Warranty service on Merida e-160 800/900

[Luigi33]

Hello I have been thinking about buying a Merida e-one sixty 800 with the Shimano steps 8000 motor but have been advised by the local dealer (who also has specialized) that any issues with the motor under warranty takes weeks to resolve and not as fast as Specialized.
Does anyone have any experience with this please?

 

[Janluke]

I have a Merida e160 with over 5000km on it and its been fautless other than the charger packing up. My dealer was great but Merida basically didnt want to know telling me it was a Shimano part and covered by their warranty. On the one hand that means any Shimano dealer can assist you however all Shimano products in the UK are dealt with by Madison a dreadful company to deal with. Rather than take the dealers word for it they insisted on collecting the charger to test themselves. Took them a week to collect, another 4 weeks to test then instead of sending a new charger they just sent a credit note to the dealer, 2 weeks after that I got my new charger a wek after that they billed the dealer for it. As it happened I had a second charger so I was still able to use the bike but if I "could" of been left with no bike for that period.
So, my dealer was great, small shop with low stock but still offered me a charger from a shop bike, which I refused as it made his bike unsaleable for a while. Merida, no interest at all. Madison, a large slow company that get there in the end but don't expect a fast turn around.

In contrast I bought a ex demo hard tail Giant Dirt E a few weeks ago and the display packed up. The dealer replaced it there and then from a stock of spares that Giant give to the dealers for warranty issues

 

[Kernow]

Specialised seems to have more issues , lots more from what I see on here , and I understand most specialised dealers charge labour on warranty work , which isn’t right when your spending 5 k plus on a new bike .
Shimano and Bosch seem to be very good at warranty from the stories I hear . Plus the Merida with shimano has an external battery wich means you can easily use 2 batteries and bring your battery in to charge in winter . The separate parts of the shimano system are all very easy to clean service and access yourself with choices of different control switches etc to suit your preference
I had a very intermittent problem with my shimano motor which took longer to diagnose as it didn’t show up when it went for test With shimano France but when the problem was proved to be motor I had a new motor in 2 weeks from commencal, and I didn’t even have to pay postage . . Uk shimano I believe is even quicker .
I suspect your dealer is like ours he has other makes but would much rather sell you a specialised , partly I because he knows you’ll end up spending more with him both on the bike and especially afterwards .

 

[Kernow]

I have a Merida e160 with over 5000km on it and its been fautless other than the charger packing up. My dealer was great but Merida basically didnt want to know telling me it was a Shimano part and covered by their warranty. On the one hand that means any Shimano dealer can assist you however all Shimano products in the UK are dealt with by Madison a dreadful company to deal with. Rather than take the dealers word for it they insisted on collecting the charger to test themselves. Took them a week to collect, another 4 weeks to test then instead of sending a new charger they just sent a credit note to the dealer, 2 weeks after that I got my new charger a wek after that they billed the dealer for it. As it happened I had a second charger so I was still able to use the bike but if I "could" of been left with no bike for that period.
So, my dealer was great, small shop with low stock but still offered me a charger from a shop bike, which I refused as it made his bike unsaleable for a while. Merida, no interest at all. Madison, a large slow company that get there in the end but don't expect a fast turn around.

In contrast I bought a ex demo hard tail Giant Dirt E a few weeks ago and the display packed up. The dealer replaced it there and then from a stock of spares that Giant give to the dealers for warranty issues

Iam surprised you had problems with madison , I hade 2 lots of Xt brakes warrantied last year and all returned with new items in under 2xweeks inc post .
I contacted madison direct when my shimano motor was playing up and they sounded helpful with a quick sympathetic email response that said if I had no luck with commencal and shimano France they would be happy to help .
As it happened commencal gave me the motor then dealt with shimano , that’s how it should be I think

 

[Janluke]

Iam surprised you had problems with madison , I hade 2 lots of Xt brakes warrantied last year and all returned with new items in under 2xweeks inc post .
I contacted madison direct when my shimano motor was playing up and they sounded helpful with a quick sympathetic email response that said if I had no luck with commencal and shimano France they would be happy to help .
As it happened commencal gave me the motor then dealt with shimano , that’s how it should be I think

Maybe I was just unlucky. I love the 160 and the e8000 but it's put me off another Merida or Shimano motored bike for the meantime

 

[Kernow]

Maybe I was just unlucky. I love the 160 and the e8000 but it's put me off another Merida or Shimano motored bike for the meantime

It seems more about the bike manufacturer or dealer I think . I couldn’t fault commencal on thier help . Iam surprised Merida didn’t help , did it come from a uk dealer ?

 

[Janluke]

1. 
   

2. It seems more about the bike manufacturer or dealer I think . I couldn’t fault commencal on thier help . Iam surprised Merida didn’t help , did it come from a uk dealer ?

   It seems more about the bike manufacturer or dealer I think . I couldn’t fault commencal on thier help . Iam surprised Merida didn’t help , did it come from a uk dealer ?

   Yes a UK dealer, small shop but a great place. He's gone out of his way to help me on numerous occasions. Merida basically said nothing to do with them contact Madison.

 

[Kernow]

1. 
   
2. 
   
