I left my pride & joy to get serviced for the first time to a rather large and well known bike shop on Tuesday. I needed the brakes bled and the rear bushing replaced. I also asked them to look at the shocks and Chris King hubs to see if they needed serviced – but phone me before they did any work. They asked if I wanted the gears checked but I specifically said no. I gave them a phone on Thursday evening but they said the bike probably wasn’t done and confirmed they would definitely phone before they commenced any work.

I got a text today (Friday morning) saying the bike was ready and just picked it up. Both shocks and hubs were serviced and brakes were bled resulting in a bill of £200 without phoning me as I requested. On first inspection the works looks good and it needed done. The mechanic also said he replaced the bushing and a nipple without charge. Fair enough. But what has annoyed me is the have removed my expensive gore-tex inner cables, threw them in the bin and replaced with Shimano inners (charging me £8 for the privilege). I did argue I didn’t want this done and they should have phoned me before doing this.

Am I within my right to make further complaints about this or should I just suck it up?

If you asked them to bleed the brakes then you can’t complain that they did it, however, they should have phoned you as requested about the other stuff. But if you have no written record of what you requested and there is no recording on the phones (if you requested by phone) then there probably won’t be much you can do about it legally. However, I would definitely be complaining to the store manager about the poor service and not using them again.

I would have though that replacing the cables was pretty standard as part of the stuff you always do as part of a ‘service’.

On first inspection the works looks good and it needed done.

Leave it at that.

No written records needed in this scenario.

I’d complain, their stupidity, but you’d hope the work needed done though, in which case you will have had value for what you pay.

Dunno, but I reckon I’m one of the few here that could pronounce the OP’s name. 🙂

Thanks L.M.Panda – its more the fact they have changed my cables for a lower spec and charged me for it 🙁

How were your gears, and have they explained why they changed the inners?

To be honest apart from the cables, if you acknowledge the rest needed doing and asked them to check it doesn’t seem unreasonable and they’ve saved you trouble.

I would be complaining yes.

It’s illegal to demand payment for unsolicited services. If they’ve carried out the work without your approval then you shouldn’t have to pay for it. Proving it, however, might be tricky.

If they’d phoned and said “we need to do all this work, it’ll be £200” would you have told them to go ahead? Whether or not the answer is “yes” would affect how I’d want to proceed if it were me.

At the very least I’d be writing a letter so that the next customer doesn’t get similarly bitten. Though if it’s the store I’m thinking of, when I wrote to complain about something the manager wrote back ostensibly calling me a liar. So good luck with that.

its more the fact they have changed my cables for a lower spec and charged me for it

If you took the bike in for a “service”, they almost certainly have a list of things that they do on a standard service. Is this change on the list? If not, then it’s unsolicited; if so then it’s your own fault for not reading what work was included.

I specified what work needed done (I have this on e-mail and they have it on their computer system). This didn’t include the gears or cables being looked at. I don’t mind paying for the work I requested and I’m sure it is done well. I’m happy to pay for the shocks, hubs & brakes service. I’m not happy the cables have been changed. A quick spin round the car park and the gear cables don’t feel as smooth….

A few points.
You do have rights in this situation but sadly you have missed a few elements that will prevent you progressing the issue further

You have to agree a limit to the costs at the start.

As long as you are specific about the type of work you want done then you don’t have to pay for unauthorised work. This is covered by the Consumers Act.
You made sure you were clear about what you want from the start but missed setting the limits of costs (which is required by the act to protect yourself).

the problem is in case law it’s been clarified as
“- at a reasonable charge, if no price is agreed beforehand”

Depends if you see the charge as resonable.

If they estimated the costs again this would help.

Sounds like it may be one of those “lessons learnt” situations.

I would just ask them to replace the cable with gore for no cost and leave it at that

If there really is a difference (not sure there is – my older Gore cables came with inners which look just like standard stainless ones, it’s only the outers which are fancy), then I reckon you’ve got a case for asking them to restore the bike to the condition it was in before – ie replacement Gore inners.

rockhopper +1 – posted while I was typing

The workshop should have given you an option on cables, rather than fit standard replacements and they should have also consulted you before doing any work out of your plan.
Too many mechanics are afraid to speak with their customers or to charge them correctly for work done.

I’d go in and complain but complain really nicely and you’ll likely get a money off voucher for next time. But yeah otherwise suck it up.

t’s illegal to demand payment for unsolicited services.

What do you mean by illegal?

At the very least I’d be writing a letter so that the next customer doesn’t get similarly bitten.

I think you may not be as influential as you think.

Thanks for all you input guys.

