Does anyone know how i raise a complaint with Zwift please?
I’ve had an issue with my Zwift ride since purchase back in December, with no resolution to the issue. At the start things seemed to go OK, I got sent a replacement cog for the kicker core v2 trainer (an old type with 4 pawls, i believe the newer ones only have 3?), then a new Zwift ride, which instantly made the issue much worse and finally getting linked up to Wahoo, who cleared the trainer at being fault and said it was a drivetrain issue on the ride which makes logical sense.
Now I’m just going around in circles, with email support not reading previous notes and asking me to do the same thing. I have done all the fault finding thigs multiple times, uploaded multiple videos and even got at least 2 zwift support guys saying yes, there is a problem and it should not sound the way it does.
The latest support email has just told me they are going to send it over to wahoo AGAIN, clearly not reading the notes. Every reponse take at least 24 hours to get responded to, which is fair enough but 2 months later i’m still in the same position I started with - a defective Zwift ride.
It sounds like you have done all the right things.
As @Mike_Rowe1 said, hopefully someone with some additional pull within Zwift will see this post and elevate the issue appropriately.
I realize this isn’t really an answer to your question, but if you are interested in crowd-sourcing some feedback about the problem from various experienced people here on the forum, post all the details and I will certainly take a look. You may have to mangle any links you post to get the forum to accept them, like add a space in “https” if you’re sharing a link to a video.
Thanks for the reponses. It certainly does seem to me that Zwift quality control is a bit of a lottery. Many happy customers, and also many with gear that really shouldn’t have been sent out of the door.
I also understand there is an element of zwift users that clearly don’t RTFM and have caused their own issues, but i’m 99.9% certain this is not my doing, and there is no easy fix (tightening something, greasing something etc.) because I have tried everything.
Out of interest, and i don’t think it is the issue but has anyone inspected their cog v2’s at all? the replacements I got sent all had an issue which looked like a loose washer in the ‘hole’ of the cog, making sliding it on to the kicker core pretty difficult. I was told this was fine and not a problem, but it doesn’t sound right to me.
I’m certainly not assuming this is an RTFM type of problem. Maybe something is faulty but the question is which thing and what to do about it? It is normal for that tube spacer in the freehub to float around when it’s not installed on the trainer. Once installed and the bike clamped onto it, there shouldn’t be any issues with that. When pedaling, the freehub is locked into place by the pawls. There are widely reported problems with the hinge of the Kickr Core V2 so if this is a “strange noise” type of problem, that is something to look into. I have seen owners of that trainer use lube or plumbers tape or a piece of paper in the hinge to make it shut up.
Ha, wasn’t accusing you of the RTFM thing, just I’ve seen the FB group being pretty brutal to some people so thought I’d point out to the best of my ability i’ve done what i can.
And yes, you hit the nail on the head - it is a noise issue, as soon as I installed the 2nd zwift ride on to the new trainer and it was much worse I pretty much knew it had to be some sort of ride problem.
Interesting about the hinge though, I haven’t seen anything about that online. Do you have any links to posts or vids showing what to do please?
Here’s one from Zwift Ride Owners Group on Facebook that is most likely the trainer hinge issue. Greasing it would help you rule out that as a possible cause.
I’m curious if the source of the noise is from inside the trainer or outside the trainer (ie, the bike). One way to understand that would be to add lube to the chain and see if the noise changes. If the problem is inside the trainer, chain lube will not change it. If the problem is something about the bike, it very well might change the noise you’re hearing. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a fault in it somewhere, just trying to zero in on the source of the sound.
I’m pretty sure it’s outside, I’m just not that acoustically confident to tell if it’s cog end or crank end.
I’ve been apprehensive about lubing the chain as I’m not a bike expert and read it can be bad if I don’t do it right. Have you any idiot proof recommendations for what type and how to apply, and if there would be any preparatory things to do first like cleaning the chain etc.?
On a positive note zwift have escalated my ticket and are sending it to important sounding people to diagnose as they claim to not have come across this noise issue before (i did offer to link them multiple video shorts of others on youtube though)
Zwift have not recommended a specific chain lube, but something designed for dry conditions would be appropriate. The only down side to excessive lube is mess and collecting more dust, but it’s not a major concern indoors. You will not hurt the chain by doing that.
The other thing that can increase noise is the type of surface that the trainer sits on, so you may hear a difference if you operate it on a concrete slab compared to a wood floor.
Do you have a bicycle you could install on the trainer for testing? That would help you understand if the Ride frame is the cause. I think they may not have sent you a full set of adapters with the trainer when purchased with the Ride, so it might have to be a thru-axle bike.