Exercise Bike bought from Amazon in April 2015

[rapt0r]

Hi all,

 

I bought an exercise bike last April online from Amazon using a 3rd party seller.

 

The braking system has developed a fault which means now the bike is useless as pressure can no longer be applied to the spinning wheel using the friction pad.

 

I have unscrewed the braking system today, it is an extremely simple mechanism using a bolt and a nut and a couple of springs.

 

I have discovered that the nut that screws onto the bolt which you turn to control the tension is slipping which means that no pressure can be put upon the brake pad.

 

Here is a vid I have made today showing the nut slipping along the bolt which clearly shouldn't be the case:-

sendvid.com/d459adnc

 

And a pic showing the nut and bolt:-

 

I am currently awaiting reply from the comapany after sending them the video this morning.

 

So the question is am I protected by any consumer law?

as I believe this to be a manufacturing defect as in my eyes a metal nut and bolt should not become loose like that in such a short amount of time with.

 

Thanks

[dx100uk]

Yes of course you are

Sale of goods act / CRA

[rapt0r]

Hi DX, thanks for the reply. As I will be directing this thread to Amazon and the 3rd party seller could you explain a little further or even perhaps provide a link showing the relevant laws that are in place to protect me as a consumer.

 

Cheers

[dx100uk]

hi ya

click the black CRA link

[rapt0r]

Ok so I have recieved a reply from the company saying the following:-

 

I'm afraid there is no video attached, just an image showing what I believe is the bolt for the tension control knob. If this has worn then it would have been from normal wear and tear use, not a defect at time of manufacturing. Please confirm if you wish to purchase this part and I will check stock and pricing for you.

can't say I'm happy about it as I believe metal parts like this should not fail in only 16 months of light usage

 

Well just been in contact with Amazon chat and they have sent the seller a nice email:-

 

Details: Customer purchased this item but has become faulty now. This is not acceptable, as per Sales of Goods Act 1979 goods having a such cost should reasonably last more than 16 months. Please look into this on urgent basis and help the customer accordingly as soon as possible.

[rapt0r]

Well this is still ongoing and after waiting a week here is the latest reply from them:-

The part that has caused the issue is a moving part of the bike that is moved while the bike is in use. Therefore it is a part that is likely to wear down depending on the amount of use it receives etc. Should you wish to take this matter further then you will have to provide evidence that proves that this damage is not normal wear and tear.

 

We are offering to supply you with the part needed at cost price which is very fair as you are outside of your warranty period. However, if you are unwilling to pay for this part then there is nothing further that we can do to help you at this time.

 

I have asked them how much it will be for a replacement but not too happy about having to pay for it myself. I guess I can take the old and new part to an engineers shop to have it tested for quality or what I don't know? The metal used though I can tell is not that great and seems to be designed to fail after some time. Definitely not the quality of a nut and bolt you would find on a car for example holding the wheels on...

 

[rapt0r]

The tension assembly is usually £44.95, but we will sell this to you at cost price which is £35.00. We are waiting for confirmation from the warehouse as to whether we have this item in stock.

 

so a quarter of the price of the full bike to replace a nut and bolt!!!

[ssparks2003]

Why not pop into your local hardwear store of local fastener company and buy a bolt for a couple of quid? it would seem a lot easier than dealing with the seller.

[rapt0r]

Yes I was just exploring that option now trying to find a local 1 on Google.

 

I have also just a few minutes ago put some brown tape around the bolt, tried with black electrical tape first although was too thick. The brown tape seems to have worked and is keeping the nut in its position although I will need to test by having a 30 minute session on the bike this afternoon.

 

I was also just looking at Loctite Threadlock Blue so that may be worth me ordering as it sounds like it could do the job.

 

Not paying £35 for a cheap crappy bolt thats for sure and that will probably break again in another 16 months.

[dx100uk]

sorry but you really should reply to them.

 

 

being out side of warranty means nothing

 

 

a warranty is IN ADDITION to your statutory rights under CRA/SOGA

it does NOT replace them

 

 

for something that is under 18mts old

I would not expect it to suffer WAT!!

