Decided that I will take the bike to Westdene Cycles for repairs. Here it is what unfolded:
Last week Saturday morning(30/1) took the bike bike in, I decided that I will only ask them to look at the right hand side (did not know if they could repair it) to see if they could repair it then at least my son could use the bike although not 100% but it will do. Last week Monday at around noon I contacted the shop to find out the status(although they indicated that they would call me), the guy informed me that it is fixed and that the repair fee was R70(mistake 1 did not asked to whom I spoke to), seeing that the repair was so cheap I asked them if they could look at the left side also, the reply was that he will ask the mechanic to look at it. The left side had 2 issues 1 was that it was somewhat loose and 2 it will not lock it place when attempting to change up into the higher gear. Called back @3pm and was told that the bike was fixed(mistake 2 did not ask to whom did I speak to) and that the total cost was R140. My wife fetched the bike on Tuesday. Took the bike out just for a quick ride just to verify that everything was working. I noticed that the left lever was still loose but left it like that. Saturday morning my son and I decided that we will go for a ride(his very first time out on the bike), the ride started bad, a mere 400m from home my son fell, the left lever came loose completely and went into the spokes sending my flying off into the tar road. He fell do bad that he had to get 3 stiches on his hip.
Now this is s short background story; furious I took the bike back back to Westdene Cycles and demanded an expalnation on what happened. This is what unfolded. They said that they only looked at the invoice that said repair right hand side, I ask them if I ask for something else do they record it on the invoice there answer is yes. I told them that I contacted them and asked for the left side also to be looked it(they asked to whom I have spoken to and I replied I could not remember). They searched for the invoice and them went to speak to the mechanic. Their reply was that there was nothing wrong(strange why would I ask for something to be looked at if I knew it was not working) and that they tested it on the stand and it was working fine.
I'm not leaving this matter and hence I need some technical info. I'm do not have the technical knowledge on cycles, but I do have two questions for all the tech guys. 1. Even if a bike is on the stand and you use the lever you will still notice that it is loose or not or notice that everything is not 100%. 2. To effectively test the front derailleur you either crank it by hand and operate the lever to test it or get onto the bike and go for a ride to see the workings, in either way at one stage one would operate the lever as well to brake the rear wheel and surely you should also notice that something is not fine with the lever.
What I want is a new seat(I bought an new one), not the top of the range seat but a nice seat to replace the new one that is teared because of the fall and to repair the bike now free of charge.
Sorry for the long post.
