Beast Tech Posted March 24, 2014 Share I never expected this day to ever come, from a child I have been going to this place, consistently giving the best and friendliest service a person could ask for, but after the past year this has seemed to have changed. Whenever I needed help or a part I used to pop in there and be helped with a smile, I pretty much have supported them with buying all my stuff there because of their great service. Over the last year the service has slowly changed, and Saturday was my tipping point. Doing my first restoration project and struggling with the BB I popped in there asking for assistance (I have done this before and happily they have helped, and of course purchasing of a few products at the same time). But as I have noticed they have a much younger workforce (I support their initiative), but when their employee knows less than me about what I am talking about and refuses to help me, book the bike in, and tells me to come in the week (which I cant because of work) it was a bit much. But if I was to be helped by someone else probably I may have got the service I am used to, its a game of luck in that place as to what service you get, and it shouldn't be like this? And he goes on to say "As you can see today we are all about selling bicycles so if you can come back in the week it would be better" Very disappointing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValeYellow Posted March 24, 2014 Share I do hope that you get hold of the owner and let her know so that they can address the issue. I too was there on Saturday - will be purchasing my daughters first bike from them - and the shop was crazy busy - which is the norm for them on a Saturday. I too sometimes become a little agitated with some of the responses that I hear from the youth of today, and I think that this guy was trying to fob you off - take it up with Joanne and sort it out. slowpoke 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rata Del Spruit Posted March 24, 2014 Share Probably better to have chatted to Joanne before venting on here. If, as you say, you've received great service from them for the last decade and you've had one bad experience then it seems a bit unfair that you've ranted on here once and haven't posted any praise for them before (I assume). I've frequently stopped in there with a small problem and just been handed a part, free of charge. Most of the staff there know what they're talking about but you're occasionally going to encounter an inexperienced assistant who's still got a lot to learn. In that instance, just ask for someone more knowledgable. DARK KNIGHT, slowpoke, ValeYellow and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Tech Posted March 24, 2014 Share Perhaps you are right, I wrote this post with a very heavy heart as it has always been a great place to me and they have helped me countless times without a charge. I will give Joanne a call and chat to her about the incident and I am sure a happy solution will be possible. I just felt that the right people are not getting employed and the culture I have been accustomed to is being lost on the youngsters which are just focused on earning commission. I will give her a call, as you can see this is not a rant that I am happy about, just over the last year this is becoming more apparent. All I am saying is I am a person that goes their regularly and do know the high quality of service. If I was not a regular and this happened to be my first experience with them it would have been highly negative and a potential future customer lost... Andrew Steer, slowpoke, nonky and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy Posted March 24, 2014 Share One of the reasons Linden is a busy shop, id because they are very good at what they do. i do not see the problem with what happened. A "restoration project" comes up with lots of unique and very specific technical issues. BB standards have changed over the years and finding the solution takes time and legacy expertise. The person attending to you was honest and said that at their busiest time, they cannot spare someone with the expertise, to spend the time. However, they will do so when the shop is quieter. What is the problem ? Perhaps if you had said, "OK, I'll book it in to be looked at during the week, but as I cannot drop it off, do you mind if I leave it with you now ?" The problem could already have been solved. Maybe it is just me, but I have always found that being reasonable with my service providers, and not expecting them to drop everything to attend to my technical queries, had led to nothing but good value, exceptional service and them often going way beyond the norm to keep me happy. GLuvsMtb and Rolling Stone 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Tech Posted March 24, 2014 Share One of the reasons Linden is a busy shop, id because they are very good at what they do. i do not see the problem with what happened. A "restoration project" comes up with lots of unique and very specific technical issues. BB standards have changed over the years and finding the solution takes time and legacy expertise. The person attending to you was honest and said that at their busiest time, they cannot spare someone with the expertise, to spend the time. However, they will do so when the shop is quieter. What is the problem ? Perhaps if you had said, "OK, I'll book it in to be looked at during the week, but as I cannot drop it off, do you mind if I leave it with you now ?" The problem could already have been solved. Maybe it is just me, but I have always found that being reasonable with my service providers, and not expecting them to drop everything to attend to my technical queries, had led to nothing but good value, exceptional service and them often going way beyond the norm to keep me happy. This rant is not unmotivated as you are assuming. The BB is simple, it is a "cup-and-cone" system that requires a specific tool that you can not buy. The salesmen never understood this, the job was quick as all that was required was a tool that I did not have. Secondly, I did ask the salesmen if I could leave the frame here and request they look at it during the week (I emphasized it is a frame and does not take up space and I will pay for storage if it was required) which he did respond "No, as you can see we are very busy and that would not be possible" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFC311 Posted March 24, 2014 Share Probably better to have chatted to Joanne before venting on here. If, as you say, you've received great service from them for the last decade and you've had one bad experience then it seems a bit unfair that you've ranted on here once and haven't posted any praise for them before (I assume). I've frequently stopped in there with a small problem and just been handed a part, free of charge. Most of the staff there know what they're talking about but you're occasionally going to encounter an inexperienced assistant who's still got a lot to learn. In that instance, just ask for someone more knowledgable. double standards .....why must he phone the owner 1st other bike shops get run down on the hub without any owners or staff being informed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rata Del Spruit Posted March 24, 2014 Share double standards .....why must he phone the owner 1st other bike shops get run down on the hub without any owners or staff being informed Whose double standards? The first thing that comes up when you try to post something under the Rant and Rave section is this