A lucky escape from Dave Hinde

litttlestwoo

Hi all,
We'll after the info from the forum when I googled Dave Hinde, I thought that I had better join and say thanks.
I had dropped my nice but battered classic italian frame off for a respray, thinking that they where a well established frame builder with a decent pedigree. Didn't think to Google Dave Hinde before doing this (Duh!). To my horror after dropping the frame off I decided to have a look at some of there work, just out of interest really. After reading account after account about the way this shop treats people, I decided that I had no alternative but to drive the 90 miles back to the shop and collect my frame. Thankfully I managed to get the frame into my hands before telling them that I was leaving with it. The guy who served me accussed me of being sneeky for googling them and appeared uninformed about what was written about the shop on the bike forums. As I left he seemd miffed that I wouldn't stop and discuss things, I was just very glad to have an unreplaceable frame back in my hands.
I know that you could probably find something bad written about most bike shops from a disgruntled customer, but the write ups on Dave Hinde seem to be numerous and very daming.
Thanks to all who have written about this shop, my frame may be a Somec (Columbus Max mid 90's) and not a Colnago, but I would have been gutted to lose it or get ripped off with poor work, just wasn't preparred to take that chance,
Steve

rjsmith

Good for you mate. A big thumbs up for this.

giant_man

Hey it doesn't matter what frame it is, good or bad, you deserve good customer service. Simple as that. And as you rightly say, you wouldn't have got it there.

You shouldn't have mentioned Google, I wouldn't have, thats for sure. It then gave them a chance to defend themselves. At last you got the frame without handing over any money. Lucky escape indeed!

alfablue

Well done Steve - a lucky one indeed!

Thought about Argos Racing Cycles? Great reputation.

(ps Don't be surprised if a brand new forum member shows up here singing the praises of Dave Hinde}.

litttlestwoo

Yep, I'm waiting to say 'Hi Dave'
I'm thinking of using Steve Goff because his shop is neer my parents, I would much prefer to talk in person than to post the frame,
Living in North Wales frame builders are a bit thin on the ground,
has anyone got any experience with Steve Goff, prescious little on Google, which is probably a good thing!

danowat

Blimey, shows that googling before using a company is always worthwhile.

You've got to love the "Searches related to Dave Hinde" at the bottom of the google page when you google it!

rick_chasey

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/


C'mon, there are so many cases of this guy PLEASE let him get caught on national TV.

Monty Dog

I'd highly recommend Atlantic Boulevard in Bury - Neil's done two of my frames, a custom job on a Colnago and more recently restored a Gios. No cheaper than Argos, but he's a one man band and very meticulous. Your other option is Racescene in Barnsley and send it back to Somec in Italy.

softlad

to be fair, it's probable that Dave Hinde would only have sent it to Argos anyway.

I'm fully aware of Mr Hinde's ebay reputation, but I seriously doubt that anything bad would have happened to your frame...

cjw

Google gives great results doesn't it. You don't even need to click through to see how bad...

Second link (after the shop itself) reads

Bad Bike Shops - Lets Start With Dave Hinde | Cake Stop | Road ...20 posts - 18 authors - Last post: 13 Feb 2009
if you believe dave hinde when he says hes posted an item then you must be as soft as fupp-the guys a complete gobshyte! ...

Personally if ever buying off the internet from an unfamiliar shop I always search first. Usually if I don't find OK comments somewhere I move on to another shop. If I find anything where you have multiple negatives won't ever consider touching them. Yep they could change, but I won't give them a chance... too much hastle. Not just talking bikes here but anyhting.

ChosenOne

I have used Dave Hinde in the past and found his customer service to be 2nd to none, and his prices the best in the UK! So you may have missed out on a great respray at a great price.

bompington

ChosenOne wrote:

I have used Dave Hinde in the past and found his customer service to be 2nd to none, and his prices the best in the UK! So you may have missed out on a great respray at a great price.

This is a wind up, isn't it?

litttlestwoo

Welcome to the forum 'ChosenOne', I see that you have just joined up today, interesting name, Oh... Hi Dave

alfablue

Hi Dave

litttlestwoo

I did get in touch with Atlantic Boulevard, he gave a rough quote of £350 to re-chrome rear triangle and paint the rest. I thought that this was a bit pricey. Don't get me wrong I'm prepared to pay for a good job, Dave Hinde didn't give me the lowest quote, I for some reason thought he was a respected frame builder so chose him because he was (only) 90 miles away. I would still be intersted on opinions of Steve Goff's work, he sounds like a really nice guy on the phone and his web site is nice and old school. I would go to Atlantic Boulevard and pay the extra if it means getting the finish that I want for the bike.

