New bike light..grr :(

GPLama said:

Decided to get myself another bike light for my 6pm commute.. needed
something just a little brighter than my 6w Marwi Nightpro BULLITe.. Went
into BikePro on Whitehorse Rd, my new LBS of choice to see what was on
offer.. Got myself a great deal on a Cygolite Nitro 100 (15w, 1hr50min
burn, 565g) $140... nice.. no reviews on mtbr.com but the other Cygolite
products were rating well..

Getting it back to work, I stuck it on the charger and flicked through the
manuals... 'Charger will prevent overcharging blahbah.. red = charging,
green = ready/trickle charge, blink = error'... hmm.. what does 'shows
nothing' indicate? Thought it might have wanted a run flat then its first
charge, so I hooked it up and took off home in the dark... 15 mins into my
ride home -insta-ddiiiiimmmmm-to-nothing.. right.. fair enough, not much
charge in that baby after all.. swapped back to my Bullite and made my way
home.. On the charger again - still nothing.. hmm.. conclusion was a busted
charger.. hmm.. Took it back to the store the next day and I had to fill out
a warranty form and that will 'take a few weeks or so'.. A FEW WEEKS..
MOTHER OF GOD.. I went apesh*t inside my head but kept cool.. I came out
with a 'for real!?'.. and asked them to call when it was ready..

I know this is standard procedure for faulty goods, but in this world of
instant 'order it-get it-use it' I just assumed that I'd actually be able to
use something I'd just forked out $140 for.. grrr ..grrrrrr.. now all i have
is the recipt.. grrererrr

You should've ask for a replacement on the spot. I don't know if they
are obliged to do that but almost every shop I've dealt with will either
replace or refund immediately, especially since it was so new.

Strike 1 for BikePro.

hippy

quote='hippy'GPLama said:

Decided to get myself another bike light for my 6pm commute.. needed
something just a little brighter than my 6w Marwi Nightpro BULLITe.. Went
into BikePro on Whitehorse Rd, my new LBS of choice to see what was on
offer.. Got myself a great deal on a Cygolite Nitro 100 (15w, 1hr50min
burn, 565g) $140... nice.. no reviews on mtbr.com but the other Cygolite
products were rating well..

Getting it back to work, I stuck it on the charger and flicked through the
manuals... 'Charger will prevent overcharging blahbah.. red = charging,
green = ready/trickle charge, blink = error'... hmm.. what does 'shows
nothing' indicate? Thought it might have wanted a run flat then its first
charge, so I hooked it up and took off home in the dark... 15 mins into my
ride home -insta-ddiiiiimmmmm-to-nothing.. right.. fair enough, not much
charge in that baby after all.. swapped back to my Bullite and made my way
home.. On the charger again - still nothing.. hmm.. conclusion was a busted
charger.. hmm.. Took it back to the store the next day and I had to fill out
a warranty form and that will 'take a few weeks or so'.. A FEW WEEKS..
MOTHER OF GOD.. I went apesh*t inside my head but kept cool.. I came out
with a 'for real!?'.. and asked them to call when it was ready..

I know this is standard procedure for faulty goods, but in this world of
instant 'order it-get it-use it' I just assumed that I'd actually be able to
use something I'd just forked out $140 for.. grrr ..grrrrrr.. now all i have
is the recipt.. grrererrr

You should've ask for a replacement on the spot. I don't know if they
are obliged to do that but almost every shop I've dealt with will either
replace or refund immediately, especially since it was so new.

Strike 1 for BikePro.

hippy[/QUOTE]
Should be able to get a replacement or refund, although it often takes a bit of argument. Phrases to remember:

"not of merchantable quality - it never worked from the beginning"
"Trade Practices Act"
"Fair Trading Act"
"Consumer Affairs"
"I want to speak to someone here who actually knows what your legal obligations are"

You could go back now, but you would have to get them past another argument first that you had 'opted' to have it repaired rather than replaced.

