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LBS Rip OFF

141 posts & 75 voices | Started 1 year ago by tollah | Latest reply from shoefiti

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tollah - Member

My SO bought a CX bike last year from our LBS, she went in there today to get a brake cable and a gear cable fitted (All service work is supposed to be free as long as you own the bike).
They tried to charge her £18 for two cables!! Complete joke if you ask me, you can't make an offer of free service then try and charge silly over inflated prices for stuff. Most people locally are fed up with the service and we've been defending them for a while now but that has just changed.

RANT over sorry about the capitals and spelling errors

Posted 1 year ago #
rootes1 - Member

that free labour or free labour and parts?

Posted 1 year ago #
crikey - Member

You wouldn't even change a cable for her? She not that significant then?

Posted 1 year ago #
wwaswas - Member

is it just the inners that got changed?

they must have the stuff hung up in the shop so you can see what they'd charge you to buy it?

Posted 1 year ago #
walleater - Member

Maybe double check the 'free service work', as normally it just applies to adjustments, not installation.

Why didn't you be a proper man and do it yourself?

Posted 1 year ago #
CaptainMainwaring - Member

£18 sounds pretty reasonable to me. Free servicing would include stuff like gear and brake alignment, checking bearings etc, but IMO would not include replacement cables, fitting and adjustment which are wear and tear

Posted 1 year ago #
ChunkyMTB - Member

What CM said.

Posted 1 year ago #
ziggy - Member

There was me thinking you would get some sympathy.

What cables were they then?

As for you can't make an offer then charge inflated prices, well yes you can, however you can choose to go elsewhere.

Posted 1 year ago #
clubber - Member

You should have asked them if they know who you are - that'd have changed their tune

Posted 1 year ago #
wwaswas - Member

You should have asked them if they know who you are

the danger of that approach is that shop assistant #1 turns to shop assistant #2 and says;

"We've got one here who can't remember who he is!"

or

"Ask Sister, she'll know who you are".

igmc.

Posted 1 year ago #
tollah - Member

All she wanted was inners. I would have done it for her if I had the inners at home yesterday when I fitted her new STI. I'm working today she had the day off to go get some miles in. She's ended up doing no miles now today.

I'm sorry but theres no way on this earth someone can keep a straight face and ask for £18 to fit two inner cables especially when the fitting should have been free.

Posted 1 year ago #
13thfloormonk - Member

All service work is supposed to be free as long as you own the bike

Really? That sounds incredibly generous, sure it wasn't a free service when the bike was new? Free servicing so long as you are the original owner would see the shop out of a lot of money in the long run...

Bet you the inners cost about £2.50 each, so that means for £13 you got both derailleurs set up and adjusted. If a mechanic wants to do a good job of it then its no 5 minute job. Front mechs on road bikes in particular are sometimes a P.I.T.A as the shifters have those trim shifts. Not saying its hard, just saying £13 is pretty reasonable.

Posted 1 year ago #
MrK mkII - Member

i went to an LBS once for cables. they only had super- XTR and charged about £18 for only the rear mech. so i guess it ain't that bad...

Posted 1 year ago #
njee20 - Member

I don't believe a shop can afford to offer free servicing for life, they'd go out of business very quickly. Sure it wasn't 'a' free service?!

Posted 1 year ago #
tollah - Member

Free fitting when you buy new parts the deal is!

Clubber, sadly yes the owner does know who I am or at least knows several people that do know me LOL

Posted 1 year ago #
13thfloormonk - Member

Free fitting when you buy new parts the deal is!

Haha! Two inners are stretching the definition of 'parts' a little

I think by 'parts' they'd be referring to mechs, or brakes or forks, you know, big ticket things that warrant a bit of free labour. Not £5 worth of cables.

Posted 1 year ago #
farmer giles - Member

the close proximity of the railtrack 'allows' them to do that.

when i enquired about a demo bike at that shop he told me that they only got them in his size because he was the 'normal' size.
i didn't think i was exceptionally unusual at 5'7'' ?

Posted 1 year ago #
ctk - Member

Some bike shops do free service checks/labour if you buy a bike there (my LBS does) 2 inner cables top whack £6. I'd give em ring and see what the deal is/was.

