Specialized you are a disgrace

Phone call last night from a friend who is distraught that her sons new bike is going to cost almost as much as the bike to fix it.

Her son had a new Hardrock at Christmas and has managed to bend the rear wheel. Spoke to the son and the wheel still goes round ok but does rub slightly on the chainstay.

They took it back to Spesh who told them it would be £200 😯 and they have to do the pair of wheels.

Thankfully they rang me and I advised to find a local bike shop. The next day I received a very cheery phone call to say that while the shop had the bike, they’d indexed the gears and sorted rear wheel for the pricey sum of £23.

I can only presume that Spesh need to charge so much and persuade unknowing people into more work than required to pay for their shiny stores. ****!

They took it back to Spesh

Surely they took it back to the shop they bought it from?

Conversely I e-mailed their customer service about a query and they replied the same day.

Assume this is one of their “concept” stores?

The one in Kingston has closed down – was always pretty empty when I’ve been in there so not surprised.

Sounds like this one won’t be far behind…

Surely they took it back to the shop they bought it from?

Specialized Concept Store is my guess.

and OP – yes – new wheelset is just a money making/we don;t have the right skills solution.

Post the story to their facebook page plus Twitter tag and Instagram – Title of “Shame on You”

The thing is, this is a bit like taking a brand new jacket, that you ripped, back to River Island, and them stating “well, you can buy a new one for £200”.
Then finding a small seamstress who can sew up the rip for £23.

I agree it’s not great however, and they should have pointed your friend in teh direction of a ‘fixer’, rather than a ‘replacer’..

DrP

Presumably the store does servicing in some guise or another, so should really be a ‘fixer’ as well as a ‘replacer’.

Unless junior has been doing drops to concrete (which is possible), my first thought would be that the wheel probably wasn’t built properly when supplied.

As others have said, sounds more like an issue with a Specialized Concept Store (are these franchises?) than with Specialized themselves.

When I had issues with the rear hub on my Camber, Specialized sent out a new hub to my LBS, and paid for them to rebuild the wheel. Granted, this wasn’t caused by crash damage, but still, A1 service.

Take the rear wheel to a good local independent and get them to fix it.

Yes they took it back to the store they bought it from, a Spesh store as its a Spesh hardrock. Not sure if concept store or not, they live in Coventry and didn’t ask if they went up to The Fort.

That wasn’t £200 for a new wheelset, that was for the current wheels to be fixed so I believe. Quite possibly they were talking of a new wheelset but it didn’t come across that way from my friend.
Like you say wwaswas, its telling you they don’t have the skills necessary to fix it.

DrP…its nothing like buying a jacket. If he’d pringled the wheel so it doesn’t turn then maybe, but not for a slight buckle.

Do you replace wheels after buckling them?

This whole thread stinks of mis-interpretation.

Sounds like some kind of misunderstanding going on here , neither your friends or you seem to have a clear understanding of what is going on . I don’t believe that a shop would quote £200 to fix a wheel , nor would they replace 2 wheels when only 1 was damaged . They might have offered to change both to keep them matching but I doubt they would insist on doing so . Bad service from a dealer that sells Specialized bikes is the shops fault not the fault of Specialized so your inflammatory thread title is incorrect also.

they should have pointed your friend in teh direction of a ‘fixer’

tbh a bike shop not having someone who can true wheels is a novel concept.
IMO “£200 for new wheels or a reasonable sum (sub £40?) to true up as close as possible” would have been fair. “£200 or nothing” – if that is indeed what happened – is pretty shoddy.

Scienceofficer – Member
This whole thread stinks of mis-interpretation.

3rd hand mis-interpretation to be precise

This thread needs more info.

For example, if the customer had gone in and said “This bike broke and it’s rubbish and I want it made as good as new” then it’s reasonable for the shop to say that to do that it needs a new back wheel and maybe a new front one too if they don’t match.

Yes they took it back to the store they bought it from, a Spesh store as its a Spesh hardrock

Sounds like some kind of misunderstanding going on here …Bad service from a dealer that sells Specialized bikes is the shops fault not the fault of Specialized

aah, STW 😆

Unless junior has been doing drops to concrete

pull rear brake and skid (inadvertently or otherwise) letting go of brake mid skid and it suddenly grips can cause a hell of a side load, I’ve buckled a cpl wheels doing that.

jimdubleyou – re the Kingston store closing I thought this was an interesting snippet about the closure: http://www.sigmasport.co.uk/specialized-concept-store-kingston

I went in there a few times and it was always pretty dead. Location four shops down from a thriving Evans Cycles may have been a large contributory factor in its demise.

Everyone knows second hand stories are full of holes, but…

Her son had a new Hardrock at Christmas and has managed to bend the rear wheel.

They took it back to Spesh who told them it would be £200 and they have to do the pair of wheels.

That wasn’t £200 for a new wheelset, that was for the current wheels to be fixed so I believe. Quite possibly they were talking of a new wheelset but it didn’t come across that way from my friend.

