Complaints about bike shop servicing help please

lifeonloop

Hi, first post so I`m not sure if this is the right area of the forum to post my problem but anyway any help is appreciated.


9 month ago I bought a new Hardtail MTB (Dawes XC 2.2 lightweight) on line and had my brothers mate, who is a bike mechanic assemble it. Ive ridden it most weekends on 20-30 mile jaunts since with no problems at all until a couple of weeks ago when chain position had moved moved a little causing the bike to crank when chainging gear. Unfortunatly my mechanic had moved away so i decided to take the bike to a local established bike shop that has a workshop so it could be assessed. The guy there said it was not much of a problem and asked me to book it in for a gear service, costing £20. I collected the bike a few days later and the bill said £20 for the service and £5 to re-tap the pedal. I thought nothing of it and paid. Now I have rode this bike probably 500-600 mile and the pedals have been fine but within 2 mile of getting back on the bike the pedal started to shear from the crank arm. I took it straight back and asked why the pedal had been taken off as there was nothing wrong with it. The mechanic who did the repair is on holiday until next week so nobody could ask him but I left the bike again so they could fix it. Today the shop called to say it needed a new crank set costing £60, that the pedal was probably fitted wrongly and had been retapped, a retap can only happen once so now I need a new crank set. Surely if a pedal was wrongly fitted it would not last 500 mile up and down hills with a 13 stone bloke peddling away and besided the guy who fitted the pedals was a really good mechanic who has 20 years of bike know how. I told the shop this, they are waiting to here what the shop owner says and possibly wait another week for the mechanic to return to work, in the mean time I have no bike but explained that I took the bike in for a gear service, not a pedal problem. How long would a wrongly fitted pedal last? there was certainly no sign of it being wrongly fitted, no sign of it being loose and had it been left alone certainly lasted more than 2 miles. Where do I stand with this? I`m certainly not prepared to pay for damage I believe was non existant before the bike went in and a pedal repair I did not authorise. I want my bike back and believe I should not give the shop another penny.

supersonic

If he has retapped the crank arm, then he must have removed the pedal. So if they are saying it was fitted incorrectly, then the mechanic must have refitted it incorrectly...

But until you hear what he has to say, then it is hard to judge. Why did he retap the crank? Maybe the pedal had been forced on at an angle, crossing the threads, and it was just luck that it hadn't come off. And the retap did not cure it.

Wait until you get a full report.

lifeonloop

He would have removed the pedal, but like I said it certainly did not look like it had been fitted wrongly or cross threaded, the pedal was flush against the crank arm and like I said, the guy who assembled the bike was an experienced mechanic. For some reason the shop mechanic has removed it, retapped the crank and refitted the pedal, which then lasted 2 mile before coming loose. Waiting a week so they can talk to the mechanic is a bit of a joke as well.

getonyourbike

I'd be mightily pissed off. First of all why did the mechanic touch it at all and take the pedal off without your authorisation? I'm guessing that while the mechanic was fiddlnig with the cranks he decided to take the pedal off for whatever reason and while re-installing it, he messed up. Thentried to re-tap but it's still a mess causing tjhe pedal to fall off. When i take a bike in for a service, if it needs any further work doing, the mechanic gives me a call and checks with me. I'd agree with the OPs thinking, 'if the pedal's been fine for 600 miles, why does it start having problems right after the mecahnic touches it and re-taps it?'

supersonic

It is a long time, but reasonable for them to request a report. Ideally he should have rang you before he did the work to explain what he is doing, and certainly said so afterwards with any concerns. I'd be bringing this up as it would have saved this wait. But his words are needed, and in the eyes of the law, a week or two is not unreasonable to remedy a fault or complaint. I would have expected better though.

stubs

All is not lost if the pedal thread is gone you can get a thread saver fitted to fix the pedal threads. Wont be cheap and if its only a cheap crankset might not be worth it.

As Sonic said you need to wait till all the information is in I am afraid. Aggravating I know but its the only way. Could the bike shop maybe sort you out with a spare bike till the problem is sorted, ask nicely and they might be helpfull.

RevellRider

lifeonloop wrote:

Waiting a week so they can talk to the mechanic is a bit of a joke as well.

I'm sorry, did I miss the memo where bike shop staff aren't allowed a life outside of work?

The mechanic could of removed the pedal for many reason. Depending on the work done on the bike during the gear service. For instance, the crank arms could of been soaked in degreaser and the pedal removed so the bearings weren't stripped of any grease. There could of been a burr on one of the rings causing it to suffer from chainsuck, the mechanic might of removed the pedal to take the rings. Or the mechanic could of noticed that the pedal was fitted incorrectly.

Of course, the first two reasons could be totally null and void if it's the left hand pedal

lifeonloop

"Of course, the first two reasons could be totally null and void if it's the left hand pedal "

Nope, RH pedal, would this rormally be removed for a gear service?

I`m aware everyone (even bike shop mechanics) need holidays but waiting a week does not do my stress levels any good, they have not offered a loan bike either but to be honest I just want the matter sorted. I can wait for his reasons for removing the pedal, but I want to be able to back up my arguement with advice from you guys.

RevellRider

Like I said above, there are various reason why the pedal could be removed for a gear service. It all depends on what the bike shop carries out during the gear service. He could of been putting grease on your pedals.There could be a million reasons.

You need to relax, stressing out won't do you any good. You'll just be angry when you go and talk to the bike shop. As SS said, it's hard to judge what was wrong with the crank until they've spoke to the mechanic

blablablacksheep

OMG wall of test, please use paragraphs is the first thing, :P

Second hello welcome to forums

They should allways call you before doing anywork not related to the job which the bike was booked in for.

Any extra charges also must be layed out before work is done and not done then asked for money.

On your case though it isnt clear why he removed the pedal for gear work, maybe he wanted more room to move in ie more spanner room as they say.

Either way the pedal has come off the bike and somehow the crank arm is damaged, a picture of this be a lot of help and is allways good to take pictures before and after work is done to bike.

£60 for crankarm seems way over priced, given a whole new chainset ie deore M950 costs £58 including bottom bracket. so this questionable.

gl though life without a bike is hard as we all know

lifeonloop

Blablablacksheep, I apologise for my grammar

As it is the RH pedal it needs a whole new crankset I`m afraid. Its a Truvativ SRAM triple set which I have priced up on the web at about £45, so the shop have quoted the cost of them fitting it also (they would no doubt get the part at a discount too) - a five minute job with a crank puller to a half decent mechanic.

Thanks for your input everyone. I will keep you informed of the situation and see what the manager says tomorrow, at least I have some ammo!

cooldad

lifeonloop wrote:

chain position had moved moved a little causing the bike to crank when chainging gear.

Not too clear on what you mean here. What do you mean by the chain moving position, and what does a bike do when it cranks?

Bikes need regular maintenance and fettling, and most of it is pretty easy and can be done with a few basic tools. One way to avoid problems and shelling out cash is to DIY. Plenty of help online, from Parktools tutorials to Youtube videos.

My regular 2c (or should that be p) worth.

tri-sexual

what does "the bike starts to crank when changing gear mean?", this will give us a better understanding of the gearing issue
if pedals were rethreaded, is it a faulty pedal or a crank fault?
if you change the crank will you still have a rethreaded pedal which may cause damage to the new crank if the original pedal rethreaded job was done badly?
insist on talking to the shop owner or manager to ask him for an explaination rather than talking to shop staff
if they want to talk to the mechanic first then be patient and wait for his answer
ask what was the original gear fault was, what was done and why it was necessary to rethread the pedal, could be a genuine reason why it was done
if you are unhappy with their response, allow them the opportunity to repair the problem at their expense, if they refuse give them a deadline warning them that you will have the bike repaired elsewhere and you will reclaim this cost from them in the small claims court. if you go down this route all repairs must be "reasonable", service cost should not be over inflated and parts used need to be "like for like".

unixnerd

If someone kept your car for a week because the bloke who serviced it was on holiday nobody would stand for it. If it were my shop the least I'd do is to temporarily replace the crankset with a cheapo 15 quid one and sort it all out when the guy gets back.

lifeonloop

There is no issue with the gearing any longer, I just noticed the gear changing was not as smooth as previous, with a clatter when I changed up or down. The mechanic said a chainstay around the seat tube of the frame was off centre and he would just fix that and give it a gear service, which would be £20. I agreed to that and left him to it. When I went to pick the bike up the bill was £25 inc £5 for "re-tapping" . As it was only another fiver I didnt quibble I was just happy to have my wheels back. As soon as I rode it again it was as smooth as before.

