LBS extracting the urine??

counterculture

Id dropped my bike into my LBS yesterday at half 10 to have my front brake looked at, it was "catching" and i couldnt figure out how it was catching, took it into shop and the mechanic had a look, reckoned it was caliper alignment and gunked up pistons, but he had 3 bikes to look at in front of mine so obviously mine would have to wait its turn.

i went in today at about 11am, and my bike hadnt been seen yet as the mechanic had had a nightmare of a day, which is fair enough, but it was next on the list to be seen, they phoned me at 4pm informing me that the caliper was needing stripped down for it to work agan properly, again which is fair enough, the shop is open until 6pm tonight and is open again at 9.30am and they are unable to guarantee me my bike for lunch time tomorrow. (the time im hoping to be on the road to Glentress)

is it that big a job that would take that sort of time? they are a well stocked bike shop so they wont need to wait for parts etc, if the job infact needs them. Obviously i dont know how to carry out this job otherwise idve done it myself but this seems to be an excessive amount of time to carry out this job or am i wrong?

RealMan

Not much use talking to us. Have you explained you really need it for tomorrow? Go down there with a packet of biscuits, if you really need it. Could always consider just sticking a new brake on.

ride_whenever

Bribery works well, but a caliper strip clean and reassemble does take time. Particularly if you want to do a good job, You could probably have it done in an hour if you really bribe them...

counterculture

i have explained that i need it for tomorrow, i explained it to them when i dropped it in and it was put on the job sheet, i know jobs like that take time but surely if theyre looking at my bike at 4pm they should be able to do the work and give a rough time for completion of job.

also im stuck at work so im not able to be at the shop bribing/hassling them to get the job done, if the weather had been shit i wouldnt be bothered but its the fact the weather is awesome and theres a van load of us going to GT tomorrow, and the job was unavoidable so i couldnt have help off until after the weekend.

RealMan

Call them up, ask them just to stick a new brake on. Then everything is sorted.

Then you can decide whether you want them to fix the old brake as well, and then you have an extra something to stick in your spares bin.

supersonic

Sounds pretty normal for a busy shop.

Best thing to do is get a specific time when it will be done by ie in two days, whatever, and an estimate of cost. They then should ring you if anything changes.

My LBS is booked up for weeks. So for them to take a day, well, would be good!

counterculture

yeah that works if you have deep pockets RealMan, unfortunately i dont so i cant go for that option

supersonic, they did give me a rough sort of time ie today, and theyre now working on my bike, surely between the time they started and closing time then again from opening to lunch time on saturday they would be able to have the job done.

RealMan

Then see if any of your mates have a spare brake you can borrow, otherwise, there's not much you can do.

supersonic

counterculture wrote:

yeah that works if you have deep pockets RealMan, unfortunately i dont so i cant go for that option

supersonic, they did give me a rough sort of time ie today, and theyre now working on my bike, surely between the time they started and closing time then again from opening to lunch time on saturday they would be able to have the job done.

If the caliper has to be stripped, well, you just don't know - maybe it needed a new seal? The problem is the vagueness - when I was a mechanic I was much more precise in times, and rang the customer, not let them come to me.

counterculture

the vagueness is my point, i know shops get busy and other jobs have to be done but surely once they start the job they can give me an idea on how long it would take, they said they would have it done by tomorrow, i asked if they could have it done by lunch time, which i dont think is unreasonable to get a yes or no answer, if they cant do it then i can let everyone else know i cant make it and ill go sit in a park with a slab while they go to GT.

supersonic

Ah right, i thought you meant the overall timescale for what looks like a small job - yes, this vagueness is bad practice.

The Northern Monkey

I'm guessing they wont give you a time incase they need to get a part in that they don't have in stock.
Until they've stripped and assessed you're brake they're unikely to know how long it'll take!

If its anything like my LBS, it'll take the 3 weeks to get the part if one is needed :roll:

sniper68

My LBS had my rear wheel 5 WEEKS just to replace the Pawls in my freehub and blamed Madison for poor delivery.The Free hub then broke on the 2nd ride out and when i took it to the only place i could at the time(the bike shop in Whinlatter Forest)he replaced all the bits on the spot and said that in his opinion the pawls were original and just been bodged.Had they not repaired the freehub it'd have been a weekend away spoiled.

supersonic

Ha, JE James I bet!

RealMan

ibbo68, what did you do about it once you got back?

sniper68

supersonic wrote:

Ha, JE James I bet!

The only one we have unfortunately

RealMan wrote:

ibbo68, what did you do about it once you got back?

I phoned the shop in question and just got a " well these things happen,you must've been using it for something it was designed for"
Just a long line of excuses and general bad customer care i've had from the shop and another reason they won't get any more of my cash.

RealMan

But 5 weeks and then you find out they hadn't actually done the job you'd paid them for? Did you get a refund?

I get really annoyed with my bike shop as well. I ordered most of my bike off the internet, and not just because its much cheaper. I don't mind paying a bit extra if it keeps a local business going. But of the few bits I did get the bike shop to get me, one of them was my chain. It took them a MONTH. And then when it finally arrived, it was missing the quick link it was meant to have, which took them another 2 weeks to get.


