going back to the guys discussing warranty costs etc,
i deal with Giant, Merida, Raleigh, Falcon and a few of Moore Larges brands and as far as im aware, on the back of each cycle owners manual, the warranty states the terms and conditions.
Certainly with the brands i do, NONE of them cover you for any other costs apart from the damaged item. I personally think this is wrong however its just "the way it is".
I tend to take each customer on a "by basis", if they have been genuinly nice, non aggressive etc then i cover all work for them apart from shipping the damaged item back to the supplier, if however the come in ranting and raving etc then i ll show the the back of their owners manual and highlight that no costs are covered.
I currently have a Giant Twist Express RS2 in the shop for repair which is almost 2 years old. during those 2 years the customer has brought it in for 2x services, the first service also included a new warrenty part fitted and supplied free of charge as i found a fault with the torque sensor.
The customer brought it in a few days ago for 2x £30 puncture proof tyres, service and brake blocks, possibly some new cables, he mentioned that the electric side of things was playing up again, running through the diagnostics with mark from Giant we found 2 possible causes, 2 days later i had a brand new front wheel/motor assembly, and a new controller box, totally free of charge and delivered from Holland.
I phoned the customer, informed him his work would cost roughly £100/120 not including the warrenty parts which will be free of charge including my time for fitting them.
If any bike shop fobs you off, then they probably are doing what their allowed to do, however its up to you and your bike shop if the customer you had with the dodgy Kona frame are worth keeping.....