As an industry guy, I warranty stuff every day - I find most of the manufacturers pretty easy to deal with, certain brands go above and beyond while others follow a little more closely to the wording. But from my point of view some products do have a usable lifespan. Lifetime warranty is great in theory but there are some problems in it's execution as time goes by. Take the Easton example, sure they got bought and that can change everything, but that isn't always the rule...lets say they kept the warranty timeline - How many Haven rims should they have kept? hubs? if they run out 10 or 15 years down the road should they be forced to do another production run of what could be 100 rims in 26"? How many 26" frames would still be in one piece? These are all the questions all these brands have to think about - Its complicated and some people do get left with a bad taste in their mouth and that sucks from a consumer point of view. but how do you manage that? Does a shorter Warranty timeline fix that bad taste and manage a consumer expectation so they don't feel short changed down the road on a product that really has a usable life? From my experience most companies are pretty reasonable and if you can start a good dialogue a pretty decent resolution normally comes through. Just keep in mind your local shop is just your voice between you and the manufacturer, we go to bat for you so you don't have to navigate all the nitty gritty back end details.
Feb. 11, 2021, 9:40 a.m. - bart
As an industry guy, I warranty stuff every day - I find most of the manufacturers pretty easy to deal with, certain brands go above and beyond while others follow a little more closely to the wording. But from my point of view some products do have a usable lifespan. Lifetime warranty is great in theory but there are some problems in it's execution as time goes by. Take the Easton example, sure they got bought and that can change everything, but that isn't always the rule...lets say they kept the warranty timeline - How many Haven rims should they have kept? hubs? if they run out 10 or 15 years down the road should they be forced to do another production run of what could be 100 rims in 26"? How many 26" frames would still be in one piece? These are all the questions all these brands have to think about - Its complicated and some people do get left with a bad taste in their mouth and that sucks from a consumer point of view. but how do you manage that? Does a shorter Warranty timeline fix that bad taste and manage a consumer expectation so they don't feel short changed down the road on a product that really has a usable life? From my experience most companies are pretty reasonable and if you can start a good dialogue a pretty decent resolution normally comes through. Just keep in mind your local shop is just your voice between you and the manufacturer, we go to bat for you so you don't have to navigate all the nitty gritty back end details.