Dealing with a LBS (bad service content within – pitchforks provided)…..

The saga is a long one, but the salient points are:

– Back in June, phoned up my L(-ish)BS to book in my Alfine-11 for its first service – told it wouldn’t be able to be booked in til mid-July. Checked to confirm that they could service 11-spd’s and told it was no problem.
– Appointed day arrived and I dropped off the wheel…. a couple of hours later, got a sheepish phone call saying they had never done an 11-spd before, didn’t have the service kit and would have to order it. Projected date for kit was early Sept, so booked it back in for mid September. Mildly annoyed, but these things happen.
– Dropped off the wheel again at the appointed date to the slightly depressing news that ‘…I don’t think we’ve got the service kit yet..’ so the collection date on the job card was put at TBC and it was left that they’d give me a call when it was done.
– A couple of weeks have passed, so I’ve just given them a call for an update. Turns out that the service kit had arrived and they did the service on the same day, but it would appear no-one botherd to give me a call and the guy on the phone got quite shirty that they still had the wheel and actually put the phone down on me mid sentence. I was really shocked by his attitude -at no point did I get shouty, just wanted an update – as above, the delay is a bit annoying, but I have a spare bike, so I just want it done properly.

The whole experience has been pretty ropey, but I wonder if a) I should just chalk it up to experience and go somewhere else next time, b) have a word with the workshop guy when I pick up the wheel c) go straight to the boss-man verbally or in writing or d) all of the above.

Thoughts and musings welcome….. tea is on, biscuits at the ready….

Tell them what you think about them. Open Google. Learn to service your own hub (easy enough).
All bike shops have is good customer service and attitude. If they mess that bit up, they really don’t have anything. Bad shops don’t deserve to be in business.

the service kits cost an arm and a leg and they’re not likely to get asked to do many so I’d make it clear on my return that I felt they’d given me poor service and that I’d be going elsewhere in future.

You will have rather burned your bridges though as far as buying stuff from them is concerned.

Stay calm and state your case when in the shop. Pick a busy time so there are other customers around – the shop staff will try and stay polite if nothign else…

LBSs have to earn trust, just like Motorbike and car specialists. If this one give you a duff vibe, find a better one. Its the essence of capitalism. I would give the Manager a chance to explain, as it might solve all ills.

live and let ride

what he said…

The service kit is complete rip off as ATF does the same job at 1/5 of the price.

Tell the boss in writing – factually and precisely. No ranting

Learn to service your own hub (easy enough).

Yeah, but the service kit is ~£90 and I would need to sell my daugther to buy a litre of the oil (of which I need 50 ml). Should only need to do it every 12/18 months after the first interval, but I may well look into it now…….

The service kit is complete rip off as ATF does the same job at 1/5 of the price.

This is a ‘keeper’ – if I get problems down the road, I an imagine the response from Madison if I said I just chucked ATF in it. For the sake of £30 every 18 months I felt it was worth doing it right AND putting some work to the LBS…… currently revising that opinion….

My LBS wouldn’t touch my Afline 8 due to the high cost of the Shimano service kit and their relative rarity. I ended up getting them to order the ring spanner and did the service myself. Easy job really and I just used ATF.

Did you speak to the workshop when you confirmed it was an 11-speed Alfine? If not, it could just have been a lack of communication as the shop floor guy might not have realised the difference.

The service kit delay may have been out of the hands of the shop. I’m guessing that lots of folk have suddenly been asking for them and the distributor may not have had enough to hand.

Not letting you know that the wheel was fixed was tardy.

Hanging up on you was unforgiveable.

Looks like an object lesson on the very worst way to handle a mistake.

I’d have been running a mile when they told me I was going to be their [strike]Guinea pig[/strike] first customer for this

Did you speak to the workshop when you confirmed it was an 11-speed Alfine?

Absolutely – told them at least 3 times on the phone they did not need to open it up as it was 11-spd NOT 8-spd…. and when I dropped it off the first time I pointed out the drain plug on the hub body…. and he still took it.

I’d have been running a mile when they told me I was going to be their Guinea pig first customer for this

They are a Shimano Service Centre – biggest in town AFAIK – so I would expect them to be aware of these things, if not have the kit to hand…..

