“Worthless guarantee, abominable customer service, poorly engineered frame it seems.
I have always owned Giant Carbon road bikes and all was well until I had a problem with my Giant Defy which is less than a year old. While out on a ride I pulled off from a junction-my foot slipped from the pedal - and somehow I heard what sounded like a stone hit my frame. Continued with my ride down a steep descent about 2 miles when a friend with me pointed out the frame looked a bit wrong. The right seatstay was broken. I took the bike in to local giant dealer who contacted Giant. Giant said it was impossible to break this way without damage so not covered by lifetime warranty. I contacted Giant but it is impossible to speak to anyone except the person who answers the phone . Could not speak to an engineer or anyone else. Totally impossible. I therefore wrote to the CEO Mr Ian Beasant on 2 December. No response. As there have been postal issues I then sent a registered letter on 13 December to ensure it gets to him. Still no response.
This is my original letter
02/12/2022
For the personal attention of
Mr Ian Beasant
Managing Director / CEO
Giant Bicycles UK
Charnwood Edge Business Park
Syston Rd
Cossington
LE7 4UZ
GB
Dear Mr Beasant (ibeasant@giant-bicycles.co.uk)
Re Warrant claim R-099606
I have recently sustained a problem with my Giant bike and requested it be covered by the warranty. This has so far been rejected. I am dissatisfied by this outcome.
The bike- a Defy Advanced 1 2021- was purchased online from Pedal Power Scotland 20/11/2021.
I have ridden the bike this year and had no problems until 13/11/2022.
I was out on a normal ride with 2 friends. I pulled off from a T-junction at speed to join traffic. As I did so my right foot did not lock into the cleat and slipped off the pedal. As this happened we heard a sound which we thought at the time had been a pebble from the road hitting the frame. We proceeded without stopping and uninterrupted as normal with a 31.9 mph average 2.2miles descent down a hill. At the bottom one of my colleagues noticed a deformity of the left seat stay consistent with failure of the bike’s structure.
I am a 64 year old retired Orthopaedic Surgeon and consider myself a man of honesty and integrity. I care meticulously for my bikes. I had fully cleaned the bike and lubricated the chain the day before the ride and there was no damage whatsoever.
I can assure you that the bike has not been damaged in any way as suggested by your staff – such as when putting it into my car boot- or by any drops, or falls or the like. I am happy to supply a sworn affidavit to this effect as are my cycling colleagues on the day as to what they witnessed.
I have discussed the matter with another cycling colleague who is a retired aircraft engineer with experience in carbon structure quality control. He agrees with me that your reasoning is flawed.
I would appreciate if you could supply an explanation as to what forces you feel have been applied to cause this carbon structure failure without implying that I am not being honest with you about any accidental damage.
I understand one assumption regarding the damage to the bicycle structure being possibly caused by an external force resulting from the action of my heel on an upstroke of the pedal.
I do not consider this assumption to be reasonable or practical. If the bicycle component in question was manufactured correctly and post processing material properties had been achieved the forces required to cause damage of this nature could not be generated by my heal without resulting in injury to myself.
I would ask you or your Giant carbon engineers to carry out a further examination of the bicycle with an aim of confirming the actual structural integrity of the composite material in the area of the failure.
I look forward to your response
Yours faithfully
Mr Mark Shannon
I am appalled at the exceptionally poor customer service offered by Giant. Not even the manners or decency to respond to a letter. I have now heard of several problems with Giant carbon frames some accompanied by pictures online. I have to say it seems very risky to buy a bike which breaks this easily I would definitely not recommend Giant carbon frames if the warranty is not worth the paper it is printed on.
I have been offered a replacement frame in a different colour at cost +VAT but that still leaves me significantly out of pocked on a frame which is otherwise immaculately cared for and less than a year old.
I will wait a short while longer in the hopes of a reply!
No such luck even after I sent the above to Mr Beasant by email- again no response.”
“Did love my Giant Fastroad SLR 1 but the frame cracked a year later. The Giant warranty team offered me a replacement frame but was not the same one I had bought as it was not available, its a 2017 model so not exactly old. I offered to pay the difference on a frame that would be better for me but they refused and offered me a lower grade frame instead. Don’t know what the point of that was.
I was a fan of the brand but this service is not worth dealing with them again.
The frame warranty will leave you with something that you don’t want, it’s their fault their design failed. They should be doing everything they can to rectify it, particularly when it wouldn’t leave them out of pocket as I’d pay the difference.”
“I had a problem with a Giant bike frame purchase in 2016. The Bradley Stoke store was superb! Replaced the frame and looked after me every step of the way. Can praise them enough!”