Posted 1 year ago #
crikey - Member

Ah, I see....

You didn't fit the cables, so she went to get them fixed, wasn't happy, so blamed you, now you're blaming the LBS.

Schoolboy/girl error on your behalf I'm afraid...

Posted 1 year ago #
geoffj - Member

Come on then, name and shame.

Posted 1 year ago #
crikey - Member

His/her name is tollah and he/she is ashamed....

Posted 1 year ago #
Mostly Balanced - Member

I always advise customers to change the outers at the same time as the inners for best shifting and braking. If they'd done that with genuine Shimano outer cable and sealed ends then the £18 would only be a little over the top. If they really only changed the inners they should be ashamed of themselves.

They know who you are but do they know who your SO is and that they had made that offer when you bought the bike.

Posted 1 year ago #
clubber - Member

I don't believe a shop can afford to offer free servicing for life, they'd go out of business very quickly. Sure it wasn't 'a' free service?!

I've seen a few actually - suprised me but I guess that they figure that most people don't actually ride their bikes enough to get servicing and they'll make some of it back on the parts (eg the inner cables) they replace but £18 for two is silly. You sure they weren't going to replace the outers too?

Posted 1 year ago #
thisisnotaspoon - Member

at home yesterday when I fitted her new STI.

So you bought new parts elswhere, then wanted the LBS to fit them for nowt?

Set of cables is about £8, 10 minutes labour (bear in mind STI's with the cable under the tape are a whole PITA more than that) at £50/hour and £18 for a job you could have done yourself but didnt doesnt sound too bad.

Posted 1 year ago #
Mostly Balanced - Member

£50/hour

I'd love to be able to get away with that down here.

Posted 1 year ago #
DaveGr - Member

She's taking her bike to be fixed and he's washing his Merino tops. It's a funny old World ......

Posted 1 year ago #
Scienceofficer - Member

It would have been £20 at my place. 2.50 per cable each, and 7.50 each for front & rear gear re-indexing. Fitting involves the re-indexing, which as been said, isn't a 5 minute job.

Even as a punter, I can't see it being especially outrageous, particularly if you don't have the skills or time to do it yourself.

Posted 1 year ago #
uplink - Member

Even as a punter, I can't see it being especially outrageous

I think the accusation is that £18 was the charge for the parts alone

Posted 1 year ago #
Scienceofficer - Member

That seems so incredible as to not be possible. Was there a big mis-communication?

Posted 1 year ago #
shoefiti - Member

crikey - Member

His/her name is tollah and he/she is ashamed....

And thus again demonstrating how he has managed to assend to the higher echelons of ass-hatery than most STW forum users could only hope to achieve.

Posted 1 year ago #
tollah - Member

Doesn't really matter now as she's going to pick sone cables up tomorrow for me to fit later in the week.

Thanks for the feedback ladies and gents, I wasn't after sympathy just somewhere to rant for a few mins job done and good night!

Posted 1 year ago #
singlespeedstu - Member

Is this the same LBS that fitted Pauls Hope pawl springs in upside down then?

Oh and you deserve to have to pay out for not looking after Mrs tollah's bike for her.

Posted 1 year ago #
PeteG55 - Member

If the servicing was supposed to be included free (which I find hard to believe) then £18 for 2 cables to pushing it. However, if you changed the parts and therefore the bike does the servicing still continue to be free? £18 for two cables, supplied and fitted doesn't sound too bad to me. Shimano cables are £2.99rrp I think.

Posted 1 year ago #
missingfrontallobe - Member

I don't see it should have been free if you/SO had fitted new STi, that isn't part of the free servicing IMHO.

All she wanted was inners. I would have done it for her if I had the inners at home yesterday when I fitted her new STI. I'm working today she had the day off to go get some miles in. She's ended up doing no miles now today.

I'm sorry but theres no way on this earth someone can keep a straight face and ask for £18 to fit two inner cables especially when the fitting should have been free.

Use campag, they generally come with cables.

Posted 1 year ago #
chris_mbuk - Member

do it your self or if you dont know look it up on youtube or google thats how i learn

Posted 1 year ago #