Last week I damaged my Zipp 303 S carbon wheel from an impact during the Grizzly Peak gravel ride. I submitted a warranty claim, but it was denied for being "outside of intended use".
The 303 S is marketed for "off the pavement" and gravel use. Also, Zipp's Global Lifetime Warranty includes an example that is exactly what happened—damage from a pothole/sharp rock impact while riding is covered.
The claim was rejected without any further detail beyond the generic "intended use" denial.
Since the manufacturer only works through dealers, I'm stuck.
Has anyone successfully fought back against a Zipp warranty denial when the damage clearly aligns with their own explicit examples of coverage? Any advice on how to push this to be covered would be greatly appreciated.
Reposted since the nerds at u/bikewrench took my post down
by 5280_510
36 Comments
No experience with zipp wheel warranty, but I had a sram force crankset inexplicably fail last year—no impact, just sort of fell apart, and they denied the warranty claim with zero explanation
Man.. if this is the type of treatment you get buying from a big brand and spending that much. I might as well go and buy a set of Aliexpress wheels spend a lot less and probably get the same treatment.
I had a Zipp hub failure denied years ago despite working at a dealer.. I hoped they had sorted their shit out by now because their wheels are lovely
I’d check the warranty to see what it defines and presents as examples of intended use.
I got downvoted to hell on the other post for saying this, but you have clear lancing shear damage on your tire right above this point. On any other surface, any other wheeled device, that would be clear indication of curbing your tire. Most likely by sliding off sideways a rock edge or similar which then impacted the rim hard.
I’d still hope zipp does something, but that isnt the type of damage that happens from proper riding, in any condition set.
Big western manufacturers selling feature is their warranty and hesitancy among people on maintenance and repairs. If they stop honouring it, they will lose big to Chinese brands quickly.
If you’re in the US, always threaten to file an unfair trade practices complaint with you’re state’s attorney general (or FTC). Sometimes it’s a different agency. It often helps get them moving, and if not, you should actually file a complaint. Sometimes the AG will do something, other times if they get enough complaints they will do something. It takes almost no effort to file a complaint with a State AG.
Completely anecdotal but, When I used to work in a bike shop I had to do 3 Zipp warrantys (it didn’t come up much as we didn’t sell alot and they mostly held up), the only one they accepted was damaged during shipping.
They market the warranty heavily and told us to use that to sell them but we never saw them honour it. Everything was always outside of intended use. We used to joke that Zipp only intended use was hanging your bike in a wall.
Bummer. This is a great time to mention that vittoria airliners are a great product though.
[removed]
I don’t trust lifetime warranty anymore, for anything
>Reposted since the nerds at [u/bikewrench](https://www.reddit.com/user/bikewrench/) took my post down
*yep, that subreddit is dead.*
Did you go through an authorized SRAM retailer and have them submit the warranty claim? SRAM will not deal with customers directly in any way, it has to go through the retailer.
I’ve submitted dozens upon dozens of SRAM wheel warranty claims for exactly this kind of damage, and I have never once seen them deny a claim for a pothole/rock strike.
The rejection may relate to the exact type of terrain you were riding on when the damage occurred. The proof of this should however lie with the manufacturer, and they should contact you to explore this in more detail.
From the website [https://docs.sram.com/en-US/publications/6s97VpCp9fBhUto8eMea31#page=6&hashItem=intended-usage](https://docs.sram.com/en-US/publications/6s97VpCp9fBhUto8eMea31#page=6&hashItem=intended-usage)
“Zipp 101 XPLR and 303 series wheels comply with ASTM F2043-13 5.1.4, Conditions 1 and 2. This is a set of conditions for the operation of a bicycle that includes Condition 1 as well as unpaved and gravel roads and trails with moderate grades. In this set of conditions, contact with irregular terrain and loss of tire contact with the ground may occur. Drops are intended to be limited to 15 cm (6″) or less. (…)”
I’ll probably get downvoted to oblivion for saying this, but consumers need to understand that DAMAGE is not the same as WARRANTY.
I don’t work for zipp or any other manufacturer for that matter. But I used to work in a bike shop. Can’t count the number of times I had to explain this to customers when their warranty claims were rejected. Or to prepare them for the rejection I knew was coming while submitting it
Enve warranty > Zipp warranty
Dang, this is what I’ve heard for Zipps warranty when I was looking at them…. I wasn’t sure it was true, sucks to hear it is.
Hopefully they resolve this!
Edit: for everyone saying they are right, Enve replaced a wheel no questions asked in a similar scenario. If a brand is pushing warranties, they should honor it.
