Worst assembly by an LBS ever? Named and shamed!

kelsen

rjsterry wrote:

Agent57 wrote:

glauciaregina9 wrote:

only to be told they'd never heard of 'ISIS' :? ... pretty fundamental stuff if you ask me ...

I've never heard of ISIS, and I've been riding bikes for nearly 40 years. =/

Similar to Shimano Octalink BBs - i.e. an 8-splined axle end, rather than square taper.

Shimano?

El Capitano

spev11 wrote:

Wheelies

Interesting story...A few years ago, I had a Scott Expert Racing stolen from my shed. Target hit, didn't take any other bike.

It was replaced by my Insurance company with a Giant XTC, from Wheelies in Swansea. Now the bike was delivered "ready to ride". I had to fix the following upon receipt of the bike:

Tighten saddle/seapost clamp.
Remove the grips that had been cut to make room for the bar ends and fit new ones. This involved moving the brake and shifter levers to accommodate this.

Granted this only took a few minutes, and wasn't really a major issue, but IMO, they were cutting corners (or in this case 1/2 an inch of grip). I did go over the rest of the bike with a fine toothcomb to make sure nothing else was amis.

Now, this was my first MTB with disk brakes. I read the instructions carefully about bedding in the pads and went for a quick test ride. And this is where I ended up joining the original MBUK forum as the brakes didn't work. Yes, the pads moved towards the rotor and made contact when you pulled the brake lever, but it didn't slow the bike down much. After reading about how wonderful disk brakes were supposed to be compared to V brakes, I was a little confused. Until someone (I believe it was Nicklouse) asked if the pads could have become contaminated. The whole bike had been sprayed with WD40 before it was shipped to me. I know it was WD40, by the lovely smell... :oops:

Pads changed, rotors cleaned, brakes became awesome instantly.

joshtp

El Capitano wrote:

spev11 wrote:

Wheelies

Interesting story...A few years ago, I had a Scott Expert Racing stolen from my shed. Target hit, didn't take any other bike.

It was replaced by my Insurance company with a Giant XTC, from Wheelies in Swansea. Now the bike was delivered "ready to ride". I had to fix the following upon receipt of the bike:

Tighten saddle/seapost clamp.
Remove the grips that had been cut to make room for the bar ends and fit new ones. This involved moving the brake and shifter levers to accommodate this.

Granted this only took a few minutes, and wasn't really a major issue, but IMO, they were cutting corners (or in this case 1/2 an inch of grip). I did go over the rest of the bike with a fine toothcomb to make sure nothing else was amis.

Now, this was my first MTB with disk brakes. I read the instructions carefully about bedding in the pads and went for a quick test ride. And this is where I ended up joining the original MBUK forum as the brakes didn't work. Yes, the pads moved towards the rotor and made contact when you pulled the brake lever, but it didn't slow the bike down much. After reading about how wonderful disk brakes were supposed to be compared to V brakes, I was a little confused. Until someone (I believe it was Nicklouse) asked if the pads could have become contaminated. The whole bike had been sprayed with WD40 before it was shipped to me. I know it was WD40, by the lovely smell... :oops:

Pads changed, rotors cleaned, brakes became awesome instantly.

wheelies, while a nice shop, and a properly posh workshop is a bit of a no go for me now, despite being really,really close to my house.... its just too unreliable..and the owner talks some crap. I still use it for little bits and bobs, and will sometimes ask their opinion, just for the entertaining answer most of the time....

rolf_f

Boy Lard wrote:

Now I'm a bit concerned because I've been down to All Terrain Cycles a few times and they have been very helpful suggesting things that may help my cycling, not pushing expensive items at me just for the sake of it. I was intending to buy a new bike from them either next week, or next month (depending on pay days). If anyone has a different opinion about them I'd be interested to hear it.

I wouldn't worry about them. My Orange was fine. Was put together, 6 weeked and annual serviced by Dan. The only bother I ever had was some confused advice regarding replacing the spring in my forks but I got that sorted in the end.

andrewc3142

Posting on a forum criticising specific shops, especially if they are small, local businesses heavily dependent on hard-earned reputation, is not a good idea generally.

And an even worse idea if the criticism is based on incomplete facts, second-hand stories and the like.

Many forums have strict rules about this, and a good thing too IMHO.

asprilla

andrewc3142 wrote:

Posting on a forum criticising specific shops, especially if they are small, local businesses heavily dependent on hard-earned reputation, is not a good idea generally.

And an even worse idea if the criticism is based on incomplete facts, second-hand stories and the like.

Many forums have strict rules about this, and a good thing too IMHO.

Posting based upon anecdotal second hand information isnt a good idea, but if you have first hand experiance of poor service and bad advice then this is exactly the knid of place to share that information. Think of it as a review.

spev11

re Asprilla comment, thats fair enough but the fact remains you have to be 100% sure that your comments are true, this topics original point is possibly quite damaging to our business

rjsterry

spev11 wrote:

re Asprilla comment, thats fair enough but the fact remains you have to be 100% sure that your comments are true, this topics original point is possibly quite damaging to our business

And the OP title is not a little inflammatory for a 'some bloke on the train told me...' thread.

andrewc3142

Asprilla wrote:

andrewc3142 wrote:

Posting on a forum criticising specific shops, especially if they are small, local businesses heavily dependent on hard-earned reputation, is not a good idea generally.

And an even worse idea if the criticism is based on incomplete facts, second-hand stories and the like.

Many forums have strict rules about this, and a good thing too IMHO.

Posting based upon anecdotal second hand information isnt a good idea, but if you have first hand experiance of poor service and bad advice then this is exactly the knid of place to share that information. Think of it as a review.

Not sure I agree with that entirely. Yes, maybe if it really is bad service and you've tried and failed to sort it out privately with the shop.

But too often there are two sides to the story, things get written in the heat of the moment and loss of reputation through that kind of "review" can have serious consequences for a small business.

As a default, I would maintain that negative reviews should be discouraged.

MrChuck

Agent57 wrote:

Surely the guy would know where he bought the bike from. Something smells fishy.

You'd think, but in my shop days (not bikes) I dealt with a couple of customers swearing blind they'd bought something from us when we'd never stocked that brand.

Aidy

Wheelies have been handling my insurance claim, so far so good.

I'll no doubt end up stripping and rebuilding the bike when it gets here, but just because that's what I do.

spev11

to Joshtp/mbukman, it seems I've made an error and blamed Jack (part time/tea maker/hanger on) for the poor service you received when It was in fact the work experience kid and Julian the shop owner that you encountered. My apologies to both Jack for bringing his good name into disrepute and to Joshtp/mbukman for the in-experience of the work "experience" lad.

apologies made i'm off for tea and to watch the footie

SimonAH

HamishD wrote:

Ive an idea:

How about the OP (who doesnt even own the bike in question, nor know the person who does) contacts the bike shop which he has potentially libelled in a public forum and offers an apology for not checking facts before smearing a companys name and for being well, a bit of a busybody. . . .

Just a thought.

Hamish, I was the OP and you'll note that I mentioned that I brought the thread to the attention of Schmoos (incidentally with my full details and own email address - not anonymously through a forum).

I have had an offline conversation with Chris from Schmoos, conversation went as follows;

no worries Simon,
You'd be suprised at how many people we get calling in to collect bikes when they have actually taken them to a completely different shop.
If you do see the guy again then please get him to contact the original seller as I'd hate something to happen to put him off cycling (if he isnt already put off by the funny handling)
Cheers
Chris


On 15 June 2010 09:42,

Good morning Chris,



My apologies for casting an incorrect aspersion in that case – he was quite specific on Schmoos as the vendor, but I guess he must have his head on backwards as well as his forks!



Have a great day.



Best regards

I don't think that that is anything other than fair. And by the way I asked the guy twice which shop he bought the bike from to double check. As he very definitely said Schmoos and claimed to have bought the bike the previous week (it still had the stickers on the underside of the levers) I think I may be excused for taking him at face value.

spev11

cheers for the reply Simon,
we are of the opinion that the owner of the bike in question has us confused with another shop. As stated the only dealers for Giant in our area are Tredz, Wheelies and Action Bikes and, having worked in Tredz previously and our mechanic having worked for Wheelies we are sure that they would'nt let a bike out like that either. Its more likely a mail order bike or insurance replacement thats been delivered with the bars rotated to fit into the box

That large red rubber band comes on the forks from new as it holds the instruction manual on the leg.

Specialized Needs

SimonAH wrote:

HamishD wrote:

Ive an idea:

How about the OP (who doesnt even own the bike in question, nor know the person who does) contacts the bike shop which he has potentially libelled in a public forum and offers an apology for not checking facts before smearing a companys name and for being well, a bit of a busybody. . . .

Just a thought.

Hamish, I was the OP and you'll note that I mentioned that I brought the thread to the attention of Schmoos (incidentally with my full details and own email address - not anonymously through a forum).

I have had an offline conversation with Chris from Schmoos, conversation went as follows;

no worries Simon,
You'd be suprised at how many people we get calling in to collect bikes when they have actually taken them to a completely different shop.
If you do see the guy again then please get him to contact the original seller as I'd hate something to happen to put him off cycling (if he isnt already put off by the funny handling)
Cheers
Chris


On 15 June 2010 09:42,

Good morning Chris,



My apologies for casting an incorrect aspersion in that case – he was quite specific on Schmoos as the vendor, but I guess he must have his head on backwards as well as his forks!



Have a great day.



Best regards

I don't think that that is anything other than fair. And by the way I asked the guy twice which shop he bought the bike from to double check. As he very definitely said Schmoos and claimed to have bought the bike the previous week (it still had the stickers on the underside of the levers) I think I may be excused for taking him at face value.

Good exchange there and useful to see that made public. Just a thought, though: might it be worth editing and updating the original post to add the above exchange of emails in at the bottom of it as an "Update" so that a glance by a casual reader doesn't mislead them?