Don't Buy a Guerrilla Gravity Trail Pistol Carbon

yuley95

soft-arse Yuley is on the lifts again
I’ve had an ongoing warranty with PNW recently for a defective dropper and they have been the exact opposite of GG. Totally responsive, apologetic, not in the slightest trying to dodge responsibility and were more than happy to pick up the shipping costs TWICE for an ongoing bad luck issue and to top it off they threw in a free set of grips and a tshirt for the inconvenience. They also let me keep the old dropper that still works until my new frame arrives( different size) but still send out the replacement.
The complete opposite of GG. PNW have gained a customer for life with the way they have conducted themselves. GG could learn a lot.
Agree PNW are great to deal with. Feel like we need to call out companies good to deal with since we are calling out one proving very difficult. Hunt and SR Suntour have both also proven excellent to deal with for me and show what it takes to offer warranty support globally.

Back to the OP. I reckon you're alignment issues are probably more common than we realise. Many of us on here will have removed a rear shock to service or clean, and some of us will have pulled apart the full rear to replace bearing etc, but how many of your average weekend warriors would do that? Not many I reckon.

I'm lucky that the bikes I've owed have always been well aligned and run smooth but I recently had a mate pull apart his frame to change the bearings and had to use a piece of wood and some leverage to get the shock back in... Maybe some companies think it's reasonable.

I would also guess that QC only checks 1 in 5 frames or something like that and even then, it would generally be the factory rather than the company. Not sure if GG is all in-house or not but if they outsource production using their own technology, then they are relying on the word of that manufacturer.

None of this changes the shit response you've had...
 

Kerplunk

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Yeah i’m not that sure if I would be stoked with that response.. I had a frame aligment issue with an Intense that I bought via pushys on run out before the distributor changed in oz.. Found the rear triangle fault 6 months after purchase when fitting new wheels.. Pics sent to the US, 24 hours later warranty agreed. New rear triangle sent (a bit slow mind you) at no cost to me. Intense are hardly the biggest manufacturer out there, but years in the biz has obviously taught them how to deal with manufacturing defects vs jra warranty scams..
 

Dozer

Heavy machinery.
Staff member
:D:D:D:D:D Mob mentality or what? Who said people were getting banned? You guys are jumping the gun on the warranty claim and now assuming I'm gonna ban y'all? Jesus H Christ. :rolleyes:
I offered an insight into how a warranty claim is processed and you're attacking that thinking you should just have all the shiny new stuff sent to you. There's a process with this stuff and they're acting on it. Facts are facts, take it how you will but ganging up on a business before the resolution is like going to a protest to protest about protesting.
Keep us in the loop with proceedings @komdotkom My intention with my post was to perhaps offer intel from the other side of the fence, I'd gladly offer you any advice on how the process rolls but it seems like you're doing everything right with it.
And @Litenbror, the customers I'm lucky to deal with are spending upwards of $1,000,000 annually with me and there's no room for me to be anything other than perfect in the process. I'm the kinda guy that I'd want to deal with in a warranty process.
 

Litenbror

Eats Squid
:D:D:D:D:D Mob mentality or what? Who said people were getting banned? You guys are jumping the gun on the warranty claim and now assuming I'm gonna ban y'all? Jesus H Christ. :rolleyes:
I offered an insight into how a warranty claim is processed and you're attacking that thinking you should just have all the shiny new stuff sent to you. There's a process with this stuff and they're acting on it. Facts are facts, take it how you will but ganging up on a business before the resolution is like going to a protest to protest about protesting.
Keep us in the loop with proceedings @komdotkom My intention with my post was to perhaps offer intel from the other side of the fence, I'd gladly offer you any advice on how the process rolls but it seems like you're doing everything right with it.
And @Litenbror, the customers I'm lucky to deal with are spending upwards of $1,000,000 annually with me and there's no room for me to be anything other than perfect in the process. I'm the kinda guy that I'd want to deal with in a warranty process.
I'm glad to hear that @Dozer I have had many great warranty experiences but also some shockers. My point is if your customer called you and sent you a photo of a bulldozer for example that was faulty from the factory would you require that customer to pay for your poor QC? I also suspect it was the veiled threat at the end of your post that go a few hackles up.
 

