I removed the swingarm from my Marin Rift Zone for re-
painting and found one of the main pivot bearings had all
but seized, it just had enough rotation to allow for the
angular movement of the swingarm No problem thought I, Marin
have long made a selling point of the life-time guarantee of
this particular item so I got my original booklet the LBS
gave me at time of purchase on which they had written
"Lifetime waranty on frame/swingarm/main pivot bearing" and
trundled to the shop on Monday.
"No problem" said the assistant, "I think we've got some
kicking around", and disappears.
"Erm, I've spoken to the mechanic and he says the warranty
only covers breakage but this bearing is showing signs of
water ingess, do you jet -wash the bike?"
"No, never, jet washes are the kiss of death to bike
bearings IMO"
"Well he says it's not covered as it's corroded."
"So you're telling me this warranty is not worth the paper
it's printed on then?"
"Er, well, erm, I'll send it to ATB (the importer) for their
opinion then".
"Thank you" says I, inwardly not feeling particularly
thankful at all and mentally composing the letter I'm going
to send to the ASA re the adverts.
On Tuesday I phone ATB and leave a message querying the
warranty. Wednesday I receive a call back from them and a
very pleasant lady tells me there is no problem replacing
the bearing under warranty and she can't understand the
LBS's attitude as normally they are very good and get the
replacements parts from ATB at no cost whatsover.
So I phone back the LBS a couple of hours later (their phone
was engaged the first time I called) and the main man
explains that all is in order and they'll let me know when
it arives!
And I'm about to go there now (Sat) to collect the new
bearing.
It's a shame that what otherwise could have been excellent
service has been marred by the attitude of one employee.
This is not the first time I've been forced to cut the LBS
out of the loop to get satisfaction from the
manufacturer/importer and my advice is to never be fobbed
off, I suppose in fairness I should have demanded to see the
manager at the LBS in the first place but never mind, I got
there in the end.
--
Regards, Pete
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Regards, Pete