I refuse to even consider Zipp after my interaction with them a few years ago. I bought a set of 404s and within a few weeks they started developing small holes everywhere. Like little hole defects all over the bead and rim wall. I opened up a claim and at first they said it was normal. I asked a local shop and they said they’ve never seen anything like it but they wouldn’t ride it. So I replied to Zipp saying I didn’t feel safe riding them. Then they offered a discount on a replacement. I’m like screw that these are like 2 weeks old. So I refused and said I wanted to return them because I was just not happy with the company and they fought back and offered a free replacement. I said no just give me my money back which they finally did after I threatened a chargeback with my credit card. I will never buy another Zipp product.
Any time anything negative about Zipp comes up it reminds me of some of the Zipp related passage in Phil Gaimon’s book.
He has this story about how they were being forced to ride prototype Zipp carbon rims and the wheels weren’t even safe. Zipp would tell the mechanics they had to inflate each rider’s tires to X psi or the wheels could fail, but the pressures were so high the riders would crash. The riders would then try to sneakily lower the pressures so they wouldn’t crash and could race well, but then they risked getting in trouble if the wheels were destroyed by potholes.
So yah, expensive, and they use both you and their sponsored Pros as beta testers. It’s always been in the back of my head ever since any time I’m looking at wheels. When I think back to that it makes it really easy not to want to beta test hookless with my own money and health on the line.
I guess you can argue this is the OPs fault or something but you gotta finish to win, better to have a rim that doesn’t fail.
I don’t know what it’s like to deal with warranties on expensive wheels, presumably bought online, but when my allow WTB rims cracked I took my bike back to the LBS where I bought it and they gave me a new wheel on the spot and told me they’d deal with WTB themselves. Always best to buy from an LBS if you can.
ENVE would never.
Find your local rep, and roast them.
Did you go to a shop and see if they could work with zipp to get you a crash replacement? Might save you some money and some blood pressure. I’m inclined to agree with zipp though. A warranty is not insurance it’s meant to cover manufacturing defects and not crashes or damage caused by riding.
That’s weird. This was a couple years ago but I blew up a Firecrest after hitting a pothole on accident and Zipp didn’t even ask how I damaged it. Took it to a dealer and they sent me a new wheel within a week
Sorry to hear. SRAM has replaced several of my shifters and always thought they did a great job. Submitted a warranty request to reserve last week. Hopefully they will replace it. Finger crossed first time
Check your credit card. Maybe it has a warranty feature
But another wheel.
I would try calling. I called sram once cause I ordered a part of the site and needed to do a return and they were nice.
I have the same Model, 303S, and unfortunatly I hitted a pothole in the 1st week of April, my Rim Cracked, sent to warranty and 2/3 weeks i had a new wheel back!
Warranty is and has always been a joke.
First your dealer has to fight for you. If your dealer doesn’t spend much with that company good luck.
As a consumer without the dealers help you are not gonna get anywhere. Oh so also you need to spend with your dealer for him to invest his time on a claim.
Realistically all this crap is just like health insurance they will say no and you have to continue to fight. To get anything done.
Well that is unless your failure was obviously a construction flaw and they will happily give you a new one so you don’t find a lawyer.
Wow. That’s lame. Shame on Zipp.
I’ve always stuck with the carbon wheels from the big brands and have had great luck. My mountain bike has a set of Bontrager carbon, and my Giant Revolt is running the stock Giant carbon.
I hope this gets resolved for you.
Interesting, i guess they’ve gone lifetime manufacturing defects vs full life time.
I use WeAreOne rims on my mountain bike, they have lifetime warranty. I’ve broken 2 in the same way you have here, rock strike and they are replaced right away. Either send them your hub and get a wheel back or they’ll spend you a rim, spokes and nipples no questions.
Sorry to see your struggle with SRAM/Zipp. All I can offer is a parallel that ended better. Specialized/Roval honored a similair experience. So, there are US companies that do honor their warranty promises. Complain to your state AG/BBB/FTC.
If you haven’t talked to your local rep then you have ways to fight back. Also wtf did your lbs say? My lbs handled a much less clear case and zipp replaced the wheel. The person filing your claim needs to step up.
Zipp has a legacy of bullshit from hub failures to rim issues to shite customer service. this is simply the brand you’re dealing with. They’ll never see a dollar from me.
I’d go work through the LBS you purchased them through. I’ve found most of the time the shops can get a more reasonable answer on issues like this for us users. Except for Industry Nine those guys suck ass and my shop now keeps my busted hub on their counter to show folks to talk them out of buying any i9 products. But Specialized is much bigger I’d hope your shop could help you get them on your side even if its not a free one a ‘crash’ price maybe?
hope you get it worked out. I had a similar issue with a Reserve rim last year but my shop in the end got it replaced and I am ridding again.
Western brands: we cannot understand how Chinese brands are eating the market.
Also Western brands: