vinnyvincent

I was almost done before now, but with certain things, I liked shopping at REI due to their "no questions asked" return policy within a year of purchase.
I got some wheels there because I had bad luck with them in the past and I wanted to take advantage of their return policy. I could have gotten the wheels for half the price from the UK over the internet, but got them there so I wouldn't have to deal with any possible issues.
Well, I had taken the cog off to repair a broken spoke and when I went to put it back on, the thread on the free hub body shattered. I was not using any excessive force.

I decided to take it back for a refund because IMO it should not have broken so easily.
The kid at the customer service counter starts acting like I'm crazy for bringing the wheels back. "if they tell me I have to refund all the money I will, but I need to check with the bike mechanic first"
So then he has me follow him over to the bike shop to ask their mechanic, who subsequently calls me into the shop to ask what happened. I told him I was replacing the sprocket and the thread broke off. He starts acting skeptical and says "so did you turn it the wrong way or what?..."

I said no, I didn't use any excessive force. At this point the customer service rep. had walked away and he has me fill at a form for bike repair to see if he can get a replacement hub body for the wheel.

Overall they were fairly rude and questioned what happened several times, plus did not really give me the option to just return the wheel.
What happened to "no questions asked"? They asked me like 5 questions and turned me away without honoring my original request for an exchange.

Sounds like I should have ordered the same set of wheels from Merlin cycles at half the price and called it a day. I think I'll do that from now on

2TriMaster2

I'm thinking - if I had bad luck with a store - I wouldn't go back there and buy something.

10 Wheels

Those two guys do not work at every bike shop.

vinnyvincent

Sorry, I typed that out wrong. I've had bad luck with wheels in general, which is why I bought them at a store to begin with and not online this time around. I am now regretting that decision since returning the wheels has proven to be a hassle anyways. I've actually been shopping at REI regularly for about a year now and this has been my only unsatisfactory experience.


I guess you are right. There is another REI by my house and while it's smaller/less inventory, they seem to have much better employees than this downtown location where this happened. where I originally had to go when I went to get the wheel set, since they had it in stock.

RockstarBruski

that's bad customer service! I'd encourage you to find a better locally owned bike shop. I go to a small one called "Bike Peddler" in Salem Oregon that has provided me with great customer service over the past few years. I bought a simple low cost commuter bike from them and have bought a few accessories from them and they've given me great service and advice. Their prices on some things are higher than the internet but I feel I'd rather pay a bit more to support a local shop and the advice they give for free. For example I bought a $50 double kickstand from them that was made in Switzerland and on the packaging says lifetime warranty. One of the stand arms broke and the bike shop exchanged it instead of me having to mail it to the manufacturer. I thought that was very nice of them! Anyway, that's my good local bike story. Cheers!

BikeLite

I feel I got ripped off by my lbs. They replaced a single brake line and charged me for two hours labor after quoting me one hour. Two hours to change a single caliper break line?

mr,grumpy 

REI isn't really "bike store". They are a nation-wide chain of sporting good retailers who sell even thing from dog toys to snow boards. Also, having you fill out a form to get a replacement part does't sound like crappy customer service: it sounds like maybe they just wanted you to have a wheel....

Rowan

You know, there are customers out there in retail land who take people in bricks-and-mortar shops as complete idiots. They buy clothes, wear them a couple of time to go out, then return them to the shop expecting a refund with some excuse about the quality, or not fitting, blah, blah, blah. Then there are the JRA (Just Riding Along) crowd who destroy their bikes through misjudgment, and want to return it for a full refund because it was "faulty".

The OP doesn't mention how long he had the wheels. He broke a spoke. Perhaps the best course he could have taken was to return the wheel to the REI workshop and request that it be remedied by them, under "warranty" if it was within a reasonable time of purchase.

That way, if the thread on the freehub was going to "shatter", it would be down to the mechanic. As it is, the only ways I can think of a thread in the freehub "shattering" is my misthreading the retainer on an aluminium body. I can understand the mechanic and floor guy doubting that it's a fault of either REI or the freehub manufacturer, but rather a user-error for which they don't have any liability.

Perhaps the OP can explain a bit better what he means by the freehub thread "shattering". I also am fascinated by his subsequent observation about having previous problems with wheels. What were they?

shelbyfv

I'll vote for user error. Trouble with wheels in the past? Broken spoke? Threads "shattered?" Maybe REI offers "no questions asked" returns on abused merchandise, maybe they don't. Will be interesting to see how this plays out, though it should be moved to MFG, Retailer Feedback section.

badger1

Seems pretty straightforward to me. I don't see anything about 'no questions asked'; maybe I'm looking in the wrong place?

"100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
We stand behind everything we sell. If you are not satisfied with your REI purchase, you can return it for a replacement or refund within one year of purchase.
REI’s guarantee doesn’t cover ordinary wear and tear or damage caused by improper use or accidents.
If your item has a manufacturing defect in its materials or workmanship, you can return it at any time. See our limited warranty."

