Wonder if people could share their past experiences or offer some advice regarding a warranty issue. I bought a new bike via a UK retailer in Feb '14 with a Shimano Ultregra Group Set (brakes, gears, crank, etc) which has a standard two year warranty and in March of this year the crank had a serious malfunction and the outer casing sheared away from the metal component. I've gone back to the company whom I purchased the bike from who have in turn been in contact with their supplier who rejected the warranty claim as there were "impact marks" at the end of the crank which appears to have been caused by accident / damage. I've seen the paper trail for this but I was unable to accept their reasoning so I asked for this to be escalated. I've now been told that it's gone from where I bought it, to the supplier and then to Shimano with the outcome the same - again I not able to accept this outcome as I know the bike hasn't been in an accident. As yet I've not seen Shimano's reply as it went to the supplier and then to the place I purchased it from (I'm in the process of requesting this information). It's not a cost issue and I’ve replaced the crank and back out on the road. I've not got a bee in the bonnet about this and believe it's about corporate responsibility and delivering on the guarantees and warranties I received / the consumers receive at the time of purchase from corporations.
I'm thinking on going directly to Shimano as I believe the ultimate responsibility lies with them - would this be the right course of action? At the very end I suppose I could go to Trading Standards but as I'm based in Hong Kong and the faulty part is now back with me bit of a pain to keep sending back an forth to the UK.
Cheers
(I wish I could upload the photo's to show you how ridiculous I feel their claim is but for the life of me I can't seem to be able to)