It really frustrates me when I see our customers get burned by not having all the right information.
Sometimes pricing can tell you a lot about the item. When the price is substantially lower then what others are selling an item for, there might be a reason for it. Price is an important decision in the purchase but when making that decision you want to make sure that you are really comparing apples to apples and that everything is the same.
Sadly these days many products are being sold through a channel that the sellers may not be authorized to sell through, even though they are an “authorized retailer” or maybe they aren’t. Unbeknownst to the consumer they may be purchasing a product that is not covered under the manufactures warranty. The sad part of the story is when many consumers learn this it is too late, they need the warranty and they won’t be covered by it. Their only hope is that the seller they bought it from steps up and does the right thing, covering it at their expense. This assumes that they are still around and willing to honor it. It may take a lot of the consumers time and energy getting it all sorted out. More often than not these situations have a less then desirable outcome for the consumer. You work hard for your money and it hurts when you have to pay for something that would have been covered under warranty had the product you bought come with one.
The big place to be concerned about this is the on-line auction sites. Many companies don’t allow their new products to be sold through these channels. A few examples but certainly not all of them are Garmin, Speedplay, Trek and Bontrager. So even if a company is an authorized retailer but they sell the item through an unauthorized channel it won’t be covered under warranty. We recommend that you always check to make sure the item is covered under warranty, if you aren’t sure contact the manufacturer directly to confirm for yourself.
I would like to think that you wouldn’t have to worry about needing a warranty these days. Sadly this isn’t the case. The quality of what we sell gets better every year and your investment in these quality products gets bigger. Many items have replaceable or re buildable parts but those repairs can get expensive as well. I guess you have to ask: Is the savings worth the risk if I need something covered under warranty?
For the above situation components and accessories come to mind.
In some cases the specifications may look similar but the overall quality of the product might not even be close. This is often seen in bicycles. An example of this would be a bike that is built with the “same” gruppo of another bike but the price is hundreds of dollars less. The frame is the most important component of ride quality, followed by the wheels. If all of the manufactures are purchasing from the same component manufacturer you have to assume that the pricing they are buying for is similar. Larger volume builders are going to receive better pricing but I doubt it is on the scale of ten percent or better, I could be wrong. So if there is such a price discrepancy where is it coming from? Business people are in business to make a fair profit and they can’t be operating at a loss at least not for long. Look at the suggested retail of the parts of the bike as a whole and then see if it all adds up. Do all the parts really match up? There are lots of places to swap out parts where people won’t notice it. If all the components specifications “match up” then where is the pricing difference coming from? Likely from the frame, wheels, handlebars, stems etc. when you look at other consumer products, say for example TV’s. When you compare similar TV’s from say Sony, Panasonic, LG they aren’t hundreds of dollars cheaper they are all within several dollars of each other. That is because the manufacturers all have similar costs to build similar items. This is the same in the bike industry.
Once you look at that then consider if you do have a warranty issue with a part of the bike who handles that? How long will it take you to get the bike repaired? How long will you have to wait before you are riding again?
These are just some of the things to consider when looking at purchasing a new bike or accessory. There is always, fit, follow up service and support, product education and more to consider as well.
