Harry Halls Cycles - Manchester

[deightweetabix]

Chronology of Events

I delivered a Claud Butler Levante for a service and repair to Harry Halls Cycles in Manchester on Saturday 5th July.
Within the following 4 weeks I telephoned the shop 3 times for information; all messages went unreplied even when taken by person.
I returned to the shop on Sat 2nd Aug (4 weeks later) to find the bike was finished - no one had notified me of this. Upon inspecting the bike, it was found that they had replaced the chainring with a smaller one without permission. I insisted they replace it the same day with nearest equivalent. After I complained about the level of service they acknowledged the long delay in repair, lack of customer service and therefore did not charge labour on the £180 bill.

So I gave them a 2nd chance by leaving a Bianchi road bike the same day for same service and repair, Sat 2nd Aug. Gave instructions that I needed it for a race on Sun 8th Sept and did not want another 4 week repair. Simon, at the shop assured me it wouldn't take that long.
I telephoned the shop on Fri 15th Aug having not heard anything, and was informed that the bike was booked for the following day and that I would receive a phone call when completed.
I telephoned again on Mon 25th Aug, having not heard anything and was told the bike had not been looked at yet. They offered to book it for the next day but I had had enough and collected the untouched bike from the shop and expressed in no uncertain terms my opinion of their customer service. They were apologetic but offered nothing back except to book the bike in as mentioned.

Conclusion

Therefore, in 7 weeks and 2 days they were unable to repair my 2 bikes.
They never returned any phone calls and never rang unprompted to update me on the situation.
When bike number 1 was completed I was not informed.
They told me that bike number 2 was booked in for a specific date which was then not honoured.
They said that the following repair would not be as long as the previous. If I left bike number 2 there it would have taken 4 weeks, the same period as the previous repair.
They replaced parts on bike number 1 which were not like-for-like without notifying me first.
In the opinion of another cycle outlet, they have replaced the derailleur with an incorrect type for a triple chainring.

Following my experiences of Harry Halls, Manchester I would not recommend this outlet to any cycling enthusiast.

[Pedalo]

and therefore did not charge labour on the £180 bill.

I can have my Audi serviced at a main dealer for less than that.

[NewHorizon]

Why on earth did you give them a second chance?

[sickofcheapbike]

well here we go, fist time in a long time.
felt I had to create an account on ctc forum just answer this one. nothing against forums, but prefer to spend my time riding and fixing than shouting at sales staff in shops or badmouthing in forums.

firstly, claud butler hybrid. was dropped of while i was not here, instructions were to quote repair and contact. due to the neglected status of the bike, work was not comenced without aproval. quote of £180 was in my opinion more than the bike was worth twice over.

QUOTE:
Front wheel barings
Middle and big ring.
new/Proper mech on rear
Rb fb cables.
F & b pads
Headset dead
Chain
Block
+ labour/time calculated

Middle and big ring. on cheap OEM cranks with bizzarre BCD replacements not available. replacement of same range not available in cheap parts, (what bike deserved) could of fit anything but price goes up quickly once you specify exact chainring sizes and have to change bb. I admit it was different, but on neglected bikes fixing with slight changes at minimal cost is normally acceptable.

Proper mech on rear (old one was worn out (ie sideways play)) cheap bike uses cheapest mech avaiable. replacement i think was standard cage acera from memory. which is quite suitable for triple with road block.


Rb fb cables. rusty, neglect

F & b pads, worn to the metal

Headset dead, had been left loose, never maintained

Block and chain replace, normal enough

lots of bikes come through here, lots of people either dont answer mobiles, or never check messages. it happens. and it happened. our apology irrelivant of who doesnt phone or reply was in the form of removing the labour once customer finally comes into shop.

logic suggests at this stage if not happy, you dont come back.

as for the second bike, bianci whatever, we were informed it was required 1st sept. I would like to do all bikes the day they are bought in but due to the number of people who book bikes in for servicing. (NOT major REPAIR) and bring into the shop in a [inappropriate word removed] state needing a lot of work, i am a busy man. scheduling is fun, especially in the summer.

bike collected without work done 1 week prior to the date we were given.

enough said i think.

I do hope you find a shop you are happy to deal with. for the future
but i doubt it.

back to work. nice bikes to fix.

name withheld.
Mechanic @harry Halls

[glueman]

Without prejudice either way one of the biggest bugbears for a bike mechanic must be a knackered bike brought in for 'a service'. I've been at shop counters and seen it happen - a modest if much loved bike on which everything is terminal.

A well disposed mechanic will point out that repair isn't cost effective but provide a quote, suggest the owner shop around for a better deal and invite the rider back should he/she want a newer model. If the customer can't or won't see the wisdom of that it's their problem. Production bicycles are assembled by the thousand where salaries are low. Replacing every cog, bearing, cable and worn out component, lubricating and adjusting them can exceed the viability of even nice hand built machines, let alone mass market stuff.

Explaining all that to a customer is the difference between an excellent shop and a merely efficient one.

[ianr1950]

If you were not happy with the first job why did you leave the Bianchi there for repair?

How much do you think the labour charge should have been?

Having worked in a LBS and still do occasionally help out in one it is unbelievable the state some bikes are in that people bring and when I have told them that it is not worth repairing they then go on and say that it doesn't need much work which is where I then tell them that if that is the case I will gladly sell them the parts that they reckon they want and they can fit them themselves.