   Yes a UK dealer, small shop but a great place. He's gone out of his way to help me on numerous occasions. Merida basically said nothing to do with them contact Madison.

I think that is standard practice , the shimano brakes I had problems with were on a giant bike that was under warranty , the dealer said nothing to do with giant we just send direct to Maddison .the dealer posted them next day , it seems half your problem was the waiting for collection option your dealer used ?
It’s the same with all parts that are not manufacturer branded .
Perhaps with commencal being mail order only they realise they have to go the extra mile to keep customers happy , otherwise there wouldn’t be the confidence to buy direct ?

 

[Janluke]

I think that is standard practice , the shimano brakes I had problems with were on a giant bike that was under warranty , the dealer said nothing to do with giant we just send direct to Maddison .the dealer posted them next day , it seems half your problem was the waiting for collection option your dealer used ?
It’s the same with all parts that are not manufacturer branded .
Perhaps with commencal being mail order only they realise they have to go the extra mile to keep customers happy , otherwise there wouldn’t be the confidence to buy direct ?

if it's standard practice then it stinks and is shocking customer service. When the windscreen wiper motor broke on my Subaru within warranty Subaru replaced it they didn't tell me it was nothing to do with them and to contact Bosch. I expected more of Merida. Madison appear to have a monopoly on Shimano in the UK so maybe they feel they can take their time. It's a great product but still relatively early days for mainstream ebikes so customers need to feel we have reasonable back up. For the record collection by Madison was the only option again but even if they had collected the next day it still took them six weeks to sort it. Six weeks to replace a charger ? Not great . I acknowledge other people have had good service and I'd love to think I just got them on a bad day as I really love the bike but I'm not as confident in the Merida and Shimano brands as I once was.

 

[flash]

That wouldn't fly here in Oz. Merida importer would be responsible for all the parts supplied with the bike and any labour required to rectify the problem. In some cases customer has a legal option of refund or exchange as well.

Gordon

 

[Kernow]

I agree the situation seems poor here with the whole bike warranty thing . It’s not just madison and Merida it’s all makes . Theres the brand and thier own stuff then there’s the groupset which is usually shimano or sram and that’s dealt with by the uk main dealer wich is madison for shimano
I’ve heard worse stories from other brands , the worst being niner with thier cracking carbon frames
Your right the price of bikes the warranty should work like it does with cars and motorbikes .
My ktm motorbike cost less than lots of ebikes , I get 2 years warranty at any dealer , plus rac breakdown cover , if that breaks down I know I won’t pay a penny plus I’ll get a hire car if I am stranded on a holiday etc . If they can do that for a motorbike then it should be easy for a pushbikes . It probably varies but I been told dealer profit on certain high priced new bikes is around 50% so there’s a good margin to look after the customer if they choose , and it seems the manufacturer leaves that to the retailer . I think the whole trade needs some regulation especially with what seems to be the general unreliability of ebike s .
However if you go and buy a new mx trials or enduro motorbike to compete or race the warranty is very sketchy , so maybe that’s how bikes are seen

 

[Janluke]

I agree the situation seems poor here with the whole bike warranty thing . It’s not just madison and Merida it’s all makes . Theres the brand and thier own stuff then there’s the groupset which is usually shimano or sram and that’s dealt with by the uk main dealer wich is madison for shimano
I’ve heard worse stories from other brands , the worst being niner with thier cracking carbon frames
Your right the price of bikes the warranty should work like it does with cars and motorbikes .
My ktm motorbike cost less than lots of ebikes , I get 2 years warranty at any dealer , plus rac breakdown cover , if that breaks down I know I won’t pay a penny plus I’ll get a hire car if I am stranded on a holiday etc . If they can do that for a motorbike then it should be easy for a pushbikes . It probably varies but I been told dealer profit on certain high priced new bikes is around 50% so there’s a good margin to look after the customer if they choose , and it seems the manufacturer leaves that to the retailer . I think the whole trade needs some regulation especially with what seems to be the general unreliability of ebike s .
However if you go and buy a new mx trials or enduro motorbike to compete or race the warranty is very sketchy , so maybe that’s how bikes are seen

Yes, indeed. Ebikes are a huge boost to the cycle industry but they need to back up the dealers and customers a little more.

 

[suso]

Hello I have been thinking about buying a Merida e-one sixty 800 with the Shimano steps 8000 motor but have been advised by the local dealer (who also has specialized) that any issues with the motor under warranty takes weeks to resolve and not as fast as Specialized.
Does anyone have any experience with this please?

I'm waiting for a new motor. Here in Italy I was told by the dealer that:
1-he has to dismount the motor end send it to meirda Italy
2- merida Italy send it to shimano
3- shimano send it to merida
4- merida send it to my dealer
This is the second week I'm without the bike. Let's see....

Ah, was forgetting: before thi,s the bike was sent to merida Italy who serviced it. They just said that they updated the firmware. This took a couple of week but didn't solve my issue.

 

[Laker123]

Where about in the world are you as that would change how it happens. Here in NZ Shimano are pretty on to it and have never had to many dramas with getting replacement parts and warranty repairs.

Bosch on the other hand...