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vonniervonnier Posts: 6
edited October 2019 in MTB buying advice
Hi.. I bought my husband a Boardman Mountain bike .It was virtually new and being sold by a halfords bike engineer who had serviced it monthly and sold it on to me with all paperwork and a silver service in place which was carried out one month later.. He owned the bike for approx 6 mths with very little use and he wanted to sell this on to upgrade to a new model which had just arrived instore.. n less than two years later The bike has seriously now broken with a sheared frame.Its not been used off road and has been well looked after .The original price at Halfords was over £1000.00..The seller passed on the staff discount to us so we paid him 700.00....I contacted Halfords to advise them of the issue as I feel a bike at that price with little use should have a longer lifespan than just over two years.I feel this issue must be a manufacturing fault . They say it's not their responsibility they are sorry this has happened. They have ignored my emails showing all paperwork and photos of the damaged bike. I'm not sure of next steps I've also written to the head of customer care and not even been acknowledged. Has anybody else experienced this type of issue that could advise me what can be done


  • I read this as you have bought a used bike from someone who works at Halfords as a private transaction. If that is correct then Halfords as a company have no part in the transaction and quite rightly have no contractual agreement in terms of warranty or sale of goods with you.

    If the seller used the company premises and gave assurances then you can complain about his actions but they would only see it as a disciplinary case and still have no obligations in terms of warranties against the bike. You might get a good will gesture but that’s all.
  • timothywtimothyw Posts: 2,482
    vonnier wrote:
    virtually new and being sold by a halfords bike engineer
    This is not the same as new and sold by halfords

    And, y'know, if you look at the boardman warranty pages: ... ranty.html

    You'll notice that all of them specify the warranty only applies to the original owner (and the bike you are describing appears to be out of warranty after two years anyway, being a pre 2018 model....)

    Plus, y'know, I've seen lots of people selling second hand bikes which are 6 months old with very little use.... doesn't mean they were telling the truth.

    You have learnt quite an expensive lesson, but if it's any consolation I've learnt this one too... I never buy second hand unless I am actively looking for a vintage bike.
  • Thanks for the comments..The bike was absolutely pristine when we bought it..I understand your point about seller not telling us the truth .but it was and still is pristine except for where the frame has sheared.I was not expecting it to be covered by the warranty .I am talking about an item not fit for purpose under the consumer credit act .Irrespective of owner ship surely a boardman bike frame should last for more than a couple of years especially given it's not been used off road ever and only to commute a few miles each working day..I may as you say have learned an expensive lesson that being mainly that I would never buy a Boardmsn Halfords bike and cannot recommend them to anyone. I'm no expert but do feel strongly that this has to be a weakness from manufacture and as such any reputable dealer would have a vested interest in at least looking at a bike they produced..
  • Well you don't know what happened prior to your ownership.

    You can ask the former owner to pursue the warranty claim on your behalf. That's the easiest route to a successful outcome.
  • Boardman and Halfords are 2 separate companies. Halfords are simply a retailer and as agreed since they never sold you the bike are not interested in any dealings with you. If you have the original receipts and service book contacting Boardman direct may give some results but as specified above they do not transfer warranty across subsequent owners.
  • I'm sorry to hear that you've had this issue.

    As you say, the frame should not fail based on how your husband rides it. However, as has also been noted, you don't know the history of the bike prior to ownership. The frame could easily have already been stressed and it was only a matter of time before it finally gave way.

    Can you tell us how it finally broke, what area of the frame and maybe a photo?

    In terms of warranty - you can only ask previous owner to take that up.

    As for the CRA. I would argue that the frame should not fail, BUT, you have no idea if it was abused (and subsequently damaged) before you bought it. The fact that it was `pristine` doesn't mean the frame was already fatigued/damaged. Halfords/Boardman should at least offer to view it, just in case it's a fault. Having said that, I don't think they are obliged to. My experience of Boardman bikes is that they are generally very good in terms of build quality.

    I appreciate that you have had a bad experience and you feel you aren't getting an appropriate response. An option is to just buy a frame and swap everything over so at least you have a working bike.

    I would also take the frame to a local bike shop and ask their opinion of the cause of the damage.

    Halfords own Boardman, so they are technically one and the same. I would like to think that they would at least offer to look at the bike and see what they think.

    Hope you are able to make some progress.
    "Ride, crash, replace"
  • I am talking about an item not fit for purpose under the consumer credit act .

    That has me confused. Where does the Consumer Credit Act come in? This was a private sale presumably paid for in full at the time of purchase. Cash/bank transfer/Paypal or similar.

    Whilst nobody knows how it was ridden prior to purchase, nobody knows how it has been ridden since purchase. We have assurance that purchaser and or husband has not abused it, but then the previous owner gave a similar assurance. Maybe someone, somewhere is telling porkies. Maybe the bike has been ridden gently and has failed, but unless previous owner is prepared to take the case up it is difficult to see how Halfords/Boardman will get involved. They have no relationship with present owner and are under no obligation in any way.

    There are always risks in buying bike gear secondhand. Caveat Emptor.
  • You can put a lot of abuse on a mountain bike in 6 months and it can still look immaculate after a clean. All brands have poorly manufactured frames that fail prematurely, some might be less than 0.1% others maybe up to 4% its down to the design, material and factory used. However for mountain bikes it is often difficult to get the warranty honoured unless the welds have failed or some other workmanship issue. Metal fatigue is fair wear and tear and where tubing has clearly sheared due to an impact etc it would be unfair to expect warranty to be honoured on that.