I would have though that replacing the cables was pretty standard as part of the stuff you always do as part of a ‘service’.

unless you’ve got goretex cables and specifically tell them to leave well alone

They asked if I wanted the gears checked but I specifically said no.

Sounds like there was a glitch in communication and the mechanic just got on with the work. They are in the wrong but if the work was done and probably needed doing I’d probably accept paying 50% of the bill (maybe some replacement goretex cables fitted FOC)

What do you mean by illegal?

I mean it’s a criminal offence under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. What do you take it to mean?

I think you may not be as influential as you think.

Well, no, I’m assuming a reputable store that gives a toss about its customers, which is optimistic I know.

Evans?

I would have though that replacing the cables was pretty standard as part of the stuff you always do as part of a ‘service’.

Err no. We don’t.
What SHOULD happen is that you inspect the bike and agree what’s to be done and quote a price. Record what’s agreed and the price on the (electronic usually) job sheet.
If the mechanic finds anything else then he should call the customer and get them to agree to it BEFORE starting the work.
Anything else is unprofessional.

Most customers will gladly pay for a good, thorough job. Earlier this week I quoted £140 for a service that went to £235 in the end. That’s the way it goes, and the customer was happy.
I’m fairly new to this game, but I’m sole mechanic in a well established West London LBS. That’s how I operate. 🙂

Poddy, you’re working in London? Cool, I may try and find you 🙂

£200 to get your bike serviced? I don’t even pay that for my car.

General rule of workshops….

Bike is booked in with customers opinion of what needs done
Bike comes in and is briefly assessed to tally with what customer would like done vs. what can be seen needs done etc.
Bike is seen on specified day/slot – and assessed fully by mechanic
If within estimate given at brief inspection then proceed, if not..
Then make contact with customer to explain why the e.g. £45 estimate will not cover a rear hub service as thats found to be the culprit of dodgy shifting etc.
If no contact can be made, then personal call of do it or not is made. I.E if its a little over, e.g. estimate £40, actual £48, go for it. If nots more then do not proceed, do not pass go, do not collect £200

I’d have thought that was standard practise?
Esp with higher end bikes where you find exotic grades of bearings in them, exotic cables and pads etc, that your average LBS would just replace with standard, because either they don’t know the difference, or no matter how fancy a cable is, its still kinked/corroded/frayed/buggered and a £2 std shimano is better in that situation

he should call the customer

That’s all well and good as long as the customer answers his or her phone eh? 🙂

Mol, err not sure of the technicalities of “London” but it is to me! 🙂
Isleworth to be precise.

cables ~£2
Everything else ~£198. Would see you’re point if you were grumbling about the big bit but really life’s too short.

Indeed

You seem to have missed the point that he’s grumbling about them downgrading his cables more than them charging him to do so. Well that and they actually charged him £8.

I’d still be more cheesed off about the £192

In all honesty you need to get a set of tools and learn how to do this all yourself.

There is no job on most bikes that 99% of people can’t do themselves with a pretty basic 30 quid bike tool kit, a pair of circlip pliers and decent cable cutters. Even fixing wheels is pretty easy.

200 notes is expensive for something you could easily do.

cables ~£2

goretex cables which presumably the OP considered to be in good working order and told the shop to leave alone £40ish
whilst only £8 of the bill he’s actually down closer to £50 cablewise

fair enough – didnt pick up on the gore bit

OP – KILL, KILL, KILL

You seem to have missed the point that he’s grumbling about them downgrading his cables more than them charging him to do so. Well that and they actually charged him £8.

This precisely. (£8 is ballpark for an inner + outer fitted)
IMO each bike should be assed at its reception by someone who is mechanically competent. If I’m in the shop I’ll check every bike in if I can. My colleagues (who both know what they’re doing) generally call me out of the workshop to do this. I go over it with a fine tooth comb. There’s 2 reasons for this:
1) Customer perspective: if a bike is coming in for a service, it needs to last as long as possible before coming back and it’s cheaper to get as much done as possible at once. The customer will also notice more difference the more thorough the service is
2) Shop perspective: I’m employed to sell a service. The more I can sell with that service the more money I make for the business. The better I can do that service as above, the better the reputation of the shop and the more likely the customer is to return.

Example: There’s no point in doing a service and fitting just a new mech if the cables are gunked up. Sell the cables too, then the customer can really feel why he spent his money.

£192 for stuff he acknowledges needed doing.

aracer

send me you’re email address so I can forward any post I’m about to make and you can tell how wrong it is, why and what to do about it.

s’ok – you put them up here and I’ll do that for you FOC