That wasnt the issue though. The manager/owner was not available today, Its a decent sized shop with probably a dozen staff so I was only able to speak to a supervisor. The manager is phoning me tomorrow. It maybe that they will admit fault but I need to make a good arguement.

cooldad

lifeonloop wrote:

There is no issue with the gearing any longer, I just noticed the gear changing was not as smooth as previous, with a clatter when I changed up or down. The mechanic said a chainstay around the seat tube of the frame was off centre and he would just fix that and give it a gear service, which would be £20. I agreed to that and left him to it. When I went to pick the bike up the bill was £25 inc £5 for "re-tapping" . As it was only another fiver I didnt quibble I was just happy to have my wheels back. As soon as I rode it again it was as smooth as before.

That wasnt the issue though. The manager/owner was not available today, Its a decent sized shop with probably a dozen staff so I was only able to speak to a supervisor. The manager is phoning me tomorrow. It maybe that they will admit fault but I need to make a good arguement.

That would worry me, someone doing a bit of bending - aluminium doesn't take well to it.

tri-sexual

i was hoping you can tell us what the gearing problem was (symptoms) so that we can diagnose the problem and work out what procedures are needed to solve the problem (whether it was necessary to remove the pedals at all).

if you tell me that the chainstay is off centre on the seat tube, now i'm seriously confused.

wait until you get a reply from manager though i would suggest you going into the shop so that you can talk in person and let them explain to you using your own bike on what they did to your bike, why it was necessary to rethread the pedal and why a new crankset is needed on a relatively new bike

if this is done over the phone i suspect you will none the wiser (chainstay is off centre on seat tube? wtf? )

lifeonloop

that confused me also, I assume he meant the brace mounted around the bottom of the seat tube was off centre and had pulled the chain causing gear change problems, but I`m no mechanic. Going to the shop in person might be a better idea, then at least they can show me exactly why the pedal(s) were removed.

tri-sexual

the "brace " you are refering to , is that the front derailleur clamp"?

the chainstay are the (two) tubes which run from the bottom bracket to the rear wheel hub,
go into the shop and talk to them or you will be seriously confused

pilsburypie

What I fail to see is that if there was a problem with the pedal which they supposedly fixed and it then immediately broke, what is the issue?

I'd be pissed and tell them to fix it now. Balls to waiting till the mechanic gets back off his jollies.

NatoED

pilsburypie wrote:

What I fail to see is that if there was a problem with the pedal which they supposedly fixed and it then immediately broke, what is the issue?

I'd be pissed and tell them to fix it now. Balls to waiting till the mechanic gets back off his jollies.

yeah great way to put peoples backs up . I worked in a shop and when some one like you walked in and start kicking off i told them to go out side count to ten then talk like a person not an animal.

more can be done if people are reasonable . How would you like it if i came in shouting and kicking up a fuss in your workplace about something YOU personally didn't do but a colleague did.

meesterbond

NatoED wrote:

yeah great way to put peoples backs up . I worked in a shop and when some one like you walked in and start kicking off i told them to go out side count to ten then talk like a person not an animal. .

Did the customer then call you a condescending b&£#%^*d and never come in your shop again?

Frankly the customer service provided by some bike shops is atrocious and works from the default position that the customer is an idiot and is trying to rip them off.

NatoED

Actually 9 out of 10 times the customer went out for a few minutes came back in and apologised for shouting at the staff . In that 1 time out of ten they just didn't apologise but they all did return because they thought we sorted out their problem quickly . I would acknowledge that i could understand why they would be upset . Then sort the problem out for them , usually at our expense or if the damage was caused by miss use at a much reduced price.
Going in all guns blazing and blag "free stuff" isn't going to help your cause , in fact shouting at shop staff comes under threatening and abusive behaviour and if serious enough could mean the involvement of the police .

I don't think people realise how upsetting it can get for shop staff these days , especially when people decide that shouting in some ones face is the only way to get something done.

Treat others as you would like to be treated , it's surprising what it can get you.

pilsburypie

NatoED wrote:

pilsburypie wrote:

What I fail to see is that if there was a problem with the pedal which they supposedly fixed and it then immediately broke, what is the issue?

I'd be pissed and tell them to fix it now. Balls to waiting till the mechanic gets back off his jollies.

yeah great way to put peoples backs up . I worked in a shop and when some one like you walked in and start kicking off i told them to go out side count to ten then talk like a person not an animal.

more can be done if people are reasonable . How would you like it if i came in shouting and kicking up a fuss in your workplace about something YOU personally didn't do but a colleague did.

