Raleigh Redux - Brose Motor Warranty

[thaaft]

I'm interested in hearing if others have had a similar experience with warrantying an electric bike motor. Long story short I bought a 2018 Raleigh Redux with the Brose motor less than 6 months ago. I have about a 11 mile commute each way and have put approximately 1500 miles on the bike. Last week commuting home, a belt, gear or something gave out and the motor became useless essentially stranding me. I took the bike back to the local shop I bought it from and the motor will be warrantied, however I'll still be charged the labor to remove and install the new motor. In my opinion it's like having a recall for a defective part on your car and then the dealership charging you for the labor to replace the defective part. It's not good business.

The main issue I have is Raleigh Bike's does not cover the labor fees the shop imposes for swapping the motors, thus the cost is placed on the burden of the consumer.

I appreciate the fact the motor is being replaced, however the warranty does not leave me feeling warm and fuzzy that I have to incur additional costs to replace a defective motor on a $3000 bike less than 6 months old.

Just curious if other people have experienced this?

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

I'm interested in hearing if others have had a similar experience with warrantying an electric bike motor. Long story short I bought a 2018 Raleigh Redux with the Brose motor less than 6 months ago. I have about a 11 mile commute each way and have put approximately 1500 miles on the bike. Last week commuting home, a belt, gear or something gave out and the motor became useless essentially stranding me. I took the bike back to the local shop I bought it from and the motor will be warrantied, however I'll still be charged the labor to remove and install the new motor. In my opinion it's like having a recall for a defective part on your car and then the dealership charging you for the labor to replace the defective part. It's not good business.

The main issue I have is Raleigh Bike's does not cover the labor fees the shop imposes for swapping the motors, thus the cost is placed on the burden of the consumer.

I appreciate the fact the motor is being replaced, however the warranty does not leave me feeling warm and fuzzy that I have to incur additional costs to replace a defective motor on a $3000 bike less than 6 months old.

Just curious if other people have experienced this?

Reach out Raleigh and explain this. Here is the contact info: https://community.raleighelectric.com/ebikes/contact/contact-us

 

[thaaft]

Reach out Raleigh and explain this. Here is the contact info: https://community.raleighelectric.com/ebikes/contact/contact-us

I gave Raleigh a call and they reiterated to me shop labor is not covered under the warranty and the warranty applies only to the motor itself. A very poor business model to pass the cost along to the consumer.

 

[Feliz]

That just isn't right but it is what they say in their warranty, there's no Raleigh in my future.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

@rich c , may be you can move this thread to Raleigh forum.

Here is Raleigh - Brose warranty: https://community.raleighelectric.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Warranty-Raleigh-BROSE.pdf

Neither Bosch or Brose or Shimano covers labor. However,

A great dealer would absorb this cost and maintain solid rapport so you will come back for your daughter or wife or son's bikes.

A reasonable dealer would try to split this cost.

A dealer with rudimentary brain would impose all that cost on you and meanwhile, go bankrupt in 5-6 years.
Those kind of people simply can't survive in today's market with consumer-direct companies.

 

[thaaft]

Thanks for all the input. The conclusion to all this is the shop is charging me $90 to replace the warrantied motor. Obviously the last $90 they'll see from me and last Raleigh I'll ever buy.

 

[bob armani]

Thanks for all the input. The conclusion to all this is the shop is charging me $90 to replace the warrantied motor. Obviously the last $90 they'll see from me and last Raleigh I'll ever buy.

I really hate when I see this kind of thing. Not very good business sense being applied here by the bike dealership, knowing full well they will be losing in the long run in getting future business prospects. Word of mouth goes a long way by the consumer. Too bad, they just don't get it. Like it goes: "I will be taking my future business elsewhere".

 

[Figs]

It’s not unusual for the manufacturer to warranty only the parts. I made sure before I bought my bike the dealer warranty included labor. If my LBS wasn’t willing to back up what they sold, I would have been out the door. Sorry you had this bad experience, and I hope you have a good LBS in your area for your next purchase.

Remember, a part is just a part and not the whole bike. Let’s say that motor cost $250. Yours went bad so the manufacturer replaced it. At that point they have probably broke even. Why should they cover the cost for the dealer when the dealer made profits on the whole bike. Why should they lose money on the sale? The dealer could have easily absorbed the labor cost, and still have a tidy profit on the sale.

 

[thaaft]

Agree, it's a two way street, I can see both sides but I definitely blame the dealer more so than Raleigh. The icing on the cake with this one is I picked the bike up yesterday and on my first ride / commute back the left pedal came flying off in rush hour traffic in downtown SF! No fun considering it caused me to nearly go over the bars into traffic. Turns out the shop put the left crank arm on the right side and the right crank arm on the left side after replacing the motor. I worked in the bike industry for a long time and always told consumers to support your local IBD, but this experience has left me completely burned with IBD's.

 

[bob armani]

It’s not unusual for the manufacturer to warranty only the parts. I made sure before I bought my bike the dealer warranty included labor. If my LBS wasn’t willing to back up what they sold, I would have been out the door. Sorry you had this bad experience, and I hope you have a good LBS in your area for your next purchase.

Remember, a part is just a part and not the whole bike. Let’s say that motor cost $250. Yours went bad so the manufacturer replaced it. At that point they have probably broke even. Why should they cover the cost for the dealer when the dealer made profits on the whole bike. Why should they lose money on the sale? The dealer could have easily absorbed the labor cost, and still have a tidy profit on the sale.

Yeah, say the dealer does absorb the cost of labor? How much will it actually cost the dealer to pay his mechanic to do the installation? What do they pay the bike mechanic per hour including perhaps some grease and connectors? I'm just guessing here on my part. Yes, of course there is the other expense the dealer absorbs of holding up the rack/bay in the LBS when they could be servicing another customer's bike. I am just throwing this out there for curiosity sake...

 

[bob armani]

Agree, it's a two way street, I can see both sides but I definitely blame the dealer more so than Raleigh. The icing on the cake with this one is I picked the bike up yesterday and on my first ride / commute back the left pedal came flying off in rush hour traffic in downtown SF! No fun considering it caused me to nearly go over the bars into traffic. Turns out the shop put the left crank arm on the right side and the right crank arm on the left side after replacing the motor. I worked in the bike industry for a long time and always told consumers to support your local IBD, but this experience has left me completely burned with IBD's.

thaaft- Not a bad idea to contact your LBS and find out who serviced it at the shop. Perhaps they are not qualified to be working on anyone's bike which could cause others the same dangers you just encountered. By doing so, you could save someone else from possible injury. Too close for comfort. Ride safe!