little bit of advice: Before you rant: Has a reasonable attempt been made to resolve the issue directly with the party concerned?If this is the first the other party will hear of your negative experience we strongly encourage you to engage them directly and seek resolution offline prior to posting here. Bonus, slowpoke, ValeYellow and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fantana Posted March 24, 2014 Share If you cannot carry work out yourself, and it needs to be done by a workshop, you need to do what the rest of society does: Book it in for the work, and collect when ready. If they used to do work like this immediately for you in the past, it was most probably because they had the time, but it must be seen as a bonus. If they don't have the time or capacity to do it immediately you cannot really hold it against them? eddy, Sidewinder., nonky and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plentipotential Posted March 24, 2014 Share If you are going to complain to the owner remember her name is Joneen. Never seen her wearing shoes and looks like she brushes her hair with a fire cracker but that lady knows how to run a bike shop, sure she will have you sorted in no time at all. ichops, ThePubSA, Jules and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Tech Posted March 24, 2014 Share Whose double standards? The first thing that comes up when you try to post something under the Rant and Rave section is this little bit of advice: Before you rant: Has a reasonable attempt been made to resolve the issue directly with the party concerned?If this is the first the other party will hear of your negative experience we strongly encourage you to engage them directly and seek resolution offline prior to posting here. Remind me never to ever go to a shop that you run, I guess going beyond customer expectations is not your thing, you are all about delivering the bare minimum and won't do anything more. I just needed the tool, I would have gone to the back and done it myself, would have taken 2 minutes (I know this because the shop I went to after Linden cycles did it in 2 minutes happily for me) I did call her and we did have a good chat and no more harm done. But as mentioned you should not need to call the owner for good service. But I do believe the onus lies upon as to let her know our experiences so that she may be aware of what is happening in her shop, she can't be everywhere at once is what we concluded. ichops and Loose cog 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Low Posted March 24, 2014 Share Linden Cycles = royal game. You want 50 pages of support? Then say it was Cajees. You want 100 pages of evenly divided knock-down-drag-out Hub fight? Then say it was Cyclelab. Rata Del Spruit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rata Del Spruit Posted March 24, 2014 Share Remind me never to ever go to a shop that you run, I guess going beyond customer expectations is not your thing, you are all about delivering the bare minimum and won't do anything more. And you got all that from my suggestion that you try resolve it with the owner? Nice work, Rust Cole. Look, we all make mistakes, it's how a person (or company) resolves them that defines them. If you phoned Joneen and sorted it out then great, hope you had a good outcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Tech Posted March 24, 2014 Share And you got all that from my suggestion that you try resolve it with the owner? Nice work, Rust Cole. Look, we all make mistakes, it's how a person (or company) resolves them that defines them. If you phoned Joneen and sorted it out then great, hope you had a good outcome. A company is nothing more than the people in that company, in this case the salesmen. You should not need to phone the owner every time you have a bad experience. The true rectification is the service that happens on future, and that will speak more than any phone call would. This thread will be a sign for this is in the future, if it happens again and to others then simply it is not an isolated event and one that requires a thread. If it doesn't then this thread will be forgotten about and it clearly was a rare event which was happily rectified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plentipotential Posted March 24, 2014 Share Remind me never to ever go to a shop that you run, I guess going beyond customer expectations is not your thing, you are all about delivering the bare minimum and won't do anything more. I just needed the tool, I would have gone to the back and done it myself, would have taken 2 minutes (I know this because the shop I went to after Linden cycles did it in 2 minutes happily for me) I did call her and we did have a good chat and no more harm done. But as mentioned you should not need to call the owner for good service. But I do believe the onus lies upon as to let her know our experiences so that she may be aware of what is happening in her shop, she can't be everywhere at once is what we concluded. Hold on. Back it up a bit. In your opening post you mention that you went to the shop seeking a bit of help. "Doing my first restoration project and struggling with the BB I popped in there asking for assistance" However it would now appear as if you wanted to borrow a tool? I just needed the tool, I would have gone to the back and done it myself, would have taken 2 minutes If you were to go to any service centre and asked to borrow a tool to repair/fix/adjust/whatever they actually do as part of their business I am sure that most if not all would ask you to book your thingymabob into their shop so that they could actually earn money from the tool they purchased for just such a job, surely? Or am I missing a trick here? Kind of like going to a stationery shop and asking to borrow a pen, no? Thank goodness, for a minute there I thought my favourite bike shop standards were slipping. Edited March 24, 2014 by Plentipotential ichops, eddy and GaryvdM 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Tech Posted March 24, 2014 Share Hold on. Back it up a bit. In your opening post you mention that you went to the shop seeking a bit of help. "Doing my first restoration project and struggling with the BB I popped in there asking for assistance" However it would now appear as if you wanted to borrow a tool? I just needed the tool, I would have gone to the back and done it myself, would have taken 2 minutes If you were to go to any service centre and asked to borrow a tool to repair/fix/adjust/whatever they actually do as part of their business I am sure that most if not all would ask you to book your thingymabob into their shop so that they could actually earn money from the tool they purchased for just such a job, surely? Or am I missing a trick here? Kind of like going to a stationery shop and asking to borrow a pen, no? Thank goodness, for a minute there I thought my favourite bike shop standards were slipping. If you read my words in the context of the thread it is quite the opposite... I was merely using that as an example in reply to your question of having to book it in like everyone else. I would never use the tool myself, I agree that is wrong. I was just emphasizing that to book a bike in for a week is a bit extreme when the process will only take two minutes. Linden cycles is such a soft spot for everybody it seems, and I knew it would be. Just I ask for you to read and think before you jump to attacking me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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