Sundayjumper – Member
Did you read the first post ? Third para.

For some reason when I read that I read it as replaced as in put it back, rather then replaced with new.

Couldn’t for the life of me figure out why they would have taken it out.

No problem with drunk drivers, as long as they make it home ok then ?

Or near misses when commuting and the driver didn’t bother looking, or passed too close on purpose ?

or a dog that walks past a child without biting it in the face?

I used to do wheelbuilding drunk. Never seemed to affect the end product…

Anyway, I digress. As a customer, the OP is entitled to expect his bike to be safe to ride regardless of whether he should or shouldn’t be able to do it himself.

As most have said, tell the shop making clear you’re not happy but don’t go in there all guns blazing and they should sort you out to your (reasonable) satisfaction. If not then by all means name and shame.

or a dog that walks past a child without biting it in the face?

Oddly, I don’t see that as a problem. Should I ?

yes you are a monster who WONT THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN

IGMC

Think I agree with most of you and absolutely not planning to name and shame.

I did give them a call and they were quite apologetic and offered to put it back on. I explained that I had done that already. They then said they would give the bike another look over but so far have not offered anything else and I haven’t asked for anything else. I just said that I’d be in over the weekend and that maybe they’d have a think about what else they might like to do. Which I know recognise might have sounded a bit passive aggressive!

Check the crank that fell off. If it’s a Shimano BB Ideally there would be one of these screwed into it to pre-tension the BB.

If the crank fell off I’d expect that to be missing too or still in the hole in the crank because it hasn’t been properly attached.

I’ve always removed that plastic pre-tension thingy once I’ve done up the two bolts on the crank. Are you supposed to leave it in? 😕

Now there’s a question. It would be crushing to find out it wasn’t necessary after all. I’ve always wondered why they made the thing out of cheese. 🙂

I’d be wanting the money back from the service they botched. If the spline’s not damaged I’d not take it further than that but I’d be thinking very carefully before using them again.

Thing is… this sort of service is generally for people who don’t do their own spannering, to give them peace of mind and take care of everything for them. Or, for the somewhat competent to get an “everything is great” assurance for a big event or ride or holiday. So it’s not just a “they did one thing wrong”, it’s a “you didn’t get what you paid for”. So actually I reckon it’s a bit worse than normal because they must know it’s a service they’re largely selling to the mechanically incompetent, ie more trust and responsibility placed on them, no?

Do it yourself next time, and if it goes wrong beat yourself up.

If you had been using SPD’s the crank wouldn’t have fallen off.. You could claim that the bike fell off the crank?? 😀

Martinhutch- mine lives in the toolbox after its done its job.

edit: and in case that sounds smartarse ive made dumber mistakes (much)

It’s supposed to stay in place or the threads fill up with dirt. Same principal as dust caps on square taper cranks.

The very same thing happened to me today – a couple of weeks since the service (inc new BB) and the crank came off (my road/commute bike)

I’ll go into the shop tomorrow and see what they say.

hora – Member
The spindle/spline etc had worn over the years so had worked itself lose fairly quickly.

The aluminium crank had worn the steel axle? Pish.

Rorschach – Member
That’s a bit poo.Mistake can happen ,they’re only human after all.It’s how they deal with it afterwards that counts.

guess it’s more the fact that I could have hurt myself it happened 5 mins later

I never understand the getting upset over something that did’nt happen thing (but could have….along with a million other outcomes).[/quote]

^ this

i was wearing spds…was a slightly comical moment…

Oh Gawd…it’s happened again 🙁 (Luv you Al 😀 )

Get your points about nothing actually happening but it certainly wouldn’t make me want to use them again pre-race or some such. As Northwind suggests I fit in the camp that can do it myself but was ‘treating’ myself to someone else doing it properly.

Those of you who are saying your LBS just has some guy with 6 months experience clearly have fairly crappy LBS. Mine is generally fairly well regarded and the guy who serviced it had 8 years experience. Apparently. Guess it was just an oversight. But if I cocked up what I do as my job I’d expect to not get paid for it. Just saying.

From the shop’s perspective if you go in demanding the money back you could simply just be a chancer making the story up. Why should they give you the money back anyway? They did the work, one thing wasn’t tightened up properly but no harm done to you or bike. Maybe demand back the pro-rata rate per hr based on your salary for the time it took you to put the crank back on?

Or simply let them know and move on, lesson learned when you want a service in future.

Sorry to hear this. From experience it’s absolutely mortifying for the shop (owners/staff alike) when something like this happens and I’m sure they’ll want to put it right.

If you were the customer what would you expect the bike shop to do about this?

I’d expect an apology and for them to put right any damage, sort the problem, and for someone senior there to check over everything and make sure nothing else was ballsed up. If they felt like giving me some freebies or credit on top, I’d appreciate the gesture.

I’d like to think that I’d be understanding of the fact that mistakes sometimes happen, but I’d be pretty unhappy.

And if you were a bike shop what would you offer to do to try and rebuild my trust in your ability to safely service bikes?

I would personally (as the owner) apologise to the customer and I’d expect whoever was responsible to do the same. We’d sort the problem, including fixing any resulting damage caused, and make sure that everything was double-checked. If there was anything else you needed doing there and then I’d sort it free of charge (labour) charge, and if not I’d probably sort out some shop credit or something.

I’m sure the shop in question will want to put it right for you and make it up to you. The last thing any mechanic, no matter how junior or experienced, wants is for something like this to happen.

I’d be pissed off with both of those things happening after paying for a top job, keep us updated with what the shop says on the weekend OP.

