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I'll start by saying that I am aware that it is bad form to rubbish the opposition but I couldn't let this one go without passing it on.........
Last week one of my semi-regular customer brought his bike (supermarket special) in to me and told me that he had just been to Halfords to have the rear wheel bearings replaced but since he picked it up the wheel was still wobbly. When I stripped out the axle I found that the person who did the job had failed to spot that the drive side bearing cup had broken away from the hub. The caged new bearings had been put in anyway and the cone screwed up right to the end of the axle thread. No spacers had been put between the bearing cone and the locknut so that the locknut was now recessed about an inch behind the 6 speed freewheel. As the axle nut now tightened the frame directly onto the 6th gear sprocket it had been left loose.
It really beggars belief that someone could have done that work and believed that the bike was in a fit condition to hand back to the customer. It also beggars belief that someone else could have given that numpty responsibility for carrying out work that has the potential to directly affect customers safetyon the roads.
The customer's attitude was that given the size of Halfords as a company he had assumed that they knew what they were doing.
Crikey.
has your customer taken it up with Halfords?
nothing will chnage unless people complain...
Not specific to Halfords I am afraid. Sort of LBS I used to do a full bearing replacement on an 04' Stumpy FSR - bodged it - they could have used the manual (which I did later) to see what spacers were or were not used.
It all comes down the the person who is supposed to be a 'mechanic' but the firm is responsible for ensuring the 'mechanic' is worthy of the job ?
I suspect that like a lot of people he didn't fancy the confrontation or the slog back into town.