Wappygixer

Why not have a word with Graham Weigh cycles?I think they still do frame building?
They are pretty close to you I think?
I bought a Kuota Kebel from them last year and the service is excellent, they went out of the way to help me.

sward29

In the interest of balance, I bought a stem on EBay a couple of days ago from HighonBikes which I believe is Dave Hinde's online operation. I have to say that I did it somewhat reluctantly having had a shiiite pair of wheels from Dave Hinde's shop some years ago and knowing his reputation from reading the various foums. However, I couldn't find another supplier that was offering what I wanted and at a similar price so took the plunge.

I ordered it on Sunday night, received an email on Monday saying that it had been despatched, and received it on Tuesday.

As much as i hate to say it I can't fault them on this occasion.

softlad

sward29 wrote:

In the interest of balance, I bought a stem on EBay a couple of days ago from HighonBikes which I believe is Dave Hinde's online operation.

Highonbikes is NOT Dave Hinde. I have bought from Highonbikes many times and they are excellent.

As far as I'm aware, 'fastpartsforbikes' is Dave Hinde.

Wappygixer

Highonbikes is excellent but as far as I know its nothing to do with Dave Hinde.
He did have an Ebay account (cant remember the name) feedback was so bad it closed down to open up again under a different name

aarw

ChosenOne wrote:

I have used Dave Hinde in the past and found his customer service to be 2nd to none, and his prices the best in the UK! So you may have missed out on a great respray at a great price.

wish i had thought of that!

litttlestwoo

I'll give Graham Weigh a call, hadn't realised he was in Deeside, about and hour from me. Can't see anything on his website about frame building though, although may be able to sort me out. Still interested if any one has dealt with Steve Goff.

softlad

most frame builders don't paint in-house. They will send out to Argos or one of the other painters that Monty mentioned.

In principle, going via a frame builder will be no different than going through Dave Hinde. All he would have done is boxed up the frame and sent it somewhere else anyway.

I'm pretty sure Deeside/Graham Weigh doesn't build frames anymore...

cougie

I was riding with a bloke from out that way the other week. I was asking about his bike and he said that Dave Hinde had built it for him. I asked how he found him and he was fine but very blunt. He did say that he was there when a bloke came in and said 'I'm interested in touring bikes' and Dave sent him away with 'Well I'm not !'.

I've a wheel that Dave Hinde built for me from years back - its fine. I'm sure it took longer than he said - but so did all my custom bikes from other makers.

sward29

softlad wrote:

sward29 wrote:

In the interest of balance, I bought a stem on EBay a couple of days ago from HighonBikes which I believe is Dave Hinde's online operation.

Highonbikes is NOT Dave Hinde. I have bought from Highonbikes many times and they are excellent.

As far as I'm aware, 'fastpartsforbikes' is Dave Hinde.

Thanks for setting the recrod straight. I remember reading on here that there was some confusion over DHcylesport on Ebay, with people thinking that that was Dave Hinde. Someone had posted that he was now operating under the name Highonbikes hence the confusion.

Now that I know that i will buy from them more often, knowing I'm not propping up Dave Hinde's bank balance.

stoobydale

Why don't you try one of your local car body shops or motorcycle repair centres? Probably wouldn't be able to do chroming but would be able to do a respray.

litttlestwoo

I had 2 main reasons for taking the frame back from Dave Hinde. Firstly I'm a bit old fashoned and tend to think that people are in the bike trade because they are passionate about bikes and like to help out fellow like minded people. I know the reality is that we all need to make a living, the way this guy seems to treat people can't be ignored though. So I suppose number 1 reason is priciple.
The 2nd reason is what would I have done if things had been done wrong? With customer service like he's got it would have been difficult and frustrating to get something put right.
The frame would probably have come back fine, but I can I take that chance when so many people are writing about how bad this shops service is?
I'm either going to take (or post if I have to) the frame to someone who does things in house, might as well go direct than have a 3rd party do this for me. Or I'll get the rear end chromed myself and then paint the front at home.