That’s utter crap, of course a wholesaler can decide who they do and don’t supply

under anti-competition law i don’t believe that is the case – a company has to have an acceptable reason to refuse to supply goods – in practise this is easier than it sounds because don’t think there has been that much activity on the topic excepting the supermarkets and some branded goods – in the case of the bike industry the standard position seems to be that certain suppliers will only supply though outlets that meet their service criteria and offer an extensive range of complimentary products all dressed up to some extent in safesty and warranty support etc Think it is pretty obvious which brands play this hardline with retailers as the products are only available thru a designated network and prices are always list or minor reductions only at sale times/last years models – interesting to see the offers that retailers make to maintain list price on some brands – free this free that but nothing off list – now that to me is a pretty clear sign of market abuse – retailers across the board for a particular brand offering any alternative they can to appear competitive without reducing the actual price
Is it in the interest of consumers? I’m don’t think so – what it means is that someone at the distributors picks and chooses what LBS (or usually larger LBS) to support and in effect forces the consumer to use them if they want their product – does it maintain quality service – No in my experience – does it maintain pricing Yes

I do wonder if it would have been a different response if I’d bought the bike from a Specialized dealer rather than Halfords. Here’s a genuine question, what would happen if you bought a bike from a Specialized store in the south of England then moved to Glasgow and needed some warranty work done by the local dealer? Would you honestly be expected to return the bike to the original dealer? According to the warranty yes, but in reality that’s a daft expectation.

I had this when the chainstay cracked on my Trek Fuel (bought online as they were doing 0% finance). Was told by Trek I could return it to the original shop and get it sorted, parts and labour FOC or take it to local Trek dealer and get the parts free but pay for the labour. Chose LBS as it seemed less hassle and labour was only £40.