I would have to be very sick before anyone changed one of my tyres for me, even the tubeless I cant get off at the moment.
If it was wet/smoggy/too many muggers around outside, or all 3, I would have fitted it in the shop. Afterall it was bought there.

I think it was a rip-off, but think that about most things in London.
Around here you can still get a car tyre put on for a tenner and thats at a national chain place.

To think I was chuckling about the £50 bike checkover at evans and the £100 service that includes 'regreasing bottom bracket' with no mention of discount for sealed units.

"When I phoned to query this extortion, I got told that "Oh well, it's a Brompton. You have to remove a nut and the guide/tension cog assembly so we charged for "Gear Maintenance".

So you asked some one to do a repair but didnt ask how much it would cost?

You then paid at the till, presumably by card where you are asked to verify the amount you are paying, but didn't bother checking…

Who's in the wrong?…. and got too much money obviously to care ??

If you're complacent enough to be pay up the £50 you were asked for without even checking the receipt there and then, I don't think you can complain too much.

swiss01 – Member
i do have a tiny, tiny widgeon of sympathy.

actually, no, i don't. london people are funny.

i'm off down my lbs to tell them this story…

It is a funny story of funny people living in a funny town. My LBS is going to love this too!

I must say, £100/hour labour is a lot. My LBS would have charged much less, probably nothing if it was me – they like me 🙂

piedi di formaggio – Member

Pik n Mix – have you ever had to do a Brompton rear wheel on the side of the road? Faffier than a very faffy thing on the faffiest day of it's life. Sometimes lobbing it in the nearest bike shop is the sensible (if costly) option

you raise a valid point and no I haven't, sounds faffy 😉

We charge more for switching tubes on hub gear bikes and bromptons. (up from a fiver to a tenner).

I'm usually inclinded to add some twattax to Brompton work but obviously don't…

piedi di formaggio – Member
Pik n Mix – have you ever had to do a Brompton rear wheel on the side of the road? Faffier than a very faffy thing on the faffiest day of it's life. Sometimes lobbing a grenade into the bike shop that sold you the bloody thing is the only answer

😉

HoratioHufnagel – Member
i'm just suprised you got your bike seen to so quickly!

most times i go theres at least a 2 week waiting list despite the high prices. guess everyones got lots of cash and not much time.

I got in th front at 08:05 (see original post).

I DID have to wait for 10 minutes in the queue whilst the drongo shop assistants tried to work out how to use the till, though.

On a related note, isn't it amazing how people you've never met think they know all about you? Or that an English county contains a homogenously describable bunch of people who are obviously all identical, with identical salaries, identical living arrangements and identical food habits?

They must be, er, psychic…

I must say, £100/hour labour is a lot

if you say so… 😉

Its this kind of treatment that makes people use the lbs as the last resort.
A friend of mine had a similar – if not quite as expensive – experience using the lbs in my area.
He being new to cycling, did not carry the spares that we all know we should. He had a puncture and called into the lbs to buy a tube and basically ask for help fitting it.
He bought the tube from the shop, and was also charged about a tenner to have it fitted because he didnt have the tyre levers and pump.
Fair enough I guess some of yous will say – but it kinda soured his opinion(and mine) of the helpfulness of the shop. You would have thought a bit of kindness would have helped build the shops reputation .. and potential till receipts for the future. He purchased the pump, tubes, levers etc on-line shortly afterwards…

I DID have to wait for 10 minutes in the queue whilst the drongo shop assistants tried to work out how to use the till, though.

Bear in mind that people who work for Evans will probably have seen this thread by now, and be thrilled and flattered at your kind words about them. And that having posted your pic on here, they'll now be able to readily identify you. 😉

To Evans staff: Next time the moaning bugger comes in, just tell him there's a twelve-week wait. And a Numpty tax of £50.

Alternatively, why not engage him in conversation as to the relative benefits of Directional HiFi cables? 😉

It's a balancing act though and depends massively on where the shop is based and the type of customers.

We had a lot of commuter types who basically though that if they bought something from us then we had to fit/use it for free despite the fact that it just didn't add up – we were a shop, not a charity. When selling forks/etc we'd always fit them free but we had people asking us to patch their inner tubes once they'd bought a puncture kit and couldn't understand why we wouldn't.

If we had fitted inner tubes for free or for low cost, we'd have been completely innundated with people asking for just that which would have been crap business. I'm all for LBSs building up a relationship with clients but it has to work both ways in the real world.

He bought the tube from the shop, and was also charged about a tenner to have it fitted

My point.

I bought paint from B&Q last week, the lazy feckers still hanna been round yet to install it in my living room.

Then you have little understanding of how a bike shop business works.

Repairs and servicing revenue makes up a big chunk of a shop's takings. In a busy place like London, demand is so high that shops can charge accordingly. Their rents and staff wages are also higher than elsewhere. As Clubber has pointed out, they're not charities.

Imagine you want to sell your house. You're going to want as much as poss, aren't you? At least the current market value. That's how it works.

You could always go and work in a place where the LBS's don't charge as much…

I would have expected to pay that amount in Evans. Pretty sure they reserve a bit of mechanics time just for puncture fixing. Canary Wharf branch has a two week waiting list for most maintenance/service requests, however there is always a queue of customers at about 8am bringing in bikes with punctures.

