Halfords have broken my Bike!!!

macleod113

Ok, so my new bike is looking a little sorry for itself and not feeling confident enough i ring my lbs to see if they can swap out my cables on my Ribble.
3 weeks were quoted and i need it sooner. dumb sucker me takes it to Halfords and get quoted £30. sounds ok so in goes the bike. they screw up the bar tape making it look like a 2 year old wrapped it. cable 4 inches long poking out of the rear mech, 3 inch cable from the front mech (rubbing against my leg when peddaling). hmm...
pick it up next day and all seems fine. take it for a spin and all of a sudden my shimano 105 shifters need a double push to shift onto the big ring at the front. hmm, odd i think but press on.
several shifts later (about 2 miles) the chain comes off. put it back on and a mile later it happens again. then the front chainring wont shift again and i'm stuck in the big ring.
I take it back to Halfords who apologise and refund me. take the bike to Decathlon (had good service there before) and they tell me the left shifter is dead and needs replacing.
Halfords take the bike back, look it over and tell me they havent done anything wrong and to do one (call customer services).

where do i stand? i have strava maps showing deviations where the chain came off and where i found i was stuck in the big ring but i dont think this will help.

i have ordered a new left shifter but wasnt cheap.

any advise (other than to never use that shop EVER) would be greatly appreciated :-(

napoleond

Never use that shop EVER.

MattC59

Get a letter from Decathalon stating what is wrong. Take it to Halfords and talk to the manager only, not a shop monkey. Explain, very nicely, that it was fine before they got their hands on it, that they didn't fix it, and that by giving you a refund, they are admitting that they are at fault. (I may be wrong with the last bit, but someone will confirm).

As NapD said, NEVER use Halfrauds. Their service is generally appauling !!!
Find yourself a good local bike shop, or, learn some maintenance yourself.

le_boss

out of interest, what model of 105 was it?

if it was the 5600series then the left shifter had a design fault and was prone to failing.

macleod113

To be honest they were about 6 years old, flight deck ones. i know things do fail but not with this much coincidence. :-)

Rob Somerset

Not too sure what work was being done, a' sorry new bike' and 6 year old shifters ?. Anyway, 6 years on a shifter depending on usage and conditions may be reasonable. Main thing is the job is simple to do yourself, it probably would have taken you less time than taking your bike to the shop and you can do it to the quality you wish to see. Spend your money on quality parts and fit them yourself is my advice. Generally you dont need specialist tools unless you are push fitting bearings or suchlike. Rob

cougie

Cable fitting is very easy - it shouldnt take more than 10 minutes.

I don't think you've got much of a case - changing the cable is so simple that I cant imagine how you'd break the lever. And yours was getting on. Save your energy and get a new shifter and learn how to replace cables yourself.

ianbar

wether you push the store is up to you but at the very least i would write to halfords head office telling them the full story and say your confidence in the company has been tarnished to the extent you probably wouldn't go back again to any of their stores, you might at least get some vouchers or something through the post

thegibdog

If it was a 5600 then it sounds like Halfords set the derailleur up wrong causing the shifter the fail - I know it's possible because I did it myself! As mentioned it is quite a common issue on some 5600 shifters and it is not caused by general wear and tear but poor setup. If this is the case then Halfords owe you a new shifter IMO.

FYI Merlin have the R700 L/H Double which doesn't suffer from this issue for £44.64 at the moment.

macleod113

Thank you for all your advice guys. very much appreciated :-)

woodywmb

Scan your receipt from Decathon and email it with full details to Andy Weston at customer.services@halfords.co.uk
They will send you a cheque, not vouchers, in compensation. The going rate is 50 per cent of cost. Ideally you should quote the branch name and number and also the name of the person who served you. These will be on your Halfords receipt.

hodge68

thegibdog wrote:

If it was a 5600 then it sounds like Halfords set the derailleur up wrong causing the shifter the fail - I know it's possible because I did it myself! As mentioned it is quite a common issue on some 5600 shifters and it is not caused by general wear and tear but poor setup. If this is the case then Halfords owe you a new shifter IMO.

FYI Merlin have the R700 L/H Double which doesn't suffer from this issue for £44.64 at the moment.

I did the same, not sure what i did, but i did it :oops: ,LBS sorted it on the cheap with a second hand shifter

k-dog

I had one of those shifters go on a brand new bike - first day out so a bit like you (in the sense that it was the first day out of a shop). I'm suspicious that a lot of them were set up wrongly so that the little middle click to stop the chain rubbing was in the wrong place so the cable tension gets too high trying to move up to the big ring and then snaps the shifter.

Not a great design obviously but bad setup makes it more likely. I got a new shifter the next day and the mechanic set it up properly - the throw was much lighter and 2 years on I've barely touched it.

giant_man

Of course Halfords have broken your bike, you should NEVER go there, they're just masquerading as a bike shop.

migrantwing

Rob Somerset wrote:

Not too sure what work was being done, a' sorry new bike' and 6 year old shifters ?. Anyway, 6 years on a shifter depending on usage and conditions may be reasonable. Main thing is the job is simple to do yourself, it probably would have taken you less time than taking your bike to the shop and you can do it to the quality you wish to see. Spend your money on quality parts and fit them yourself is my advice. Generally you dont need specialist tools unless you are push fitting bearings or suchlike. Rob

+1