Warranty advice.

[Crandoggler]

I bought a set of Campagnolo Scirocco wheels December 8th last year (5 months ago) and when having a recent service was advised that the freehub and wheel bearings were dry and would need replacing quite soon.

The wheels have covered 471 mostly/nearly all dry miles.

I emailed Merlin cycles about the problem yesterday and got this as a reply:

Hello,
Unfortunately bearings are not covered under the warranty, given that they haven’t been used much we would need to give them an inspection and possibly get campag to take a look at them. If you can get them back to us we’ll get them looked at asap.

Thanks and Kind regards.

Obviously this isn't the reply I wanted. I'm almost certain that they are going to get the wheels, send them to Campagnolo and I'll get a resolution within a month or 2. I also don't believe the fact that bearings aren't covered to be correct, nor do I believe it to reflect who my contract is with.

Having read a little into the consumer rights act, it states that in the first 6 months they have to prove there wasn't a problem and I can ask for a repair/replacement?

I'm a little unsure how to word the email in reply. Could anyone offer any advice.

Oh and to top it off, I have LEJOG in 9 days time.

 

[vickster]

Iirc There was a similar thread regarding wiggle and fulcrum aka campag wheels if you have a search

This one https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/warranty-issues.199617/

I'd call Merlin to discuss, follow call with summary email. Your contract is with the retailer

 

[Crandoggler]

Unfortunately I'm abroad at the moment, so can't/don't want to make any calls.

I've spoke to my mechanic again who's going to write down exactly what's happened and I think I'll use the consumer rights act to push them a bit more.

 

[Crandoggler]

I even replied on that thread! Doh!

 

[Crandoggler]

So I've replied, flexing my consumer rights a little and they've simply said that they will accept the goods for inspection.

I'm happy, to a degree with that. Just need another set of wheels to train on this week! Nightmare.

 

[pclay]

And the cost of replacing wheel bearing is? The last time i had a LBS do it, it cost £10.

 

[Crandoggler]

£60 roughly for wheel bearing and freehub bearing.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

I am on the side of whoever wants to inspect those wheels. "Dry and needs replacing soon" is pretty vague and given the skill of some mechanics I won't trust them at retail level to make decisions based on such a description. I don't know that particular wheel but Campag has good engneering on it's cup-and-cone bearings. A cared-for Campag hub easily gives 120 000 kms per set of bearings. Campag engineers understand bearing seals better than most other manufacturers.

Something's not right there and I think Campag should be given the chance to inspect the wheels.

 

[Crandoggler]

They're sealed cartridge bearings. I agree they need to be inspected, but it's not in my interest to wait for Campagnolo to inspect them. That's Merlin Cycles' issue.

I, unfortunately need wheels to ride next week and then LEJOG the week after. Hence my frustration. Luckily we have certain rights and I wish to use them in this instance.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

They're sealed cartridge bearings. I agree they need to be inspected, but it's not in my interest to wait for Campagnolo to inspect them. That's Merlin Cycles' issue.

I, unfortunately need wheels to ride next week and then LEJOG the week after. Hence my frustration. Luckily we have certain rights and I wish to use them in this instance.

I get that, but sometimes these rights bite you in the arse because you now have the inconvenience, which the rights don't care about.
You should learn how to judge bearing condition for yourself. That way you can make a judgement whether you can replace them before or after the ride.

 

[pclay]

Do the wheels feel ok when in use? can you feel any play in the wheels when you hold it by the QR skewer? Perhaps take the wheels for a second opinion? Are you basing all this just on someone 'opinion'?

Every year for 4 years, my CAR MOT had an advisory of 'corrosion on suspension springs'. I did nothing about it until the car was scrapped. One persons opinion may differ from another.

Personally i would get a second opinion. Or you could send them back to Merlin, and they may tell you there is nothing wrong with them.

 

[Crandoggler]

There's play in the freehub, lateral movement. I knew that was on its way out, the bearings are news to me. But no real surprise.

Would you want to undertake 9 days of riding 100 miles average with bearings not at their best? It's hard enough without any mechanical issues.

 

[Crandoggler]

Actually he was doing a gear service and happened to notice the freehub was moving, he inspected more and found these problems. So it's not like he was actually looking for that specific problem.

 

[kiriyama]

If your limited for time and going to be inconvenienced/stressed/hassled, is it worth just sodding the warrenty and paying the £60 to have the bearings replaced?

Or if you dont want to give in and cant bear feeling cheated by the man, could you just buy a cheep set of wheels for £80 that will tide you over whilst you send your campags back to merlin/campag, I imagine it will get sorted for free but will take a few weeks. When you get your campags back you can always sell your cheepo wheels second hand and make some money back. (or keep as spares)

 

[Crandoggler]

That's exactly my plan. I must admit, I don't like paying for things when they have gone wrong and they're covered by a warranty.

So my plan is to buy some Khamsins' which were immense before these and then sell them on.