Contracts Professor Confronts Warranty Issue
A good bicycle is a magic carpet. It translates minimal energy into forward motion with thrilling efficiency. In short, I love my bicycle, as evidenced by the picture at right showing me and my bicycle at the end of a three day, 200-mile ride from Chicago to Three Rivers, Michigan. That joyful expression is not characteristic of me, unless of course I am teaching contracts law.
The folks involved in making cycling so effortless take extraordinary pride in their work. Five years into my love affair with my bicycle, one of my shifters broke. I took it in to the shop, prepared to pay quite a bit to replace a vital part of the mechanics of the bicycle. When I went to pick it up, the mechanic informed me that he had only charged for labor. The manufacturer had replaced the faulty shifter because, he said with a shrug, “they’re not supposed to break.” Imagine a mechanic slamming the hood of your repaired Ford Escort and saying anything remotely similar!
About a month ago, my bicycle made a sound like I hit something, and from then on something wasn’t right but I couldn’t figure out what. I had not actually hit anything that I could see. My mechanic shared my assessment that something didn’t feel right about the bike, and after a brief examination he exclaimed, “Here’s the problem! You broke the frame.” I didn’t like his accusatory tone, but things got a lot better when he told me confidently that the frame was broken in a way that should not have occurred and should be covered by warranty. I had not abused my bicycle; I was the victim here.
Sure enough. My bicycle, like most quality bicycles, has a lifetime warranty on its frame.
There was only one problem. I had to prove that I was the original owner of the bicycle. I bought it over nine years ago. I neither registered it nor kept the receipt. And me, a contracts professor! The dealer who sold it to me closed his store and vanished like Keyser Soze. The new local dealer tried his best to help me. We both called and pleaded with my bike manufacturer, but they would not honor the warranty without proof that I was the original purchaser, and they would not accept sworn testimonials from the phalanx of friends, acquaintances and strangers to whom I had sung the praises of my bicycle over the past decade and whom I had recruited to testify on my behalf. The acceptable forms of proof were limited to the original receipt or a facsimile thereof.
I get it. I could have bought the broken bicycle a week ago on e-Bay for all they know.
My awesome mechanic loaned me a most excellent cyclocross bicycle while I grieved. He was hoping to convert me to the brand he carries. That bicycle was pretty amazing. But as I said, I love my bicycle. As I write, my mechanic is attaching my old bicycle’s mechanics and cables to the new “crash replacement frame” that the manufacturer sent me. It’s a reasonable compromise. The new frame cost me about half of what it otherwise would have, and I remain a loyal customer, perhaps a bit less starry eyed and resolved to keep my receipt somewhere memorable and to register myself as the original owner of the new frame. I’ll do all that, of course, if I can get around to it. But how likely is it that I would ever need to enforce a warranty? Could lightning strike twice?