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Old 7th April 2022, 07:48   #31
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Re: Nightmare experience buying a road-bike from Scott India

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Originally Posted by ninjatalli View Post

IIRC that's him 2nd from right
Yes that’s him and he did stop riding regularly a few years ago but once in a while he still rides with us.

Last edited by Turbanator : 7th April 2022 at 08:14. Reason: Please quote only relevant portion. Thanks
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Old 8th April 2022, 14:59   #32
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Re: Nightmare experience buying a road-bike from Scott India

Hello BHPians,

As it happens, the dealer has misinformed Scott that he has tried to contact me repeatedly- which is false. As always, Scott continues to be biased towards him and trust everything he says.

Folks, ain't I right in believing, it's the responsibility of the company to oversee how their product is being handled by the dealer as it directly reflects on the brand?
In case of discrepancy, should the dealer not be answerable to the company?

However it seems, Scott is protecting him at the cost of their brand image and I'm not sure why.

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Originally Posted by silverado View Post
I am with you about how you feel after spending a lot for your dream bike.
Its the poor communication and way things are handled which has angered you the most rather than actual failure of the component
.
.
Finally thanks for posting your experience here, which is shocking to come from a reputed brand like Scott.
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Originally Posted by Kartman View Post
I feel your pain. You must have waited for a while to get your hands on this bike and must have shed your hard earned money on it. Scott deals directly with dealers and claims are to be filed by the dealer itself as they are considered the competent authority for the same.
Bingo! I have indeed shed my hard earned money on my dream bike and it pains me immensely to see after spending so much for a brand, this is how I am treated. So much for brand security yeah?

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Originally Posted by Kartman View Post
That being said, it looks like your dealer is taking the easy way out as it’s a pain to claim warranty on cycles in India.
I would appreciate if you throw some light on this. What's the big deal for the dealer and initially the brand was reluctant too. I wonder why?
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Old 8th April 2022, 17:10   #33
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Re: Nightmare experience buying a road-bike from Scott India

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Originally Posted by snappysam View Post
Abhijith, I would be really thankful if you could give me the contact details of the "Expert in Cochin".

Mods: Sorry for going away from the original topic.
Have send you a private message with the contact details.

Sharing the names here for others, who may be interested. For normal repair works / regular service, you can reach out to United by Cycling and their workshop at Kaloor. (https://unitedbycycling.com) They do have a wide stock of any parts needed plus they have an experienced mechanic. For anything major, you will have to reach out to "Murugan Chettan", the veteran mechanic based out of Paravoor. He is a well known among the cyclists all over Kerala. He is quite busy, so you may have to call and check with him on his availability. There are few other notable people known for bike fitting, frame repair, repaint works etc, You can get the names and contacts by getting in touch with any cycling community based out of Kochi.

-Cheers

Last edited by ps_abhijith : 8th April 2022 at 17:21. Reason: Adding in the names of service centers
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Old 9th April 2022, 11:38   #34
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Re: Nightmare experience buying a road-bike from Scott India

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Originally Posted by ps_abhijith View Post
Have send you a private message with the contact details.

Sharing the names here for others, who may be interested. For normal repair works / regular service, you can reach out to United by Cycling and their workshop at Kaloor.
Thank you Abhijith. Information which you have provided is a big help. I did want to take my bike across to a good bicycle mechanic, unfortunately have never been able to find a knowledgeable mechanic in Kochi.
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Old 10th April 2022, 06:48   #35
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Re: Nightmare experience buying a road-bike from Scott India

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I would appreciate if you throw some light on this. What's the big deal for the dealer and initially the brand was reluctant too. I wonder why?
There have been many instances of individuals claiming warranty for all sorts of things. It’s more of a abuse of warranty just because either the bike owner is bored with the bike after some time or just wants a new one for the heck of it. In india, many so called cyclists buy cycles not to ride but to tell people that they own such and such cycle costing so much money. This abuse is seen even in automobiles in India.

The company relies on the dealer to provide a good assembled product to the consumer because these cycles are a little too complicated to be fine tuned by most individuals. Your contact with the company is with the phone representative, who is my opinion is the most useless link as they only have information that the dealer gives when the complaint is registered. Ideally the dealer should speak with someone higher up on the chain and get things expedited.

My suggestion is that you ask your dealer to get you on a conference call with Scott and then see what’s what.

Most of these bikes are made by machines and the changes of a structural failure is slim to none. You are just one of the unlucky few who have had a failure but I am sure Scott india will honour your claim.
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Old 12th April 2022, 12:31   #36
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Re: Nightmare experience buying a road-bike from Scott India

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Originally Posted by jai_asnani98 View Post
This was immediately reported to the dealer who had a very casual approach and said it's a common occurrence and not a big deal. He retensioned the same spokes and gave the go ahead to ride the bike.

Somehow it didn't feel right for a brand new bike from a reputed brand and hence I reached out to the Customer Support of Scott India.
We have 2 Scotts Speedsters, mine, a 2020 Model, and my wife's, from 2021. She had a Scott Subcross from 2020 which we sold off to buy her a road bike. Never have we had any problems with the Wheel spokes. This is NOT a common occurrence, and the dealer has to solve this beyond doubt on the first complaint (IMHO). Had he failed to do so, personally, I would have taken it back to the dealer as we have always had a very plesant experience with the Bangalore dealer till date. Their knowledge and passion towards bikes, and the servicemen are top notch.

I am guessing that, in your case, either the service person is incompetent in spotting the malfunction, or, they are trying to save some money by asking you to ride on for a little longer, and hoping that the problem wouldn't resurface.

I think, you should simply switch to tyres from another bike and bring your bike back home. While buying the Sub cross, my wife liked the wheels on the demo piece, and we had gotten the demo wheels fitted onto her bike, which was a new Box piece. So, switching wheels shouldn't be too much of a hassle for the dealer.

