Bad bike services

[Dirkitech]

It's for that reason that a business owner/customer care needs to do everything to keep their customer happy. Even if you're not wrong, first thing to do is apologise for the inconvenience caused and assure the client/customer that a thorough investigation will be sought. Just doing that will have an irate customer calmed down significantly.

Take the time to communicate effectively and politely to avoid any misunderstandings, without questioning his/her credibility and in this case calling your customer a p**s. A simple phone call can do wonders, but if it needs to either invite the person over or get in your car and pay him a visit. It's amazing what this can achieve in this modern age where all communication is via impersonal texting.

 

If you get this right, chances are you won't have people going on social media to air their grievances. Although some people are kans vatters to score anything for free, most that end up here, or elsewhere are frustrated by lack of service, poor communication and basically feeling helpless.

Also, people are more inclined these days to trust advise from people they know. If our OP goes around telling his friends about his experience, chances are it will have even further reaching effect. Running a business you should always look at the potential cost of resolving the issue. Is a new damper dial really worth it? Treat your customer right, and the OP would probably be a repeat customer and you'll make that money back in a month or two. Piss him off, and there is no way to even start calculating the potential loss in business.

 

I get the feeling that there is only a small amount of people in the bicycle industry that are capable of good service. The rest come across as a bunch of has-been/never-been cyclist/bro buddies that day dream more about cycling and are more focused on their lingo than representing their products/brands. 

It's time the industry grow up. Our bikes cost as much as a small car, and as much a Volvo to maintain. Surely some professionalism, and less cool kids pretending to 'business' isn't too much to ask?

That red part... Never knew R1500 for a shock service was expensive until I took my zx6r for a service, R950 for both stanchions.

[Matchstix]

Hi, This will be Bike Addict only reply to this topic.

Yes Zein did bribg in his bike for a Major service and asked to do the basic Top shock service. He asked us not to fit new dustcovers.

Regards to the Rebound.

Mechanic did inform the workshop Manager about the rebound adjustment not working, but it is not a part that gets worked on on the serviced asked to perform. When that section gets worked on the Shock gets sent in to the relevant supplier to be done.

When he informed us about the complaint We did explain to him it is not an area where we work on at all and its impossible for us to damage that part then. I dod offer to have the suspension sent in to the agent, have them assess it ad give us a damage report if it could be Bike Addict that could have caused this. If that was the extreme case i dis tell him we would be happy to settle this bill.

It was very strange that when receiving his bike the 1st thing he checked was that the rebound worked...making us believe he was aware of the problem before hand.

 

On the pivot damage. We have the correct bearing pullers and presses to insert or retract those parts. We also have CCTV footage in the workshop we said he is welcome to view to see the process of the work that was done. The Mecanic that worked on the bike also confirmed that there was damage to those areas prior.

You can always post the Video here we can all see it.

On the matter of not returning calls.

The store owner was out of store for allot of the day but everytime he got the message to phone the client back...he did. The client did not phone us again.

 

The matter of his bike being called a “ piece of ****”

That was not said. He said we did cause the damage. We then stated we work on allot of bikes, and allot of them being Carbon top end models where our clients are very particular about there equipment and service like that and that would definitely not be tolerated and damage like that on a carbon bike would be detrimental. We assemble over 200 bikes a month with a service department with over 9staff. We know what we are doing.

Unfortunately doing volumes of bikes does not equate to competence

Yes a heated conversation started and words were said from both sides.

This Kinda maks the above statement diffcult to believe

Again, video footage was made available and we did offer to have the damaged part sent in for assessment.

Its easy to hear one side of the story...but usually there is 3.

Happy riding.

[Bub Marley]

My experience with bike shops have been pretty shoddy, and that's back in Cape Town and over here in the UAE as well. I've been to so many different shops and have always come out disappointed either at shoddy or untidy workmanship or just general lack of knowledge wrt cycling.There's nothing more frustrating than walking into a shop looking for advice and the salesman/woman knows less than you.

 

Wrt this particular topic, I really cannot see how a bikeshop would cause that much damage. They must have one really poor mechanic to make such a stuff up. Regardless though, one thing that i get extremely annoyed with is shoddy customer service. And I have to say calling a customer a p**s is probably as bad as I've ever seen. Wow, I am truly shocked at this and for this reason alone, even if the customer is in the wrong, I will never support this shop. I'm sorry but you just don't go around doing this.

[Eldron]

Reminds me of a fun story...

 

A customers bike came in and the previous mech who had worked on the fork had obviously removed the race with a hammer and chisel.

