Just wanted to share my experience with Canyon Service Center in Koblenz.
I bought my bike in 2021, when they just released Grizl for the first time. I used it carefully: only for normal daily trip, commute for work (22-24 km), short trek on weekends. Never had a crash, banged it accidentally here and there, almost got stolen once, but nothing major ever happened until last Christmas week, when I parked it overnight next to a corner of a building (my front wheel jutted out of the bike parking frame), my boss crushed the front wheel with her car when she wanted to get out of the parking lot. No problemo, I checked the frame and it looked fine so most likely I only need to change the front wheel and perhaps the forks too. I sent it right away to my usual bike repair shop and they said that they can fix it but they need to order the replacement from Canyon and Canyon wanted them to ship the whole bike back. No bueno but ok, they surely know better. Canyon picked up my bike and off it went to Koblenz.
In the meantime, I am entitled for a compensation from my boss’ insurance so I’m quite chill with the whole ordeal. However Canyon got back to me with a huge estimate: they wanted to replace almost the whole thing (but not all!), frame and seatpost included, and the total amount was the same as a brand new Grizl. Canyon said that as my frame, forks, and cockpit are made of carbon, in an event of accident, their policy is to replace it. They also stated that the additional parts they add to the cost estimate is technically still functional but having signs of being dropped. Surprised but not surprised to be honest, but I wonder why they don’t offer me the Crash Replacement Scheme discount instead? They offered to change major parts of my bike but not all and the total is as much as a brand new bike…?
But anyway, my boss insurance could only pay me 75% of the cost as according to them, my bike is quite old. Fair but I can’t afford to pay the rest of 25% so I told Canyon about whether we can settle the whole repairing ordeal to only what I can afford to pay. They agreed to lower the cost to bare minimum but sent me a waiver letter that I had to sign. The whole situation (with insurance) lasted almost 3 months with my bike just being shipped back last Friday. I have yet to receive it but I hope it’s all good and I don’t have to worry more.
The whole communication with the Canyon team was quite fine actuallt, they answered my email mostly in 2 days and as I had to deal with insurance as well, it dragged longer than it should. However they ceased the email address after I signed/sent the repair confirmation and waiver letter and didn’t hear back to them for 3 weeks until I chatted them up on their website. I was quite surprised with their plan for my bike repair and how expensive it is to repair the bike that is not even mangled/crashed badly and I wonder if I should’ve gone to a carbon frame specialist shop instead for a cheaper quote and faster repair…
Anyway, looking forward for my baby to be back. Appreciate the help from the Canyon team as well!
TLDR; Front wheel got crushed, bike got picked up and sent back to Canyon only to get a repair plan for almost a whole bike (cost as much a brand new one but it’s not gonna be a brand new bike), told them that I can’t afford it and they agreed to repair it to a bare minimum (only fork and front wheel)
by Indomie-Goreng
1 Comment
what a story. glad it sort of worked out. would it have been possible to ask the boss to pay the remaining 25% out of pocket? what did you end up replacing?
the other thing is that if the new minimum repair cost is a lot less than the original cost, i’d still ask the boss to pay out the full compo and whatever you decide to do with the repair it’s up to you.