GL1
Member
Well I thought I'd post an update:
I have the bike back from the Trek Store / Shop. I would say they were helpful overall. They acknowledged the issue with these and agreed the best approach was ordering the battery truss and a new connector. All good. They were willing to give it to me as a warranty if I had ANY kind of receipt etc., even knowing I am the second owner. I was honest about that and I do not have a receipt at all so I was okay paying. The cost was around $150 for both of those parts and the labor. So all that was good.
They stayed in touch fine enough and I did tell them I was not in a hurry. Still, they had the bike for 6 weeks and at one point there was a mix up with the wrong truss being sent etc. Again, they let me know all of this and since this is really the bike my Father-In-Law rides (and he'd been out of town) and I have my Spec, I didn't care much. But, if it had been my main bike that would have been a long time to wait although if that had been the case they also may have been able to get it done quicker. But, the other thing I did not like is that they made the decision to replace the front rotor and pads, saying it would be a safety issue to let it leave the store that way. Well, that tacked on an additional $150 between the rotor, pads and labor that I really did not feel needed done (I ride a TON and am a former mechanic and the rotor still had enough life to go quite awhile and even the pads were not completely gone; I have the old parts to prove it.) So, this felt a bit like a car mechanic scheme to squeeze a bit more out of me. I didn't argue it much though as it had already been done and I honestly just wanted the bike back at that point.
Now the verdict? I'm not sure yet. So far my Father-In-Law has mostly only ridden it around on the roads up by his house and it's been fine. It would cut out even doing things like that and now it's not so that's a good sign. I rode it around and intentionally was riding it over a bunch of bumps and chop and it did seem to stay connected so I'm hopeful. I'll post more after I get some proper off-road miles on it.
So, while my experience with Trek warranty was okay I have to honestly say it just didn't quite match up to Spec. I've had a battery and motor done on my Levo and all my other friends with Spec have had issues too and they are just a lot more responsive. All of us had a week turn around, no charge, no questions and a bike ready to go. So to be sure, Spec has had their issues too (the motors for 2019-2020 especially,) but they made the warranty so easy it was basically a non-issue. That's what I'm looking for in an eBike warranty. So while I do like the Trek overall, this battery issue has been really annoying and maybe even more than a motor going out on my Spec because that's such a black and white issue while this thing has drug on for the better part of a year. The Spec service is just hands down better and, honestly, that Levo setup mullet is the best riding bike I have ever had. So, unless I got a screaming deal on a Trek eBike (kind of like I did buying this one used,) all things equal, I'd go Spec over Trek all day long.
I have the bike back from the Trek Store / Shop. I would say they were helpful overall. They acknowledged the issue with these and agreed the best approach was ordering the battery truss and a new connector. All good. They were willing to give it to me as a warranty if I had ANY kind of receipt etc., even knowing I am the second owner. I was honest about that and I do not have a receipt at all so I was okay paying. The cost was around $150 for both of those parts and the labor. So all that was good.
They stayed in touch fine enough and I did tell them I was not in a hurry. Still, they had the bike for 6 weeks and at one point there was a mix up with the wrong truss being sent etc. Again, they let me know all of this and since this is really the bike my Father-In-Law rides (and he'd been out of town) and I have my Spec, I didn't care much. But, if it had been my main bike that would have been a long time to wait although if that had been the case they also may have been able to get it done quicker. But, the other thing I did not like is that they made the decision to replace the front rotor and pads, saying it would be a safety issue to let it leave the store that way. Well, that tacked on an additional $150 between the rotor, pads and labor that I really did not feel needed done (I ride a TON and am a former mechanic and the rotor still had enough life to go quite awhile and even the pads were not completely gone; I have the old parts to prove it.) So, this felt a bit like a car mechanic scheme to squeeze a bit more out of me. I didn't argue it much though as it had already been done and I honestly just wanted the bike back at that point.
Now the verdict? I'm not sure yet. So far my Father-In-Law has mostly only ridden it around on the roads up by his house and it's been fine. It would cut out even doing things like that and now it's not so that's a good sign. I rode it around and intentionally was riding it over a bunch of bumps and chop and it did seem to stay connected so I'm hopeful. I'll post more after I get some proper off-road miles on it.
So, while my experience with Trek warranty was okay I have to honestly say it just didn't quite match up to Spec. I've had a battery and motor done on my Levo and all my other friends with Spec have had issues too and they are just a lot more responsive. All of us had a week turn around, no charge, no questions and a bike ready to go. So to be sure, Spec has had their issues too (the motors for 2019-2020 especially,) but they made the warranty so easy it was basically a non-issue. That's what I'm looking for in an eBike warranty. So while I do like the Trek overall, this battery issue has been really annoying and maybe even more than a motor going out on my Spec because that's such a black and white issue while this thing has drug on for the better part of a year. The Spec service is just hands down better and, honestly, that Levo setup mullet is the best riding bike I have ever had. So, unless I got a screaming deal on a Trek eBike (kind of like I did buying this one used,) all things equal, I'd go Spec over Trek all day long.