 

 

you would need to get an independent report done

but again you can reclaim from him under the free repair thru soga

 

 

 

 

pers i'd call their bluff

you cannot treat customers like that

 

 

dx

[rapt0r]

Hi DX, I did send them an email similar to that this morning saying:-

 

Hello Aiden, the warranty you provided does not affect my statutory rights under the sale Of Goods Act 1979 (SOGA).

 

 

 

The bike you have sold me was not cheap (£190) and it is fair to say it should last longer, a lot longer, than 16 months.

 

The law states goods sold should last a reasonable amount of time for the price payed.

 

They then replied with:-

The part that has caused the issue is a moving part of the bike that is moved while the bike is in use. Therefore it is a part that is likely to wear down depending on the amount of use it receives etc. Should you wish to take this matter further then you will have to provide evidence that proves that this damage is not normal wear and tear.

 

We are offering to supply you with the part needed at cost price which is very fair as you are outside of your warranty period. However, if you are unwilling to pay for this part then there is nothing further that we can do to help you at this time.

 

been searching for about an hour now online to try to find some independant testing company but am not having any luck as I'm not entirely sure what type of company I should be looking for

 

nut and bolt testers?

Edited August 17, 2016 by rapt0r

[dx100uk]

that's crass it really is...

 

 

so they purposefully designed their product for only light usage

 

 

all parts on a bike should last years.

 

 

I mean yes you could easily fix this

but its the principle here

we know our bike will fail after xxxxhrs.

 

 

but we'll still see it.

 

 

I would suspect the bolt is faulty and was not thread cut properly and are well aware of the issue.

[rapt0r]

I agree with you and it seems total madness, do they just keep expecting me to cough up £45 every 16 months???... rediculous

 

I live in Bolton, Lancashire, is there a list of companies you know of that would be able to help me with testing/analysis?

 

Proving the part is not up to its job should be relatively simple as it does seem, like you say, designed to fail in a very short amount of time.

[dx100uk]

i'd be inclined to write back and ask how many hours of total use do they intend

their product to last before they pull the wear and tear string.

 

 

take the part off and wall into any hardware store or local shop

just say the nut keeps slipping.

bet they'll tell you the thread is naff and was so from day one.

[rapt0r]

Hi DX again, I did ask the seller that and this their reply:-

We do not expect our products to fail at all. We sell a large number of these bikes every week and rarely have any issues with them. The warranty covers for any problems in the 12 months and we offer any replacement parts at the lowest possible price should they be required after this period of time.

 

Please let us know if you change your mind and wish to purchase the part needed to resolve you problem. I again confirm we can supply this at cost price of £35.00.

 

I rang Amazon last night and they have opened an A-Z Claim as I refuse to pay 25% of the bikes cost every year on a faulty product.

 

 

I didn't actually use the bike for the first 3 months due to back problems so it just about lasted 12 months before failing.

[rapt0r]

tape didn't work

[ericsbrother]

you need someone to supply you with another bolt.

 

 

they are easy for a machinist to turn up if you cant buy one off the shelf.

try allscrews in Hammersmith, London.

 

 

They have a web site so as long as you can measure the outside diameter of the existing bolt and its length I'm sure they will find something that can be used as a former so the smaller thread can be cut.

[rapt0r]

Just to put closure to this and for anyone still reading this matter is now resolved.

 

Since my last post I did start to look into making a case with the small claims court after having getting in touch with the people on the Consumer Rights hotline.

 

 

That was put on the back burner as other life stresses got in the way at that time and only recently did I start thinking about it again.

 

2 Fridays ago on the 23rd Sept I just happened to get an email from Amazon advertising exercise bikes from a company called JLL.

 

 

The bikes looked incredibly similar to mine so thought I would email JLL and ask how much it would be for the same parts,

of course I was expecting them to quote the same price as Sports & Leisure (the company that I got mine from) so kept my expectations low.

 

 

10 minutes later an email arrives with a price of £9.99 including P+P.

 

 

Feelings of fury, shock and rage ensued as I thought where did S&L pull this £45 figure from? :mad2:

After calming down I proceeded to call JJL as advised in the email to make the order.

 

The new parts arrived today,

had to remove a small piece of plastic collar from my bike as the new rod was a thicker diameter than the original but other than that all exactly the same for £9.99!