I'm beginning to think British people and specifically British mountain bikers are a bunch of moaning skinflints. I made the effort to get to know my local Evans staff, I bet I wouldnt get charged £25 for a minor repair because I take them lots of business.

Change your own damn tyre. Where's your self respect?

clubber – I hear what your saying. I happen to think that keeping the customer smiling is the best option for any small buisiness though.
I guess its a balancing act that takes a bit of good old fashioned common-sense.
I guess I expect all bike shops to be like the one down Porthcawl who had a cuppacino in my hand before I had even payed them..

I would have expected to pay that amount in Evans

Well, I do now… Even though, as I said, I won't be.

Aaaand the thread has reached that point where it's too long for some posters to remember points made several posts ago, that invalidate what they think of as their "argument".

"….I also got charged £25 for the labour! For FIFTEEN MINUTES!!!

When I phoned to query this extortion…."

I don't understand why you didn't ask this before you paid and ask them there and then?

I. WAS. IN. A. HURRY. TO. GET. TO. WORK.

clubber – I hear what your saying. I happen to think that keeping the customer smiling is the best option for any small buisiness though.

I'm afraid that it's not at least not always. In London, there's so much commuter traffic from people who probably will never use the shop again or only very rarely, except to get emergency repairs (because they'd normally go to a LBS closer to home) such as punctures. As I mentioned, it doesn't add up for the shop to charge low prices for work that really can be done by the cyclist and actually uses up a fair bit of time.

A 'proper' out of London LBS won't normally charge that way because they know that by keeping the customer sweet, they'll probably buy new tyres, kit, lights, etc from that shop in future. It's really just economics no matter how friendly/smiley it's dressed up to be.

If you ride a clown bike, you need to be able to look after it yourself – not complain when you don't even check the cost at the till or ask before they did the work!

In a hurry to get to work and yet you then spend plenty of your working day on here moaning….. 😆

I. WAS. IN. A. HURRY. TO. GET. TO. WORK.

Fair enough. Just as it's fair of them to charge a premium for giving you that convenience.

I happen to think that keeping the customer smiling is the best option for any small buisiness though.
I guess its a balancing act that takes a bit of good old fashioned common-sense.

This is a bit patronising isn't it? Is it really good old fashioned commmon sense to do things for free for everyone when 95% of them will be straight on CRC next time they need something anyway? 'Keeping the customer smiling' is all well and good but back in the real world there has to be a limit. Basically I think clubber has the right approach.

On a slightly wider note, I think the thing with goodwill gestures or going that extra mile is that it's something to be appreciated when it's shown, but not moaned about when it isn't, especially if you take a look at why it isn't.

So if I bought a pair of forks I'd reasonably expect the shop would fit them for free. If I bought a new tire, and I was in there a lot, and they didn't have much to do, I'd appreciate it if they fitted it for me for nowt but I certainly wouldn't expect them to, and I certainly wouldn't go out in a huff declaring I'd never go in there again if they didn't.

I. WAS. IN. A. HURRY. TO. GET. TO. WORK.

Calm down dear. Maybe you should have given yourself more time then. 😉

So if I bought a pair of forks I'd reasonably expect the shop would fit them for free. If I bought a new tire, and I was in there a lot, and they didn't have much to do, I'd appreciate it if they fitted it for me for nowt but I certainly wouldn't expect them to, and I certainly wouldn't go out in a huff declaring I'd never go in there again if they didn't.

I was going to ask you to point out where I said I expected the service for nothing, but then I realised that I was becoming yawningly bored with drivel from people like you who can't follow a simple discussion without posting complete bollocks, so I decided to go and watch some B&Q paint dry, as a more interesting option. 🙄

B+Q? Surely a man of your good taste would have gone for Poncing and Smarm Ultra Brilliant Directional paint?

You old fraud! 😉

(This hasn't gone well for you this one, has it Woppit? Want a hug?)

Woppit, you do realise they are toying with you, don't you?

I was going to ask you to point out where I said I expected the service for nothing, but then I realised that I was becoming yawningly bored with drivel from people like you who can't follow a simple discussion without posting complete bollocks, so I decided to go and watch some B&Q paint dry, as a more intereting option.

I was going to ask you to point out where I suggested that you personally had expected the service for nothing, but then I realised that I was making the assumption that people like you were capable of recognising response to broad themes in a forum thread.

Toying? Last I heard it was w@nking…

Just suck it up, you've dished out plenty of ribbing on here before haven't you?

I presumed clown bikes came with a puncture already to add to the comedy value. If you pay a bit more when you buy one you could have got one with square wheels too, they are a bit bling tho. 😀

I bet if you look in the under saddle bag it contains white face paint a spare red nose and a flower that squirts water instead of repair tools.

regardless of how much of a hurry i was in, I would always check the price of the work before giving the go-ahead to them. although I agree it is steep for essentially a tyre fitting (bearing in mind that it costs about the same to buy and fit a car tyre) you are a fool for not checking this tiny detail first.

Mr Woppit, earlier:

Good to see the hi-viz vest. Good to see.

Interesting. Poor argument segues into a claim of wind-up, followed by feeble attempt at same..

I already did the clown bike pic myself in a pervious thread. You're too late.

And as always, unoriginal.

Ah never mind. You'll get over it in a few months.

Meanwhile…..

….HERE COME THE BELGIANS!