Update: I just want to point out that the current frames all have a much more substantial rear drop out, which was where my initial frame failed. I don't see the new designs being prone to cracks.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Leader Bikes -- rant warning!
OK, so I found a crack in my bike frame about a month or so ago. The company who makes the frame says, OK, ship it to us at your cost and we'll decide if we're going to warranty it. So I take it to my LBS (local bike shop) and have them strip off all the parts and ship it to Cali. When they get it, they finally said, OK, we'll warranty it, send us $25 bucks to ship a replacement frame back. So I paypal them that $$ plus some more for some more equipment. Then a couple of weeks ago, they email me on a Friday for the shipping address. I emailed them back on Monday. That was Feb. 25th. Yesterday, March 4th, I forwarded the original email to them again, asking to see where the frame is. That's a bit over a week from the first email. It was late in the afternoon, I figured I'd get called back today. I call them at 11 AM TX time, 9 AM in Cali. They say, ya know, the guys in shipping aren't here til 11, call back after that, also try emailing it to this other address. So I forward it to the other address and call again at 3:30 TX time. They say, well, I'll call those shipping guys and see what we can do. If they don't call you in one or two hours, call me back. I wait until 6 TX time and call again, because there hasn't been an email back. I left a message and then at 7 or so, I got a call back. It's someone from Leader saying "uhm, those shipping guys really need to get on the stick." While I'm on the phone with him, someone else from Leader calls and leaves a voice mail. It's the shipping guy "Well, I need your shipping address. If I don't have it, I can't ship it." Of course, that's the same shipping address that I emailed him on Feb. 25th, and again on March 4th, and again today. He says he doesn't have it. "The email here in shipping is different." Crap. He says he's sorry and that he'll throw in a T-shirt!!!! Yup, they think I'm so in love with them that I'm going to advertise for them. It gets shipped tomorrow. Finally. Grrrr. I was going to buy another frame, fork, and headset from them for Joseph, he's out-growing his. I was even thinking of trying to buy several more for the Jr team. Not now. Never again. I'm going back to the LBS. If I had bought a bike from there and had this issue, it would have been taken care of already and it would have been no $$ out of my pocket. Sorry Leader, I think I'm going to have to get a SpecialEd for Joseph. Maybe a Lemond. Lord have mercy on my soul, it may even be a Trek.
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4 comments:
I have had lots of problems with theses guys. I think its is a fly by the seat operation. Do not deal with them.
Sure they fly by the seat of their pants. But then their frames are only $150, so what do you expect? If you want smarmy customer service reps sitting around on their asses all day answering phones to blow sunshine up your seatpost, buy a $7000 Specialized to pay those phone jockeys, and stop dissing the manufacturers who are pure bare-bones operations giving you a hell of a lot of TIG-welded bike for 1/3 the price of anyone else. You want customer service, you pay for customer service. You want a great US-made frame at an incredible price, buy a Leader.
Leader sells US-made frames? I call BS on this one. US frame makers don't smell like an Asian spice shop out of the bag, like my frame did. US frame makers don't put a seat-post plug with a large Chinese character on top of it, like my frame had. Leader peddles bike frames from China or Taiwan, Mr. Leader Fanboy. I just want a customer svc rep who is true to his word and knows his butt from a hole in the ground.
Umm..
The frames are not US made as one commenter suggested, just so you know.
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