: Can't post a picture being a 'new user'.

I have been in contact with the company to explain the above and the reply was:
"Unfortunately the seat is not covered under warranty as this is classed as wear and tear. "

I replied with
"It's not counted as 'fair' wear and tear if it is damaged by normal use after only a couple of months (and not excessive use at that)?

The dark blue material on the seat is so thin it's no surprise that it has rubbed off so quickly. I would not expect £250's worth of brand-new bmx to look untidy after only 2 and a half months.

I look forward to hearing back from you as I am exceedingly unhappy at the level of support so far."

Their reply to that:
"Looking at the images the seat looks torn by clothing and we advise that with any future seats purchased that appropriate clothing that won't catch on the material is worn. "

Had to stop laughing long enough to reply to them:
"What clothing would you suggest? I wasn't aware that my son would have to be careful what he wears when using your bikes so as not to damage it.

For the record he was wearing jeans, which is not a uncommon garment for a 14yo to be wearing. Like I said, the dark blue coating is ridiculously thin. Nothing has 'caught' on the seat, you can see from the pictures that the coating has 'rubbed' away from the friction of my son sitting on it. The coating on the seat is not "Fit for purpose", the purpose being sitting on it.

Please advise how you intend to remedy this situation before I take this any further."

I _think_ I'm well within my rights to expect a replacement / partial refund as the damage is not fair wear and tear and if the coating on a SEAT is so precious about what trousers come in contact with it, then it's not fit for purpose.

If anyone has any advice I would appreciate it.

Dave

Aylesbury_Duck

davegouge wrote: »

Hi,

I bought a bike for my son in early september for his mid october birthday from !!!!!Bikes.

Since then, with fairly light usage, the seat coating has worn away in places. [STRIKE] As you can see from the picture, the dark blue coating is very thin.[/STRIKE] Edit: Can't post a picture being a 'new user'.

I have been in contact with the company to explain the above and the reply was:
"Unfortunately the seat is not covered under warranty as this is classed as wear and tear. "

I replied with
"It's not counted as 'fair' wear and tear if it is damaged by normal use after only a couple of months (and not excessive use at that)?

The dark blue material on the seat is so thin it's no surprise that it has rubbed off so quickly. I would not expect £250's worth of brand-new bmx to look untidy after only 2 and a half months.

I look forward to hearing back from you as I am exceedingly unhappy at the level of support so far."

Their reply to that:
"Looking at the images the seat looks torn by clothing and we advise that with any future seats purchased that appropriate clothing that won't catch on the material is worn. "

Had to stop laughing long enough to reply to them:
"What clothing would you suggest? I wasn't aware that my son would have to be careful what he wears when using your bikes so as not to damage it.

For the record he was wearing jeans, which is not a uncommon garment for a 14yo to be wearing. Like I said, the dark blue coating is ridiculously thin. Nothing has 'caught' on the seat, you can see from the pictures that the coating has 'rubbed' away from the friction of my son sitting on it. The coating on the seat is not "Fit for purpose", the purpose being sitting on it.

Please advise how you intend to remedy this situation before I take this any further."

I _think_ I'm well within my rights to expect a replacement / partial refund as the damage is not fair wear and tear and if the coating on a SEAT is so precious about what trousers come in contact with it, then it's not fit for purpose.

If anyone has any advice I would appreciate it.

Dave

Suggest they send you a new saddle or cover to put on it? It would seem to be a practical and inexpensive solution. A new saddle is less than £20 and a saddle cover to put over the existing saddle is less than a tenner.

Otherwise you're in the territory of asking someone independent to inspect the saddle and hope that their findings are that the problem is an inherent one. Much easier to suggest an inexpensive resolution to them and if they won't play ball, just buy a new saddle or cover yourself.

Keep_pedalling

The cost of cheap bikes is kept down with the use of very cheap components, and usually saddles are mega cheap rubbish. If you do get a replacement it will be of equally poor quality, I would either put up with the cosmetic damage or buy a better saddle.

photome

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

The cost of cheap bikes is kept down with the use of very cheap components, and usually saddles are mega cheap rubbish. If you do get a replacement it will be of equally poor quality, I would either put up with the cosmetic damage or buy a better saddle.

Thats what I would do..


£250 is cheap for a bike.


many people replace saddles as soon as they buy a bike


If they agree to a partial refund i would expect it to be in the region of £5, Amazon have one for sale for £3.99

NotRichAtAll

saddle n peddals first to change out

boo_star

photome wrote: »

Thats what I would do..


£250 is cheap for a bike.


many people replace saddles as soon as they buy a bike


If they agree to a partial refund i would expect it to be in the region of £5, Amazon have one for sale for £3.99

Exactly this, £250 is cheap, even for a BMX bike.

It's not like people sit down much on BMX's anyway.

Fosterdog

My first thought on reading the post, even before getting to the bit where the company said it had been damaged by clothing and you said he had worn jeans was "I bet he's been wearing jeans on them" denim is a pretty rough and tough material and if there is friction between it and another softer material the softer material will always come off worse.

As others have suggested, just buy a new saddle or a saddle cover and move on.

peachyprice

Honestly? Just go to Decathlon/Halfords and buy a seat cover.