 

It looked **** so I sanded the crown a bit and sprayed it.

 

When the customer got his bike back he accused me of scratching his fork then trying to hide my mistake by spraying it.

 

Good times.

[Me rida my bicycle]

Mistakes happen bike's are built/maintained by people just the other day I saw a high end bike been taken for a test from a good shop and the laaitie nearly hit the deck as 1 of the crank arms fell off. It's all about how the situation gets handled afterwards that makes all the difference.

[Andreas_187]

The question is how to prove those marks on the frame were made by the bike shop. Difficult situation.

Horrible to say but you've got to learn to do all this stuff yourself. Apart from rebuilding forks/shocks the rest is very, very, very simple. There's a video on everything on either the GCN or Park Tool YouTube channels.

[Bub Marley]

The question is how to prove those marks on the frame were made by the bike shop. Difficult situation.

Horrible to say but you've got to learn to do all this stuff yourself. Apart from rebuilding forks/shocks the rest is very, very, very simple. There's a video on everything on either the GCN or Park Tool YouTube channels.

Not always possible. I live in an apartment with minimal space. Really do not have space for much tools and workstands so I rely on a good mechanic. Luckily one of the guys I ride with is quite handy and he does maintenance work part time. So yeah, if you can't do it yourself, find a good mechanic whether that's through a bike shop or through some other means.  

[Andreas_187]

A workstation folds up and minimal tools are required, allen keys and grease takes care of 90% of jobs

[Danger Dassie]

The question is how to prove those marks on the frame were made by the bike shop. Difficult situation.

Horrible to say but you've got to learn to do all this stuff yourself. Apart from rebuilding forks/shocks the rest is very, very, very simple. There's a video on everything on either the GCN or Park Tool YouTube channels.

Conversely could do a series of documentaries on bikes that come into workshops after the owner watched a 'how to do it' video online. 

[Edereese]

I have had bad experiences with numerous shops/ people and the lesson learned, if you want something done your way, do it yourself.

 

Woke up one morning, went out and got all the tools, bike stand, consumables required and endless youtube videos and now I'm at the point where I can strip and rebuild my bike every Saturday if I feel like it. My drive train is smooth and shiny at all times! Shifting is spot on front and rear. Dura ace 9000 cross chain without making use of the trimming function. Everything just feels RIGHT!

 

So thanks for all the inconvenienced caused as it was all to my benefit. 

[Quagga]

Snip

 

Yes a heated conversation started and words were said from both sides.

Again, video footage was made available and we did offer to have the damaged part sent in for assessment.

Its easy to hear one side of the story...but usually there is 3.

Happy riding.

I have one question....Did you call the OP a P****?

Yes 

No?

[Patchelicious]

The solution to bad services at shops shouldn’t be that we do the work ourselves, it should be that bike shops should improve their service.

 

With the rate that online shopping is eating into retail revenue, one would think that they would embrace the fact that shortly services are going to be primary revenue stream.

[Escapee..]

On the Bad Bike Service thread I just want to say thanks to Just Cycles for the Great Service!!

 

Dropped my bike off  at 9h30 in the morning and got a call at 15h00 to collect my bike.

 

   

[SwissVan]

It’s all about arse covering exercises:

 

Bike shop should cover their arse and do a receiving inspection and notify the owner ASAP before proceeding with further work.

 

Owner in turn does the same when he picks up bike after the work has been done and before he drives off into the distance.

 

Bikes are relatively simple and the majority of complaints can be seen quickly.

 

The above is especially true if you don’t have a time developed relationship with the bike shop or customer.

[stefmeister]

It’s all about arse covering exercises:

 

Bike shop should cover their arse and do a receiving inspection and notify the owner ASAP before proceeding with further work.

 

Owner in turn does the same when he picks up bike after the work has been done and before he drives off into the distance.

 

Bikes are relatively simple and the majority of complaints can be seen quickly.

 

The above is especially true if you don’t have a time developed relationship with the bike shop or customer.

Yup, very true unfortunately. 

The LBS I use from time to time when I'm too busy to do it myself or when it comes to wheel repairs will bend over backwards, yet the shop where I spend literally 100 times more money just see me as another sale with zero effort involved. 

[Eldron]

Yup, very true unfortunately. 

The LBS I use from time to time when I'm too busy to do it myself or when it comes to wheel repairs will bend over backwards, yet the shop where I spend literally 100 times more money just see me as another sale with zero effort involved. 

 

It should work both ways though - surely rewarding the shop that gives you the great service is the right way to go? 

 

The shop getting all the cash will feel no need to change if the dollars keep rolling in.....