Ryan_M

Not sure if this is the right section for this so @admins please move to a more appropriate area if required.

I'm wondering if anyone has any contact information for a Shimano rep in Canada, or if I shoud be looking more broadly for a North Amercian office? I reached out to this contact but that was a hard fail and seems suspect it's even legit Shimano. I have a problem with some R8000 pedals which seems they're waranteed for 2 years, yet the only respondence from this site was directing me where to buy parts to fix it - though they weren't anywhere near what I needed.... What ever this contact is, they have no idea about the actual construction of Shimano products. I replied to them with more direct information but it's been crickets ever since.

If anyone has a better avenue to get a response I'd be greatful!

Saudadeii

The Shimano US site says:

HOW TO MAKE A CLAIM (CANADA)

Please visit your local Team SHIMANO dealer with the product in question and your original dated receipt. Team SHIMANO dealers have access to an expedited warranty evaluation process which could provide you with a replacement significantly quicker than submitting the item directly to us.

https://bike.shimano.com/en-US/infor.../warranty.html

“Shimano Dealer” is a hotlink to the dealer listing. It should show places local to you.

Kontact

Translation: Go to a bike shop. Bring your receipt. Don't make this harder than it needs to be.

Dan Burkhart 

The first avenue would be at a bike shop with a Shimano B to B account, which would be just about every shop out there. If that does not resolve your issue, you could try contacting Shimano Canada In Peterborough Ontario, but I would do this as a last resort.
The fact that their Canadian headquarters is in the Kawartha Lakes region should tell you what the company's prime market is in Canada by the way, Hint, it's not bikes.

Ryan_M

I back tracked to make sure, and yeah that was Shimano Canada I was talking with. Funny timing I did get an email back from them today and, as stated above, they told me to go to a bike store. Kinda sucks for the store owners that they have to deal with it rather than me being able to deal with Shimano directly. I would have prefered they just sent me the parts. Oh well, it is what it is.

Andrew R Stewart 

By making you go through a LBS Shimano saves them loads of time and staffing, creates a "filter" for potential warranties to be put through (and thus the JRA stories we shop mechanics gather) and helps insure the right part is installed the right way. All very good aspects of a business plan for a manufacturer who does not have a direct to consumer sales dept too. To Shimano's credit (and being an old hippy liberal, hence my being in this bicycle business I say this with all seriousness) they have decided to not step on their customer's toes by going sales direct and still have been able to have one of the best warranty service reputations of bicycle component manufacturers of any real size. For "real" warranty claims this process is fairly painless and if the replacement parts are on hand Shimano will ship quickly. One aspect of a real claim is that receipt showing when and where the part was bought as not all entities that sell Shimano are doing so "legally". Andy

Kontact

You wouldn't call Volkswagen and expect them to send you a new muffler bearing because you think it should be replaced under warranty.

Ryan_M

Not sure what you mean by this post but love the "muffler bearing"! I'm stealing that!

veganbikes

Please don't start stealing muffler bearings. People really need those.

Ryan_M

It'll be a nice change, I'm tired of all the discombobulators I've accumulated over the years.

Ryan_M

Does Shimano compensate the stores for their time processing their warranty claims?

Andrew R Stewart 

labor is not a covered aspect in nearly any bicycle industry warranty statement I have read (admittedly I stopped paying attention to this after I closed down my shop and went back to working for another). Just the same those companies with field reps and who really value their relationship with their retail dealers find a way to help out, although nearly never to the amount that it actually took for the entire process.

When I did have my own shop our store's warranty was that any part that was covered by the brand/supplier was also installed at no labor by us. I had sales reps who questioned this and would say I was missing profit. I would reply that I was at risk of loosing the customer's future business if I charged for warrantied part installation.

BTW the cost to present the part to an approved party (LBS, mail order, the brand itself) is also rarely covered. The shipping back to the shop or consumer is generally covered. Andy

I should have added to the labor coverage that my old shop offered was limited to bikes we sold.

Kontact

No. But the shops are allowed to charge for installation. Which is worthwhile.

Andrew R Stewart 

Like I said... what a great way to make your customer think you are the only bag guy in the process. The brand says it's a warranty, they ship the part at no cost and the shop says "but we won't play the warranty game with our costs..." Andy

Ryan_M

This is an intersting perspective. Thank you. So if I understand you correctly, Shimano does not compensate the shop for the time required to deal with the customer walking in with defective parts, filling out appropriate paper work, etc.. From what I understand of your post the LBS was on the hook for shipping defective parts to, but shipping back was covered? I admit I don't know all the nuances of the industry but this looks a lot like Shimano taking advantage of the little guy. I could be wrong, please correct me accordingly

Ryan_M

But what if I don't want the shop to do the installation? If it's required to satisfy the warranty then I'd hesitantly agree, but I'm going to helicopter over the the tech to make sure they dont screw something else up, then go home and re-do it. Hard no for paying somebody to do something i dont want them to do.

Kontact

I don't follow. Who would be angry that a shop you didn't buy the warrantied part from isn't also installing it for free?

Then don't have it installed. I just meant that the upside of offering free warranty service is the opportunity to provide valuable labor to customers who want it.