Perhaps from my short but to the point post you interpreted that is what I'd say to the shop staff. To clarify I would be polite but firm. Yes I understand it is not the chap on the tills fault and the mechanic who did it is away, BUT it is the managers problem. To be told they will have to wait till the mechanic gets of holiday is not acceptable. Which is what I'd say. I am always polite to people in shops, but if they take me for a twat then I certainly can take them for one and ruin their day and get what I want. Not knowing any more than the OP has informed us of, if it were my bike and the pedal did break immediately after the shop "fixed it" without asking, it would be fixed the same or next day. Whether that was from a polite conversation or them being unwilling to accept responsibility and me having to resort to angry horrible bastard mode is up to them.

Just to reiterate, please don't get me wrong, I show courtesy and respect to all, unless they are trying to f**k me over.

meesterbond

NatoED wrote:

I would acknowledge that i could understand why they would be upset . Then sort the problem out for them , usually at our expense or if the damage was caused by miss use at a much reduced price.

Unfortunately though, in my experience, that seems to be pretty rare in the bike trade. I've moved about a bit over the last few years so have used a number of lbs and the experience has been at best adequate and often worse, and that's without any shouting or histrionics. The starting position is not 'how can we ensure we keep this customer' it's more 'what's this idiot trying to blag' and you're expected to argue your point from there.

Turrican

Righty then firstly, it was for the crank / gearing which you paid for, now if any other or extra work is or would be need then you should off been notified of what needed doing and how much extra it would of cost. Secondly you have to be patient unfortuantly as the Manager of the shopthey cant really do much with out the full extent of the details which he / she will need from the mechanic who did the job, once he is back then go in speak to them both in calm but firmish manner and find out what was what etc IF A he did do the job and bodged it then you shouldnt have to pay for new cranks if prooven but B if the pedal was bodged in first place then the shop still shouldnt of removed it and charge you extra until you have been told.
Hope helps

PS I have seen shops do the little extra out of good will but not charge any extra though.

t0pc4t

i can see how it would be frustrating but rather than dismiss your complaint the manager has asked for time to find out what actually went on, that sounds reasonable. Just unfortunate the matey is on hols for a week

97th choice

meesterbond wrote:

NatoED wrote:

I would acknowledge that i could understand why they would be upset . Then sort the problem out for them , usually at our expense or if the damage was caused by miss use at a much reduced price.

Unfortunately though, in my experience, that seems to be pretty rare in the bike trade. I've moved about a bit over the last few years so have used a number of lbs and the experience has been at best adequate and often worse, and that's without any shouting or histrionics. The starting position is not 'how can we ensure we keep this customer' it's more 'what's this idiot trying to blag' and you're expected to argue your point from there.

Agree, the latest one was where I paid for a bleed, it wasn't done properly so lever went straight to the bar when used in anger. They huffed when I politely asked if it could be made a priority so I wouldn't lose the bike for the B/H weekend, and then they made a song and dance about it being done 'with no charge' when it should have been done properly, and checked, in the first place.

If I find a lbs that treats me right I'll use them regularly and let my mates know, shame I haven't found one yet.

Gwaredd

Meh, a dodgy pedal can stay on for ages. My mate has been a bike mechanic all his life & during a routine service on a road bike recently, checked the pedals were tight & one of them spun on its threads.

Bloke denied there had ever been an issue with it before, so my mates shop had to suck it up & fit a new crank. It was dear too - over £100 trade.

Sh1t happens & he was gutted & bemused, but they did the right thing. I suggest your shop does the right thing too, by returning your bike to you in the condition it was in when you first left it with them, minus the gear work you paid for.

blablablacksheep

am i correct in saying your BB+chainset is a octalink type or is it external?

If its octalink style/old style then you might just have to bite the bullet and pay out for a new chainset as DIY isnt going to be that much cheaper.

though i still unsure how the crankarm can be broken even with a fualty pedal, given how strong crank arms are they shouldnt brake that easy.

seems a wied case

NatoED

Yeah , there is a LBS near me that unless you want to spend £2000 on a bike they treat you like crap.

I do believe that increase in the "I'm the customer I'm always right" attitude that a minority show can have detrimental effects on staff and their attitude to customers. Asking for a part cheaper for "cash " is another beauty . I don't think people realise how little profit there is in bike parts .