Open Letter to Bike Shop Owners

[EigerSA]

Hillcrest now has... Maverick, CycleLab, CycleFun and a new one in Heritage market (every time I go by it seems closed though). And of course in Waterfall. But you're right, the issue is now settled and hopefully life will return to normal

[The Drongo]

Hillcrest now has... Maverick, CycleLab, CycleFun and a new one in Heritage market (every time I go by it seems closed though). And of course in Waterfall. But you're right, the issue is now settled and hopefully life will return to normal

 

1 Yes

 

2 Yes

 

3 Last time it was a key shop

 

4 I left smartly

 

5 Professionals

[Guest Big H]

Not one of my bikes has ever seen the inside of a LBS as I do not trust them to work on my bikes. I seldom buy spares or acessories from an LBS (Except Solomons and Bouwer Broers who I have come to trust) as I think the overcharge us on the way their environment is stuctured. I carry a large amount of stock and service and work on my bikes myself. If I will ever need anybody to work on my bikes it will be somebody reputable like JB or DP.

 

I still find it strange that dudes who may be trained professionals themselves would allow and trust a strange person who farms himself off to be a bike mechanic without any qualifications or proof of formal training to work n his ZAR50k carbon fibre wonder. I doubt it if there are any formal bike mech training done in SA ind it is much cheaper to hire young guys looking for a job to do the work or maybe to oversee the spannerboys.

 

Being a bike mech is not an art. There is nothing special to it and anybody that can change a and electrical plug can do most of the basic chores to maintain and service a bike and in the process train himself to become very proficient. And do not tell me you do not have the time to do it..... most people are just plain to lazy to do it.

 

In the light of the great mass of untrained whrenches ..... and do not understand me wrong ..... if you have found your guru whrench, cherish him (or her) ...... I still think it may be a prudent excercise to perform the newly named "Eiger 10 second test" when you receive your bike and be sure you do not have to go trough the stressfull excercise poor Eiger had to go through. Even you Mr Doris Day can do the same....... but I suppose that some may not understand the pro-active simple basics in doing something like this, they prefer to trow munny on the water...... and then demand on their so called right.

 

BTW Good on you Eiger for sorting the matter out in a constructuctive way that would have condusive end results for all.

 

I apologise for the way this thread went south but a lot of unprovoked name calling took place where I had no part in or asked for.

[Albereth]

Pod people have invaded west Africa

[Albereth]

Report back...

 

I got a phone call early this morning from the bike shop owner; he asked if we could meet which I was happy to do. The owner was extremely apologetic, and interestingly so was the mechanic who was also there, way before opening time I might add! Essentially the mechanic reckons he tests every bike that leaves the shop, it was just bad luck on my part that I collected the bike before he had a chance to do the test ride. As for not phoning, basically no excuse, he just forgot. Lastly my complaint on attitude, well apparently that's just me.

 

The owner and mechanic were really friendly and tried hard to make amends which I really do appreciate, and because of that, I wont be posting their details online. I will say however, that regardless of what some may think, I believe that it is my (and yours) unalienable right to expect a level of service and competence in line with the amount of money I'm paying and the services offered. I also refuse to keep quiet when the level of service that I do receive is in my opinion below par.

 

One thing that did come out in the meet this morning, was that the bike shop owner had no idea as to what was happening until a mate of his pointed this thread out to him. If we as customers do not take the time to inform the bike shop manager/owner of our disappointments, then we can hardly expect them to change. The only question I still have left is, if I had not brought this up on a public forum, but had instead, just faxed (or emailed) my complaint, would I have got the same level of attention as now?

 

Although some have called for the "Eiger 10 second rule" to be part and parcel of a service, I still believe it defeats the whole objective, I pay someone to perform the "mechanics 30 second" rule instead, that's the whole point of paying to have your bike serviced.

 

One last observation to bike shop owners out there: there seems to be a lot of complaints out there about the quality of service from bike shops, and nothing moves faster than bad news, maybe make note of that and start looking to how you can increase customer loyalty by improving service, just my opinion.

 

Good on you - I really think that this did way more good than harm.

 

Whether you would have had better outcome with just a fax will remain one of life's mysteries.

 

Tomorrow I take 2 of the 3 bikes I bought earlier this year in for their 'free' services. I'll be using your experience to make sure that things are right before I do the origami stunt of reloading bikes back onto my car.

