Advice regarding recent LBS Service

[Shpox]

Hi Wrenchers, I'm after a bit of advice regarding a recent service with my LBS. I had to pop in for a service regarding a creaky bottom bracket recently and wrote up a list of instructional notes for the drop off that were listed under their service details. Dropped it off and got a text to come pick her in the afternoon up but unfortunately the sales persons generally approach you to to return the bike as the mechanics go home when they're done so I had no one to talk to regarding technical stuff.

Anyway, I noticed the creak was still there as I took it for a ride before dropping it in my car and went back and asked if I could show them using the wind trainer. The guys mentioned they can't fix it (as they're sales) and so I suggested to atleast put on the trainer so I can identify the problem for when the mechanic is back in on Monday. One of the guys took it for a ride acknowledged there was a noise in the high gear and mentioned it was just lateral stress on the crank and just to keep a high cadence and it should be fine.

When I got home I had a chance to properly look at things and noticed that the sound was actually the chain rubbing against cage in both the big/small ring on the low gear on the rear derailleur. If I manually move the chain over with my hand, the noise stops. On top of this, the shifts between the high and low on the front derailleur weren't crisp so I had to use the barrel adjusters to fix this, making the tension in the shift gear lever almost uncomfortably tensioned. The rear derailleur was also shifting poorly (hanging in certain gears) though this is something I can fix myself by just using the barrel adjuster.

Finally, I noticed that the seat post clamp on my bike actually didn't belong to my bike. It's silver and black where my color scheme on my bike is completely black as a part of its FSA finishing kit.

On my instruction sheet, I had also asked them to let me know of any chain wear but I guess they didn't let me know although I probably should have remember to bring it up.

I don't want to cause any conflict but I feel a bit let down as I was looking to riding on the weekend and don't want to end up with a beat up cage or making things worse. Am I being too unreasonable to expect these things? I feel like my bike should come back in a better condition than when it went in. What's the best way to approach my LBS and get these things fixed?

The mechanic is apparently back on Monday, the day before Christmas.

[TraceyG]

they gave you your bike back with a part that wasn't from your bike? I wouldn't have even taken it home!

I'd be back in there first thing Monday morning and politely but firmly explaining why you are back and what you expect them to do about it. And then I'd be looking for another LBS.

[Shpox]

I knew something was off about the clamp but I didn't expect anything of the sort would happen and so I didn't notice until I was home. It was also raining when I was picking it up and after the 8am drop off, they only text you when the mechanic leaves which is usually 5pm so you don't have a chance to get in before they close. Quite unfortunate.

I'm going to phone up tomorrow and confirm Monday too. I just hope they still have my clamp.

Stop complaining, spend $100 on some tools and do all these amazingly easy jobs yourself.

I'd be more than happy too but I feel mechanical knowledge is best done in practice to an extent, not with videos/reading online advice/sheldon brown. There are no co-ops in my city and the local TAFE college has also revoked their mechanic's course. I'm not all that experienced in building bikes but I am slowly learning. For the things I don't know, I leave them to a shop.

[Wal42]

Politely rip into them, but don't bother with a salesman, ask for the manager (even if you have to stand around looking annoyed for a while), demand they return the component they changed (even if the old one was damaged, they should have advised you first).

Then find a local bike mechanic to do any of the difficult stuff, I use a mechanic in the Alderley area, there's also supposed to be a mobile guy in Brissie that is supposed to be ok or go to another shop, use the power of the consumer dollar, if you get bad service tell them you're taking your business elsewhere, it won't help in your case but it may give that shop a bit of a shake up so they try to treat customers a little more like customers, not inconveniences.

[bardygrub]

they gave you your bike back with a part that wasn't from your bike? I wouldn't have even taken it home!

I'd be back in there first thing Monday morning and politely but firmly explaining why you are back and what you expect them to do about it. And then I'd be looking for another LBS.

+1
You pay for a service and the service should be carried out.

Antipoo, if you took your car in for new tyres and it came back with a different wheel would you complain? Oh thats right you would do that your self as well in your big workshop!