I recently had my alfine 8 serviced by a shop. I checked they had the kit – they guy showed me it. I booked it info the next day. I dropped my bike off and borrowed a courtesy bike in exchange. I went home. That afternoon I got a phone all to say it would not be ready that day – would be tomorrow – they had not realised they needed the ring spanner and it would not undo by hand.

I collect he bike the next day. All sorted

That is how a bike shop makes its living – by providing decent service and by sorting out any issues professionally and politely.

Leith cycles in Abbeyhill BTW

Had a similar experience trying to get mine serviced, it appears that Madison were just as crap supplying the service kits as they were the hubs, no turn washers, fitting kits etc in the first place. I didn’t just leave the wheel somewhere, in fact I still haven’t managed to get it done so I’ll probably have invalidated the warranty if it does go bang. Sometimes I despair about the cycle trade.

TJ – that’s all I want really, is decent comms. Delays happen and I understand that…. but the fact they had my home/mobile/work numbers and couldn’t make some form of contact just does not compute. Fair enough – if there was a misunderstanding about who should have called me after the work was done on the day….. but to have the wheel still in the workshop after two weeks, and get mardy about it, rather than trying to find out why it is still there beggars belief 😐

i would send a letter tbh ans it has not been great service
The hanging up is utterly unforgivable and just not acceptable

If you want a job done properly then do it yourself…

Can’t get there until tomorrow AM to pick it up – we’ll see how it goes then before deciding on further action, though I think a letter is in order. Critically, I want an overview of what was done/what they found and have the wheel back in my possesion before going any further 😉

Mindful that I’ve been fed a crock of sh!t at various points all the way along, I did actually consider recording the latest call so the inevitable ‘who said what when’ argument had a little bit of weight on my side….. maybe next time 😉

Looking forward to find out which shop it is! I’ve had bad service from most of the bristol ones, which has kind of forced me to learn how to do most jobs myself.

Johns Bikes in Bath has been good to me so far, and Jake’s Bikes in Bristol seem like nice guys.

Looking forward to find out which shop it is!

That would be telling – let’s see how it goes tomorrow… 😉

I dont think you helped yourself by not checking the service kit had arrived before dropping the wheel off for the second time. Also If I hadnt heard anything from them after a week I’d have been calling them for an update.
Im not excusing their lax attitude to communication and service, they certainly shouldn’t have hung up on you either!
At the end of the day I have learnt do all my servcing because:-

1) I can do it at a time that suits me.
2) I know its been done properly.
3) I enjoy fettling.
4) Costs me nothing other than the raw materials.

If you want a job done properly then do it yourself…

Strangely, my mantra is the reverse.

I dont think you helped yourself by not checking the service kit had arrived before dropping the wheel off for the second time. Also If I hadnt heard anything from them after a week I’d have been calling them for an update.

All true – in mitigation, it is a pain to get to them during the week, so to take the wheel home AGAIN and then go back AGAIN would have been a complete ball ache. As I had a spare bike I could afford to leave it with them. You are right, I should have rung them after a week, after which I went on hols for a few days so it got put on the back burner until today. It was made clear that they would ring me when it was done/if they had a further update on progress….

1) I can do it at a time that suits me.
2) I know its been done properly.
3) I enjoy fettling.
4) Costs me nothing other than the raw materials.

1) I’m time-poor at the moment/happily pay a ‘nominal’ amount to get it done….
2) Never done a hub gear before, so in combination with 1) I wanted it done right this time….
3) Same here, but I don’t fancy bu**ering ~£400 of hub without doign a little research first (again, see 1)
4) See cost of service kit and oil, above…..

Bristol bike shops for you I’m afraid. Useless.

Bristol Disapointing majority of bike shops for you I’m afraid. Useless.

EFA

There’s some folks making some strange excuses (IMO) for the bike shops about the service kit and whether it was a desk guy or workshop who you talked to. They’re in business to do stuff with bikes, they’re the “expert”, the onus is on them.

If it were me I’d go back, get the wheel in my hands, check it’s been done then tell them you are unhappy, explain politely why to the appropriate person (shop manager / owner). Avoid getting p1ssy about it, nice calm and clear. Let them put their side and unless it’s good ask them what they’re going to do about it as you aren’t happy. A good gesture would be no charge, a fair compromise might be you pay for parts (not the kit 😉 and they suck it on the labour.