[EigerSA]

Not one of my bikes has ever seen the inside of a LBS as I do not trust them to work on my bikes. I seldom buy spares or acessories from an LBS (Except Solomons and Bouwer Broers who I have come to trust) as I think the overcharge us on the way their environment is stuctured. I carry a large amount of stock and service and work on my bikes myself. If I will ever need anybody to work on my bikes it will be somebody reputable like JB or DP.

 

I still find it strange that dudes who may be trained professionals themselves would allow and trust a strange person who farms himself off to be a bike mechanic without any qualifications or proof of formal training to work n his ZAR50k carbon fibre wonder. I doubt it if there are any formal bike mech training done in SA ind it is much cheaper to hire young guys looking for a job to do the work or maybe to oversee the spannerboys.

 

Being a bike mech is not an art. There is nothing special to it and anybody that can change a and electrical plug can do most of the basic chores to maintain and service a bike and in the process train himself to become very proficient. And do not tell me you do not have the time to do it..... most people are just plain to lazy to do it.

 

In the light of the great mass of untrained whrenches ..... and do not understand me wrong ..... if you have found your guru whrench, cherish him (or her) ...... I still think it may be a prudent excercise to perform the newly named "Eiger 10 second test" when you receive your bike and be sure you do not have to go trough the stressfull excercise poor Eiger had to go through. Even you Mr Doris Day can do the same....... but I suppose that some may not understand the pro-active simple basics in doing something like this, they prefer to trow munny on the water...... and then demand on their so called right.

 

BTW Good on you Eiger for sorting the matter out in a constructuctive way that would have condusive end results for all.

 

I apologise for the way this thread went south but a lot of unprovoked name calling took place where I had no part in or asked for.

 

It's all good.

[King_Crispy]

Yay, everyone are friends again.

Maybe because it's too early for anyone to have had too much brandy and be really aggressive?

Warms my heart when all the old farts love life again and aren't grumpy.

 

Now go and ride your bikes boys...

[ThePubSA]

Recently purchased a mtb from a lbs in jhb.Checked bike over in shop, apart from turning upside down , got home turned bike onto handlebars and seat when changing wheelsets ,to notice chips under frame on chainstay side. Didnt look like chain marks tho, looked like workshop staff had caveman dragged frame across floor..Told the few staff i chat to the next time i was in and they kinda blank starred not possible in their workshop.. i've seen there silverbacks .. (not the bicycle brand). lol..

Got the mandatory card for the 2 week and 3 month free services.Card stipulated must be brought in within those timelines.Phone the lbs within the 1st 2 week period to arrange a time to bring bike in for service. am told " no way at all we are way to busy" lol ...almost 2 months later get a booking... So they tell me im booked for friday-to fetch on saturday..seemed fast as i think cycle lab once told me to collect in 3 days..idk. Had time on thursday so thought i would drop it off to give them more time incase they where ahead..(me tryna help them..lol).

 

Got there on saturday waited usual 15 mins to get served ,got bike to find 1/2 work wasnt done, as b.e.e staff in workshop cant read the sales/rep/appis hand writing , so just did 1/2 the work, i lmao cause u cant cry, and tell them to make snappy, +- hour later they were done..

Get home go out for ride, only to find my seat hasnt been tightened properly and have moved my seat position.. wtf would they need to move my seat for.. plenty space on seatpost for workstand clamp.. anyhow wore down the notch grooves for seat placement on post head, gonna need to buy new seatpost..gz

 

Now just cant wait to see the fun when i try get my 3 month service.. lmao . Didnt they also kinda break there terms of service by stating those timelines and then not being able to comply..?

 

So anyways cant win was always out of the lbs that i noticed problems so complaining would of probably just put me in bad terms with the lbs..like o gz here's that guy who complains.. and if it was a restaurant ..eg." they'd be spitting in my soup"..lool.

 

Definately will not go back to that lbs for services when the free one's are up and it's time to pay.. .

Feel sorry for the people who take there 20k+ bikes there and there's tons of them that do....

This lbs taking on way too much business like in terms of bike services,i mean they should be able to provide 100% service before they take on more work, they just stocking up bikes for service..

= FAIL ....

Edited March 15, 2011 by 2nutz

[Burts]

Ai die Hub is lekker! Another Soapie in progress. Just wondering what the name of the soapie should be?

[Albereth]

Recently purchased a mtb from a lbs in jhb.

 

SNIP

 

up bikes for service..

= FAIL ....

 

Phoned to book two in today - they can only take them next week and it only takes a day to service. Thanks to this thread (and others) I'll pay special attention for when they return and I'll take photos of the frame before hand.