Cycle Lab Fourways

[Paul Ruinaard]

Has anybody else had bad service from the Service Department at Cycle Lab Fourways?  I can't believe how shoddy their workmanship is.  I took my bike in for a headset and BB service on 25 November 2014.  One week later the crank arm moved off the spline as it wasn't torqued to spec.  I had to cycle about 20km home with one crank as I was alone and it was during office hours.  I complained about it at the shop and the technician on duty at the time informed me that he has heard similar complaints about this technician in the past...  If that wasn't bad enough, this week I felt that my headset was loose and took it to my local bike shop, Johnson's Cycles in Edenvale.  Ken told me that there was dirt and corrosion in the headset and had to do a full clean and relube.  Basically I had to pay another bike shop for something I already paid Cycle Lab to do.  I then called Cycle Lab to ask them for a refund for the work that I paid them for but was not done adequately.  Apparently a decision was taken by top management that it was too late for a refund as 5 months is far too long for a headset and BB service to last.  The best that they could offer was a bike wash and lube...as if I would ever take my bike to their workshop again!  They also said that if I brought the matter to their attention so that they could see the issues, they would have redone/refunded me immediately; just a warning to everyone out there.  It seems that this is a really unprofessional outfit and that they have much to learn in the way of customer service; I gave the workshop manager, "Ido," ample opportunity to restore my situation or compensate me in some meaningful way, but he refused to play ball.  Cycle Lab have lost a customer and I will inform my local club and my friends not to support this business.

I think. You are pushing the bounds of reality to assume that you can take your bike back 5 months later. Sorry mate i think you need to retract.

 

Cyclelab always good to me

[Paul Ruinaard]

Has anybody else had bad service from the Service Department at Cycle Lab Fourways?  I can't believe how shoddy their workmanship is.  I took my bike in for a headset and BB service on 25 November 2014.  One week later the crank arm moved off the spline as it wasn't torqued to spec.  I had to cycle about 20km home with one crank as I was alone and it was during office hours.  I complained about it at the shop and the technician on duty at the time informed me that he has heard similar complaints about this technician in the past...  If that wasn't bad enough, this week I felt that my headset was loose and took it to my local bike shop, Johnson's Cycles in Edenvale.  Ken told me that there was dirt and corrosion in the headset and had to do a full clean and relube.  Basically I had to pay another bike shop for something I already paid Cycle Lab to do.  I then called Cycle Lab to ask them for a refund for the work that I paid them for but was not done adequately.  Apparently a decision was taken by top management that it was too late for a refund as 5 months is far too long for a headset and BB service to last.  The best that they could offer was a bike wash and lube...as if I would ever take my bike to their workshop again!  They also said that if I brought the matter to their attention so that they could see the issues, they would have redone/refunded me immediately; just a warning to everyone out there.  It seems that this is a really unprofessional outfit and that they have much to learn in the way of customer service; I gave the workshop manager, "Ido," ample opportunity to restore my situation or compensate me in some meaningful way, but he refused to play ball.  Cycle Lab have lost a customer and I will inform my local club and my friends not to support this business.

Also great 4th post mate.welcome to the hub.

[Ampandy]

Maybe do the repairs and servicing yourself, buy the tools, lubes, parts and you good to go. Best way to get to know the ins and outs and makes things interesting.

[Bigjmeister]

I think. You are pushing the bounds of reality to assume that you can take your bike back 5 months later. Sorry mate i think you need to retract.

 

Cyclelab always good to me

Not a chance of a retraction, mate.

How often do you get your headset serviced? Every 700 km?

[Bigjmeister]

Sounds very similar to the service received by the OP too. He had a ridiculous complaint 5 months down the line with no evidence to back it up and they still offered him a free wash and lube! Sounds like pretty good service to me. I would have struggled to remain calm if I was on the receiving end of that story - he had the time to complain repeatedly to them, but couldn't find the time to take the bike to them to see if they'd help him out with his issues (at least he gave them a fair chance to give in to his demand for a refund!).

 

The best part of the whole story is this : "They also said that if I brought the matter to their attention so that they could see the issues, they would have redone/refunded me immediately; just a warning to everyone out there." A warning that they will fix a problem if you show it to them - if I was in JHB I might use them myself!

Talk is cheap.  Anybody could have said that after the fact.

[Bigjmeister]

Also great 4th post mate.welcome to the hub.

I hope to be a big boy like you one day

[Li Mu Bai]

Bad service???? cmon, NO WAYS!

[Kyle Petersen]

The best place to service your bike is by a guy called Tom.

Search Facebook for . N+1 cycle works .

Message Tom and he will have your beast running smoother than ever. Hands down the best in gauteng

Bigj he's in edwnvale too! Johnsons is awful!