Thanks Drovercycles, very sensible and considered reply (and coincidentally pretty much what I’d have hoped for as well ;))

Will be sure to keep you updated over the weekend

It’s supposed to stay in place or the threads fill up with dirt. Same principal as dust caps on square taper cranks.

My apologies, I didn’t look at the pic and was thinking of the plastic bit that goes into that.

and in case that sounds smartarse ive made dumber mistakes (much)

See 🙂

sweepy – Member
It’s supposed to stay in place or the threads fill up with dirt. Same principal as dust caps on square taper cranks.

More pish! Not used dust caps on my cranks (or valves) for decades. No issues.

More accurately, this is the picture I should have used.

Not much dust-protection qualities there. I don’t know if it actually plays any role once it’s been tensioned up correctly and the crank arm bolts tightened.

This sort of thing was why i ended up teaching myself to service the bikes, I had several crap jobs done by 3 of my local bike shops. Basically they are mostly done by kids on minimum wage so what do you expect?

The final straw with one shop was being charged a “fine” for a dirty bike when it was going in for a service and I had actually given it a blast with hose and got the worst off before hand (yes it wasn’t spotless, but certainly good enough to go in the back of the car) So for that extra £20 they lost a regular customer.

Even stuff like getting a reverb serviced, sent off came back with stanchion damage, which wasn’t there when it was sent off, had to argue that it wasn’t mine, they replaced “this time” and then when I got it back they hadn’t lined the sleeve and the stanchion up properly so the logo is now off to one side. I’m mean ffs. So, this time I’ve bought the service kit myself.

That said. A shout for loco as when I sent my shock to them, I got a phone call telling me what was up with it, what it needed, and it came back setup perfect.

@ martinhutch AFAIK – no it doesn’t hold anything when the bolts are tight. But it does keep the smegs out of the threads for next time.

My XTR c.set came with an ally one, so I figure it’s for keeping/using or Shimano wouldn’t bother.

In an emergency [lose pinchbolts] it might help keep the thing together and prevent spline damage ’till you get to a Hexkey.

I’m always surprised by the “Yeah, and…” comments on these sorts of threads.

I’d be livid. If you’re paying for a service, the very least I’d expect is that everything is tightened up properly! I’d want an apology, the bike checked over again at their cost and my convenience, and perhaps a small token of shop credit of a reduction of next service. I’d be wary about what they’d done t my forks as well.

Not great OP, hope you get it sorted 😕

you can buy the shimano preload bolt in cnc;d alu, in a choice of colours with a much more agreeable 10mm allen key hole. Looky click

What would you like out of the situation OP? Drovercycles’ reply sounds very reasonable. I would hope that if you go in and say “this is what happened, I have concerns for the rest of the bike could you please check it over again FOC” then you would get some reasonable help to check everything is indeed ok.

While I would be upset these things unfortunately do happen. I do all my own repairs, but took my very highly regarded LBS up on the offer of them building up a new frame for me for free… only to find my NDS XTR crank fall off on the ride home, just like you described happening to you, which also damaged the splines on the axle. As it happens, the cranks is still perfectly fine despite the apparent damage and all it took to cure was a regrease and making sure the bolts were done up…. most things on bikes are very easy fixes

It doesn’t change much for this instance but I would really recommend doing as much as you can on your own bike and only relying on someone else when specialist tools are required…. *paranoid* don’t trust anyone */paranoid* 😀

EDIT: I’d also be interested to know where offered to service your fork and shock. Most LBS’s won’t touch suspension and insist it be sent away instead

It’s alright I’ve called Angela Rippon and that Dom fella, they’re on their way round to yours now.

Update for those who care.

Took it in to the shop today and they were quite apologetic (not very but not sure what I expected tbh) and took it in straightaway to give it a once over. I went away for an hour and when I got back they seemed to have done it and as a bonus fixed the puncture I had got in the meantime as well as fitting a new Middle ring that I bought thinking it probably should have been replaced during the service.

No mention of a discount in the future or any other perk (other than a free tube I guess) but at least the bike is working. At least I hope so, not actually ridden it yet.

I shouldn’t think I’ll use them again if I’m honest, just because…

Also, and this might be a common thing with bike services…but do you normally get given the old stuff they take off to replace? You do with car services. And I didn’t with this bike service. Recognise this makes me sound a bit tight, but tbh I would have recycled the old chain on a pub bike…

I’ve certainly offered old chains, tubes, tyres to customers in the past but I can’t recall anyone ever taking them. Usually, folk are just happy to have the shop dispose of it lest they actually get their hands dirty.

If you are unhappy with the service dont go back. Its exactly how i stopped using bike shops losing all my brake fluid in the middle of nowhere was the final straw. I dont blame the mechanics when they have to spanner and serve people, I imagine this must be tricky remembering what you was doing mid job.

I’d always expect old stuff back. The shop as a whole doesn’t sound like someone worth bothering with too much in the future (on the basis it doesn’t sound like you were blown away by them)

We wouldn’t generally offer to give components back to customers if they’ve been replaced as part of a service due to being worn out – they’re worn out after all – but we’d certainly be happy to hand them over (save us the disposal costs apart from anything else).

If fully-functioning parts have been replaced/upgraded we’d always put them in a box for the customer although they’re not always taken away.

I’ve had one customer last year who’s left hand arm fell off a few weeks after Id fitted a bb. It might have been one of those things , the Chainset was old and well used ultegra but I thought the right thing to do was replace the left hand arm for free and reservice the rest of the bike.

Mistakes do happen but good customer service is about fixing those mistakes instantly and well

Don’t always keep all the old bits. If the work is aggreed face to face first then they go in the bin.
If it’s arranged over the phone the tend to keep the worn stuff but most don’t want it

Was that the one with his wallet hand?

slight edit , I missread above as a dig
All better now