What to do when independent LBS provides rubbish service

TakeTurns

Usually I would go to a well established LBS. Albeit, it's a bit far. Most of the time, you can count on them. If you can't, they're likely to compensate to keep their reputation in tacked.

Today I went to my local independent LBS which has recently had a change in ownership after the previous owner went bankrupt. The shop seems to be ran by 3 people. It's awfully quite in there and from the looks of things they had no repairs lined up.

I thought why not help the folk out. So I decided to drop my bike down there for them to swap my groupset for a new upgrade. Returned 3 hours later. It was done. They had changed all the cables -okay -gear cables I understand, but why brake ones? The guy also wasn't able to index the gears properly, the shifting was shite. He told me that my right shifter is a 9 speed and thats why it was shifting poorly. As far as my knowledge goes, 6700 shifters are only 10 speed. The lever would also not flick back to it's original position once moved unless assisted by hand.

Left the shop disappointed. Went for a ride later, 5miles in I noticed the left crank arm seemed to be moving. F***ing hell it was loose and almost came off. Went straight to LBS, they didn't say much, just tightened it and that was it.

Was a bit annoyed about their carelessness. Nothing I can really do though. Continued with my ride, 10miles or so into my ride, I noticed the shifting on the rear was unbelievably atrocious. The chain was jumping about by itself and whenever I got out the saddle it would slip. I noticed it only happened in the upper range so I managed to carry on. Not that I made much use of it, but the front mech wasn't working at all.

LBS was closed when I completed my ride. I will have to go there tomorrow evening, but don't really know what to do. Their service has been a nightmare. If this were a well established business, I'd make a complaint, make them redo the work, ask for compensation, reiterating the fact that if I were out the saddle climbing and that crank arm came off I'd have no children because my testis would've been crushed between the crossbar. Also that they'd made a right dogs meal out of the drive train.

What would you guys advise? Any experience with this sort of situation before?

rolf_f

TakeTurns wrote:

What would you guys advise? Any experience with this sort of situation before?

TBH, I'd advise you to learn to do it yourself. It's not really much more to it than undoing a bolt or two and refitting. In the unlikely event that you stuff it up, I find it a lot less annoying getting cross with myself for my own incompetence than someone elses incompetence I paid for. You may need to buy a few special tools but once you've got them, you've got them and once you've used them, you've learned something.

Incidentally, if the shop went bankrupt in the first place, it may just be an unviable business. As far as the new owners are concerned, it probably seems easier to cut costs than invest in quality service. Nice to give them a go but you did and they blew it. Go back, tell them what you think and that's their final opportunity to keep a customer (but forget the compensation thing - you didn't get hurt. This isn't about trying to profit financially from someones mistake). If I was in your shoes I'd want to see the boss - then I'd want the best mechanic (or the boss assuming he is competent) to re-do the whole thing and show you how to do it yourself. Then you've really gained something from the experience.

diy

I must admit I quite enjoy do this stuff myself. Road bikes need about 1/3rd of the maitenance of mtbs, so I would personally take the time to do it myself.

I appreciate that means investing in tools, but it also means you can fix problems yourself.

It sounds like the cable they installed may have been bent or frayed.

ugo.santalucia

Name and shame...

Cheshire Celt

I have two local bike shops to me both are fantastic , my fav shop is Brian roukes in stoke on Trent guys are always spot on

ugo.santalucia

Cheshire Celt wrote:

I have two local bike shops to me both are fantastic , my fav shop is Brian roukes in stoke on Trent guys are always spot on

Yes, but this is London, where everybody is a con and nobody can do anything...

MountainMonster

Why does everyone expect compensation when something goes wrong?

ToeKnee

MountainMonster wrote:

Why does everyone expect compensation when something goes wrong?

I blame the Americans ... and Wiggle of course.

iPete

My LBS is rubbish, learning to do everything myself has paid for itself many times over & is quite therapeutic [when things go to plan which is not often ] plus no waiting time for repairs etc.

MountainMonster

ToeKnee wrote:

MountainMonster wrote:

Why does everyone expect compensation when something goes wrong?

I blame the Americans ... and Wiggle of course.

I wouldn't blame anyone other than here. No point blaming other people, as at the end of the day it is common culture here as well.

ddraver

Return and speak to the Head mechanic/Owner and make them fully aware what a shoddy job was done and that the employee needs to be properly trained before doing another such job...

If it was the owner/head mechanic that did it then cut your losses and never use them again.

Something similar happened to me with a suspension fork, the shop was very good about it and make the monkey responsible very aware that he was not to "just guess" again. They remain one of my more respected bike shops as a result and most times when I go home there I drop a rather large amount of cash.

TakeTurns

Yeah, I agree I should do it myself. In fact, a few of the parts I could have done. The bottom bracket tool to remove a pressfit is costly since it only gets used once every 1-2 years, that's why I had to go to the LBS. I thought I'd give them a shot and so I left them to do the rest of the groupset.

Thing is, when I gave them all the parts, they didn't mention anything about not being able to fit the BB. Once I got back, the guy told me that my BB was "okay", then followed by saying they didn't have the tool to remove it. How did he know it's okay if he didn't even remove it?

I won't name them because I haven't yet been to the LBS about the final issue to try and get a resolution. I mentioned compensation because their service wasn't up to standard, the job they did was incomplete (yet I was charged same amount quoted) and I'm having to go there again the next day. Some form of apology at least would have been reasonable. Doesn't have to be money.