Dozer

Heavy machinery.
Staff member
I'm glad to hear that @Dozer I have had many great warranty experiences but also some shockers. My point is if your customer called you and sent you a photo of a bulldozer for example that was faulty from the factory would you require that customer to pay for your poor QC? I also suspect it was the veiled threat at the end of your post that go a few hackles up.
They've been very transparent by saying that @komdotkom would likely need to pay for return freight, that's something that I'd have looked at once the complaint was assessed and yeah, if they've admitted the fault then the return freight should be covered for sure, anyone offering a warranty has an insurance in place to cover this stuff. Not putting an idea in anyone's head but I wonder if this company have all the right stuff in place; who knows.
And nah, no hackles ;). Warranty is often assumed so much but the explanation of how it works is not often told. Some companies absolutely ace it and others fumble it horribly. Its amazing to watch it unfold when a consumer buys a brand for the first time, has a failure and rags hard on the company saying their products are complete piles of shit. The company then delivers an exceptional warranty reimbursement (refund, product replacement, whatever it may be) then the consumer jumps online and writes a lovely Google review and rates the company and says their products are ace! My point is, it's not completely sorted until it's completely sorted.
For the record, I've had to make two warranty claims on mountain bike frames. One was Norco and one was Intense. Both were totally flawless, prompt and honest. The products that they inspected were defective and they have since adapted different ways to build their products to avoid further failures. That's why it's always good to oblige and return the defective stuff. They may only get one failure or it could be 1000. Hands on with the failed product will potentially stop the problem in future and you may stick with the brand.
 

Litenbror

Eats Squid
They've been very transparent by saying that @komdotkom would likely need to pay for return freight, that's something that I'd have looked at once the complaint was assessed and yeah, if they've admitted the fault then the return freight should be covered for sure, anyone offering a warranty has an insurance in place to cover this stuff. Not putting an idea in anyone's head but I wonder if this company have all the right stuff in place; who knows.
And nah, no hackles ;). Warranty is often assumed so much but the explanation of how it works is not often told. Some companies absolutely ace it and others fumble it horribly. Its amazing to watch it unfold when a consumer buys a brand for the first time, has a failure and rags hard on the company saying their products are complete piles of shit. The company then delivers an exceptional warranty reimbursement (refund, product replacement, whatever it may be) then the consumer jumps online and writes a lovely Google review and rates the company and says their products are ace! My point is, it's not completely sorted until it's completely sorted.
For the record, I've had to make two warranty claims on mountain bike frames. One was Norco and one was Intense. Both were totally flawless, prompt and honest. The products that they inspected were defective and they have since adapted different ways to build their products to avoid further failures. That's why it's always good to oblige and return the defective stuff. They may only get one failure or it could be 1000. Hands on with the failed product will potentially stop the problem in future and you may stick with the brand.
Completely agree with everything you say I had a replacement frame through giant and it was flawless. Difference is the frame failed during use it didn't show up defective. If a product is defective prior to use then the right thing to do would be to send @komdotkom a shipping label an apology. Completely understand a smaller manufacturer not being able to just send a new frame without seeing the old one but the OP had to fight them to even agree to freight the defective frame back and by the sounds of it he will be on the hook for postage of a new frame even if it is their mess up. The reason people have piled on is that the image GG sell is very different to what OP has received. This is as much a PR problem as a QC one because this is not in line with the image they are selling people, if it was a big faceless corporation then there would be less of a suprise but they sell themselves as a customer focused company.

TLDR GG have hired too many sales people and not enough customer service, engineers and back office staff to run a good rider focused company.
 
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Isildur

The Real Pedant
Wow, what a read on a quiet day. That's complete and utter bollocks really, and glad I steered my other half away from GG a a few months ago after she listened to Joann Barelli sing the praises on them as a brand. I've had a fair few frame issues in my time - actually I'm not sure I've ever not broken a frame at some point - but the brands and shops have always had my back straight up.

In a similar vein, years ago I broke a DH frame that was a V1 of that particular brand (who at the time were not that much bigger than GG would be now). The local distro got me a new frame ASAP over Christmas time, with updated gusseting. When I looked it over before building it up, I discovered that the new frame was actually from a fairly well used demo bike, which they'd done to get me back on the road quickly. When raised, the brand shipped a completely new frame from the US inside of a week.
 

komdotkom

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Wow, that escalated quickly.

My position hasn't changed, I just want GG to fulfill the initial sales contract and deliver the product that they have been paid for. No action at my end has caused the frame to be outside their stated tolerance and the cost of that should not be my responsibility.

I don't mind sending it back to them so they can check how misaligned it is but not at my expense, or at the very least I would want a cast iron assurance of reimbursement for costs once the defect was verified.

It seems to be a waste of resources though, this frame already has a trillion air miles after taking the scenic route to Australia and I would have thought some more pictures and a date with the drop saw would finish the matter.
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
I can understand that they want to get the frame back. It'll be the only way they can analyse what went wrong. But, I can't understand why you, the consumer, should be in any way out of pocket in the process. It is already a big enough PITA to be without the frame/bike.
 

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
I can understand that they want to get the frame back. It'll be the only way they can analyse what went wrong. But, I can't understand why you, the consumer, should be in any way out of pocket in the process. It is already a big enough PITA to be without the frame/bike.
At the same time, this is probably not a one off and possibly they knew these were out of spec but bolted them up and sent them out.
Someone knows something, take it on the chin and fix the issue.
There is probably no need to return it and drag the issue out.
 
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