Just hypothetically, if you buy say a wheelset on Wiggle/CRC such as Shimano or Campagnolo, and you end up having a warranty claim within their warranty period, how does it work?
-Do you send it back to the point of purchase (UK) for the claim? Sending a wheelset back would cost quite a bit I imagine.
-Do you contact Shimano/Campagnolo here in Australia- or do they tell you to fuck off because you didn’t purchase locally?
-Accept that as you bought them OS and you can’t be arsed sending them back, you’ll just have to buy a new one.
Just interested to know how it works as it might make the local sellers a more attractive proposition when you factor in warranty etc.
Generally it’s #1 (send it back to place of purchase), depending on the cost of the item, and who you bought it from, they may just send you a new one if you provide photos of the problem etc. Heaps of variables there though, and you’d be best directly contacting the store you intend to buy from to clarify their returns policy.
Often with cameras and the like the warranty is only valid in the country of purchase. Eg a sony camcorder sold globally, bought from the uk, must be returned to the uk for repair even though sony sells the model here.
This has changed recently and there has been a shift to International warranties. It probably depends more on the brand.
i cant remember which was which but one of them send me a pre paid fedex (i think) label to print out and stick on the box to return it. the other time they just looked at the photos and said ‘we will send you a replacement, dont bother sending it back’
was very happy with the service both times
experiences with warranty at a local level have been appalling
^yeah i had an issue with a product from CRC, they just looked at the pics and sent another. But that was just a set of mudguards, not a pair of wheels.
Returning faulty products to Wiggle
I went through the process a couple of weeks ago for a light.
It was painless, but took a few weeks. They refunded the purchase and re-postage costs.
Wiggle only reimburses for up to £25, but you only have to send it to VIC, then they send it in a bulk shipment back to the UK at their own expense (for faulty goods only) or charge AUD$15 if it’s a change of mind/non-faulty. I can imagine sending wheels back to the UK via Aus. Post would cost a bit more than £25.
I think this reimbursement policy is fairly new because I remember being peeved at having to pay about AUD$30 to return a few pairs of shorts that were too small a year ago.
nah, i returned some time atacs to wiggle ages ago and they reimbursed postage.
have also had a replacement product sent with only photographic evidence of the issue (which wasn’t even much of an issue, i think my initial email was to ask if they thought it would deteriorate further). i asked if they were sure, as it seemed kinda crazy, but his response was that the manufacturer would simply argue it happened in transit and wouldn’t replace it. cheaper for them (time wise) to just send another one.
to this day, the product in question (a rolls saddle) is still goin strong.
Wiggle has a local “returns” depot in Sunshine, so sending something back only requires post to there, and if the product is faulty they reimburse the postage anyway. Wiggle has handled many warranty items for me in the past, I have zero complaints. I can say, they must have been getting screwed reimbursing return post when we had to send back to the UK, AusPost is ridiculously priced.
they woudl do something like sending a whole container at wholesale rates with a massive freight company probably most of us have never heard of once a month or something
For sure. I meant they must have been fed up reimbursing Oz buyers their Post fees for successful returns. Sometimes post cost more than the items was worth!
if you dont know someone at the shop this is all too frequently the case. like the ‘forgotten order’ some stores really cbf going through the effort of calling a distro to chase up warranty claims (and im sure some distros just deny claims on principle).
pity, as we all know that stores that go that ‘extra mile’ for the customer are the ones that are likely to get return business/recommendations.
I have a neighbour who bought some Dura Ace wheels for a great price through a local shop, and when they needed truing was told to take them to his LBS because after sales service was not included.