Popped into LL in Lancaster today as I had a slow puncture and had to get back to Kendal 20 miles. Forgot to put my tool bag on so was and the mercy of the shop, took my bike in and asked for a tube £5 so far so good "could I borrow your track pump to get it up to pressure" yes you can as long as you go outside as we are not insured to let customers carry out repairs to their own bikes wtf!!!!!
I shook my head and smiled 🙂
Evans Braehead let me borrow a track pump a while back when my tyre wall blew, though I had just bought a tyre and tube off them.
The guy that told you probably shook his head and smiled when he was told he had to tell that to customers as well.
My LBS has a track pump chained to the bike stand outside.
Whether it has anything to do with his insurance I don't know.
Am guessing it is chained up outside because they get a little fed up of people asking the same question every day...Good idea IMO
It wouldn't surprise me though if it was down to the shop's insurance or Health and safety...
World is Mad...
Imagine if Leisure Lakes let any old dunderheid repair bikes on their premises? What if you were busily pumping away on the track pump, got a bit carried away and the tyre exploded...a fragment of rubber flying over the shop floor and slapping into little Johnny who was innocently eyeing up the BMX's for his Christmas wish list. Imagine that?
Exactly...someone has to think of the children!
most chain stores won't allow customers to undertake their own repairs "on the premises" due to previous customer 'incidents' which have gotten the H&SE and insurers involved. It happens more than you might think..
sounds stupid? if you want to see stupid, let the public loose with tools, especially sharp ones like screwdrivers!
perfect example comes to mind when I used to work in skate industry:-
13 year old customer at skateboard shop lent a phillips screwdriver and spanner to install skateboard trucks to new skateboard deck sold by shop.
Accidentally stabbed himself in leg with screwdriver, punctured femoral artery, nearly bled to death on premises. Thank god he did not get to cutting the grip tape as the shop had also loaned him a stanley knife to trim the grip tape!
Not the incident any shop really wants or needs.
Most chain stores have strict rules of "no tool loans" and "no tools to be used by customers on premises"
From my experience it will be a clause in the insurance policy about only staff being covered to do anything.
The shop's public liability insurance will exclude Joe Public from doing anything but shopping there, big chains will have a company policy about it, small LBS's are able to exercise some common sense when deciding who gets to play with the toys and who doesn't.
small LBS's are able to exercise some common sense
Possibly due to lack of public liability insurance telling then what they need to do ?
Lots of smaller shops don't have any.
Yep, we never let customers fix bikes on the shop floor cos they just got in the way, got the floor filthy, spread tools and parts all over which other customers could trip over and then they'd invariably end up asking the staff "oh can you just help me out with..."
We'd give them the tools and send them outside. In fact, we had a range of tools and a track pump specifically for customers.
Lucky they let you use their tools in the first place surely? I know plenty of shops that wouldn't lend their tools out full stop.
I learned this the hard way whilst working for Evans a few years back
one of the sales guy came into my workshop and begged to borrow my vernier calipers to measure a seat tube for a customer who had his seat post stolen
despite my protestations, eventually I caved him and lent him the tool (my own tool, brought into work to make my job easier) Forgot about the loan as we were really busy.
the guy ended his shift, could not find my tool anywhere in the shop?
Next day whilst waiting for the shop to open, found my calipers lying in the road against the kerb, next to the shop!!
Yup, seems petty and daft on the face of it but sadly such arse covering is all too necessary when dealing with the great British public.
Still a bit confused as to why so many people see Bike shops as free tool libraries, I mean, you don't turn up at a restaurant with a load of meat and veg from Tescos and ask to use their kitchen do you?
If you're a regular and good customer then fair play up to a point but in my shop managing days I had people walk in with cheap frames they've mail ordered fully expecting to be allowed to borrow £450's worth of Park BB facer and reamer FOC, talk about a brass neck.
Saw two people fixing punctures on their bikes outside Evans at London Bridge. Probably the same story given how cold it was.
I was in all terrain the other week and there was about four kids woth several bmx's inside the shop by the front door with bikes in bits. The shop just seemed to be letting them get on with what they thought they wereddoing correctly.
Possibily hoping for people to say **** it, can you do it, £10 a go to change a tube!
evans in liverpool have a track pump and bike stands inside the shop for customers to use