Derailled

wait a mo - you brought it from a shop in wellington that still exists? so why are you dealing with worralls direct then? Under the CGA it's clearly the SHOP'S problem, they shouldn't be palming you off to worralls direct. I'd courier the forks up to the shop and tell them to repair/replace , end of story

fuk it. i'm just gonna get the seals fixed up. life is to short for this rubbish and i'll just buy gear offshore from now on. fixed

Look on the positive side- I can get these fixed - yet that Peter Adams fella will always be a tosser

I have a set of '08 Revelations (Rule 1 - Keep it simple) with the same seals. Purchased from Cyclexpress in Auckland. Or I should say, they HAD the same seals. The RS seal material is kind of soft and tacky. Dust would stick to it, and not wash off unless brushed off.

My gut feeling was that these seals would be trouble in the long run. I ordered Enduro seals within a week of owning the forks and replaced the originals. No other troubles. If you are going to buy local, buy from a shop that can service forks in house. If you are dealing with a LBS who would refuse to warranty forks because of Enduro seals, you need a new LBS.

If you buy from the internet, then factor in the cost of a torque wrench and the odd special tool. If you are a muppet wrench, then factor in the cost of the odd service with an independent professional.

I would rather pay a few extra dollars for a decent service than spend weeks or months without a bike going through warranty cowboy hell.

For the record, Cyclexpress in Auckland and Rick from Krankin are the only people I let near my bike. Rick is something of a 'hard case', but he is a straight up good technician, and has a boneyard of junked shocks for long out of warranty repairs.

The shop doesn't make the call on warranty, its up to the supplier, so if one shop denies a warranty claim then every other shop will too . No shops should be repairing forks under warranty and if they are, they are doing it out of their own pocket which is pretty stupid since they won't be getting any sort of reimbursement from the supplier. Refusing a warranty because of fitting aftermarket seals if fair enough though, it shows that someone else has been messing with the forks so if they fail the supplier might just be fixing someone elses screw up instead of a genuine fault.

Oh and I see forks that have been messed up by shops or end users all the time so wholesalers have every right to be nervous about a fork thats been worked on by someone else. If its still under warranty, every GOOD mechanic I know of in the country will send me the fork instead of attempting to repair it, no questions asked.

thing is you know your shit - wheras it's clear whoever worrall's have hired for their service dept should go back to building up bikes at k-mart!!!

I could see shops fixing forks themselves (out of their own pocket like you said) rather than putting up with worrall's bullshit (worrall's have nothing to lose by being mongs, wheras the shop involved has their rep and repeat business on the line).

The shop doesn't make the call on the warranty, but the law says the shop must sell a product fit for the purpose etc. etc - a distributor refusing warranty doesn't affect the shop's / consumer's rights and obligations under the law.

Oddly, the more folk i talk to (mtbers, shop owners, mechanics, random homeless folk ) the more the feeling is that Worrall's as a company and in particular Peter Adams is a steaming pile of shite. This whole experience has left somewhat of a sour taste in my mouth - i won't lie- and it has been a real eye opener for me too in times where we are no more than $$ for these companies rather than loyal mtbing customers.

I've well and truly lost all guilt towards buying items that Worrall's distribute offshore now that's for sure- as they are a pack of cunzors. Sadly, at the end of the day it will be the LBS loosing out too- which is not good- but when you can get products for less than 50% RRP NZ and have the same level of service (i.e. NONE) why would one bother to pay $$$. It really is a terrible state of affairs. Interestingly, I had issues with a RS fork a few yrs ago that I purchased from CRC and they simply refunded it. Go figure!

I spoke to consumer affairs and the hassles involved out weight just getting on with life and fixing up the forks- paying out a few $$ and just go ride. I just hope that others read this thread and eventually something is done with these type of businesses that seem to be above the law in some respects. Vote with your wallets I say

oh well..... shit happens

Actually I think you will find that some people who work at Worralls are idiots with the mentality that you describe, while others who work there are actual mountain bikers who do support their product...

Perhaps finding out the address of the CEO or who ever and sending a summary of your dealings and findings on through to him might be a cheap way of giving Peter Adams a bit of a wake up call?? NZ is a small place... would not be hard to find out if Peter has a boss, and to find out what his bosses contact details are...

Allister Worrall
allister@worrall.co.nz

the fact remains though - you should be dealing with the shop who sold you the bike (and who hence have a legal obligation under the CGA) - not worrall directly

Also - if it is an OEM fork that came with a bike - is the warranty with RS or Marin in the first instance?

ie: return to shop of purchase, who refer to marin distributor, and it is their responsibility under the bike warranty to deal with RS?

Technically you are correct but most times the shop will pass that responsibility on to the importer/wholesaler where they can so it makes sense to cut out the middle line of bullshit straight away.
There really isn't a great deal of bite to the CGA in these sort of situations as it is all suggestive legislation and, as Paul pointed out, the process to lodge a grievance is long and costly and often isn't worth it unless you are talking a few thousand dollars. Even then it is a risk. The disputes tribunal is worth a shot sometimes.
Having said that, a good operator will smooth the way, often at their own non-reimburseable cost to try and keep the customer on his side, even if the issue wasn't their fault or responsibility. Then everyone raves about them and word of mouth advertising is gold

Fair call- and I can only speak of my own experiences.... while others may have had better results.

See, you have hit the nail on the head here. Because of Peter Adams shocking attitude and need i say "focus on being right" over the provision of customer service- it all went pear shaped. They had no records of the long list of work undertaken- Peter had no idea what seals were actually faulty- and everytime i rang i had to go over and over the events. At one point Peter stated that they had no records so it was my word - and that they could not help. Once i highlighted emails and receipts he changed his tone. This has pretty much been my experience- which if handled differently and professionally it would have been a far better experience. I mean they out right lied when it came to the fork emptying its contents!

A simple refund for the pads/ rotors that i lost as well as a fix that actually fixed teh damn forks would have gone along way- rather than a string of muppets literally arguing and passing blame to whoever they could.

Like i said- it is Peter Adams that is the issue at Worralls- and quite honestly it's a disgrace that he represents so many brands in NZ. Quite obviously he makes them lots of cash though....so that's that Thankfully times seem to be changing in NZ and guys like this have a limited time in business with a public shift in thinking- so "tick tock" as they say....

Either way- i'm over it and fixing them up in a proper workshop. </rant>

A reputable shop can service forks, and replace seals. The shop I frequent (when in NZ) is owned by a skilled mechanic, who hires skilled mechanics. If the Rock Shock seals are faulty by design and the shop that sells the fork agrees to replace the seals, then why should there be a warranty issue? Out of my own pocket, I am preventing a situation where a warranty repair is required.

The odd of getting things replaced under warranty in NZ seem to be decreasing over time. The last fork I imported cost less than half of the best local price. If something goes wrong, there is a lot of overhead to remedy the situation out of warranty.

I am genuinely suprised that people buy locally for large items like forks. I bought two forks, 03 Psylo SL's and 03 Super T's, I think the Psylo's were about $700 landed and the Super T's just under a grand. And that was with the dollar nearer 50c US too.

I think the retail on forks here at the time was astronomical, I'm sure the Super T's were over 2 grand in R&R.
I wouldn't hesitate to buy another set from overseas, mind you I'm not afraid to open them up myself, but having said that, all the forks I've owned have been pretty simple internally! HSCV anyone!

Even when purchased overseas, Psylo's still wouldn't be a good purchase though...

Hey Paul

Do you want me to take a look at these forks when I get back?

yes please! And i reckon some enduro seals are in order too.

ta

Cool, send me an email about the start of April.