um...help me get angry...

I've said whats needed here:linky
but long story short is that suspension forks broke once 2weeks after purchase (these things happen), sent away/came back repaired. 2months down the line oil and air leaking out, sent away/came back last night (friday 23rd april). been using them best part of today and once again oil leaking out of them and suspect air also. have to be sent away = THIRD TIME IN LESS THAN 3 MONTHS!! which shouldn't be happening...

and I've started to compose a letter at them with the theme of "what the h*ll are you playing at? Sort it out"...
only thing is I'm not all that good at getting really lairy at people, or putting into writing how f*ed off I am, short of using fowl language which just wont get noticed at all.

so could use a few pointers at being stern/borderline rude but not going over the limit...cheers

here's what I have so far:

Dear Sir,

Following my first letter from 20th April (attached) I would first like to thank you for your prompt repair under warranty of my Float 80RL’s which were returned to me on the evening of 23rd April much to my delight. Unfortunately despite this though, I am also writing to notify you that I am extremely upset and disheartened by the development of apparently the exact same faults as those that occurred requiring them to be sent originally on the 20th April. Especially since these occurred within less than 24hrs of return to myself on the 23rd, which is simply unacceptable. Evans Cycles Ltd. is returning them to you with details and, to the best of my knowledge, shall be contacting you directly regarding the matter.

An oil leak is still present at the base of the air-shock leg, resulting in there being poor and unpredictable dampening control. Also the ‘sag’ of the forks continued to increase through use, despite increasing the pressure from 70psi (as they were upon return from repair) to 85psi the evening I received them. I feel it also important to note that there was an appreciable difference in the amount of sag at this pressure following return from service than prior to service, striking me as somewhat odd.

Having been repaired twice, due to a fault after only such limited use, and now being returned yet again after continuing to develop more problems, I am deeply unsatisfied with their poor performance and failings to measure up to their description as high performance equipment. I find it completely unacceptable that a pair of forks, as highly regarded as these, should develop these problems so soon after purchase and through such limited use. They do not live up to the high standards I expected of Fox Forx, and from personal experience of Fox Racing products. I would not consider for one moment that I could have used them beyond their normal capacity, especially not in the 24hrs since they were returned to me, given my riding interests, and being relatively light (70kg/155lbs) I doubt that the forks ever came under any excessive stress beyond their tolerance limits.

***I ran out of what to say here, can't the the wording of 'sort it out man' quite right...***


Yours sincerely, [utterly p*ssed off in fact]

any help be cool :)

I'd just go on to say that at this stage, simply repairing them and sending them back is unaccepatble, and you would like the fork to be replaced thank you very much.

Mention Trading Standards

mmm. just what I was thinking but in not as many words :)

how about this then:

....in truth I have been entirely unsatisfied with the lack of performance by the forks, thanks to unending problems since the original purchase date. I think at the very least a company of such reputation could afford me with a new pair forks as replacement as I am no longer satisfied with merely a repair.

*bling*

Forget 'the very least' part and add something like:

'I am rejecting these forks, as they have failed to meet an acceptable standard.' They then have to send you a replacement and you can go the court route if they don't. Be more assertive!

The first too lines are way too cheery for a complaint.

I'd be more,

"I was impressed by the prompt return of my under warranty Float 80RL's. However, there was little more to be impressed with..."

Make sure you get a note of the fork serial numbers BEFORE you give them back to evans, otherwise you won;t know if they do replace them lol

m@

Quote:

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Originally Posted by m@ttz

Make sure you get a note of the fork serial numbers BEFORE you give them back to evans, otherwise you won;t know if they do replace them lol

m@

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hmm.. speaks much sense, does M@ttz... pay attention much to him....

yeah I have their serial no. its ok on that front...so will surely know :)

cheers on tips - can't help being so damn polite now can I?!

perhaps if I use my Dad's lovely nice letter headed paper too? oh, and did I mention he's a barrister (QC no less)?...worked last time, got the council trying to take tax off me when living in student house to tune of nearly £2000! one short letter from Dad and not a peep since. oh, and he writes the law on tax too, so I guess that helped a bit :)

good old dad.

Get them to 'fork' out for a better pair as compensation...

