A shambolic week with Sierra Cycling

Well at least knowone complained about the weather !

Just a couple of points to realise
1 . Finding any guide out here at short term notice is near on impossible and especially one who can speak English and knows the trails.
2. The van hire scenario – Spain is so differant to the UK , if you needed to hire a van at the weekend forget it you might be lucky to find a place open until midday on a Saturday if your very lucky , if you needed to get a hire van in siesta time (2-5) forget it , I dont think Ive ever seen a minibus for hire either , you dont even get 6 seater white cabs here as the local town halls wont issue them a liscense much easier to take two cabs and double the fair.
Your in the height of the season with loads of golfers who have probibly prebooked all the vehicles months ago.

So, in that case, the SC apologises to the customers, explains why they can’t sort out a van and maybe offers something in recompense.

2. The van hire scenario – Spain is so differant to the UK , if you needed to hire a van at the weekend forget it you might be lucky to find a place open until midday on a Saturday if your very lucky , if you needed to get a hire van in siesta time (2-5) forget it , I dont think Ive ever seen a minibus for hire either , you dont even get 6 seater white cabs here as the local town halls wont issue them a liscense much easier to take two cabs and double the fair.

You might be lucky to find a place open until midday, I’m afraid is bullcrap. I think most places would be open until midday. Availability at short notice is, of course, another question and as already mentioned the company should really have a contingency plan that doesn’t affect the holiday of the paying guests.
Not much money could buy you this contingency plan, or with a little more, this and if I remember correctly there is a guy in Cordoba knocking out both LandRover and Santanas. Not having a spare vehicle is not a good enough excuse, I’m afraid.

just to clarify a couple of points that are being discussed which possibly aren’t clear from our respective posts;

1) Alan drove us TO the trail overloaded. His reply suggested he drove us home overloaded at our insistence (hence the comment he made about not letting the other group go first), but we were driven out to the ride in the morning 9 clients and a driver in a 9 (8 + driver) seater van.

2) the van broke midweek and was always going to be a long term repair as it needed a new alternator which apparently costs 500 euros.

the van broke midweek and was always going to be a long term repair as it needed a new alternator which apparently costs 500 euros.

Long term problem? That, I’m afraid, is cobblers.

I don’t doubt that the alternator costs €500, but it’s never been longer than a 1 hour job for me to swap out an alternator. This is a commercial vehicle remember, they’re designed to have stuff accessible and easily fixable.

So the choice for SC would be:

(1) hire a van for a few days, order the alternator by courier, fix it yourself in the evening – not hard. No-one really notices the issue.

(2) Get the van to the garage asap, get an express order in, get the van back on the road in 24h. Don’t hire another van, swap the rest day around so no riding is lost, apologise to guests about the problem, and treat them all to drinks at the local bar for an evening. They’d almost certainly be understanding, and they’d certainly think well of you for sorting out the issue.

Never mind the details, they did seem unprofessional, unprepared and failed to treat paying customers properly. Then to make matters worse, they provided a really bad response online.

No excuse for any of their actions really.

When I was a dive guide we had to cope with boats braking down in the Red Sea, compressors giving up halfway through a fill. All whilst at sea days from land.

One boat even started to sink.

We still had back-up plans and ensured the guests were treated like royalty.

I don’t doubt that the alternator costs €500, but it’s never been longer than a 1 hour job for me to swap out an alternator. This is a commercial vehicle remember, they’re designed to have stuff accessible and easily fixable.

Never dealt with a Spanish garage, have we? Two weeks minimum at a guess. 😉

When I was a dive guide

You were a dive guide? – you should have mentioned it earlier 😉

Wouldn’t have the first clue about how long an alternator takes but that was what Alan, at Sierra Cycling said/we were told. Plus the van broke down around lunch time we were riding until at least 1600 so somewhere would’ve been open after that I imagine.

You were a dive guide? – you should have mentioned it earlier

😆

Best bike holidays are ones you plan youre self. No guides. Just need a map and a bit of local knowledge that you can find on the net

😆

One boat even started to sink.

We still had back-up plans

sorted.

don’t forget the:

LOL @ DavidRussell

Are you lot still moaning on?

Nope….we are laughing at DavidRussell thanks.

I think he needs a bigger boat

“One boat even started to sink. We still had back-up plans and ensured the guests were treated like royalty.”

Am I the only one with an image of the guests having dinner in black tie whilst the water is creeping up their legs as the boat goes down?

Think of a cross between Titanic and Carry on up the Khyber dinner scene. Trimix would be Sir Sydney Rruff Diamond!
😉

Great thread this. Still no word on the use of illegal trails or the guide putting his feet up in a cafe for half the morning?

300

hth x

Good work phil

Trimix earlier 😀

Ok I’ll mention the illegal trails. I’ve ridden mainly in NE Spain and in several Natural Parks such as Els Ports, Sierra D’Irta, Montseny et al, is there a blanket ban on mountainbiking in these Parks or are there specific prohibitions. I’ve not seen signs banning bikes but if there was a blanket ban, I guess they wouldn’t be necessary, bit like footpath signs not explicitly barring bikes in England and Wales. It must be confusing for foreigners riding here, (not that I’ve ever met any)

Something about being allowed on the fireroads but not on the paths?

