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I was cleaning my Giant Anthem X 29er a couple of weeks ago in readiness to service, fit a new bottom bracket , chain, rear derailleur ..... and saw something odd on the seatpost just above the rear suspension pivot .... wiped it ... it was hole in the frame.... big enough to fit a 3mm allen key into ....... and above that a crack almost an inch long ...
I was quite despondent and unloaded on a friend who reminded me of the Giant Lifetime Warranty ........ so i was fully expecting lots of wriggling out of it but I emailed web supplier Pedalon.co.uk where i bought the bike from way back in 2012 (!) and got a reply straight back asking for more pictures and they would submit a warranty claim for a new frame from Giant. within 48 hours an email back to say Giant accepted the claim and can I send them the bike!
So I packaged it up and sent by courier to them on Tuesday last ...... late afternoon on Thursday I got an email telling me bike was ready to send back ..... Today it arrived !
A complete new frame was fitted with all the components from my old bike alongwith the new part I'd bought but not fitted ... so I now have most of a new bike ..... replacing a 6 year old bike that had been raced and ridden over 6000 miles !
I have to say that the service and response was very quick, trouble free and very efficient.
I should not have had a hole and a crack in the frame granted...... but these things happen so putting it right was totally trouble free ........
Thats something you don't get so often in this day and age !
Happy customer with (most) of a new bike 🙂
Giant are very good IME.
Next bike I buy will be likely one of theirs.
I have a Cervelo frame that was accepted for warranty replacement at the start of August. My frame ETA is the end of this year, it’s a brick wall of BS.
No way does it take that long to have a frame procured and warranty should be at the top of the list. If I’d had one inside a month I’d recommend them all day long, now the (limited lifetime) warranty is fine, provided you have enough in the bank to buy and ride another bike if it is required.
Mate of my mine bought an old stock hardtail frame for peanuts. It was one of those half alloy, half carbon bonded things. Got replaced with a full carbon race frame when it broke.
Twice 😮 And he couldn't even find the receipt.
Good story.
Heard and experienced so many desperate warranty exchanges, makes a change.
Very Jealous of this! I have a warranty on a jacket with a limited life time warranty going through and its been 6 weeks and nothing! its only a jacket where the zip has failed!
That's great service. We have 4 Giant bikes in the household so good to know Giant respond so well to warranty issues if ever we need to make use of it.
Is the replacement Anthem frame identical to the original or have Giant supplied a newer design frame?
If it's the latter how did they deal with changes such as boost rear end and shorter chain stays?
They supplied a 2016 spec frame to replace the 2012 one .... they switched over all the components and everything fits fine
My experience of Giant was also brilliant when it came to warranty issues.
I cracked a Reign frame a few years ago when doing a season in Whistler, only a couple of weeks before coming home, sent a couple of pictures to them & they were prepared to ship a frame out to the local dealer in Canada to build back up for me.
I ended up riding the bike anyway, and there was a replacement frame waiting for me when I got home, Shop swapped the builds out & sent me on my way.
Actually had a similar thing recently with Trek. Cracked my Fuel 9.9 frame in France - put the warranty claim in whilst still away & had a new frame in less than a week, just with a couple of pictures needed.
There is a lot to be said for dealing with a big company in that respect. They are (in my experience) a lot less painful the deal with. Compared to my experience of Yeti, which was a total f*ck show.
I have also had very good experiences with Giant. They even warrantied a bike I had bought in Taiwan whilst living there in the UK. Just had to pay for the rebuild at the bike shop Giant specified to go through. Would happily have a Giant again but my lbs is a Specialized main dealer who are also incidentally superb on the warranty side ime.
When the mudguards cut through the seat stays on my Defy Giant had a new frame and forks sent out within a day to replace it. I still have a credit at the Giant store for the cost of the mudguards and I hadn't even bought them from the store.
It's nice to hear these stories and they certainly stick in your mind if it becomes a toss up between two bikes that you like when choosing a new ride.
I've had success with a couple of companies with regards to warranty claims. I snapped a Boardman HT after the two years were up, at the seatpost/top tube junction. Halfords replaced it like for like and built up the new bike with the old bits within 2 days.
2 years later, the replacement snapped in the same place (and yes, I was running enough post in the frame) - Well out of warranty now.... thought I would try my luck. Halfords couldn't get the same frame but could offer me a credit note - which was fine, as I wanted a road bike to ride to work.
So for all their limitations, I have been impressed with them as a company in honouring warranties.
I also snapped a Lapierre rear triangle at the end of warranty on a Zesty. Took it back to Evans, new part was shipped in from France and bike rebuilt within 2 weeks.
Conversely - my mate has a brand new Santa Cruz....I say brand new, it is now a year old, because both the retailer and Santa Cruz are being a total pain in the arse, despite acknowledging now that there is a frame fault and that it will be replaced. Except...due to various issues with stock, communication etc they have not yet replaced it. Which is driving him mad!!
Not sure this is an isolated incident either. Another friend snapped a rear triangle on Santa Cruz who refused to help him point blank due to lack of proof of purchase. He even offered to buy the part! In the end he had to get a carbon repairer to sort it for him.
Sounds like they could certainly take a leaf our of Giant's book.
They supplied a 2016 spec frame to replace the 2012 one …. they switched over all the components and everything fits fine
That's interesting. I thought the 2012 model had 135mm drop outs but the 2016 model had 142mm drop outs. Or does the 2016 have replaceable dropouts that can be converted between 135 and 142mm?
Took my 2009 trek ex9 into trek MK a few months back, its was squeaking like a dog toy, I thought the pivot bearings were shot, turned out to be a hidden crack through the main pivot weld.
Of course they don't even make bikes with 26" wheels any more , so no chance of a replacement frame, so they gave me £1700 credit, not bad for a bike that only cost slightly more than that nearly ten years ago. They also sorted me out an new ex8, it was end of year so little stock available so it took some chasing around to find one. I was well impressed.
Being within driving distance to the head office does help I suppose, but my Bird had a new rear triangle fitted same day, I was riding it 6 hours after the crack was discovered.
Friends with santa cruzes have discovered that while they did get a frame replacement, they were left to pay up for a new shock (and new rear wheel/hub)
Just had a look at the warranty for Scott, it’s hilarious. You haveto register bike online within ten days of purchase, and have an annual service stamp from a Scott service centre for the first 3 years. The warranty doesn’t cover frame only. Thats my claim out the window then.