Will report back after I go there this evening.

apreading

Both my nearest LBS provide rubbish service - which has forced me to learn for myself. Unlike others here, I dont particularly enjoy doing some of those things myself and would happily pay them to do it for my but it always comes back wrong, late and I have to keep chasing them for updates. When I am forced to use them I usually end up without my bike for a couple of weeks, their promise for when it will be done is wrong (they often havent even looked at it by that date), they finally do it when I start moaning and chasing and then I have to check and fiddle with the stuff they have done quite often...

Having said that, we have an Evans now and despite them perhaps not having the best reputation they will be my next attempt when I need someone to do something...

Strith

I'd give them another chance to put it right, but I'd make them well aware I'm not happy.

If they still can't get it right I would insist they compensate me the costs of having the work done by a reputable bike shop. You've paid for a service and it's their obligation to do the work correctly.

FWIW, I agree with others and suggest you learn to work on your bike yourself and invest in some tools. There are only a few jobs on a bicycle that require any kind of skill, most stuff is pretty simple.

snoopsmydogg

ToeKnee wrote:

MountainMonster wrote:

Why does everyone expect compensation when something goes wrong?

I blame the Americans ... and Wiggle of course.

i blame strava

racingcondor

If they don't recognise 6700 (confusing it with a 9 speed shifter) and can't set your gears up so that they work then I would speak to the owner about the quality of the wrenching and then never go back.

Do you want to risk people that clueless bolting things to carbon tubes?

There's a very good reason I only let me, Condor and Sigma work on my bike (and the wrench at Sigma is an ex Condor employee).

colsoop

racingcondor wrote:

If they don't recognise 6700 (confusing it with a 9 speed shifter) and can't set your gears up so that they work then I would speak to the owner about the quality of the wrenching and then never go back.

Do you want to risk people that clueless bolting things to carbon tubes?

There's a very good reason I only let me, Condor and Sigma work on my bike (and the wrench at Sigma is an ex Condor employee).

Everything this guy says.

Get a refund on the rubbish service. Put it down to experience and then see where other people on the forum in your area go.

Do you know any other riders that are handy with spanners, get them to show you a thing or two about wielding the spanners yourself, it really isn't that difficult.

nunowoolmez

OP, where abouts in London do you live. I use one LBS & one only, becuase they are quality. 2 Wheels Good in Hornsey/ Crouch End way. Converted to them after i was given some awfully bad service by a bike shop in Finchley (which will remain nameless). Nothing wrong with the work, just very poor customer service skills & extremely rude & unprofessional. 2 Wheels Good though are everything a LBS should be. Friendly, very helpful, proffesional & willing to go the extra mile. PM me if you need, but you can find em on Google. Worth the journey if you are not local.

diy

so the tool you didn't have, they didn't have either. hmm - personally I wouldn't name and shame.

MountainMonster wrote:

Why does everyone expect compensation when something goes wrong?

Why do people who provide crap service expect to get paid? All that is required is that the work is carried out with reasonable skill and care - not that hard surely?

964cup

If this is North London, then I also have a shop to avoid, for similar reasons. Wonder if it's the same one?

sunburntknees

nunowoolmez wrote:

OP, where abouts in London do you live. I use one LBS & one only, becuase they are quality. 2 Wheels Good in Hornsey/ Crouch End way. Converted to them after i was given some awfully bad service by a bike shop in Finchley (which will remain nameless). Nothing wrong with the work, just very poor customer service skills & extremely rude & unprofessional. 2 Wheels Good though are everything a LBS should be. Friendly, very helpful, proffesional & willing to go the extra mile. PM me if you need, but you can find em on Google. Worth the journey if you are not local.

I actually stopped going to 2 Wheels Good because I found them rude & and unprofessional!

That was a few years ago though, so maybe things have improved?

Is that a Finsbury Park kit the OP is wearing? If so, can he name the charlatans? They maybe near me and I need to avoid them!

TakeTurns

I dropped the bike off yesterday. When I got there I mentioned the fact nothing was working properly and that I wanted the cabling to be thoroughly checked. They were willing to get working on it immediately.

Returned that evening to collect the bike, everything seemed to be working well, they'd made a few alterations. I left the shop pleased with their response to not hesitate to come back if there were any issues. I rode the bike today -all seems well.

All in all, job done. However, that doesn't justify what initially happened. Will I go there again, probably not.

nunowoolmez wrote:

OP, where abouts in London do you live. I use one LBS & one only, becuase they are quality. 2 Wheels Good in Hornsey/ Crouch End way. Converted to them after i was given some awfully bad service by a bike shop in Finchley (which will remain nameless). Nothing wrong with the work, just very poor customer service skills & extremely rude & unprofessional. 2 Wheels Good though are everything a LBS should be. Friendly, very helpful, proffesional & willing to go the extra mile. PM me if you need, but you can find em on Google. Worth the journey if you are not local.

I'm at Highgate. I've heard of 2WheelsGood, I will try them out, thanks.

sunburntknees wrote:

I actually stopped going to 2 Wheels Good because I found them rude & and unprofessional!

That was a few years ago though, so maybe things have improved?

Is that a Finsbury Park kit the OP is wearing? If so, can he name the charlatans? They maybe near me and I need to avoid them!

Yes it's an FPCC kit, well spotted. The LBS is Archway Cycles. They did make things right in the end and were cooperative. However it's up to you if you use them or not.