Issues with Evans Cycles and my Pinnacle bike

Welsh boy wrote:

Ok, so you try to convince everyone that the gear hanger snapped all on its own without you doing anything then you suddenly remember that you crashed because of a fault with the bile, a minor point which escaped your memory until someone pointed out this potential problem with the bikes. M, I don’t think we are getting the whole truth in the original post are we

You are actually.

The hanger did snap in the normal course of my commute home,  at the time that the hanger snapped I just put it down to experience and if the correct replacement had arrived I would never have questioned if the hanger should break or not. I came on here with this question and discovered that is is designed to be a disposable part. I accepted this and was happy that it did what it was meant to do but still unhappy that:

1. It was not replaced during a "Full Safety Check" carried out within 6 months of the recall
2. I had to deal with numerous correspondance over more than a week to resolve the incorrect part being sent
3. I was being accused of causing the incorrect item to be sent

Last year I came off my bike when the rear wheel slipped from under me on the commute home. I put it down to experience at the time but as I was discussing (ranting) about the service issues I had (along with the recall, it not being replaced and hangers designed to fail) and my partner reminded me that of the accident that I had. Luckily I had documented this incident at the time so it was easy to refer back to once I had been reminded of it.

Pretty much most things I put down to experience and just carry on until I have new evidence that makes me question/re-examine the issue. Just like I did with the hanger, if the correct part had come and I had not been presented with the information about the recall then I would have just carried on as normal putting it down to experience. Does everyone not do the same?

Canyon48 wrote:

Unfortunately, I think you are wasting your time. The fact Evans owns pinnacle makes very little difference in reality, they still buy pinnacle bikes in a similar fashion to how they would any other bike. The quality control is unlikely to be solely done in the UK, every so often a bike will be checked by the UK team, but it will be up to the OEM to do most the QC. Evans cycles aren't much better than halfords, I wouldn't waste your time with them any longer.

OK, lets try and clear up this whole thing about Pinnacle and Evans. I have clearly confused things by refering to  Pinnacle Bikes as a company, it isn't. Pinnacle Bikes is a brand owned by Evans Cycles.
Here are the facts:
Pinnacle was created as a bike brand by Evans
https://www.evanscycles.com/coffeestop/news/pinnacle-bikes-brand-history
There is no seperate companies house listing for Pinnacle Bikes
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/search?q=Pinnacle+Bikes
The Trademark for "Pinnacle" (relating to bikes and parts) registered with the Government Intellectual Property Office is held by Evans Cycles
https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmcase/page/Results/4/EU005256417
There is a blog post of a visit to Pinnacle Bikes detailing what they do
https://bikemagic.com/news/pinnacle-bikes-factory-visit.html

They are far from being a seperate real company, Pinnacle Bikes is just a glorified department within Evans Cycles. The Design, quality Checking, Building and Selling of these bikes are all done By Evans Cycles. They outsource the manufacture to the far east but (as it is to Evans Cycles design and Quality Checked by Evans Cycles after) the fact that they outsource this element is irrelevant. In fact there are many bike manufacturers who outsource the manufacturing to the far east, but if I had a complaint with KONA/Voodoo/Van Nicholas/Dawes/Raleigh/Specialized/Boardman/Giant/Trek/Dahon (to name a few), I would not go to the outsourced factory, I would go to KONA/Voodoo/Van Nicholas/Dawes/Raleigh/Specialized/Boardman/Giant/Trek/Dahon

rdmp2 wrote:

`i think you're being a bit unfair to Evans. They are clearly at fault for sending you the wrong replacement hanger but I don't think its reasonable to expect them to pick up on a recalled mech hanger after so long (even on their own brand bike). They did notify you of it at the time. Is a "full safety check" supposed to check every minor part against a recall list? Assuming they make money on services such checks would have to lead to price increases to cover. The failure you experienced doesn't appear to be related to the recall anyway

I agree that the failure of the hanger does not seem to be related to the recall issue, it is just the catalyst that brought all of this to light. I did have an off due to wheel slip last year though and have now put connected the two things and it is currently with their insurers.

The issue with the the wrong hanger being sent is the issue that I was still trying to resolve with Evans Cycles but they were unwilling to accept that they had made any mistake and tried to shift the blame constantly throughout the dialogue back and forth. This has been going on for months and all I wanted was an apology and acknowledgement that they would look into the issue so that it did not happen again. They are unwilling to do this however.

crazy-legs wrote:

Quote:

I do however expect an Evans Cycles mechanic to know about issues on bikes that have been Designed, Quality Checked, Built and sold by Evans Cycles. Especially where Evans Cycles have identified the issue and published it in their stores.

Pinnacle are exclusive to Evans. They are not designed or built by Evans.

Every single bike sold by Evans (and indeed pretty much any bike shop) is "built" from a box (ie they come partially assembled, they are then fully assembled and PDI'd - pre-delivery inspected) so the brand of bike really has no bearing on the matter. All brands should be treated the same.

Any recall (as I mentioned before) is posted within the shop network, printed out on the wall of the workshop etc and again, the brand of bike, type of recall etc has no bearing on that. I remember dealing with a recall on some hubs - the manufacturer concerned had found that some of it's own brand hubs sold as original equipment on a certain model of bike could fail so they were issuing new wheels, asking for the old ones to be destroyed etc and we did that for a few months and then the flow of wheels stopped. It's entirely possible that some people missed that recall and were riding round on those wheels for months/years thereafter by which time the recall notice had long since been taken down, staff might have moved on, forgotten about it etc and if you took that bike into the shop a year down the line it wouldn't be noticed.

