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Post the contents of the messages to someone near the top in SRAM, see what they come back with. Could probably find them on LinkedIn or Twitter.
Similarities to Skinny's experience with P2M.
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their design is clearly not fit for purpose (robust enough to last or repairable if it fails)
You knew it had a two year warranty when you bought it.
You knew that SRAM aren't in the business of taking old models back for discounts on new ones.
You knew that power meters are a rapidly evolving market segment, where versions become obsolete quickly.
You should have known that there is basically no such thing as a power meter repair except for the most trivial failures; since the flyaway cost of a new module is less than the cost of diagnosing, let alone repairing, a failure, all "repairs" consist of replacements, which obviously only works for as long as the model you're using is current.This is not a situation unique to powermeters, many consumer electronics products are essentially non-repairable. It's always best to think of your initial payment not as a durable purchase but as a lease whose duration is the warranty period.
In short, if you'd gone into this with your eyes open in the first place, you wouldn't have your panties in a bunch now.
I'll be boycotting all SRAM group companies going forward
They must be quaking in their boots🙂
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I'll be boycotting all SRAM group companies going forward.
Join the club. No More SRAM, AKA The Bauke Mollema Principle.
Although to be fair to Quarq, I had a Quarq power meter die just before the 2 year warranty period expired, and they replaced it no problems. The replacement also died just under 2 years after I received it, and they applied the 2 year warranty to the replacement unit as well, and gave me a free upgrade from a Riken to an Elsa unit.
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@yetidamo
Avoid Quarq like the plague.
I have one that's 2 years 8 months old. It's not been used excessively as its on a bike that I use infrequently (a road bike, and I'm always off road these days given the option).
Anyway, about 10 days ago I was using it and it was giving its usual consistent output in line with perceived effort, then suddenly it was reading in excess of 1000w "just riding along". I tried a few things, recalibration, factory reset, removing batteries etc. No joy.
Contacted Quarq for tips on how to rectify it, sent them files and info. Long story short they said it's unrepairable. No explanation, no apology, just a statement that the warranty is 2 years so not covered and its unrepairable. They suggested I contact pro bike kit (where I bought it from) or cyclingpowermeters (their UK service centre.
The suggestion was that PBK might show me some "good will" and CPMs might be able to offer a solution.
Why should PBK offer me good will when they wouldn't? Felt like they were throwing PBK under the bus, passing the buck.
And why do they expect CPMs to repair an unrepairable powermeter? It very much felt like they couldn't be bothered and wanted someone else to do their dirty work ie tell me "tough luck mate".
I went back to them, explained that neither of their suggested routes yielded a solution (no surprise there) and said that if I just have to accept that my 2 year 8 month old powermeter is now landfill then that's fine, but wanted to give them one last chance to do the right thing. ie as their design is clearly not fit for purpose (robust enough to last or repairable if it fails) then perhaps they might want to offer a subsidised replacement.
They said "there's nothing more they can do for me". That's fine by me, but given their products aren't up to the job and their after sales support is non existent I'd suggest none of you put yourself in the position where you're a customer of theirs.
I'll be boycotting all SRAM group companies going forward. And I might make a few comments on their IG and twitter posts. Thanks for reading.