CleatsnCleavage Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 took my bike for a major service to my LBS which is excellent. Had a whole discussion with the mechanic about how I need to put a new tyre on my bike, we stood at the tyres and discussed choices. I left saying I would put one on at home rather. When I collected my bike I'd been charged R90 for sealant top up. I was quite annoyed. But because they are a good LBS they accepted my ranting and then helped fix my wheel (for free) after my boyf put the hub bearing (I think) back in the wrong way after he changed it. But ja, I do always tell them, do what needs to be done on my bikes. I do appreciate a call and I do phone them back if I miss them. Tricky one.
Buks Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 I was charged R160 for sealant top up during a complementary was and lube. Felt seriously scammed afterwards.
lechatnoir Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 Why not tell them that you didn't ask for it, and would they take it out again, and deduct off your bill. It'll be a huge PITA for them, and you'd be absolutely within your rights
JXV Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 A service consists of known scheduled maintenance items, adjustments and a bunch of checks for an agreed price. If the checks indicate need for additional work, that needs customer approval. So the sealant is either included in the service cost or its an extra and you need my agreement before doing it. And srsly....who leaves voice messages these days? If I'm in a meeting I'll block your call but a whatsapp I can respond to immediately while sitting there. Plus you can send pics on the whatsapp and use the shop's wifi to do it so cost is less than a phone call.
Spoke101 Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 R140 for a sealant top up? My local bikeshop charges R40 and I thought that was high. Bottle of stans is R250 odd R40 including labour? or was it for only the stans? Thanks for your input Skinnyone, As someone on the other side of the counter; please explain how to check sealant volume without breaking the seal on the rim. And why you would check volume - on new tyres? And how and why on slime tubes?Would you also check sealant volume and do more work than asked for - when a bike comes in for just a specified pivot squeak and a shock service, 2 weeks after you did a full service (excl suspension service) and even replaced all pivot bearings? That was the concern. All of which has been adressed in this thread, and after a great bit of to-and-fro, I think it's pretty well sealed up by now. As someone who also spends most of there time behind the counter the sealant issue is a common one and depends on the customer. Phoning or messaging a customer is all good and well when they answer or respond straight away try doing 5 half jobs because no one answers or replies, so there 5 half finished bikes hanging around waiting and then the customer pitches up to collect and the bikes not ready because (Oh I forgot to reply but I'm leaving for a race tomorrow at 5am). We would not check sealant levels when Pivots and shocks are serviced unless there is something the indicates there might be a problem. ie tyre pressure is low so air is added bike is later checked and test ridden and pressure is low again, then we will check for the cause and advise the customer accordingly. I also don't particularly enjoy having to use my personnel phone for work purposes because then customers never leave you alone. You get calls and messages of can you do this? or how do I do that? at all hours of the night, not to mention getting Grease, Dot fluid, Oil, Sealant, etc all over my phone). Trying to check sealant levels without removing the tyre requires using a syringe and some fish tank pipe with a slightly smaller diameter than your valve. You need to rotate the valve to the bottom, remove the valve core and then try suck out all the sealant. This is a pain in the arse if you ask me. I rather just pop the tyre off this can be done on 80% of wheels by hand (It takes some skill and practice). This then lest you check properly for: sealant level, Stans monsters (sealant balls) and rim tape condition. You can then advise accordingly. Slime tube top-ups are not common but are done from time to time normally with a water based sealant. Checking is done by removing the tube and feeling by hand how much sealant is still in the tube. Checking sealant is not always included in a (full service) at some LBS, and depending on the make & model (ie. tubeless ready tyres) of tyre you recently put on some can absorb a fair amount of the initial sealant used.