[biker jk]

Shpox, don't accept terrible service like that from your LBS. As mentioned, go see the manager (ring before to ensure they're there) and tell him/her you're not happy with the service, want a refund and your seat post clamp back. Bad service from a LBS is all too common. Most mechanics aren't properly qualified via a formal TAFE course. Anyone can call themselves a "bike mechanic" and work for a LBS. Standards need to be raised.

[nuttzo32]

Get your old seatpost clamp back and find a new lbs to deal with, when i bought my recently purchased road bike in for it's free first service i don't think they touched a thing on it, they never tuned the derailers or said anything about the ticking noise coming from the pedals or bottom bracket(also their idea of a free $100 fitting was to throw a leg over it on the way out). When i went to purchase shoes and a jersey i made sure that my money went to another lbs which had a far better service and reputation and will continue to support them in the future.

[Mulger bill]

Thread truncated, too many wasted pixels.

[Shpox]

Thought I'd just update the situation in response to everyone that took their time to give me some advice. In spite of the salespersons/manager being defensive over the phone, turns out the mechanic did own up to seatpost. He'd mentioned that it was actually broken so he replaced it with one he had in the shop. I'd still like to be informed/shown when he made the decision, but nonethless, he was honest about it. I did ask for the old clamp back, but he mentioned he'd thrown it out so I'm not sure what to make of the situation. There's nothing wrong with the replaced one, it just looks ugly and I think weighs more.

We spent some time on the front derailleur. After replacing my jagwire barrel adjuster and cable, it seemed to be okay, but the chain rub did start again after I took it home. It ended up worse to the point where I couldn't shift into the big ring. He told me to buy some Yokuzana's to help the poor shifting. I also noticed there was some scratches on the frame caused by their workstand that I had to polish out.

I was pretty fed and frustrated up at this stage and didn't want to return a fourth time so I decided to take it to another store. They were much more helpful and it turns out that the cable wasn't actually seated properly under the bike and this is what was causing all the issues They had it fixed in less than 10 minutes

So in the end, I left with a different barrel adjuster, scratches and a seatpost clamp that apparently replaced my old broken one (the bike is only a few months old) for nothing.

[Mulger bill]

I'm glad it's finally sorted Shpox but FFS! Those blokes are supposed to be professional

Would you like to share the name of your saviours? They deserve some credit from this business.

Shaun

[Shpox]

I'm glad it's finally sorted Shpox but FFS! Those blokes are supposed to be professional

Would you like to share the name of your saviours? They deserve some credit from this business.

Shaun

Thanks mate. The guys that fixed me up and had me running were 99 Bikes Newmarket.

I guess the one thing I noticed was that it's better to have a store where roles aren't defined - where everyone has both mechanical knowledge and can sell you a bike instead of either/or.

[bardygrub]

I'm glad it's finally sorted Shpox but FFS! Those blokes are supposed to be professional

Would you like to share the name of your saviours? They deserve some credit from this business.

Shaun

Thanks mate. The guys that fixed me up and had me running were 99 Bikes Newmarket.

I guess the one thing I noticed was that it's better to have a store where roles aren't defined - where everyone has both mechanical knowledge and can sell you a bike instead of either/or.

Good to hear Shpx, now you can punch out some K's in 2013

Mulger Bill from eagleor, surely we can ask shpx who the store was that use a monkeys as employees I think that we all need to know the good the bad and the utterly hopless.

[MarkG]

Lol. Twas mulgerbill from eaglehawk. I remember that poem from primary school!

[biker jk]

I'm glad it's finally sorted Shpox but FFS! Those blokes are supposed to be professional

Would you like to share the name of your saviours? They deserve some credit from this business.

Shaun

Thanks mate. The guys that fixed me up and had me running were 99 Bikes Newmarket.

I guess the one thing I noticed was that it's better to have a store where roles aren't defined - where everyone has both mechanical knowledge and can sell you a bike instead of either/or.

Good to hear Shpx, now you can punch out some K's in 2013

Mulger Bill from eagleor, surely we can ask shpx who the store was that use a monkeys as employees I think that we all need to know the good the bad and the utterly hopless.