You cant even be consistent yourself so bashing a brand not the store (you dont even know where they took it, more story holes) is a bit foolish.

[/quote]doris5000 – Member
Yes they took it back to the store they bought it from, a Spesh store as its a Spesh hardrock
Sounds like some kind of misunderstanding going on here …Bad service from a dealer that sells Specialized bikes is the shops fault not the fault of Specialized
aah, STW

Sounds like you are struggling to understand how it works as well .

Sounds like some kind of misunderstanding going on here , neither your friends or you or DrP or anyone seem to have a clear understanding of what is going on .

FTFY!!

DrP

You cant even be consistent yourself

I don’t see any inconsistencies in your quoted texts..

Do specialized concept stores have sales targets for their staff?

It does sound more likely to be a misunderstanding than anything else.

(having said that I once tried to buy a new rear axle for an old crossmax wheel from Mavic and they insisted I send both wheels back to france… Not quite the same but sometimes unbelievable things are true)

I don’t see any inconsistencies in your quoted texts..

Broken rear wheel, for £200 and they would do the pair of wheels *which reads like they are replacing, then saying it wasn’t to replace but to fix both wheels when its only the back one that was broken, so is it a replacement or not? Not a clear story.

My belief is that the stores are indpendant and pay a huge amount to become a franchised store with branding and materials for part refit etc. (I seem to remember one small store saying something like £60K about 6 years ago – my memory might be out)

I’m not that impressed with them directly at Chessington, they used to be more helpful, but I think thats down to changes with staff. I bought spesh from 2004 – 2014 about 7 times (2 demos and a few differnt incarnations of the enduro)

Gone German now as generally its the parts that go wrong (droppers/forks/shocks etc) and they go to another fixer in warrenty anyway.

I think their pricing is way too high now as well – my main reason for looking elsewhere.

Who spends £200 on a coat 🙂

Could be a cheeky bit of trolling. If so 😆

Oooh I do STW. 😀

Will be more diligent in future to obtain precise details before I bash a brand.

Whatever the case, whatever shop…..£200 to fix an issue another bike shop fixed for £23 amazes me.

As for not bashing the brand, it matters not if its a franchise or otherwise. If the brand didn’t expect a bashing then they shouldn’t accept the franchise.

Its like the emission scandal for VW, the whole brand is tainted but not every car is affected.

So many sh1t comparisons 😆

Its like the emission scandal for VW, the whole brand is tainted but not every car is affected.

Conversely – no one woudl say VW was a bad brand due to a problem they were aware of at one dealership?

Definitely, absolutely, NOTHING like ripping a jacket….

I bought a new VW Passat from Guildford VW, they were sh1t and so was the car. sold it at 40,000

(Really)

Whatever the case, whatever shop…..£200 to fix an issue another bike shop fixed for £23 amazes me.

As for not bashing the brand, it matters not if its a franchise or otherwise. If the brand didn’t expect a bashing then they shouldn’t accept the franchise.
LOL, remember 3 sides to every story
We still don’t know who deserves the bashing. Is the £23 fix a good fit or a bodge? Could get a wheel straight for that but it might not last. Did the original shop see it all or just told the wheels were broken. Did they speak to the mechanic or just ask how much for a new wheel?

If I was going to start a thread with that title I’d probably want to know all of that first.

As for not bashing the brand, it matters not if its a franchise or otherwise. If the brand didn’t expect a bashing then they shouldn’t accept the franchise.

Well it does, because if its not a franchise then its just another LBS. So you advised them to go from the LBS they bought the bike from (presumably near to them as you never have to go far to find a specialized dealer) to another but different LBS (who might sell specialized as well for all we know).

It could be (and we are guessing now as much as you are) the customer probably told their grand tale and this new LBS decided to offer the cheaper option of a quick fix rather than the full wheelset replacement.

Just before xmas found a small crack near the dropout on his 2yr / 15k mile old specialised roadie. Frame replaced no quibble. He is pretty chuffed. OP story smells like trolling.

How did the wheel break – I need more info….

Ah, you can just imagine the conversation in the shop…

new bike for Christmas
Wheels have bent
Just riding along
Should be covered by warranty

new bike for Christmas
Wheels have bent
Just riding along
Should be covered by warranty

You missed out, “No, he wouldn’t have done that. He’s not that sort of boy.”

Yes. Specialised are indeed a disgrace…. 🙄

Right now in my workshop I’ve got 2 Specialized bikes with cracked frames. Same model and year, but gone in different places. BOTH owners are getting a brand new 2017 bikes as replacements. That’s BIKES, not frames, just to be clear. Both are well used but a simple email with pics and both were agreed warranty replacements in one working day. One bloke only came in for rear brake pads and he’s going out with a new bike for free. Disgraceful behaviour.

The jacket thing doesn’t hold up at all. whatever else may or may not be true here.

Unless there are bike shops that have decided to be retail only no service. But I’m sure most brands would not sell through a premises that didn’t offer service