I gotta buy a new light. I think the NiCds in my light have reached the max number of recharges. I need to buy a new one (the usual - bigger brighter lighter) but I'll break open the battery 'bottle' and have a go at replacing the NiCds myself.

SteveA

hippy said:

GPLama wrote:
Took it back to the store the next day and I had to fill out

Quoted message said:

a warranty form and that will 'take a few weeks or so'.. A FEW WEEKS..
MOTHER OF GOD.. I went apesh*t inside my head but kept cool.. I came out
with a 'for real!?'.. and asked them to call when it was ready..

I know this is standard procedure for faulty goods, but in this world of
instant 'order it-get it-use it' I just assumed that I'd actually be able to
use something I'd just forked out $140 for.. grrr ..grrrrrr.. now all i have
is the recipt.. grrererrr

You should've ask for a replacement on the spot. I don't know if they
are obliged to do that but almost every shop I've dealt with will either
replace or refund immediately, especially since it was so new.

Strike 1 for BikePro.

hippy

Yeah that's pretty sucky service in my book, especially if they had another one in stock (even if they didn't, they should be able to order a replacement from the distributor withing a few days, not weeks).

I'm interested to hear about that because I've been considering getting a new bar/stem from BikePro. Didn't they get in trouble a while ago because they were undercutting other LBS's so much that Bicycling Australia refused to accept their ads? The prices on their site certainly seem unfeasibly low for some things.

Anyone got any other good/bad tales to tell?

"hippy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

You should've ask for a replacement on the spot. I don't know if they are
obliged to do that but almost every shop I've dealt with will either
replace or refund immediately, especially since it was so new.

Strike 1 for BikePro.

Yeah, I didn't take a hard line with them as they have been awesome in the
past.. and have had the best prices for most things I have ever wanted... so
they are still ahead in my books.. this may change very quickly depending on
the outcome 🙂... I really dont need the hassle of finding another LBS..
<side story> I went to Flemington Cycles the other month as a guy from back
home (Horsham) I knew worked there, only to be told he is now in wholesale..
damn no good deals there then...hmm wholesale deals.. hmm..oi Dipper where
are you!? </side story>

Cygolite responded to my email telling them of my situation, so I was happy
with that.. nothing they can do being in the US, but the fact someone went
to the effort in replying to me was good to know.

cheers,
GPL

"craigster_jd" wrote in message

Quoted message said:

I'm interested to hear about that because I've been considering getting
a new bar/stem from BikePro. Didn't they get in trouble a while ago
because they were undercutting other LBS's so much that Bicycling
Australia refused to accept their ads? The prices on their site
certainly seem unfeasibly low for some things.

Anyone got any other good/bad tales to tell?

Yeah, a scan of the letter from BA is on their site... one of the reasons I
wanted to support bikePro.. with a stance like that, BA can get farkked as
far as I am concerned.. (I wonder if saying that will ever bite me in the
a*se thanks to google cache?)...

cheers,
GPL

It could be that their product was sourced overseas, and that is why it was cheap, and why there is such a long turnaround on returns.

till

craigster_jd said:

Yeah that's pretty sucky service in my book, especially if they had another one in stock (even if they didn't, they should be able to order a replacement from the distributor withing a few days, not weeks).

I'm interested to hear about that because I've been considering getting a new bar/stem from BikePro. Didn't they get in trouble a while ago because they were undercutting other LBS's so much that Bicycling Australia refused to accept their ads? The prices on their site certainly seem unfeasibly low for some things.

Anyone got any other good/bad tales to tell?

I've bought some stuff there (wheels, computers etc) in the past and had it posted to Brisvegas with no dramas. Good prices, quick delivery and Andy normally answers email enquiries pretty quickly.

Adam

"till!" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

It could be that their product was sourced overseas, and that is why it
was cheap, and why there is such a long turnaround on returns.

Andy did mention that it was from a local disti.. and on the side of the box
there was a tick next to 'Australia'... but it was missing a tick next to
the 'doesn't fu*$#*%n work' checkbox..

still grrr,
GPL