Called up on Monday to see if they can fix a job that they didn’t do right the first time round. They told me to bring it in Tuesday and it would take a couple of days. So, that’s what I did.

Friday I call up and I’m told it’s the next bike in the stand and I can pick it up on Saturday morning.

20min trip to get there midday Sat and am told (again) that it’s the next bike in the stand… (what happened to mine being next on Friday?) No apology at all by the way for not doing the job right the first time or for wasting my time.

I want to support them because they’re a small local shop and they are decent guys but I’ve had a similar experience with them before. I also know others that have had poor service from them as well and won’t go back – so it’s not just me.

There’s are a couple of other bike shops (including an Evans) which are a bit further away from me. Is it worth me trying them next time or is this casual approach to customer service to be expected from most bike shops?
I can appreciate that they can’t turn around repairs in a couple of days if there’s only 1 mechanic but they should at least be up front about it from the start.

This isn’t really a rant… I just want to know if other’s have had similar experiences and if I’m fooling myself expecting a better service elsewhere.

No, all that I use/used did things on time, fitted in emergencies, called me back, got stuff in for me to try and were generally very good and helpful.

1 mechanic/person shops tend to be harder though as the one guy can get sidetracked by everything else – like dealing with customers who walk in etc.

You need to grease their palms with cake 😉

No its generally know as crap service and if I treated my customers(service forklifts)like this I wouldn’t have a job for long 👿

Name and shame. It could be the kick up the arse they sorely need.

whatever the reason for the delay I would say that is taking the piss and poor customer service.
they could ring you and explain and apologise as well for this

I would not use them again and i would have taken my bike with me tbh

Don’t use the Evans! Aaaaargh!!

I think it’s probably far more prevalent than people think – unfortunately the British are great at grumbling but often refuse to take any action. It’s also quite noticable in threads like this that the OP is hardly ever prepared to name and shame.

This is why personally I have learned to do virtually all the bike maintenance/fiting/repair jobs that I can do, myself.

Not normal ime, mine give me a date/time and then ring me when it’s ready so I don’t waste a journey.
(chelmer cycles FWIW)

its things like this that help turn future customers away from lbs,s, its not rocket science, there,s plenty of help on line for most jobs, if you put the effort in, once you have the right tools and done a few jobs your confidence will build and you will soon be stripping down your bike and doing all your own servicing, its far better in the long run and cheaper and less hassle, just remember google is your best friend.

I know what you mean about doing work yourself. In the last few weeks I’ve learnt to bleed brakes and I’m now having a go at servicing my forks because I blew the seals. Jobs that I would’ve considered taking to them if they are reliable. Anyway, I’m enjoying the tinkering 🙂

Thanks for the comments. I’ll be trying somewhere else next time I have a job I can’t do at home.

@Shermer – Why not the Evans?
I’ve had fantastic online service from them in the past. Never used them for repairs though.

I have a stubborn crown race I needed removing earlier this week so I could send my forks back (to the online retailer,) under warranty. Popped into my lbs to see if they could do it the following day, explained the situation, they did it there and then. Free of charge. Because of service like that, I try to use them as often as financially viable.

A previous lbs (in Bangor,) were great as well, always sorted me out. Took a bike in to get some bearings fitted and somehow walked out the shop having spent £1300 on a new bike. Not sure how that happened….

Similar thing happened with me when I took my bike into an LBS in Leeds which will remain unnamed. Took em 2 weeks then when I picked it up they hadn’t even fixed what was supposed to be fixed. The guy said he’d sort it out that day and I could pick it up the next day….

….2 weeks later still no bike. Went back into the shop and they hadn’t even touched it yet. Started getting arsey with me when I asked for a refund for the incorrect work they’d carried out. Walked out with the bike and took it elsewhere sans £30.

Pretty poor but not uncommon IME.

Whats the job that they didnt do properly?

But anyways, not rectifing an acknowledged mistake as soon as possible, is just flushing goodwill down the toilet, which ever industry they’re in.

If I were you I’d take my business else where and let them know why.

most of the local bike shops have given me the runaround re: ordering parts in. Or even, on one occasion, telling me things are in stock only to drive the 10 mile trip to be told we can order it in!

But as for workshops – normally faster than promised service and always a decent price.

Service in LBS’ varies enormously but IMO, on average, the level of service you get from most bike shops is surprisingly poor. Most businesses would not get away with the average level of service offered in the bike industry as a whole.

