Rudy Project, CWC and crash replacement

[marsmanb]

SB knew it was a CWC as I told it to them and as stated on my invoice from CWC. SB checked beforehand if they could do replacement and there were no problems. I think some lbs just doesn't want to go through all the hassles of doing a CRP.

 

Thanks again to Southbay for going the extra mile

[javadude]

CWC - Do your helmets carry a crash replacement policy or only the usual guarantee agains manufacturers defects?

 

Read the thread, CWC has mentioned twice now that the guarantee is the same as the manufacturers guarantee. If Rudy Project don't offer a crash replacement policy(which they dont), then neither do CWC. The fact that ASG have a crash replacement policy has got nothing to do with CWC. The buyer should have asked up front what guarantees are involved and made the decision on where to buy based on that.

 

As for the legalities of parallel imports with regards to CWC, I believe the South African courts have already made the ruling that what CWC does is within the law. For the details on that you will have to ask them, but it has been discussed on these forums before.

[Java001]

Read the thread, CWC has mentioned twice now that the guarantee is the same as the manufacturers guarantee. If Rudy Project don't offer a crash replacement policy(which they dont), then neither do CWC. The fact that ASG have a crash replacement policy has got nothing to do with CWC. The buyer should have asked up front what guarantees are involved and made the decision on where to buy based on that.

 

As for the legalities of parallel imports with regards to CWC, I believe the South African courts have already made the ruling that what CWC does is within the law. For the details on that you will have to ask them, but it has been discussed on these forums before.

 

Velo, irrespective of what CWC now state, the guarantee displayed on their website says

"The authorised South African distributor of these products is under no obligation to honour the manufacturer's guarantees/warrantees or to provide aftersales service.( I read this as taking ASG out of the picture, as required by SA Law ) Chris Willemse Cycles and our international suppliers will still carry the normal warrantees/guarantees of these products aswell as providing after-sales service."

 

The CWC guarantee does not speak specifically of manufacturers at all, but in a wide sense speaks of CWC as retailer + international suppliers. It would seem that the crash replacement warrantee works through the distributors and NOT the manufacturer, although it is hard to imagine how a distributor can afford to offer this without some degree of support/involvement from the manufacturer. Is it perhaps true that manufacturers use the damaged helmets for R & D purposes, as mentioned by a poster ?

 

If in SA, a Rudy Project helmet is sold to you via your LBS, providing such LBS is an ASG authorised dealer and LBS acquired it via the sole authorised SA distributor, ASG, a crash replacement warrantee is applicable.

 

You pay 35% of the recommended retail price and they give you a new helmet – simple as that!

I confirmed this with ASG today. So in my instance, had I bought from an authorised dealer, I would now pay R 455 (35% of the R 1 300 RRP), for a new helmet.

 

Although I can provide proof of purchase from CWC and supplied my invoice number and date of purchase to them when I phoned, I am still not sure whether the responses now from CWC point to a crash replacement warrantee being applicable or not? Must I just provide a copy of my invoice?

 

CWC indicates that they purchase from authorised overseas suppliers, so a crash replacement warrantee might be applicable. If, for instance CWC buys directly from for example, the authorised Rudy Project distributor in Portugal, Desafios do Mundo Ltd ( per the Rudy Project website) and we for the moment assume that this distributor similar to ASG offer a crash replacement warrantee to their customers, then CWC is covered and can pass it on to their customers. If this is the case, the info I was given over the phone by CWC was wrong.

 

If however no crash replacement warrantee exists, the warning to other hubbers in my original post is very pertinent – whilst I did not specifically enquire at the time of online purchase as to a crash replacement warrantee, I was aware of crash replacement warrantee being “normal” in respect of Rudy Project helmets in SA and nothing in the above mentioned guarantee on the CWC website, led me to believe that my position as customer at CWC was any different to any other bicycle shop in SA.

 

In any event, I thought I was comparing CWC apples with LBS apples, which clearly was not the case, so school fees paid, lesson learnt.

[chris_w_65]

I read this in an ASG ad in Ride magazine (April/May 2011 page 95), it says In 2007 ASG introduced a crash replacement policy for all its helmets they are now introducing a replacement policy on lenses. I got the impression from the wording in the ad that the replacement on the helmets is an ASG initiative and nothing to do with the manufacturer or their warranty.

[Wheelsuck]

ASG has doe excellent work to build a brand but I have had experience of their so called lens replacemnt gaurantee which was poor.

Regarding Grey Imports, we had a similar issue here at work, good luck trying to sue anyone bringing in grey as it can be seen as anit competitive behaviour.

[Java001]

I read this in an ASG ad in Ride magazine (April/May 2011 page 95), it says In 2007 ASG introduced a crash replacement policy for all its helmets they are now introducing a replacement policy on lenses. I got the impression from the wording in the ad that the replacement on the helmets is an ASG initiative and nothing to do with the manufacturer or their warranty.

 

Yes, quite correct - which means that all SA bicycle shops who sell Rudy Project helmets they buy from ASG ( 99.99%) has since 2007 offered this warrantee ......... as explained to me by ASG, it's nothing new !

[Java001]

Yes, quite correct - which means that all SA bicycle shops who sell Rudy Project helmets they buy from ASG ( 99.99%) has since 2007 offered this warrantee ......... as explained to me by ASG, it's nothing new !

 

Here is the link to another post confirming the Rudy Project helmet crash replacement policy by local distributors ASG.

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/96922-rudy-project-sa-tel/page__p__1389578__hl__rudy__fromsearch__1#entry1389578

 

Would still like to know whether the overseas distributors who supply Rudy Project to CWC, offer a crash replacement warrantee to its customers i.e. CWC in this instance ?

[Java001]

Here is the link to another post confirming the Rudy Project helmet crash replacement policy by local distributors ASG.

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/96922-rudy-project-sa-tel/page__p__1389578__hl__rudy__fromsearch__1#entry1389578

 

Would still like to know whether the overseas distributors who supply Rudy Project to CWC, offer a crash replacement warrantee to its customers i.e. CWC in this instance ?

 

Crash replacement of Rudy Project helmets CWC vs LBS was won by my LBS, an authorised ASG supplier.

 

Maybe a bit unfair to compare CWC to the LBS ? Okay, lets compare to one of the other main online stores in SA, that seems to have some hubber support - CWC versus Buycycle.co.za ?

 

Buycycle advised as follows: We only source our items through the local distributors to give you peace of mind and assurance that you'll have have local backing on all our products( Yes,ASG).