Capricorn Posted October 24, 2015 Posted October 24, 2015 well, all this rah rah about the hassle of getting hold of customers, a silly generalization which smacks of a cheap rationalisation and a means to dump blame on the customer, is surely resolved at the point the bike is handed over? This is what my LBS, Action Cycling does: they take me through everything they will/want to do,and what i want them to do, and they ask about sealant refills. They don't seem to struggle with being professional in that regard.
deanbean Posted October 24, 2015 Posted October 24, 2015 Something I learnt from JB, to check sealant levels, take valve core out and put a spoke down, the sealant should come to the top of the threads. edit, I dont have this hassle with my lbs, because all the bike shops in East London have let me down so many times that I now do ALL the work on my bike.
ChUkKy Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 Brilliant thanks, very valuable feedback, especially the wet stains on the tyre, I never knew that. Will definitely do my own thing from now on.....last question, which sealant is best? Stans, Ive tried some other stuff in a black bottle with a green lid and after a month and a half it was basically clear watery stuff left in the tyre. Absolute crap.Went back to stand and won't change again.Stan's is like any Apple product.... it just works properly.
Brickleberry Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 Seeing some people that think it's ok to be charged for a service not asked or quoted for bugs me plenty. A previous post was correct. Where is the line drawn? Hi sir your tires were worn so we replaced them? , your fork was soft so we serviced it for you? , your paint was chipped so we re sprayed it? You can try spin this any way you want , but at the end of the day I as a customer will flat out refuse to pay for anything not agreed upon and if it turned out the sealant was not the same as I choose to use in MY tens of thousands of rand bike, I might go so far as to insist the shop clean it out and replace it with the amount of my selected product that was originally in the tires.
Spock Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 Perhaps a silly question but how do they know the sealant is running low?
GLuvsMtb Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 Perhaps a silly question but how do they know the sealant is running low?The way I check it is I unscrew the valve core, valve at 6 o clock, use an old spoke as a dipstick, if the whole thread of the spoke is wet, I'm good.
Guest notmyname Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 The way I check it is I unscrew the valve core, valve at 6 o clock, use an old spoke as a dipstick, if the whole thread of the spoke is wet, I'm good.Lekker hack. Thanks for sharing.
Mntboy Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 well, all this rah rah about the hassle of getting hold of customers, a silly generalization which smacks of a cheap rationalisation and a means to dump blame on the customer, is surely resolved at the point the bike is handed over? This is what my LBS, Action Cycling does: they take me through everything they will/want to do,and what i want them to do, and they ask about sealant refills. They don't seem to struggle with being professional in that regard.Cap from your description of how Action Cycles goes about doing bike services a few reasonable deductions can be made: 1) they care about getting it right first time and not having to spend time redoing work, 2) they have good policy to go with good attitudes and 3) they care about their reputation with their clients regardless of whether they are regulars or the occasional repeat visitor. Only ever had good experiences with them.
pellieg Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 The age old saying , Get to know your mechanic .build a relationship with the LBS. I for one don't have a problem if they top up the sealant , they know what im running and how much i want in. the relationship is there, they know my bike ,they know me and my wants and needs, My riding partner on the other hand is alot more pedantic about those sorta things and they know him and respects his needs, they phone him before the do anything other than requested so personally its all about the relationship. Maybe find a LBS that you can have that sorta relationship with.
David Marshall Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 In my workshop I always ask on check in. Most customers usually leave it up to me to decide on how much and how to add it. I use the spoke to check the level and then also wipe some sealant onto my fingers to check that it dries "sticky". I only use Stan's as that is what the biggest demand is for. Costed at R0-60 per ml (R0-36 per ml cost + R0-24 per ml labour). A full recharge on a 29" wheel of 120ml per wheel is therefore R72-00. If I need to remove the tire to get at the rats and mice or remove sealant that is no longer sticky I charge extra for labour. Also if you bring your own sealant brand I will add it with a small labour charge, which I usually forget to add to the bill anyway! What I find riders neglect to do (also highlighted above) is to maintain some sort of service record. You can't rely on the shop to estimate when things like your fork/shock and sealant are due for a service.
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