Ouch..another nail in ergomo coffin....

[Bob Edberry]

Ngart? any response? Defective return rate exceeds 30% and you won't honor the warranties?


News Release
December 7, 2007



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Gita Ends Relationship with Ergomo
​

Charlotte, NC - Gita Sporting Goods, LTD announced today that it will officially end its distribution agreement with SG Sensortechnik GmbH & Co KG, parent company of Ergomo, effective January 8, 2008, due to product reliability issues. The ever increasing returns of the Ergomo computers and sensors, the two main components of the ergomo system, and the manufacture’s failure to provide adequate support drove the decision.



Speaking on behalf of Gita, Giorgio Andretta, President said,

“This is a really unique situation and an extreme disappointment for us. In 35 years of servicing the US market we have never had a supplier fail to support their product in this manner. The defective return rate now exceeds 30%. We have been negotiating for months trying to get the parts necessary to provide service for the defective units we have on hand. We have prepaid for additional units to satisfy these issues. Ergomo has failed to deliver these units.

We apologize to those dealers and consumers that have been affected by this and are truly sorry for the inconvenience they are experiencing. We are continuing to work on their behalf to rectify these issues. We simply can no longer subsidize the product without support from Ergomo.”



Without the necessary replacement parts from Ergomo, Gita does not have sufficient parts to provide the service and repairs for all of the returned units now on hand or for which return authorizations have already been issued. Gita will contact the customers whose units cannot currently be replaced and determine how to proceed. Gita will continue its efforts to obtain replacement parts from Ergomo; however, as of today all future warranty and service issues should be directed to Sensortechnik at the address below.



SG Sensortechnik GmbH & Co KG

Am Berg 32

D-64546 Morfelden-Walldorf

Germany

Telephone: 49-610527310

Email: [email protected]

 

[tmctguer]

wow.........i just took my Ergomo into my LBS for servicing today and they advised me of the same thing.

mine worked fine for 6 - 9 months. then I put the bike away for 6 months while i rode my other bike. when i took the Ergomo bike out, the wattage readings were clearly out of whack. Resetting the computer, or re-calibrating the offset & K-factor made no difference.

we'll see what they say in a few days. i fear it is going to be bad news and a serious wad of wasted money. I'm kinda ****** at my LBS because when i bought the Ergomo, I talked at length to them about the Powertap. It was through their recommendation that I went with the Ergomo. i shelled out close to $1,600 US for the unit, and a new set of Shimano crank arms (octalink compatible). OUCH !!

since then, i have put Powertaps on both my bikes (including the one with the Ergomo on it).

 

[Speedskater]

From the perspective of a German customer, able to contact SG Sensortechnik directly this story is rather strange. To my personal experience, the support is prompt and friendly.

When got my complete kit last fall (Isis), I broke the BB due to too large tolerances in my FSA crank, that was not sold by Ergomo. I sent the BB back and within a week, I got an new one for free and they even gave me an Octalink version as I had asked.
This summer, I got obviously erronous readings and called Ergomo. They overhauled the BB within 5 days.
Three months ago, I bought a BB at ebay that was sold as defective, regarding the power reading. I gave it to Ergomo at the Eurobike and they replaced it for free with an overhauled one.

So, I wonder if I had much luck three times in a row, or there´s more to the story than Gita tells you.

 

[Ergoman]

So, I wonder if I had much luck three times in a row, or there´s more to the story than Gita tells you.

I think you hit the nail on the head: "there's more to the story than Gita tells".

My experience with Gita service has been poor, with phone call after phone call unreturned, promises broken, and a general inattention to customer complaints. Ergomo may have service problems, but it may also be that Gita just isn't too good at handling them.

Also, why would Gita give Ergomo bad press unless they happen to plan on jumping onto another power meter's bandwagon? Seems that if they really just want to drop Ergomo because of problems, the best way to do it would be very, very quietly.

 

[Speedskater]

My posting was not meant to support any side, but telling my own experience with Ergomo here in Germany. I don´t know Gita at all, so I cannot comment on them.

 

[TamMan]

Has anybody seen a document from Ergomo that explains differences between PMs? Somebody told me about it but I could not find it on their website. They apparently explain that it is impossible to compare the readings of different PMs. Hmmm.

 

[bbrauer]

I think you hit the nail on the head: "there's more to the story than Gita tells".

My experience with Gita service has been poor, with phone call after phone call unreturned, promises broken, and a general inattention to customer complaints. Ergomo may have service problems, but it may also be that Gita just isn't too good at handling them.

Also, why would Gita give Ergomo bad press unless they happen to plan on jumping onto another power meter's bandwagon? Seems that if they really just want to drop Ergomo because of problems, the best way to do it would be very, very quietly.

Yes....or no. We'll be offering Ergomos at liquidfitness.com, and we worked out a importing deal directly with Ergomo. I was told that this was the basis for the disagreement and dissolution of the relationship between Ergomo and its distributor - Ergomo importing directly and essentially competing with its own distributor.

But who knows? Remember Specialized vs. Performance?.....he said, she said.