If they did fantastic repair jobs, I'd let them off. But they don't.

Radioactiveman

ibbo68 wrote:

My LBS had my rear wheel 5 WEEKS just to replace the Pawls in my freehub and blamed Madison for poor delivery.The Free hub then broke on the 2nd ride out and when i took it to the only place i could at the time(the bike shop in Whinlatter Forest)he replaced all the bits on the spot and said that in his opinion the pawls were original and just been bodged.Had they not repaired the freehub it'd have been a weekend away spoiled.

And you were stupid enough to let them keep it for 5 weeks for a 5 minute job?

The pawls last ages and generaly just the pawl springs tend to fail.How you would bodge a pawl I have no idea,unless he carved some out by hand.

I suggest people learn how to fix things by themselves otherwise make it clear when you take things to the LBS when you need it, if they cant do it go elswhere

RealMan

Radioactiveman wrote:

How you would bodge a pawl I have no idea,unless he carved some out by hand.

lol.

However, remember that if people don't know how to do something themselves, they probably don't know how long a job is going to take, what's involved, etc. etc.

Bike shops do tend to be very, very, very good at coming up with excuses to why they haven't done something yet.

Bignige

At the risk of upsetting all the LBS lovers out there, the one time I have used my LBS I found them friendly, helpfull and knowledgeable but infuriatingly blasé about returning my bike to me.

I don't get all this taking biscuits and other such goodies in order to bribe them, what I want is a professional service and my bike returned to me when promised, fixed properly 1st time.....my bike was fixed for me within the time promised but it then took nearly two days after the repair to get the mechanic to nail the shop owner down and sort my bill out, simply not good enough for what is supposed to be a customer service industry!!!

I will quite happily go into said shop and chew the fat with them all day over coffee and biscuits but ultimately I want top notch service when I hand over my hard earned cash.

Mccraque

Bignige wrote:

At the risk of upsetting all the LBS lovers out there, the one time I have used my LBS I found them friendly, helpfull and knowledgeable but infuriatingly blasé about returning my bike to me.

I don't get all this taking biscuits and other such goodies in order to bribe them, what I want is a professional service and my bike returned to me when promised, fixed properly 1st time.....my bike was fixed for me within the time promised but it then took nearly two days after the repair to get the mechanic to nail the shop owner down and sort my bill out, simply not good enough for what is supposed to be a customer service industry!!!

I will quite happily go into said shop and chew the fat with them all day over coffee and biscuits but ultimately I want top notch service when I hand over my hard earned cash.

....Right...so that's Southwater Cycles then....

MY mate once got his bike back with someone elses wheel on his Cannondale....although since that incident, in fairness, they have been spot on!

mikezer0

ibbo68 wrote:

supersonic wrote:

Ha, JE James I bet!

The only one we have unfortunately

not for long....

the bike tree opens tomorrow!

Bignige

Mccraque wrote:

....Right...so that's Southwater Cycles then....

MY mate once got his bike back with someone elses wheel on his Cannondale....although since that incident, in fairness, they have been spot on!

Actually no......

I go into the Aladdins cave that is Southwater Cycles to buy the odd bit now and again but did'nt use them for the repair..........was Beyond Mountain Bikes (cue the abuse from the BMB regulars)........although the owner is quite....fit....yes Jackie that means you!!

Anonymous

You're lucky you got called up, I always have to call up. I have had 2 repair jobs done and at 2 LBS both times I had to call up
and the second repair job, which was them replacing the rear dérailleur took them 2 - 3 days!

sniper68

Radioactiveman wrote:

And you were stupid enough to let them keep it for 5 weeks for a 5 minute job?

I suggest people learn how to fix things by themselves otherwise make it clear when you take things to the LBS when you need it, if they cant do it go elswhere

At the time i was told they were waiting for a new freehub body.I was only told they'd only(allegedly) replaced the pawls when i went to pick it up.
I do everything myself now apart from trueing wheels.

The pawls last ages and generaly just the pawl springs tend to fail.How you would bodge a pawl I have no idea,unless he carved some out by hand.

By bodge he meant theyd just stuck a spring in there and packed it full of grease.

Northwind

counterculture wrote:

is it that big a job that would take that sort of time?

No. The job's not getting done only because they're not doing the job. Sorry to be harsh but it's true. I'm a reasonably skilled DIY'er but not up to pro standard and stripping, cleaning and rebuilding a caliper takes, oh, 45 minutes including rebleeding, an hour on a lazy day. Whether it needs replacement seals or not is irrelevant, as long as they have it in stock- either they have the part and it takes no longer than it does to rebuild with the original parts, or it don't and they can't fix it.

It's a busy time, this nice weather will have loads of people dragging their bikes out of the garage and discovering they don't work but they should be honest about the time it'll take.

Hope you get your ride in!

Hercule Q

i do my repairs myself but when i pop into the lbs they will generally strive to get my stuff done as quickly and as cheap as they can manage and there's 2 in this town that will do that for me

counterculture

managed to get out today.

although was informed by a mate that there is 2 mechanics in this shop, a good one and a lazy one, my bike was handed in to the good mechanic but he was snowed under so it was left to the lazy mechanic, who didnt do the job and the good mechanic did the work this morning.