KONA warranty experience

PB Forum :: Kona
KONA warranty experience
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flag Dhjmn
Posted: Mar 29, 2020 at 18:24 Quote
Hey all,
Just wondering what your experience has been with Kona warranty, I’ve only ever heard bad things. Interested to know what sort or time frames you got responses?
I have a 2019 Kona operator carbon frame with a bb crack, still under warranty, claim logged and no response
flag dicknolte
Posted: Mar 31, 2020 at 4:54 Quote
Ed moves at his own pace. You’ve gotta push him.
flag s-mcphee
O+
Posted: Apr 1, 2020 at 21:36 Quote
Dhjmn wrote:
Hey all,
Just wondering what your experience has been with Kona warranty, I’ve only ever heard bad things. Interested to know what sort or time frames you got responses?
I have a 2019 Kona operator carbon frame with a bb crack, still under warranty, claim logged and no response

Maybe some context could be useful, how long have you been waiting?
Have you gone direct or through a shop, if your going through a shop check when they submitted the claim.
If your submitting a claim right now, then expect it to take longer than normal with whats going on in the world.
flag Dhjmn
Posted: Apr 22, 2020 at 16:30 Quote
Thanks for the response, I’m going through a shop, cyclery studio in Sydney Australia.
I caught up with the owner yesterday and he said that Kona has replied and said it’s not cracked, it’s just the paint. I’m an NDT tech for work and I can tell it’s cracked, I’ve also pulled it apart and the trunnion shock bearings have failed, completely destroyed yet still lubricated, a senior tech at work said it looks like poor quality bearings.
A friend of mine had a seat tube failure on his alloy process and Kona would not warrant that either, the best they offered was a carbon crash replacement at the price of an alloy, no doubt to align with their stock levels.
Can’t say I’d ever recommend a Kona to anyone, ever.
My carbon spectral developed a crack, canyon replied within the hour saying it would be covered and within two weeks in the peak covid crisis I had a new frame. They even offered to pay a bike shop to swap all the bits for me.
flag rahrider
O+
Posted: Apr 27, 2020 at 1:51 Quote
My first ti honzo cracked and they replaced it fairly promptly (a few weeks maybe). The replacement also cracked and they couldn’t replace it so they gave me a process 134 cr dl for a small fee. Very easy to deal with and took care of me. Went through dealers both times. Lesson learned - yes kona, no Taiwanese made ti frames.
flag Riyadh
Posted: Apr 27, 2020 at 1:58 Quote
I had a frame snap on the seat tube about 2 years after purchasing it. Contacted the local distributor, and no reply, even to this day. I contacted Kona directly and after about half a dozen emails, they reply with I need to deal with the local distributor. So much for lifetime ....... I will never by another kona again even if its for 10 bucks!!
flag tossedsalad
Posted: Apr 29, 2020 at 9:13 Quote
Well, last I heard they were hiring a new person for the warranty position at Kona. Not sure if this was an international manager or just for Canada so it's possible things might change, for good or bad (who knows)
flag Dhjmn
Posted: Apr 29, 2020 at 19:10 Quote
Riyadh wrote:
I had a frame snap on the seat tube about 2 years after purchasing it. Contacted the local distributor, and no reply, even to this day. I contacted Kona directly and after about half a dozen emails, they reply with I need to deal with the local distributor. So much for lifetime ....... I will never by another kona again even if its for 10 bucks!!

It does seem like the common consensus, even now I am trying to get a replacement part from them and there is nothing available worldwide, so even if I got my frame repaired locally I couldn’t ride it without this part, I was thinking of buying a process if I really liked the operator, but I’ll never buy a Kona if they’re not gonna stand by their product
flag Grilledcheesetriple
O+
Posted: May 28, 2020 at 0:43 Quote
Wow that really sucks to find out as I just bought a freaking Kona today Damn!!!
flag blowmyfuse
O+
Posted: May 28, 2020 at 20:25 Quote
Just posted my warranty nightmare (bought new December 2018 ). They declined it. Blamed me.
Suggested I epoxy the rocker arm back together. Don't buy Kona.
flag Riyadh
Posted: May 29, 2020 at 0:19 Quote
Ya, my comments about the warranty when PB posted that vid about kona qaulity control was deemed to be below threshold. Well, it is what it is. I still have my frame on a shelf in the garage.
flag Grilledcheesetriple
O+
Posted: May 29, 2020 at 7:36 Quote
Doesn't seem to be many responses for a company that has and continues to sell millions of bike's. Maybe it's just the person you are dealing with maybe go over their heads?
flag cmcrawfo
Posted: May 29, 2020 at 7:48 Quote
They used to have a decent reputation.

Although so much is dependent on the LBS and the regional distribution partner. Not uncommon for some brands to have wildly different customer service experiences in different parts of the world.

As per the Canyon comment above, I have been hearing lots of great things about their customer support recently.

Sadly, brands customer service commitments fluctuate wildly over the years. It seems to be uncommon for a brand to have a continued high quality reputation. its a shame customer service is so wildly unreliable.
flag Grilledcheesetriple
O+
Posted: May 30, 2020 at 7:29 Quote
cmcrawfo wrote:
They used to have a decent reputation.

Although so much is dependent on the LBS and the regional distribution partner. Not uncommon for some brands to have wildly different customer service experiences in different parts of the world.

As per the Canyon comment above, I have been hearing lots of great things about their customer support recently.

Sadly, brands customer service commitments fluctuate wildly over the years. It seems to be uncommon for a brand to have a continued high quality reputation. its a shame customer service is so wildly unreliable.
That definitely makes sense!!
flag bhampaigefam
Posted: Jun 3, 2020 at 21:20 Quote
I had a 2016 Process 134 crack at the seat tube, Kona shop in Bellingham had me a 2020 Process 134 DL frame within a couple weeks. They were great to deal with, and have been my go-to for service since.
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