Halfords throws away bike man took in for repair

Awavey wrote:

stuartanderson wrote:

Who of sane mind would actually take a bike to Halfords for repair...............

 

people who dont know any better or people who are exasperated with dealing with their LBS who are more interested in only selling new bikes instead of running a business maintaining old ones. I tried to get a service for my bike at the LBS recently, booked solidly for two weeks so they said, ok how about the week after then I asked, ah we only accept bookings upto two weeks ahead,ok not sure how that works then how can anyone book a service then, "oh well just bring it doon and we'll look at it for you",well I dont want to just bring it doon for you to look at it, I want you to service it,I dont want to waste my time taking my bike to you, with you just to look at it, suck through your teeth and go "nah were still too busy for two weeks" and I have to drag it home again with bike still unserviced, whilst you fill your social media timelines with pictures of the sexy new Bianchi custom build bikes youve just offloaded instead, either you can service it or you cant, I might not have quite said that last bit but essentially the impression they were giving was go away your minor bike service isnt worth our effort. so basically unless your mates (ie in the same bike club) with the LBS, or buying something new, they arent interested in your business which is sadly the attitude I find in lots of LBS around me because they lack the competition, so whats the alternative for the average everyday cyclist not interested in becoming a bike mechanic just to ride their bike around, youll do what you do with you car take it back to where you bought it from,probably Halfords, or a big brand that you vaguely assume know what they are doing, probably still Halfords for most, who wont at least sneer you arent a proper cyclist because you dont have the special club handshake and only ride a BSO. just to wrap my servicing saga,its probably going to end up serviced by a one man band guy who works out of his own house, who freely admits he wouldnt be in business at all, if the LBS's actually gave a damn.

Thing is unless you've got something worth more than £500, or with external bottom brackets (got hollowtech tool for £3 on ebay) then a £30 bike tool kit really does solve most problems.  Add a cable cutter and maybe some sort of gauge to measure bearing sizes and you're good to go unless you're scared of fitting a headset or something (last one I did was into a 4130 frame  so wood blocks, mallets and brute force worked great).

I used to fix my own car but since parenthood my wife deems it job best done by 'professionals', the last lot, Halfords, took 3 visits to free a sticking caliper and even managed to strip the threads in the caliper carrier. But they're the professionals. It's the same with a guy I sometimes ride with. I offer to do simple stuff like adjust a derailleur for him but he views it as black magic best left for the LBS.

Redvee wrote:

They should offer a bike of comparable value, not a miserly £125.

...but I haven't seen anything that suggests the bike was worth more than £125.  It isn't among the rider's comments so maybe £125 was a good trade but he just wanted his old bike back??

I know many will jump on the "Halfords  are crap" bandwagon and share some horror stories but they can be a mixed bag, the same as many LBS out there and/or Evans, etc.

Bobbinogs wrote:

Redvee wrote:

They should offer a bike of comparable value, not a miserly £125.

 

...but I haven't seen anything that suggests the bike was worth more than £125.  It isn't among the rider's comments so maybe £125 was a good trade but he just wanted his old bike back??

 

I know many will jump on the "Halfords  are crap" bandwagon and share some horror stories but they can be a mixed bag, the same as many LBS out there and/or Evans, etc.

Agreed. I was going to say that the least Halfords should offer was the cost of their cheapest bike. But I looked it up and that matches the initial £99. And they upped it to £125, which is the cost of their second cheapest bike. Add in the £20 quoted cost of the repair he had already authorized and it might not be a terrible deal, depending on what bike it was and what condition it was in (add in the obscene quote he was contemplating paying and you get a bike with Shimano STI shifters with £15 to spare). And it doesn't seem like it was a new Scappa that they binned.

I think we forget just how cheap bike-shaped-objects are.

Redvee wrote:

They should offer a bike of comparable value, not a miserly £125.

What if £125 *is* comparable value?

brooksby wrote:

Redvee wrote:

They should offer a bike of comparable value, not a miserly £125.

What if £125 *is* comparable value?

You mean he should trade in at Evans for a 250 GBP discount on a proper bike?

Dr. Ko wrote:

You mean he should trade in at Evans for a 250 GBP discount on a proper bike?

The Evans scheme isn't quite that simple, I think you've got to spend £2500 to get £250 off.  Which is quite possibly too much for a lot of people.  The discounts start at £20 down at the bottom end of the pricing.