"Your derailleur came in. Would you like me to put it on your bike today?"

Ryan_M

I'm not starting any fight here. I just wanted to to know the other side of the story.

If Shimano is making me go through a LBS and are using them as a proxy warranty handler, and compensating them for their time then it's a win for both. If they are making the LBS do it on their own dime (maybe even only paying for one way of the shipping?) to hopefully be able to charge for an instalation then that's dirty pool on Shimano's side. It still seems like a very strange way to deal with warranty claims, and also seems they're doing it this way to take advantage of local stores to do their work for them, and save themselves the expence of having to deal with their own s**t.

Kontact

No, it is not a problem. Shimano, SRAM and Campagnolo make a good faith effort to solve shop and customer problems for no charge - often giving the benefit of the doubt or foregoing proof of purchase. They pay shipping both ways. There is nothing about this situation that is "bad" for bike shops.

If two people buy Shimano stuff online and come in for warranty replacement, one might just take their part and the other might get it installed. If neither came in for warranty, the shop makes labor on neither. In both cases the customers got taken care of and may send other business to the shop.

Yes, calling Shimano to do the warranty takes time away from other stuff. But so does talking to the endless stream of tire kickers and guys who have to share their racing stories. That's retail, and it's fine.

Ryan_M

Fair enough, and thank you for the insight. I buy all my stuff online and abroad. I'm sometimes impatient and would totally buy from a LBS on occasion but (at least in my area) they make zero effort to make themselves a viable resource, and I'm not going to spend more money to do their work for them. Being in Canada, its often (actually very close to 100% of the time) cheaper and easier to get parts from Germany or China, than down the road. So I do my thing and leave them to be happy dodging the burden of selling things. Sill I hate to give them work to do to fix an issue since I haven't bought the part from them, and likely never will.

Mackers

I think they will tell you to claim your warranty at the shop you bought it at.

IANAE but I'd assume Shimano Canada would be well within their rights to deny any warranty claims on purchases made outside of Canada.

Kontact

There are a lot of consumers like you, that believe that price is the only important factor in where they shop, to the point that they are aggrieved that any business would operate as anything but a discounter.

Ryan_M

I would find that highly unlikely, I've never heard of that being a requirement for any warranty claim of any kind. I've also found a couple other documents from Shimano with instructions to contact who I origianally contacted to start a warranty claim, fill out the form, get an RA#, then ship them the parts. The Shimano Canada building is only 35 minutes away so I'd probably just take it to them. It appears that whoever I was talking to either wasn't aware of the warranty claim procedure or just didn't want to be bothered. I'll stop by the LBS since that was their instructions, but I suspect I'll be contacting Shimano Canada again.


Again I can't see how that would hold water. It's their part, it failed within the warranty period, where it was bought should have no bearing. The only caveat to that which I could see if they make region specific components, like a European specific PD-R8000 pedal would be expected to fail if used in North America. However, I did find a nice surprise... getting my paperwork together (Shimano needs a copy of the invoice as well as a bank or credit card statement to prove the component was paid for) it turns out the payment lists Vancouver as the location. I guess the seller had a Canadian warehouse! Sweet!


I wouldn't say I'm aggrieved at all but yes you are correct, price and convenience is a significant factor in where I buy from. I understand some people need or prefer a brick and mortar store, and need the services they offer. I also understand these businesses need to charge more for their parts to cover expenses. I don't need or want any of that, so for me, it makes more sense to buy on line and save money.

Andrew R Stewart 

A follow up on my earlier post about Shimano (usa's) warranty replacement labor reimbursement. I asked the shop manager and she said that Shimano has been offering some labor reimbursement to their dealer shops (as in those having an account with them, the reimbursement is in the form of an account credit) but that the amounts are generally less than what it actually takes. We both wondered how a LBS sourced claim would be handled if a shop wasn't already a Shimano account holder. At one time a couple of wholesale suppliers were authorized to handle warranty claims but am unsure if that is still the case.

As to where the product was bought from and the warranty coverage- Shimano is trying to tidy up their distribution channels and refusing grey market bought claims is just one of their tools to do this. Shimano has gone through a few different distribution and wholesale dealer arrangements over the years. Andy

Ryan_M

That's good to hear that they at least get something. I wonder if it averages out though. For example the LBS seemed perfectly happy taking my pedals this afternoon. If they're getting a small amount of compensation as if they had to do a re&re when in fact they didn't in my case, then it works in their favour. Side note - I mentioned I'd contacted Shimano Canada and they were less than helpful (a.k.a. useless), I got an eye roll and a nod back. I guess this is common knowledge! Anyway, make me feel better they're likely getting something out of it.

LOL yeah "grey market". I suspect Shimano and SRAM are in cahoots and price fixing components for the North American market. I was told by an Asian seller that they have to be careful how they ship because Shimano is having shipping companies open packages that are suspected to have their parts in them, and ship them back. That's a lot of time, effort, and money to go through to stop people from buying their parts. They're probably trying to seal up the cracks and isolate the NA market so they can ride this cash cow as long as they can. Still, denying warranty claims is punishing the customer for the retailer's wrong doings.