A thread to balance things

[cyberknight]

We all get certain posts bemoaning a certain retailer so in balance..



Took bike to a lbs,owner is known and sponsers a CC to get stuff done on the government voucher scheme.
I needed a new chainring so they kept the bike for a week and a half,contacted them today to check on progress and I'm told it's done,got the bike home and they have fitted a different size to what was there and didn't bother to tell me,when I raised this I was told they couldn't get one but I found one in under 5 mins

 

[Slick]

If we are bemoaning LBS'S, I reckon I win hands down as after posting on here about how amazing they were, I put a second bike in for similar treatment and when I got it home, I realised they had swapped my new shiny rotors that I had fitted myself with some old dirty rusty things of a totally different shape to my own. Made for a very interesting discussion the next day.

 

[simongt]

A few years back, I took the GLW's bike to an LBS due to gear shift issues. He advised changing the gear shifter, replacing the cable and other things all of which I did to no avail. Went to a different LBS and he spotted the issue in about fifteen seconds, fixed it in about twenty, job done.
So, there you go - !

 

[Eric Olthwaite]

The basic problem is, it's hard to sustain a business tinkering with £30 parts when it costs you £15 an hour to do it.

 

[DCLane]

The closest LBS to me 'fitted' a new rear wheel to a bike I'd passed onto someone. It came back to me recently to store and I checked it over: the wheel was OK for a supposedly new wheel (it was an old-style one) and the cassette had been installed wrong.

Took about half an hour to sort it all out.

 

[I like Skol]

Here's one for Halfords. This morning had to return my 'nearly two years old' Kryptonite mini-D to Halfords under the lifetime limited warranty.

Thought it would get messy and I would likely get directed toward the manufacturer's support but the staff in the shop just took the old one off me and gave me a new one.

There was some confusion due to the pricing. I bought mine for £35 (must have been on offer?) but it is now £70 and they couldn't believe it was the same one until they checked the product code from my receipt.

Bit disappointing on the quality front though. This lock is kept solely for 'serious' use such as going into Manchester or when we go camping etc, never carry such a heavy lump around normally, and as such has probably only been used perhaps 50-60 times but the key action was just completely random and no guarantee that it would lock both sides or that I would be able to get the key back out if it did!

 

[davidphilips]

To put into ballance and its easy to find fault with any thing, but had a filling come out about 2 months ago, phoned dentist for an appointment and had to wait 6 weeks and when i did go had to wait outside in the rain for an hour.
When seen was told to make another appointment to have treatment? Still waiting and now have a bad toothache.
Easy to find fault with a LBs but none would stay in business if they gave the same level of care as my dentist.

 

[bikingdad90]

To put into ballance and its easy to find fault with any thing, but had a filling come out about 2 months ago, phoned dentist for an appointment and had to wait 6 weeks and when i did go had to wait outside in the rain for an hour.
When seen was told to make another appointment to have treatment? Still waiting and now have a bad toothache.
Easy to find fault with a LBs but none would stay in business if they gave the same level of care as my dentist.

Unfortunately dentists are carrying out checkups in priority to dental work as it just requires a decontamination of the chair and they can see the next patient without having to wait an hour between patients which need treatment as anything aerosal based (drilling etc) requires a quarantine of the airspace in the room. If the dentists are at capacity they cannot swap rooms so are not keen on NHS work as the margins are low. Doing the math, 4 checks up at 15mins each for band 1 is about £120 vs £67 for one band 2 treatment.
A private client is more lucrative so you may get seen quicker if your willing to pay private prices?

Running behind an hour is a bit of a mick take though, a courtesy call would have been nice.

Anyhow back on topic. I was picking up my bike once on C2W and the guy next to me had a Boardman which was unfortunately chipped on the chainstay so the store offered money off or if he was prepared to wait they would build up another one for him there and then. Great service really.

 

[Sharky]

To put into balance and its easy to find fault with any thing, but had a filling come out about 2 months ago, phoned dentist for an appointment and had to wait 6 weeks and when i did go had to wait outside in the rain for an hour.
When seen was told to make another appointment to have treatment? Still waiting and now have a bad toothache.
Easy to find fault with a LBs but none would stay in business if they gave the same level of care as my dentist.

Consider what "special needs" people have to go through. My daughter had an abscess under her teeth. Non verbal, so she had been suffering for a while before it was spotted. Then took best interest meetings to book into hospital to be checked under general anesthetic. Took about a year to get it arranged and looked at. Same for all health checks. Still waiting for her first covid jab to be arranged.

 

[cyberknight]

Back to the shop today to get the right size ring but the bolt hole arm does not match the chainset
I am going to put the old one back on for now and sell the brand new chainring , its 11 speed to match shimano which im supposed to shoehorn onto an 8 speed chainset with different arm shape , aint gonna do it and im never going back to that shop again .
it would have been cheaper to buy a chainset from spa as youy can get one new for £25

 

[bikingdad90]

I’ve had no qualms with the one I got from SJS. Square taper 110BCD and in 50/34 170mm they do a 165, 172 and 175 too

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/chainsets/alloy-compact-double-square-taper-chainset-5034t-170mm/

 

[rrarider]

I am going to put the old one back on for now and sell the brand new chainring , its 11 speed to match shimano

What on earth is an 11 speed chainring?

 

[cyberknight]

What on earth is an 11 speed chainring?

compatible with ... Dura-Ace R9100 Dura-Ace 9000 Ultégra R8000 Ultégra 6800 105 R7000 105 5800
according to the blurb

 

[cyberknight]

I’ve had no qualms with the one I got from SJS. Square taper 110BCD and in 50/34 170mm they do a 165, 172 and 175 too

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/chainsets/alloy-compact-double-square-taper-chainset-5034t-170mm/

indeed i just need to sell this chainring to cover it

 

[PaulSB]

I'm not sure what the thread title means? All retailers get things spectacularly wrong on ocassions, it's how they deal with the problem which is the quality measure. I'm not sure who the "certain retailer" is so can't comment on this. Is this a thread to bemoan poor service at one specific LBS?

I can remark my LBS does ocassionally get things wrong but always puts it right at no cost to me. As one example over the past 12 months we've been trying to solve an ongoing problem I've had with tubeless valves. It's solved now following several different efforts and without charge to me. An online retailer, on the assumption a "certain retailer" is one, simply would not have the facility to provide this level of service.