    I'm sure some people would sell on a bike after a bad impact knowing they have probably compromised the lifespan of the frame hence why buying a high performance mountain bike secondhand is a risk.

    I've had frames fail in the past and just buy a replacement frame, sometimes s/hand too.
  • cougiecougie Posts: 22,512
    It's nothing to do with Halfords or Boardman. Talk to the guy who sold you it.

    Boardman make great bikes and they're well respected. An anonymous complaint on the internet with no story as to how it broke and no pictures isn't very convincing.

    For all we know your husband rode into a wall. Or maybe the previous owner did.
  • Ok thanks all for your input and assumptions.. folk can say the previous owner caused some trauma or my husband caused some trauma .I do know for sure the bike had not been abused by either and that is my whole point and frustration at the situation..I dont know how to upload any pics on here although I did forward them with all the paperwork on to Halfords.Im not sure about Boardman and Halfords not being one and the same..Thank you to the persons who agreed that the company should at least show interest in testing the frame and advice to contact Boardman directly I will follow up on that ..I am going to obtain an independent review from our local bike shop our guy .. has said if we do not have any response directly he will be happy to provide a report..Incidently he did see this bike when we first purchased and agreed it was as new and a no brainer not to buy it for a slightly reduced price..Also Halfords were perfectly happy to fulfil the silver service under warranty in full knowedge that the ownership changed ...I worked in customer care myself for many years and know that it is key fo success of your company.. When car companies recall cars That have faults or suspected problems they are not concerned with current ownership.. I have found that you might get several responses happy to see some folks do see where I am coming from
  • If the bike is 2 years old, why did the Halfords worker only have it for 6 months? You have absolutely no legal standing here. The warranty is for the original owner only, anything else is goodwill from the manufacturer. Personally I think the Halfords employee has seen you coming, and probably made money on the sale, you are mad to pay that much (as a percentage of RRP) for a second hand bike, primarily because you have no warranty, and have no idea how it was treated prior to your buying it. If you want those things, buy (properly) new.

    Why did Halfords give you a service under warranty? Warranties don’t cover servicing.
    What, specifically, was your husband doing on the bike when there frame broke, and what/where is broken? (‘Just Riding Along’ is not a valid response here)

    Maybe claim the cost back from your home insurance?
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  • cougiecougie Posts: 22,512
    I had a car that had a major fault just after the three year warranty ran out. I'd bought it from new and they didn't care.

    I just won't buy another from them.

    I don't know how you can be sure that the previous owner hadn't had an incident on it. It's not always obvious. What was your husband doing when it failed ? How did it break ? Any damage ?
    Frames aren't that expensive. You could buy another and swap stuff over.
  • vonnier wrote:

    How do you know that for sure?

    Did you follow your husband and the previous owner on every ride? Maybe the previous owner let a friend ride it that one time and he hucked it down a 10-stair set to a hard landing just for kicks and didn't tell anyone. You don't know.

    You bought a second hand bike, then your husband broke it. Move on.
  • Ask the previous owner to process the warranty claim, it's the only real chance you have.
  • JBAJBA Posts: 2,560
    OP - Can you post some photos of the break?
    You need to upload them to a hosting site and then link them here.
    “Life has been unfaithful
    And it all promised so so much”

  • LongshotLongshot Posts: 935
    Don't worry about some of the responses, it can be a tough crowd on here.

    Despite the above, the following seems to be correct:

    1. You don't have the protection of any warranty
    2. You can't be 100% sure what has happened to the bike before you bought it that may have damaged it
    3. Whilst Boardman is owned by Halfords they aren't likely to follow up on this as you didn't buy the bike from them

    Your best bet is as advised above. Get a report from an independent bike mechanic as to the details of the fault and likely causes. Go to Boardman direct and ask them to look into this in case there has been a frame failure (however unlikely). If there has then you may be able to persuade them to provide a replacement.

    Good luck.
    You can fool some of the people all of the time. Concentrate on those people.
  • Thanks longshot.. Im not worried about any of the negative comments.I was raised that if you have nothing positive to say then say nothing....manners cost nothing ...
  • Even if the frame was manufactured incorrectly and that is why it failed, you aren't the original owner so have no warranty. Every manufacturer has a tiny percentage of frames that fail due to manufacturing faults. If it was a transferable warranty like provided with some cars you'd have a point but it isn't so only the original owner can instigate a claim, you can't.

    Normally a manufacturing fault can be seen by examining the break/crack etc.
  • You are not an original owner & this is a used bike. if you have bill paper you can claim the warranty. If the company ignores please sue them. I think 1000 buck is much more, you can get a new one with this money.
  • larkimlarkim Posts: 2,282
    Your best bet is getting hold of the original sales paperwork from the store to the first owner, and trying your luck with simply not offering up the fact to the store that you bought it second hand. A till receipt or similar would be difficult for Halfords to prove it wasn't yours at first sale.

    Being honest with them about the fact that you didn't buy it from them is the weakness in your attempt to get any resolution from them. The person with the protection under consumer rights legislation is the original purchaser, not you (sadly).
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