Limited warranty:

"If your item has a manufacturing defect in its materials or workmanship, you can return it at any time."

Absent proof of manufacturing defect, looks like "improper use" (user error) to me.

shelbyfv

Well there you have it. Thanks, Badger for the research! End of thread....

indyfabz

It's actually a co-op, and each location usually has an extensive bike collection and service department that is larger than many LBS. I have used them for bike assembly and shipping in Missoula, MT. Have had great experiences. This year the mechanic who was assembling my bike in preparation for a tour I was starting out there called me on the east cost and let me know my chain was worn.

indyfabz

As pointed out, that's not their policy. So that means you started a thread complaining about a policy that you didn't (but hopefully do now) understand. Are you for real or just trolling?

cb400bill

Thread moved from General Cycling to Manufacturer, Retailer, Consumer Feedback forum with 3 day forwarding.

mr,grumpy 

Oh, their individual departments are usually pretty awesome and I have always found the staff to be knowledgeable. It's just not quite the same as a dedicated bike store or ski shop or climbing store, that all.

unterhausen

I think prior to the changes in their return policy, they would have taken this wheel back. OTOH, it's not fair to ask them to do that, and that's why they changed the policy. It's very easy to cross-thread a freehub cassette retainer ring, I've done it. It's pretty clear that's what happened here.

Miele Man

I worked at a shop that had a no questions asked return policy on frames and forks This was back in the day when MTBs were getting really popular and a lot of them were nothing more than bicycle shaped objects. We were getting a lot and I do mean a LOT of front fork replacement requests. I told the owner of the store that was because people were riding those bikes as if they were genuine mountain bikes ie. riding over rocks a foot or so in height and the forks on the bikes he was selling were not designed for that sort of riding. The owner told me that the policy was lifetime on frames and forks and to replace any damaged forks no matter how they were damaged.

I've also worked in shops where user error was often the cause of a broken part. Therefore when being presented with a broken part we'd ask how the part got broken. That was partly so that we could ascertain from the owner if they were doing something wrong such as over tightening a cassette lock ring to the point that not only did threads strip out but part of the body those threads were on broke off too. In that particular case the guy only had a big adjustable wrench and he really torqued down on it. Same thing with many small nuts on bolts or bolts - the person would over tighten them and strip them. I always after installing new brake cables squeeze the brak levers really hard to a. bed them in fully and b. make sure that if something's going to break it'll break then not on the road in use. I've had an instance where brand new cable housing pulled right through the metal ferrules at the end of the brake lever. I told the shop about that and they were very happy to hear it. I took the bike there and showed them exactly what I'd done and sure enough the brake ferrule failed again. It turned out they'd got a bad batch that were made from very soft metal.

Just because shop employees ask questions about why or how something broke does not mean they're trying to get out of a warranty replacement. They also want to be sure they haven't got a defective item or batch.

Cheers

vinnyvincent

So several of you think breaking spokes = not knowing how to turn a wrench...

The hub completely shattered with very little force. The lock ring itself isn't damaged in any way and screwed right into my other hub with zero issues.
If I had cross threaded the lock ring and over tightened it to the point where I not only stripped the thread, but the hardened steel on the hub itself shattered...don't you think the lock ring would at least have damaged thread?...because it screwed on like new when I went to install it onto another hub.

Regarding REi and their "no question asked" warranty(within one year) - they must have recently changed it. I distinctly remember that being a deciding factor in buying the wheels...I even read threads were people returned their entire bicycle after 10 months because they decided they didn't like it anymore.

At any rate it does still say "100% satisfaction guaranteed" and I sure am not satisfied with a hub that is SUPPOSED to be hardened steel and the thing totally shatters with such a small amount of force exerted.
I build things for a living and do all my own vehicle maintenance. I know what is excessive force and what isn't and I know how to tell if something is cross threaded before I tighten it to a point where the part breaks.

Anyways I got a call from the mechanic saying they were just going to give me another wheel instead of his original idea which was to attempt to replace the hub....you could hear in his voice that he was not happy about it. He clearly thinks what others here have assumed- that I damaged the hb through cross threading/overtightening...I do understand how one would make that connection, but that's simply not what happened. THAT's why I went there because they had a no questions asked warranty. Now that they have clearly CHANGED their warranty, I'll likely start ordering everything online and if I'm gonna go online, may as well order from the UK right?

'MURICA

vinnyvincent

Of course I'm for real. Their policy was very clearly "no questions asked" for up to a year. Look it up if you don't believe me. Do a search. there are threads discussing their warranty policy and how great it is/was.
Honestly that was really their only edge they had over online retailers. Without that, they can forget about me paying almost double for things like wheels. I thought I was paying for convenience, but that's not the case anymore.