(sorry, but SOMEONE had to get that gag in there somewhere) :D

it might be worth mentioning exactly what you had done with the forks in that 24 hours, mention the fact of just riding along while coaching like you said in your other thread. that way they can't try to fob you off about the use of the forks because absolutely no forks should break under those conditions. i am quite surprised that they are fox forks though.

well, 75km's worth of riding? 10km on roads to boatclub, 35km following crews and another however many kms that adds up to 70-75km...no mountains, any off road done was on thames tow-path i.e. flat dirt trails for general use for people etc.. . so no real challenge on the forks then.

exactly, you should put that in the letter too. tbh, i'm quite shocked that it's fox, my rear shocks never given out on me, but anyone i've known who's had any problems with fox has usually had a great response from them and had it sorted straight away. Obviously not the case here though. compensation may be a good idea, even in the form of clothes if not a fork upgrade.

well with out the forks I have no bike to ride so I bl**dy well better get some out of it...otherwise I have a fight on my hands.

well, I've taken advice from various sources and have edited.changed around/severly deleted parts of my letter to try and get teh point across without being too rude, made it less personal but at teh same time to the point. less faff.
[though would love to give them the imagry of me looming over them with baseball bat...].
here's what I have:

"Following my previous letter of 20th April I would like to thank you for your prompt repair - under warranty - of my Float 80RL’s which were returned to me on the evening of 23rd April. Unfortunately I have to draw to your attention the development of apparently the exact same faults as those that occurred originally-(20th April). This is the third time that the forks have been sent away for repair due to faults, in less than three months from date of purchase, and this is unacceptable. Evans Cycles Ltd. are returning the forks to you with details and will be contacting you directly regarding the matter.

An oil leak is still present at the base of the air-shock leg of the forks. The bike shop took the forks in to check and agreed that some oil is seeping out of the base of the fork, and they are of the opinion that any oil coming out represents a fault.

Furthermore the forks felt incredibly soft and despite increasing the pressure from 70psi to 85psi, they still felt excessively soft, this was confirmed by the bike shop. Even at such high pressure a great amount of sag was present, which also appeared to progressively increase making the forks softer. Having the forks pumped to such high pressures and still feeling unusually soft, especially so given my light weight (70kg/155lbs), causes me to suspect a serious problem and/or design fault with this particular pair.

Having paid a great deal of money, for an intended top of the range product, I would certainly expect a higher quality and better performance than that which I have received. It is unacceptable that a pair of forks, as highly regarded as these, should develop such recurring problems. I will only be satisfied once these faulty forks are replaced with new ones.

I look forward to hearing from you...."

there is a lot i'd like to put in there, such as how it should only happen when riding on pretty much flat ground - regardless - even if I was on some heavy-duty off-road hike the same problems should not have occured. I agree its cr*p for them to happen on the flat but I feel its a rather moot point all the same. Either way I have given them my numbers and requesting that they contact me directly (as last time they did) and then I'll tell them all I want to. I'll have to hold myself back a bit though as I know getting all emotional over it just wont do any favours. no, I'll give them a day or two to get/read/digest letter and if no response then I'll go in guns blazing. I'm sure they do their best to repair things but clearly a repair wont solve squat so I have told them to replace the forks.

wouldnt it be easyer to ask the shop you got them to replace them with a new pair, save you writing all the letters... legaily its their responsibility *i think*. In this situation I would expect the shop to give you another pair from there stock at the time you take them back, unless there expensive and they dont have any stock of them in the shop. dunno.. me = bike n00b.

yeah, its what I said to the bike shop. thing is they dont stock these forks. they came with the bike when I bought it...as do lots of the bikes in their store. so I suppose its not beyond them to replace them to be honest. valid point I shall mention this to them.