Trimix – Member

One boat even started to sink.

We still had back-up plans

Did these plans involve issuing the guests with diving equipment and wishing them good luck? 🙂

A back-up plan sounds better than a straight-down plan when talking of boats.

I’m glad Mr MC posted about their experiences with Sierra Cycling – if it had been someone who had just made an account to have a dig I’d be skeptical, but they’re forum regulars who seem like fairly sane and rational people*. The owner’s response doesn’t really do his company any favours in my opinion. :/

* By STW standards 😛

re: cycling in natural parks in spain.
Living in bcn I should abide by this.
http://www.uncomo.com/articulo/normativa-ciclista-del-parque-de-collserola-barcelona-961.html
basically says you can’t cycle on anything narrower than 3m.

and you can’t do more than 20kmh

dunno if its the same everywhere in spain.
never taken any notice of that myself.

postierich – Member

There is a free bar

No there isn’t, there’s a kitty which every guest pays into, as part of the overall cost. TANSTAAFL, but some people get very excited just to get what they’ve paid for, as long as they don’t have to pay for it at point of delivery 😉

it used to be free – maybe not now

I think I went in 2007

I wonder how many rivals are putting the boot in on this thread

The bar was certainly free back in 2003 at S.C. – when i say bar, i mean we were invited to help ourselves to the beers in the large fridge in the kitchen. TBH i don’t recall actually having many!

I do think it’s a shame how Alan has responded to the OP’s comments about their holiday, it doesn’t really show him or his Company in the best light.
I have been with them and had a good time with them but it was a long time ago now so i can’t comment on if/how things have changed in the meantime. I will say that we were met at Malaga Airport by Alan holding up a sign though. I do hope S.C. can take this onboard and react in a positive manner, it would be a shame otherwise.

Oh the joys of doing business in the 21st century. I can’t help but have a little sympathy for SC. I hope they learn from this experience and can bounce back.

TBH don’t recall actually having many

the 3 of us managed a case per night – after we got back from the bars 🙂

I know only to well that people are very vocal on the WWW when unhappy, is’s the way things are now, customers are more interested in doing a business harm than they are in getting an apology & maybe a discount voucher for further use in a company they plan never to use again.

A business with a lot of throughput will never keep 100% of the customers happy, to an extent you have to except that & minimalise the damage it will ultimately cost you.

To be fair I dont really think there is room in this thread for SC to answer, how could they possibly win?

That said I still can’t get around this quote from the OP’s first post

Unpacking the bikes in what is effectively the rear yard of the house we stayed in, a woman walked in the front, through the house passing most of our group, to the rear. Stood watching me, unloaded a washing machine, then turned and walked out, not saying a word to any of us. Turns out this is Mary, Alan’s partner and our host.

That sounds as if at least half the partnership has had enough after 20 years, fair enough in itself, but not something that should ever happen.

Best of luck to the OP & to SC, there really will be no winners in this thread.

Cheers.

To be fair I dont really think there is room in this thread for SC to answer

You haven’t been paying attention then. They did answer, and if they had answered well this thread would have died four pages ago. The problem is that they answered in a way that suggested that a lot of the problem was the OP’s fault and that other things were outside their control. They also had a bit of a dig at the OP. The point of the rest of the thread is that after 20 years you should be able to cope with the unexpected a bit better and have your routine down so that all guests feel welcome and are treated well – however the owner and the staff may be feeling. As someone else said – shit happens and it is how you deal with it that makes the difference

leffeboy – Member

To be fair I dont really think there is room in this thread for SC to answer

You haven’t been paying attention then. They did answer, and if they had answered well this thread would have died four pages ago. The problem is that they answered in a way that suggested that a lot of the problem was the OP’s fault and that other things were outside their control. They also had a bit of a dig at the OP. The point of the rest of the thread is that after 20 years you should be able to cope with the unexpected a bit better and have your routine down so that all guests feel welcome and are treated well – however the owner and the staff may be feeling. As someone else said – shit happens and it is how you deal with it that makes the difference
And someone was a dive guide too.

leffeboy – Member

You haven’t been paying attention then.

I had seen the reply, and to be fair I should of said ‘reply again’ rather than ‘reply’, but anyway the bloke replied & got a mainly negative reaction, I’m not sure how anyone could recover from 8 pages of negativity, best let the thread die aye? 😉

I had seen the reply, and to be fair I should of said ‘reply again’ rather than ‘reply’, but anyway the bloke replied & got a mainly negative reaction, I’m not sure how anyone could recover from 8 pages of negativity, best let the thread die aye?

By entering into a direct and private dialogue with the offended OP that will result in the OP coming back to say that inspite of the crap Sierra Cycling have bent over backwards to right the wrong.