Again, just my 2 cents: Try and grab your bike with new set of wheels. Somewhere, wrong buttons have been pressed, and this hopefully could be forgotten. Scott dealers are not too expensive when it comes to servicing. So, it invariably is a long association with them.
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Old 12th April 2022, 19:23   #37
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Re: Nightmare experience buying a road-bike from Scott India

I too own a Scott Addict, which I bought during the pandemic induced shortage. Interestingly, I too faced a similar issue in my rear wheel, where the cassette was out of alignment with the hub. Upon checking by the dealer, the diagnosis was a faulty hub to be replaced under warranty. Things started getting interesting from here.
Scott first gave a long timeline for availability of replacement hub. Thereafter, they gave me a curt response stating that it can take any amount of time because of parts shortage. That was when I lost it, and sent out a nasty email cc'ing the dealer, and stating that I am about to go public within the cycling community about this experience.
Immediately, I got a call from dealer stating that they'll replace the entire wheel. In fact, I bargained a wheelset upgrade as part of negotiations.
Having said this, I don't think I ever thought about asking for a refund/replacement. But then, Scott service seems like a thing of concern in India.
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Old 13th April 2022, 00:13   #38
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Re: Nightmare experience buying a road-bike from Scott India

Clearly this can be a frustrating experience for somebody who has just bought their dream bike, so my sympathies.

Having said which, here’s a little more general context.

Stock wheels are mass assembled. Spoke tension can sometimes need to be adjusted after a bit of riding. It is not uncommon at all for spokes to either break or rims to go out of true. Having a couple of spokes come off can seem disastrous but it isn’t the end of the world. The same wheel can easily be rebuilt to far better standards with just better nipples and some dedicated skill.

You see, much as one feels one is spending a lot of money the first time one buys a premium bicycle and therefore everything should be perfect, it isn’t. The truth is that stock wheels for hybrids are entry level pieces of kit which are optimised for cost and averages (average rider of average weight on average global roads with average usage, etc) which are not adjusted for Indian conditions. They are far from the strongest and this is a reality one needs to swallow.

This is true even for stock wheels of bikes that cost lakhs. There’s a reason why good wheels can cost thousands of dollars and wheel building is a skill in itself (which not every technician in every bike shop possesses to be honest as even the equipment, let alone the training, takes money, time and effort). Cheap, light, strong - you can only pick two i.e. if it’s cheap and light, it won’t be strong, if it’s strong and light it won’t be cheap and if it’s strong and cheap it won’t be light. Please understand also by ‘cheap’ I mean in relative terms. A bike that costs 30-40k is definitely not cheap by our standards but in order to bring in that bike at that weight, compromises have to be made. Most manufacturers will only warranty the frame too as that’s what they produce. The rest of the components are assembled. In short, calling for a warranty replacement bike for this won’t really fly. So the best they can do is to replace a broken part.

I’m sorry if this doesn’t sound sympathetic, it’s just the truth of the industry.

However, the manner in which this has been handled certainly leaves much to be desired and it has robbed you of the joy you got into it with and for that you have every right to be aggrieved. Sadly, this is rather the reality with most premium bicycle dealers in India (with rare exceptions) and it’s more a result of the state of maturity of the industry or lack thereof. As cycling grows in popularity and more people get into it, the numbers will generate better business and more responsible, customer-friendly practices. At the moment though I do sympathise with dealers too because unlike say the bike or car industry, on total scale, business is still too small to carry a lot of inventory and the cost of satisfying an unhappy customer may just be too much for some dealers to stomach. I’m not saying it’s right, I’m just calling it out for what it is.

Short version, I’d say just take your bike and replacement wheel and get it checked with a good wheel builder and then get out and keep munching miles while you put this episode in your rear view.

All the best.
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Old 15th April 2022, 10:06   #39
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Re: Nightmare experience buying a road-bike from Scott India

My 2 cents.Having bought cycles in Bangalore.
* better to buy cycles from brands like BOTS or Cycling Boutique in Bangalore.
* I had bought an MTB from Track and Trail and very quickly realised that they don’t assemble the bike properly. Not sure why, but I was told it is their way of making additional money on service and spares. I cannot confirm this, just sharing what I was told. Their mechanics and workshop also looked very unprofessional.

Guys from BOTS and CyclingBoutique at the very least ensure that the bike is assembled well. I won’t say they’re perfect, in case there is a problem they quickly fix it though.
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Old 3rd February 2023, 13:38   #40
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Re: Nightmare experience buying a road-bike from Scott India

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Originally Posted by RROD View Post
* better to buy cycles from brands like BOTS or Cycling Boutique in Bangalore.
* I had bought an MTB from Track and Trail and very quickly realised that they don’t assemble the bike properly. Not sure why, but I was told it is their way of making additional money on service and spares. I cannot confirm this, just sharing what I was told. Their mechanics and workshop also looked very unprofessional.
That's a broad generalization to make basis one experience. In fact, I have purchased my Cannondale from a Track & Trail outlet; with follow-up servicing done for my other bikes there and have only have good experiences. Also I had got extremely good feedback from the local cycling community on the same shop (and mechanic).

On the other hand, I have got some negative feedback with regards to BOTS Jayanagar from other local cyclists on how they push too hard on sales.

So you see, it's good to learn from other's experiences, but let's not generalize - there are several good cycling shops spread across Bangalore that are better known to local / nearby cyclists. Do share your experiences, good & bad, on this thread for others to leverage.


Edit: Realized I replied to an Apr'22 post. But the point still is relevant.

Last edited by ninjatalli : 3rd February 2023 at 13:40.
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