It's the same as a PS2 i think, once it goes passed 14 days after purchase it has to be dealt with by the manfacturer. After all Evans are a good and respected company themselves, but the only thing they might do would be to give you a pair from themselves if fox agree to replace them but send the replacements to evans. But then it seems like fox's courier service is good so, if they agree to replace them, it doesn't sound like they'd take long to get to you anyway. nice letter by the way, very too the point, and your right a bit about the type of riding you've done isn't needed after removing the section on how far you rode.

later

yeah, just shouldn't happen full stop - unless i'd jumped off a 20 foot high wall of course, but lets think that though a little; if I did would I be here now? no, i'd be in hospital with a shattered palvis thanks to a seat post inserting itsself up my bottom...
so me and jumping just dont go too well together!
not too bothered with the fact that their courier service is ok, just that for yet another week I can't use my virtually brand new bike! sucks A big time...

you should just get some decent, well built forks to begin with mate, ya wouldnt be doing that to some z150s ;)

sounds like someone's trying to start a fight, haha. there's nothing wrong with fox dude. for rear shocks anyway.

just kidding.

you could always tell them you use it get too and from work or something, and have had to get taxi's/buses due to the problems, see where that gets you

tbh you could still ride the forks to/from work etc, so i doubt that'd get ya very far :P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by subucni

It's the same as a PS2 i think, once it goes passed 14 days after purchase it has to be dealt with by the manfacturer.

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No, this is a common misconception that never seems to go away. When you buy a product from a retailer you have a contract with them, NOT the manufacturer. Really, it should be up to Evans to write this letter to Fox, all shiato storm should have to do is walk in to the Evans shop and say that he'd like a replacement and has every right to expect one. As far as I'm aware there is no actual time frame in law regarding when they have to replace the forks rather than repair them, but I think the guidance says that if they fail in the first 30 days it's reasonable to expect a replacement rather than a repair. After that the shop is within their rights to offer to repair it as long as this doesn't take an excessive amount of time. If it fails a second time within the warranty, again I would expect a replacement rather than a repair. This all assumes that you've not been abusing the product, and that it broke of it's own accord rather than you damaging it, of course. In this case, it does sound like you've just got a duff pair of forks. Ultimately though, it's up to Evans to resolve this to your satisfaction.

Rich :¬)

never the less, a short sharp letter never hurts now does it - especially since the 'repair' they did wasn't that much of a repair.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shiato storm

yeah, its what I said to the bike shop. thing is they dont stock these forks. they came with the bike when I bought it...as do lots of the bikes in their store. so I suppose its not beyond them to replace them to be honest. valid point I shall mention this to them.

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Then one would expect them to replace the whole bike, from one in there stock, sending the damaged one back for repair to the company that made it.

ah, yeah and there is the minor problem you see - my bike was in a sale, 'cause its a 2002 model bike, and so had about £300-400 knocked off its original price tag, the equivelant bike THIS year has got lower specification parts ...so you see a 'straight swap' would kind of p*ss me off a little...and its also not in any sale and actually comes to £200 more than the amount I originally paid. in short mine was a very good deal. at the time. and it was the last one they had left [lucky it was my size!]

so i'm in a bit of a stitch on that front.

...latest development; they called whilst I was coaching a crew this morning - as I suspected they would, and got my mum instead. apparently they had quite a bit of a chat too...gee, thanks mum (not). so anyway they recon its just oil left over from the service of the forks, though I know for sure it isn't as I cleaned that off the night before I used them, and thankfully my mum said that its not what myself and the bikeshop found...oh and the forks havent actually arrived there yet - they just got my letter and were responding to it, so i do think they are helpful blokes and know what they are talking about etc. but the forks are faulty and I doubt theres anything they could do to fix them. as I said in the letter, I wouldn't be satisfied without replacement at least...

Right...this is taking the piss.
I called evans today and the didn't actually send the forks away after speaking with the manufactures (or UK representitives of Fox at least). the oil could have just been from the last service they had and was just getting cleared out of the bottom so nothing to worry about.
I went along to the bike shop to pick up my bike and, now, working forks.

but I was let down YET AGAIN!!!

it seems some bright spark at evans opened up the forks and changed the travel from 80mm to 100mm, without my expressed wishes to do so. I firstly thought that the forks being opened by evans in the first place was a bit odd but for them to have messed with them is just WRONG. if they put them back the exact same way they should be then a serious fault has developed for them to suddenly grow from 80 to 100 in no time at all!!

when I picked up the bike the sliders looked a little long, I rode around a bit and sure enough the handling was completely different and were severely knocking when they rebounded i.e. No dampening going on, regardless of the twiddly thing on the top.
I'm very pissed off now.

I want to kill some one.