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For what its worth, I agree with you. 400 miles in, I think they should have overnited out a new pair. But, we all do get burned (myself included) by not checking the terms before buying, pisses ya off, but what do you do? Research more closely next time. For me, the words "lifetime warranty" scream out "read the fine print carefully"
I wonder if you had spoken to a different person at progressive, if you would have gotten more support. Sometimes things like this come down to the luck of the draw on who picks up the phone, sad, but true.
Its a catch-22. Im sure a LOT of people really abuse return/warranty policies, and the rest of us pay the price when companies wont bend from policy, even in a case like yours, where I truly think they should have.
I agree that reading the fine print would have helped in my case. I did in fact deal with three people at Progressive Inc. The first person I called when I was broke down on the road gave me a number and told me where to ship my shocks for repair. Before shipping them I sent an email to Progressive to tell them what happened and ask for their help. This is the reply I received from Progressive "Our warranty policy covers only repairs and rebuilds of our suspension. Your 940 Series shocks do have a lifetime warranty on them. So once they’re repaired, if something does come up again down the road- you’re covered."
I also contacted a third Progressive Inc rep on this web site but he never replied. I would have been ok with a repair job if the shocks had a lot of miles of use or were a year or so old. But I only purchased them last month and had 400 miles on them. One would think Progressive could have done better.
I don't disagree they could have done better, but you are best getting results going through who you bought them from first and letting them make the call, the problem with warranty work in general is more times than not when the product is returned it is abuse and not really a warranty, however if I was Progressive I would have took your charge card info billed you and over nighted them, once the others were returned if they were a warranty issue and nothing you had done then credited you back
Update: After purchasing my Progressive 940's just over one month ago and riding only 400 miles one of the shocks started leaking oil. Under the Progressive "Lifetime Warranty" I had to ship my shocks to CA ($27.50 my cost) on June 23, 2010. On June 30th they told me that they received my shocks and would contact me after they had been inspected. It's now July 9th and I'm still waiting for progressive to contact me. Hope to get my shocks back before the riding season is over. I'm really disappointed with the way Progressive has handled this.
940's with 6k on them (09 RKC) and so far so good. Better ride for sure over $40 stock HD's. Never bottomed yet fully loaded (wife and tour pak) on a long trip.
Update: After purchasing my Progressive 940's just over one month ago and riding only 400 miles one of the shocks started leaking oil. Under the Progressive "Lifetime Warranty" I had to ship my shocks to CA ($27.50 my cost) on June 23, 2010. On June 30th they told me that they received my shocks and would contact me after they had been inspected. It's now July 9th and I'm still waiting for progressive to contact me. Hope to get my shocks back before the riding season is over. I'm really disappointed with the way Progressive has handled this.
Where is the Progressive Rep. now, who was chiming in before. We need to here from him as to why this guy couldn't be helped a lot quicker while broken down on the road? If anything "Progressive" could of sent out a temporary set out to him on a next day delivery to get him back on the road while fixing his original ones.
Where is the Progressive Rep. now, who was chiming in before. We need to here from him as to why this guy couldn't be helped a lot quicker while broken down on the road? If anything "Progressive" could of sent out a temporary set out to him on a next day delivery to get him back on the road while fixing his original ones.
I can share my experience with Progressive Inc regarding the lifetime warranty on my 940's. I purchased a pair of 940's last month for a long road trip on my RK. After 400 miles down the road I had a seal leak in one of the shocks. I called Progressive while broke down on the road and they told me that I would have to ship my 940's to CA (at my cost) and they would NOT replace but REPAIR the shocks. There was no indication as to how long this would take. Based on that I was forced to buy some new HD shocks so I could return my 940's to Progressive and continue my trip.
It was my thinking that they would just send me to a Progressive outlet and let me get a new pair of 940's. But when you read the fine print in the warranty it dosen't work that way. They will only make "repairs" for the life of the shock. That mean regardless how many times the seals go bad the will repair it. I just can't afford the down time and having to keep a back up pair of shocks.
I did like the way the 940's it lowered me 1" but after buying a pair of HD low profile air shocks (at half the cost) I really think the HD's feel and ride a lot better.
I hope this information helps.
I know it sucks for something like that to happen while on the road, but all things considered, would you expect the Moco to give you a brand new bike if something broke in the first 400 miles? Should you be able to bring the bike to another dealer and pick one off the showroom floor? Good luck with that. I've worked in the electronics field for over thirty years and I've never seen a guarantee that if there was a failure, you would get new equipment. The spares are typically refurbished but may be new when none are in stock. You get what you get. I would think that, if the returned shocks couldn't be repaired, they would have to give you new ones, though.
[quote=NoBoldRider;6976758]I know it sucks for something like that to happen while on the road, but all things considered, would you expect the Moco to give you a brand new bike if something broke in the first 400 miles? Should you be able to bring the bike to another dealer and pick one off the showroom floor? Good luck with that.
MoCo has people falling all over themselves to get a HD. They could make bikes that leak oil, vibrate parts off on the road, have crappy shocks, bad front tires, fairing brackets that break all to regularly or any number of bad things and people will still be buying them as fast as they can be made(when the economy isn't in the tank) and complaining all the way, but loving it. They don't have to worry about problems with the bikes-the riders will take care of them. Then HD will take care of the problem a couple of years later. They will make a "running" change.
Aftermarket shock absorber manufacturers probably don't have this luxury. It's hard to justify the amount of money to buy a set of good aftermarket shocks (the prices are unbelievable), especially when there is already a set of shocks on the bike that kinda work.
I'm going to be getting some kind of shocks for my bike soon, and customer service after the sale will weigh heavily in my decision.
All I know is the 940's sure give a better ride and even the wife agreed on the long trips. I was lucky got them at cost (I own interest in a shop) makes a big difference when buying something to try out....
I just returned from a 4000 mile ride & all I can say is "what a difference". Glad I bought them. I got mine from Phat Performance for $545 + a rebate for a free set of Progressive front springs,free shipping & no tax. Another winter project now. My shocks got a definite workout on this trip. We rode as much of "old" 66 as possible, & let me tell ya,it is dam rough in a lot of places.
Last edited by PosseRider; Jul 13, 2010 at 07:58 AM.
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