And unless you were particularly happy with them after that I’d not bother going back.

If it were me I’d go back, get the wheel in my hands, check it’s been done then tell them you are unhappy, explain politely why to the appropriate person (shop manager / owner). Avoid getting p1ssy about it, nice calm and clear. Let them put their side and unless it’s good ask them what they’re going to do about it as you aren’t happy. A good gesture would be no charge, a fair compromise might be you pay for parts (not the kit and they suck it on the labour.

I don’t mind paying – they quoted ~£30 (admittedly, when they assumed it was 8-spd – the 11-spd service simpler involving no dismantling and about 10 minutes of actual spannering as far as I can tell), which seems not unfair when offset against their capital investment in the service kit/oil/time. Deciding if it was done/done correctly is going to be a little bit harder as it simply an oil change…..

I’m tempted to simply get the managers name tomorrow and write it all down – I know the name of the workshop guy who got p!ssy this morning and I think it would come across calmer in a letter…. it might get a little shouty in person 😉

I think you have been more than reasonable and very understanding about this.

How about seeing if you can get the e mail address of the manager before you pick the wheel up, and sending him a link to this thread pointing out you have kept his shop anonymous so far, and a happy resolution to this issue might mean either good publicity – or perhaps better still – no publicity…

oil.well you need the shimano oil.
special shimano dinosaurs,obviously.

If you want a job done cheaply* do it yourself

*actual quality of work may vary.

In the first call they agreed they could service 11 speed. I’d have gone elsewhwere after failing to service the first time

Stoatsbrother – are you suggesting the OP threatens them!?

In the first call they agreed they could service 11 speed. I’d have gone elsewhwere after failing to service the first time

This is the crux of the “shouty dilema”, which others have alluded to – after the first “mishap” I rang around any other shop I could think of that I’d be happy to go to. None of them had the service kit either – and critically – none of them was interested in getting it either for a, potentially, one off job. I don’t want to burn my bridges too hastily here as I may well end up having to go back to them in the future……..

Stoatsbrother – are you suggesting the OP threatens them!?

Does sound like passive blackmail (which I don’t entirely dismiss as a tactic 😉 but, TBH, I’m sure they pick up so much passing trade that losing my business – or even anyone else on here that might use them – will be neither here-nor-there to them. Workshop waiting time is consistently 6-8 weeks.

Interesting thread this as my Alfine-11 is due its first service in the near future and being not a million miles away in Wiltshire I was thinking I might well end up trying your LBS knowing that at least they had the service kit available (my very local bike shop wouldn’t even touch the Alfine!).
I’d be interested in knowing if they’ve done a good job (eventually) or if there’s any noticiable difference.
Otherwise, does anyone know of somewhere that would be able to service an Alfine 11 hub in West Wiltshire/Bath area?(thinking Johns Bikes in Bath is probably the best bet but they were a bit vague when I tried asking the last time I was in there)

Sheriff – Mister P of this parish was under the impression that Noah’s Ark might have a service kit as well, which may be a little more local to you. I cannot confirm if this is the case, but could be worth a call if it saves you a few miles……

Thanks for that – probably a similar distance but undoubtably quicker and easier (and more pleasant) to get to than the far side of Bristol. Will bear them in mind when the time comes, got a few hundred km left before I need the service but I expect it’ll be needed before winter.

What a shame to hear that hopefully someone was just a bit tired and they will man up and apologise
I thought to start with it sounded just like that bloke from the shop nearest to your work 😉 he is a right misery

I would recomend Webbs of Warmley owned run and spannered all by the main man Si for stuff like that and anything else.

🙂

BB – not really.

6-8 weeks. I booked my car in for a service yesterday for 10 days time.

Why do so many LBSs pull this crap?

My lbs actually charges you storage if you don’t pick up the bike / part a few days after they have done the repair, they are not great at phoning to say it’s complete either!
I go elsewhere now, especially after being told a brand new unused (front) rim was knackered and not possible to be trued when it was actually the rear wheel I wanted sorting!

6-8 weeks 😯 it pays to learn the spanners for sure, also to use your LBS as much as possible for parts etc as they’ll be more likely to help you out in times of crisis (lack of knowledge/right tool etc)