With the volume of bikes they have through each workshop, the timeframes that are being worked to, the variation in training of the staff (eg brand new mechanic / Saturday boy vs full time head mechanic) it's not entirely unreasonable for a relatively innocuous part to be missed.

You are incorrect when you say that "Pinnacle are exclusive to Evans. They are not designed or built by Evans" Pinnacle Bikes are owned by Evans and as such designed by Evans.

https://www.evanscycles.com/coffeestop/news/pinnacle-bikes-brand-history

Pinnacle bikes design the bikes in England, manufacture them in the far east and then quality check them back in England

https://bikemagic.com/news/pinnacle-bikes-factory-visit.html

If it was just another bike brand in any bike shop I could see your point, but as I have said before, it was an Evans Cycles Designed, Quality Checked, Built and Sold bike. So a Service in an Evans Cycles Store by an Evans Cycles Trained Mechanic carrying out a "Full Safety Check" where "even small details ... are rectified" (their words not mine) it should not cover all safety aspects, especially recall issues that Evans Cycles have identified and communicated themselves. Otherwise what they are carrying out is not a "Full Safety Check" where "even small details ... are rectified"

Or am I missing something?

crazy-legs wrote:

Quote:

I do believe however that I am entitled to an apology from Evans Cycles for their failure to replace the recalled item on the own brand bike whilst servicing it in store within 6 months of the recall.

You expect every single mechanic to know every single recall on every make / model of bike that comes in?

Having worked at several Evans branches (many years ago) I know that we used to have recall notices pinned up in the workshops and shops would make every effort to contact customers who had bought that item within the recall period but if someone brings a bike in 6 months later (having, by their own admission, ignored the email highlighting the recall) then it's unrealistic to expect the shop to pick it up. I would *hope* that they'd pick it up but certainly wouldn't *expect" it.

I was separating the Service/Recall issue from the Order/fulfillment issue, but as you brought it back up....

I do not expect them to know every single recall on every make/ model of bike.

I do however expect an Evans Cycles mechanic to know about issues on bikes that have been Designed, Quality Checked, Built and sold by Evans Cycles. Especially where Evans Cycles have identified the issue and published it in their stores.

The recall notice only asks for the nearest Evans Cycles store to be contacted so that they have the oportunity to replace the hanger. I did contact my nearest Evans Cycles store and gave them the oportunity to replace the hanger. Also, I did not ignore the email, I did not see the email in the first place.

Also as they state that the service includes a "full safety check" where "even small details ... are rectified" why would I not expect a safety recall that Evans Cycles identified be resolved? If they claimed a "basic safety check" then I could understand, this is not what they claim however.

Canyon48 wrote:

I never realised Pinnacle bikes are actually designed in the UK! Learn something new every day. I have no idea how Evans Cycles and/or Pinnacle Bikes is structured, so there may be a question mark of who has liability (I stress the may).

I thought that I read it somewhere and found this https://bikemagic.com/news/pinnacle-bikes-factory-visit.html

Canyon48 wrote:

I think you'll REALLY struggle to reclaim travel costs due to naff customer service, unfortunately.

I know that, I am not really expecting anything for the travel, I am just trying to make myself as much as a pain to them as their poor customer service was to me.

Canyon48 wrote:

To me, this would certainly be a suggestion to find another (better) bike shop!

Unfortunately the cycle to work scheme that my employer runs is through Evans Cycles so it would cost me a lot more to go elsewhere

Canyon48 wrote:

I never realised Pinnacle bikes are actually designed in the UK! Learn something new every day. I have no idea how Evans Cycles and/or Pinnacle Bikes is structured, so there may be a question mark of who has liability (I stress the may).

I thought that I read it somewhere and found this https://bikemagic.com/news/pinnacle-bikes-factory-visit.html

Canyon48 wrote:

I think you'll REALLY struggle to reclaim travel costs due to naff customer service, unfortunately.

I know that, I am not really expecting anything for the travel, I am just trying to make myself as much as a pain to them as their poor customer service was to me.

Canyon48 wrote:

To me, this would certainly be a suggestion to find another (better) bike shop!

Unfortunately the cycle to work scheme that my employer runs is through Evans Cycles so it would cost me a lot more to go elsewhere

The Gavalier wrote:

Rich_cb wrote:

Canyon48 wrote:

Mech hangers are designed as sacrificial components, they fail in order to prevent damage to the frame. Damage from a mech hanger failing is really bad luck.

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/blog/gear-hangers-break/

Well I didn't know they could break from poor gear selection, you learn something every day! I still think that if there was a known fault with that component and it failed causing damage then you'd have a case under the Consumer Rights Act.

As Canyon48 said though, the recall was nothing to do with the hangers failing, it was to do with potential wheel slippage in the dropout. If his wheel had come out then yes, there’s a claim to be made, but a hanger breaking (at the point they’re designed to) has nothing to do with the purpose of the recall. 

The hanger may have failed in exactly the way it is supposed to so I may not be entitled to any compensation for damage resulting from this.

I do believe however that I am entitled to an apology from Evans Cycles for their failure to replace the recalled item on the own brand bike whilst servicing it in store within 6 months of the recall.

The hanger may not have failed in the way that the recall was enacted for, but their lack of "full safety check" left me riding on a potentially dangerous bike for 2 years.

As I have not yet had any apology, just them trying to blame me, I am going to annoy them with a claim until something happens