Like others above this has turned out to be a good thing for me as I have been forced to learn to service my own bikes and will take on everything except suspension servicing now.

The job was just simply trueing a wheel. When I got I back the first time it sat totally skew in my forks. Turned out they hadn’t dished it. When I rang up to ask them about it they said it would be better if I took my bike in with the wheel (because I’d only taken the wheel in prior thinking it would save space in their shop).I would’ve thought their trueing stand would dish.

As for naming and shaming them… I suppose I’m reluctant to for a few of reasons… they’re decent guys (just not good at customer service), small local shop (and we’ve had enough of them close down in this town recently so don’t want to damage business even if it is a bit bad) and also they’re friends of friends… so it could be awkward if I bump into them in future :-\
Plus I’m just a pansy when it comes to complaining! 😉

Similar thing happened with me when I took my bike into an LBS in Leeds which will remain unnamed. Took em 2 weeks then when I picked it up they hadn’t even fixed what was supposed to be fixed. The guy said he’d sort it out that day and I could pick it up the next day….

….2 weeks later still no bike. Went back into the shop and they hadn’t even touched it yet. Started getting arsey with me when I asked for a refund for the incorrect work they’d carried out. Walked out with the bike and took it elsewhere sans £30.

Why wouldn’t you name and shame in this instance?

To balance the normal negative on here, I would like to name and praise. I took my bike to Pedalon at Tadley when I sheard a bolt. They replaced it and torqued the other bolts and didn’t charge any labour at all, the bill was £3 for a suspension bolt.

Thank you Pedalon.

The job was just simply trueing a wheel. When I got I back the first time it sat totally skew in my forks. Turned out they hadn’t dished it. When I rang up to ask them about it they said it would be better if I took my bike in with the wheel (because I’d only taken the wheel in prior thinking it would save space in their shop).I would’ve thought their trueing stand would dish.

Run away from the incompetent bike mechanic! No, seriously, run away! I’ve built my own wheels for the last decade or so and the thought that a ‘professional’ mechanic would forget to dish the wheel and felt he needed the bike it was going to be used in in order to do the job would be ringing alarm bells for me. Wheels are bits of the bike I like to trust – maybe your ‘mechanic’ should stick to servicing bells! Sure you are not confusing the term mechanic and ‘Saturday boy’?!?

I’m running I’m running!! Definitely not going back there again.

^It could be a Specialized with an asymmetric rear triangle 😉

^It could be a Specialized with an asymmetric rear triangle

When I got I back the first time it sat totally skew in my forks.

Some LBSs are terrible tbh. Bad attitude, bad service. Downright dishonest, some of them. It’s one of the reasons I learned my own spannering, for ages I had the knack of finding the rubbish ones. But, some are brilliant too (and for some weird reason, it doesn’t seem to follow that the great ones are the most succesful, people queue up to be insulted and ripped off in some shops).

Just like anything else really. Find a good one and love it to bits.

Called up on Monday to see if they can fix a job that they didn’t do right the first time round. They told me to bring it in Tuesday and it would take a couple of days

I can’t think of anything they could do that would take a couple of days? – Trueing a wheel??

My bike has came back from a service with a new chain that was about 4 inches too long, gears not indexed properly and brakes dragging.

I stopped going there after that, and do as much as I can myself now.

cbmotorsport – Member

I can’t think of anything they could do that would take a couple of days? – Trueing a wheel??

I would imagine they meant it would take a couple of days to get to the job in the queue and complete it, as opposed to it taking them two days to true a wheel!

My LBS is ace, for a service you book it in, drop it off on the day booked and pick it up on the way home.

If you have an emergency they are happy for you to take it in and they will either fix it or replace it same day.

I bust the rear derailleur on my old bike, called them and they said to bring it in, took it in and they replaced it, but gave me the option of fixing it myself by saying that I could do it cheaper by buying it from CRC sale and doing it myself, but they could replace it same day and would try to keep the costs down, which they did, fantastic job and I’ve never had a problem with them….

…but my mate wont use them cos he felt they didn’t fix his rear suspension properly – maybe they are ok for the easy stuff and not so good for the other stuff?

No as with anything there are poor shops everywhere, Try somewhere else. If Evans is near give them a go. People give them grieve but if you put their stores up against an equal amount of randomly chosen LBS the horror stories would even out.