Shameful lbs

[greencat]

What about a mate who snapped two spokes in the rear wheel of a modern Mavic Ksyrium wheel,
they declined to replace the spokes & tru' the wheel, but instead gave him a price for a whole new
wheel & cassette at some £300, yet three spokes was just £10 and he didn't want a new cassette neither.

Not about keeping customers happy these days, there's no soul or compassion with modernday bike shops.

It'll change. Cycling won't remain this fashionable forever, and when it stops being so - the value and customer service will come back.

And there'll be lots of lovely cheap secondhand stuff to hoover up.

 

[Ian Raleigh]

Re: Re:

It was part of a 'service' and he'd snapped the hanger. They charged him for the hanger on top.

Just noticed they never even fitted a ferrule on the end of the wire.

 

[tintin40]

well at least it wont get pulled by a passing branch or twigs

 

[The History Man]

Needless to say I sorted it out. New cable, length of outer, bit of gt85, and instruction.

 

[The History Man]

Re: Re:

That's pretty poor, and I assume the shifting is too. How did they justify £35 for 5 mins work and cable? Any normal bike shop would charge their minimum price which should be way less than £35.

Didn't even replace the cable. I reckon it was short/frayed so outer was shortened to make it fit once trimmed.

 

[Ian Raleigh]

And there'll be lots of lovely cheap secondhand stuff to hoover up.

Seeing that sometimes on Facebook, best one was when a guy took up cycling and spent £3000 on a bike,
£250 on a pair of carbon shoes, £200 in clothing and every electrical gadget going, a week later he had
all his gear forsale and the reason why he was selling up as he can't get up hills and didn't realise how difficult cycling was

You have to get fit to ride up hills! :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm:

 

[jonnyboy666]

What about a mate who snapped two spokes in the rear wheel of a modern Mavic Ksyrium wheel,
they declined to replace the spokes & tru' the wheel, but instead gave him a price for a whole new
wheel & cassette at some £300, yet three spokes was just £10 and he didn't want a new cassette neither.

Not about keeping customers happy these days, there's no soul or compassion with modernday bike shops.

as i have recently started my shop i'd like to think that people don't think that of me, i realise the above is a generalisation but even so the last sentence is very sweeping, i specialise in repair so i do actually try and repair things but when they are dead they are dead, i don't sell bikes and because of this i encourage people to repair their bikes as opposed to replace but i'm honest enough to be upfront when their bike is past financial economic repair so only suggest a rebuild then if they are attached to it.

what i would say is like any situation there's issues on both sides, and retailers and customers alike are guilty of annoying each other, the guy that always wants discount but only ever buys the hard to find tiny part to fix his bike that he bought mail-order but in real terms he's only in the shop because he doesn't how to identify which is the part he needs otherwise he'd have bought it online, the miserable sales guy who has become jaded by having to have to haggle with every customer comparing the shop price to the online price, the worn out mechanic who gets paid bugger all because his job isn't seen as a "skill", the greedy shop owner who made his fortune in the early 90's when mountain biking hit big and now just wants to financially rape every customer, i'm not blaming either side but i would say it's a combination of the modern world of retail in general that we now live in, some shops have accepted the online world, some haven't, some shops train their staff mechanically, others don't, my advice is find a good shop/mechanic and don't take them for granted, don't batter them too much on price and if you're thinking of buying mail order just do it and don't use their knowledge to avoid paying their in shop retail price, the shop guys would rather see you with a new bit of kit you've bought mail order than spend time trying to sell you the same thing in store and get battered on the price match if that's the type of customer you could be.

it's not a perfect world from either side of the counter, since starting my little business i have paid myself a total of £1200, that's in 14 months, but i enjoy what i'm doing and hopefully this year will settle into a sensible wage now that all the set up costs are done, i hope i don't become jaded by customers who think they know better than my 20 years experience versus their 5 minutes of google search.

mini rant over, not specifically a rant at you though Ian, just your last sentence really as i don't feel that's fair to me and all the shop owners and employees who do give a crap!

back to the original post though, that is a halfords repair by someone who isn't trained and has attempted to do their best(?) but has failed miserably. we all know that there are good and bad halfords, this one is obviously one of the poorer ones.

 

[Ian Raleigh]

mini rant over, not specifically a rant at you though Ian, just your last sentence really as i don't feel that's fair to me and all the shop owners and employees who do give a crap!

Enjoyed the read I never use google to find a fix with a bike, having been worked in several bike shops in the past I've gathered much experience from the time served mechanics who was willing to teach if the person was willing to learn! I used to get kids queuing at my door to get their bikes fixed for free, best one was a lad who's tyre kept going down and his dad had tried...The innertube was wrapped & wrapped with insulation tape The innertube had a massive slash in it, so I told him it needs a new tube and mr softie here went to the bike shop and i got him a tube and fitted it for him, all for free.

 

[John J]

Some fair points there johnnyboy666.
Maybe your not best placed to answer if you don't sell new but I just don't get this thing of shops turning away repair work if you didn't buy the bike from them, usually with the mechanic standing around with nothing to do in the background. It's obvious to me that there is a healthy margin to be made on repairs. It just makes me not want to use that shop again for anything.

 

[bartsince1975]

Re:

I've been working in various jobs and companies in the bicycle industry for a quite some time now, the last few years I have been involved in tech support, this also includes IBD's. I have seen a lott of bad examples that I can make fun of amongst the colleaggues, and I know many bikeshops I would recommend to my best friends. On the technical side there's so many things changing (improving) the last decade, sales is growing, customers are more demanding (service wise), competition with online stores is changing the landscape: some shops cannot keep up. Bicycle technician hasn't been a popular profession over the last 20 years and there's not enough kids being educated as bike technicians. Some shops cope with this change, some shops (or bussiness models like halfords) don't. It's a natural selection that will take some time. Some shops will concentrate on repair, with quality workshops, some will concentrate on eBike with all the knowledge that comes with that, some will focus on just selling, some will turn into mobile workshops, some will lose bussiness.

It's a very intresting and challanging time to be working in the industry, and there's a lott of things changing; who knows what the future will bring? I just hope it's better than ripped cables, with housing that is way too short, being charged too much for service. Being a service tech, looking at these pictures, my heart is bleeding... I'm praying for better times, and work my ass of to educate IBD's. This is what I do every day to make this world a better place