[HappyMartin]

I hope to be a big boy like you one day

You may have a fair point about cycle lab. I don't know. Not my LBS so nothing to say one way or another but since this is may get ugly I will chip in with some advice that you are free to ignore, argue with or whatever.

 

The Hub is a very odd place. Lots of long time users and there is of course a history. But it's not Hello Peter dot com so guys get annoyed when someone joins just to use the Hub as a platform against a supplier. It has happened countless times. That's what you have walked into here.

 

If you decide to stick around a few other things you will notice. If you bring up a service issue someone, at least one, will tell you to heavily invest in time, money and skills and to service yourslf. That has already happened. Don't worry it's normal here.

 

If you ask about supplements someone, at least one, will tell you to rather eat real food.

 

If you ask bout road routes at least 20 people will tell you mtb is the only cycling that counts. Actually this happens with most road cycling related questions.

 

If you report poor or aggressive driving and even get run over by an irate motorist who hunted you down then drove away you will be asked if you were riding in single file and did you have reflective gear, were you wearing a helmet and were you on a freeway. You might also be told to start MTBing and to get off the road. Yes it's weird for a cycling forum but so it goes.

 

Please don't ever ask about chain lube, trust me on this. It's just not worth it.

 

Oh and welcome to the Hub

[Erroli8a8]

my question to the OP? why did you go to Cycle Lab in the first place when your LBS is closer and this is were you took it to have it sorted out? Why not go there in the first place?

[rouxtjie]

I do my own work at home, find it therapeutic and not a ball ache....but to the topic

 

OP, no offence but I don't think your expectations are fair and I don't think cyclelab will miss your business much....7 months down the line and you expect your bolts and torque to stay perfect considering they dismantled the whole thing to service...remember you can't really service a headset or bb, your replace bearings and to do this you need to dismantle the whole unit. From my own experience, if I replace headset bearings I torque all the bolts to the correct nm and it always changes a bit after the first couple of rides...even with carbon paste...it almost needs to settle if I can use that expression. Its up to you to check this after the first couple of rides after the "service". Think of it as a car. If you had a radiator replaced you make sure to check the coolent level for a while afterwards...its not an appliance, its a vehicle that by its nature will deteriorate ito wear and tear from the first time you swing your leg over it. So it will be perfect when it it leaves the shop, but might not be after your first ride.

 

It really isn't a reflection of cyclelab's workshop(I have never taken my bike to their workshop / shop there / part of their club) to be honest but rather your impossible expectations. So in short, you have failed in your mission to name and shame them...I wouldn't have even offered you a wash and lube.

[Shebeen]

I hope to be a big boy like you one day

What's in a name, what's in a name?!

[_David_]

Not a chance of a retraction, mate.

How often do you get your headset serviced? Every 700 km?

 

Every 300 km if you user Clean Green to wash your bike.

[Paul Ruinaard]

Every 300 km if you user Clean Green to wash your bike.

Ed Zackery,

 

So you take the bike away - ride it for 5 months in whatever environments and expect it to be pristine.

 

I think we have a classic case here of someone who does not understand the first iota of what a bicycle headset goes through. You can destroy one in 50km if incorrectly adjusted or lubed or like said a high pressure hose or washer has got water in through the seals.

 

Time and distance have no bearing on the life of a headset unless you are talking things like Chris King which are bullet proof, and even then they will be subject to the same vagaries.

 

As I said - I think the bike shop was right mate.

 

And my post wrt your number of posts is what we see all the time here - the only time someone wants to get on the hub and start to post is when they have an axe to grind and want to besmirch a member of the community that they feel has wronged them - particularly retailers.

 

So your motives are really to make as much stink as possible for Cyclelab - however when you get people asking for details of what happened and being objective to assess it, then you dont like it.

 

Have a look at the warning around rant n rave first.

 

As i said - on average - and I have been a Cyclelab customer since they were in Woodmead, they have treated me very well and have been very reasonable in addressing issues which were their fault which is what I think they have been here.

 

`I think you sir are the unreasonable one and therefore should think about what your motives were with the post.

[scotty]

I doubt there is one bike shop with 100% customer satisfaction, with all the bike shops I've dealt with over the years there has always been something that I've been unhappy with. Its how they dealt with my issue that makes me a return customer. It's to be expected that Cyclelab being the largest and widely known would attract the most criticism warranted or not. 

[CycleLab]

Hi Bigjmeister, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

 

Please would you kindly message your contact info and we will be in touch to understand the precise nature of this incident.

 

We have indeed received complaints for bad service in the past and will of course be ready and willing to assist our fellow cyclists who are our customers in improving constantly and learning how we can best meet their needs as understood by reasonable expectation.

We would welcome a sit down with you at Cycle Lab Fourways, should you wish to get some closure.

We look forward to hearing from you directly and understandably hope you will afford us, again if you like, the opportunity to rectify this situation.

Yours, Cycle Lab