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I have a 2022 Orbea Rise H30 which I purchased 12/2022 online and have had 3 warranty claims. Had my first claim after 6 months with a failed axle which took 3 weeks to sort out. Then had a failed motor last year after only 500 km which took 6 weeks to sort out. Discovered a crack in the rear triangle 2 weeks ago. The shop are pushing me to accept a completely different colour to the original which I have refused to accept. Have asked them to either give me a new frame or a refund. Where do I stand legally.
IANAL
At almost 3 years old you have little legal recourse using consumer law. what are the terms of the warranty provided by the manufacturer? a refund would only be a part refund under consumer law perhaps half the cost of the bike when bought or less and you would have to show its a manufacturing fault
Personally anything that gets you riding again would be enough for me
Would it result in a really awful mismatch? Or are you possibly being a bit fussy?
If the colour is a big issue just get the local powder coaters to change the colour before the rear triangle is fitted.
The shop are looking after you well IMHO. There simply won't be spares in all colours available to them, supplying one that works and gets you riding as quickly as possible is good of them. Getting Orbea to custom paint you one this far out from the original production run isn't an unreasonable ask, but I doubt a practical or speedy one.
If it's a lifetime warranty then I don't think a whole new frame should be out of the question.
I think it's fair enough that they won't have a matching colour part, although you could rattle can it to get a better colour match, this might invalidate the warranty on the replacement part. Can you wrap it?
That's the same experience I've had in similar cases, with frame life-time warranties, over the years.
I doubt you'll get more, but by all means do try.
Thanks for all the advice guys. I do have a life time warranty on the frame
My exes rear triangle snapped and the importer was ever so apologetic as they didn't have the right part number in stock. They only had one of the versions from a later model year, geometrically identical, different colour. Frame comes in about 9 colours across the entire range.
Turns out instead of a black and grey rear triangle, she had to put up with a grey and black one... They'd literally reversed the paint pattern between the two model years. 🤣
I’m assuming that they just don’t have the original colour anymore
Lifetime warranty probably isn't much more than 3 years (I am guessing). And they are warrantying it, nothing set on colour match I doubt. I would just take it and move on personally.
I completely sympathise how annoying delays are but sounds like they’re treating you pretty well. Replacement parts don’t have to be same colour, and if they don’t have the right colour it is what it is unfortunately
The frame has a 'lifetime' warranty. Is it the chainstay that's cranked by any chance? Around the drain hole?
Mine was replaced in March for exactly that. I reported it to the shop in January.
It was Orbea that caused the delay, not the shop. I think from the sounds of things they do production runs every so often once demand is high enough. They don't just keep churning out parts for now obsolete frames. If Orbea don't have availability of the part you need, I wouldn't expect them to have complete framesets either. If they've got no rear triangles available, they can't really give you a complete frame!
I think your shop need to lean a bit harder on Orbea. The shop where I bought mine has said a few times that it's a long process to get warranty stuff out of orbea. It's more about how you ask than what you ask for. Initial claims are usually denied and then with enough evidence/ moaning, they accept the claim.
If the shop has said you can have a different colour, I guess that means that's what Orbea currently have available. Im sure you could push for an exact replacement but I wouldn't expect that to materialise quickly.
Lifetime warranty probably isn't much more than 3 years (I am guessing). And they are warrantying it, nothing set on colour match I doubt. I would just take it and move on personally.
Their terms are actually fairly reasonable and pretty clear
ORBEA offers all users a free, voluntary ORBEA Lifetime Commercial Warranty. This warranty applies once the statutory warranty period has expired, or, in countries where no statutory warranty period is defined by law, after the expiry of the equivalent three-year commercial warranty period set forth in the LEGAL WARRANTY section. It provides lifetime coverage (with no time limitation thereafter) on all frames and rigid forks against breakage or cracking caused by manufacturing defects
The also have the following for paint
ORBEA Lifetime Commercial Warranty additionally covers defects related to paint, varnish, and corrosion on all frames and rigid forks for one year following the expiry of the statutory warranty period (totalling four years from the original date of purchase).
And a crash replacement policy that offers a discount which reduces over time
0-12 months after the purchase date: 50% discount on the retail price.
13-24 months after the purchase date: 40 % discount on the retail price.
25-36 months after the purchase date: 30% discount on the retail price.
It does say in the terms,
Should it prove impossible to repair, ORBEA will replace the faulty product with a product with similar characteristics.
A frame part that's the same shape is similar in characteristics. Doesn't say it'll be a like for like swap unfortunately.
For my own curiosity, what colours the original and replacement triangles?
Yes that’s exactly where the crack is