Hi Steve, fair point,
As I said Steve "
in my opinion" and I feel entitled to my
opinion as a "
dissatisfied customer". Madison and Commencal were given opportunity to explain themselves and respond to every unhappy customer who has sent an email to them
after unsatisfactory responses from dealers who had just as little an idea as the customer as to what was happening. THIS FORUM and others are where such information is available as there are threads where unhappy customers have discussed their own experiences.
Commencal cannot deny that problems which arose in 08 arose in 09, that some customers are on their third warranty bike, that bikes were on the market which due to component specification were not capable of their intended use, such information is posted by customers on threads within forums. Commencal or Madison cannot deny that many dealers were not given satisfactory reason knowledge or excuse to pass to customers with regards to warranty issues, you yourself confirmed communication issues, and I take the size of a company into consideration when evaluating the communication and forthcomming information. In my "
opinion" it could have been better, and this opinion is from reading threads with regards to cracked frames and warranty issues within forums with threads posted by unhappy customers.
Due to the lengthy Commencal and Madison warranty issues it is without doubt been left to dealers and customers to chase up what is happening in many cases, as far as I read into it based on warranty threads read on forums such as this where threads exist posted by customers who have experienced misinformation and a lack of forthcomming knowledge with regard to what is happening with their own warranty claims.
As a customer
reading forums and looking at the various warranty issues posted with regard to the Commencal brand it is very clear that models were advertised on the internet and sitting on sales floors with problems which Commencal should have been aware of, in my experience and from what I have heard there was never any recall or dealer letters sent out with regard to any potential problem for the dealer to check for. I feel nothing wrong with stating such or asking if such should occur, did any 55 owner get told "DO NOT" use the last three large cogs on the cassette while in the big ring? Or have to sign any sort of disclaimer for damages apart from wear while running extreme gears?
As for evidence, the fact that 08 and 09 models suffered the same welding quaility and failures right up to the product end life and were NOT sorted or given statement on until the 2010 release gives me the "opinion as a customer" that an "inadequate action" with regard to the original crack failures was ever carried out. As a customer, and based on what rumours I initially heard, I wondered why a certain model I had problems with was still being sold, there has been no public statement sent to anyone I know outside the bicycle industry regarding this, I myself am not happy to discuss that issue.
In my opinion certain manufacture details on certain bikes are inadequate, it does not take a genius to work out the arc of travel of a compressing shock or piggy back, nor deflection due to side load and other parameters of said product, and it seems even sillier to spec such tight tolerance based on a single model subject (the shock) in todays market as it shortens the lifespan of the product and ability of after market upgrade options. If a single model suffers the same failure at the same weld on the same part of a frame, it is not dificult to recall the design and add reinforcement, look at every other seat tube design from such as Specialized and early Amp as examples to how they dealt with areas which could suffer such failure, If 08 welding was inadequate they could have put more effort into addressing that in 09, if a seat tube weld is cracking too often the why not try adding a gusset? Why continually release bikes with medium cage rear mechs and a chain length which will not allow the full motion of travel in the big ring? (Only my opinion but the gear choice should not compromise the integrity of a component or safety of a customer, and any dealer or manufacturer should not be expecting customers to use some gears in some circumstances or customer take the resposibility)
That so many dealers did not have information for customers or that misinformation was given (deliberately or not) to dealers to pass to customers is another clear fact as it happened and still is occuring whenever I have read threads where customers stated an expected date, then later posted still waiting, I see that as evidence that someone is not giving the dealers right information, not that anyone has openly admited responsibility.
As such I concluded that Commencal deemed there would be a certain amount of warranties and failures, and decided that the figures would be acceptable enough for the design to continue in that form. Did Commencal not know there were weaknesses, or that some componment designs may change, that with a medium cage and certain chain lengths, certain models would not be able to fully compress due to chain tension?
With the above opinions based on what I read in forums I concluded that retailers have not been recieving sufficient contact or details from Madison, and that certain dates were either know not to be correct or very optimistic, but how can you tell when a company does NOT explain itself?
I concluded that as such a dealer must be picking up the cost, as its their telephone, time money and hours spent on this "ongoing" warranty which never seems to be able to give the customer a satisfactory reply on due to not being in posession themself of what really is going on, it's that dealer who states next week, and a week later sorry october and month later has to face the customer with "more bad news" under some circumstances, it's them who is under duress with a company who hold a momopoly on what customers want, a brand that is losing credability and an unhappy customer who may be moaning to others about his buisness.
To quote and correct myself
,
Exactly and in my own opinion, the only customers I feel Commy have shown interest in are the happy ones, it seems they have had around two years of problems which they have in my opinion addressed poorly. Certain problems should probably not have arrisen in 2009 and I think that Commencal may have ignored known issues or maybe thought some failure rates acceptable or maybe not thought through their designs fully. Commencal's own problems may have been amplified by poor support and service from Madison, who seem to have passed misinformation and pass blame and generally showed poor management for such a large company, I think both of them owe dissatisfied customers and retailers a service and an appology which in the last year has never been forthcomming to ANY customer I know personally, and I think it has usually been left with the retailer to pick up customer relations at personal cost.My above opinions are based on what customers have found out for themselves and openly discussed and posted within forums, information anyone can conclude and opinionate on upon scouring the net. I myself got more initial information from my own investigations as a customer from other customers, and those rumours were confirmed by others as my own problems proggressed.
I am Scottish, I am moany, we will see how things pan out with the 2010 models, we will see how many Commencal customers with warranty problems are satisfied when their 09 problems are dealt with. Commencal and Madison can challenge the above all they want, it is
only my opinion based on information I have read on public forums with unhappy customers such as myself. Maybe we will see improvements with Madisons contact with dealers regarding Warranty, maybe it was Commencals fault, maybe its just being read into to much, but waiting months for a sollution where you constanly hear a different excuse to why a problem is not solved is not adequate. Hopefully the experience will improve Madison and Commencal and strengthen their abilities and customer service.
So as a
disclaimer, the above is only my
opinon as a customer, which was only concluded after my own warranty issues, experiences and after reading so many threads regarding warranty issues and unhappy customer experiences on this forum and others.
Nothing to say on the post, haven't even read it, just wanted to hit 'quote' to repeat everything, annoy everyone and see if this thread made it onto a 5th page
Welcome, Guest. Please 
May 24, 2012, 03:50:34 AM
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