There appears to be a rule by the forum owners to not permit the naming of any LBS which delivers bad service. Interestingly, this rule is not applied to online retailers.

[Shpox]

I suppose that's a bit of a double standard but nonetheless, I'll hold off. I did write an honest review about them in Google reviews highlighting the good and bad.
I think a good bike shop and a good mechanic is something to behold, and as others have mentioned, I have no issues taking my service there to support them if it's reciprocal.

I have heard excellent things about Jimmy here: http://www.bikeology.com.au/ so I will try him next for major stuff.

[Mulger bill]

Mulger Bill from eagleor, surely we can ask shpx who the store was that use a monkeys as employees I think that we all need to know the good the bad and the utterly hopless.

Flashback to 1996... First day bike commuting I rolled the bike through the door and one cleverbum workmate came out with "Oh look! It's Mulga Bill." It stuck to me for long enough that I decided to adopt it. Not to mention that it's a cool bit of poetry

As to the other, name and shame of poor performing B&M stores is not permitted by the boss. He has his reasons which personally I'm not a fan of, but it's his place, his rules. Shpox DID mention the name of the 15" shifter and hammer wielders that let him down but it seems to have vanished...

Shaun

[Shpox]

As to the other, name and shame of poor performing B&M stores is not permitted by the boss. He has his reasons which personally I'm not a fan of, but it's his place, his rules. Shpox DID mention the name of the 15" shifter and hammer wielders that let him down but it seems to have vanished...

Shaun

I edited it not long after ha. Gotta play by dem rules

[RonK]

Mulger Bill from eagleor, surely we can ask shpx who the store was that use a monkeys as employees I think that we all need to know the good the bad and the utterly hopless.

Flashback to 1996... First day bike commuting I rolled the bike through the door and one cleverbum workmate came out with "Oh look! It's Mulga Bill." It stuck to me for long enough that I decided to adopt it. Not to mention that it's a cool bit of poetry

It's long been one of my favourite bush ballads too.

Hmmm, as I recall, Mulga Bill narrowly survived his one and only attempt at cycling, and subsequently vowed to ride only horses.

[Mulger bill]

That's right. "A horses back is good enough henceforth for Mulga Bill."
Poor booger shoulda stuck with it, bikes is smarter than horses

[The 2nd Womble]

Mulger Bill from eagleor, surely we can ask shpx who the store was that use a monkeys as employees I think that we all need to know the good the bad and the utterly hopless.

Flashback to 1996... First day bike commuting I rolled the bike through the door and one cleverbum workmate came out with "Oh look! It's Mulga Bill." It stuck to me for long enough that I decided to adopt it. Not to mention that it's a cool bit of poetry

As to the other, name and shame of poor performing B&M stores is not permitted by the boss. He has his reasons which personally I'm not a fan of, but it's his place, his rules. Shpox DID mention the name of the 15" shifter and hammer wielders that let him down but it seems to have vanished...

Shaun

Bad shops deserve less custom. This rule should change before someone else is ripped off. No point giving deliberately dodgy LBS' a hug and saying "there there". If the shop was in my area I'd be pizzed that it'd been mentioned on here before I'd spent what little money my wife allows.
Again, lern to do it yourself. LBS should never need to do general servicing. It's not a time machine

[Mulger bill]

Bad shops deserve less custom.

+1.0 to the power of three screenfulls of 7s. There is no restriction on naming and shaming via PM, if anybody needs to know this, bang out a message to Shpox

Again, learn to do it yourself. LBS should never need to do general servicing. It's not a time machine

Agree with this too but many people are unsure where to start, not everybody was taught the basics as a kid by an accomodating relative and learnt the rest pre interweb by trial and multiple error. After all, getting it wrong on a bike can lead to serious physical discomfort.

Any wrench Gods out there like to consider creating a primer on startup bike maintenance for n00bs. It will be stickied the moment I see it and the author will be bought a beer or coffee when/if we meet

Shaun