[workhard]

glueman an excellent point but how many bike shops point all this out when selling you the cheap(er) bike, which will wear out and not be cost effective to repair, in the first place.?

I heard someone yesterday with enough grey hairs to know better advising a potential customer that "you can't really get a proper mountain bike for less than £500 these days" (which makes my 13 year old rockhopper a pile of junk) and that she needed to add 50% to her budget. Surely better to say "this is the best frame you can get for your money but these components (prob wheels and mechs/shifters/forks in my view) will wear out fairly fast if the bike is used as intended so you will need to budget for their replacement over the next n years" But maybe he just has some last years £750 bikes to flog?

I didn't like the cut of his jib and as a consequence bought my energy bar elsewhere.

[glueman]

As a broad generalisation I'd say the best value bikes are those where branded, sealed components come into play. That way you can ask for a Shimano XYZ bottom bracket or gear lever to replace your old one. I agree that shops selling complete **** shouldn't complain when a customer wants it repaired.

If a cyclist makes no attempt to lubricate or adjust the parts, rarely cleans the bike and uses the thing for daily transport through a winter or two he shouldn't be surprised if a mechanic needs to replace everything and charges accordingly. Then again I think a £199 bicycle that got me a year's transport without spending a moment in servicing before dying was a bit of a bargain!

[Pedalo]

The reply by sickofcheapbike does nothing to defend Harry Hall's and IMHO reinforces the original complaint - what a terrible attitude.

[reohn2]

The reply by sickofcheapbike does nothing to defend Harry Hall's and IMHO reinforces the original complaint - what a terrible attitude.

My thoughts exactly!

[sickofcheapbike]

i realy shouldn't be drawn in. but i guess i cant help it. okay the tone of my rant may not be entirely well considered, but i fix things for a living, i dont write politically correct letters.

the main reason for my post was that when i came in, i found out someone had been "kicking off" on the previous day. passion and cycling may go together but sometimes (and sometimes often) it goes to far. especially when this makes some of the good people i work with consider changing jobs. i cant stop people having bad days but we (paid staff) are only here to make a living, this is not the monty python argument centre. we certanly are not paid to take abuse.

to go into a shop and start shouting at the staff is not realy very clever. and will not get you what you want. in the long term.

and to subsequently sign up to a forum and make your only post as this one concludes. I find odd. if your only reason for signing up to a site is to be malicous (well worded and polite) then i dont see motivation.

We do a lot of work for CTC members, many i am sure post on this site. all i ask is that people take an adverage of what people post. and look at who is posting.

if people continue to come into shops like ours and be offensive to the sales or other staff, then the good staff will leave, we will be like some other shops, full of managers and enthusiastic children. This I want to prevent, or for my own sanity i will go and fix sewing machines again.

[pigman]

the trouble these days is that "the customer is king" argument has been taken too far by the customer. Many think that they are the only customer and that staff sit waiting for them to come in. So scheduling/queueing shouldnt be necessary. Then, they dont want to pay going rates, as price undercutting is the way forward. And the world's best mechanic/salesman/entrpreneur is the customer who tells you how the job should be done or how the company should function. Then, as theyre the customer they can rant and rave at the shop and if the shop dares to reply, then its poor attitude and service.
The balance of power in the eyes of the public has shifted too far.
A relative works in retail banking and sees it all the time. The staff turnover and absence due to customer stress is sky high. i wouldnt want to work in retailing or anywhere with direct public contact.

(not saying this is how this particular case is/was, just general observations)

[kwackers]

the trouble these days is that "the customer is king" argument has been taken too far by the customer. Many think that they are the only customer and that staff sit waiting for them to come in. So scheduling/queueing shouldnt be necessary. Then, they dont want to pay going rates, as price undercutting is the way forward. And the world's best mechanic/salesman/entrpreneur is the customer who tells you how the job should be done or how the company should function. Then, as theyre the customer they can rant and rave at the shop and if the shop dares to reply, then its poor attitude and service.
The balance of power in the eyes of the public has shifted too far.
A relative works in retail banking and sees it all the time. The staff turnover and absence due to customer stress is sky high. i wouldnt want to work in retailing or anywhere with direct public contact.

(not saying this is how this particular case is/was, just general observations)

I'm not convinced....

I spent 80 quid on a new mouse and keyboard at PC world which failed 3 weeks later. I couldn't find the receipt (suspecting it'd been accidentally chucked along with the packaging) but thinking they'd be fair about it since I only wanted to swap it for a working one took it back anyway.

The assistant called the manager who told me in no uncertain terms they weren't prepared to do anything about it without a receipt (because I could have bought it elsewhere cheaper) and suggested I return it to Microsoft(!).

I suggested he could check on his computer and he claimed they couldn't because they sold hundreds of these units (which I disputed - £80 keyboards don't exactly fly off the shelves)

Since I wanted a swap and not my money back I couldn't understand what the fuss was about and ended up loosing my rag and ranting at full volume.

Within 30 seconds he'd looked on the computer, found the order, matched it to my debit card and replaced the units.

Why couldn't he have just done that in the first place?

[workhard]

I'm not convinced....

edited for space

Within 30 seconds he'd looked on the computer, found the order, matched it to my debit card and replaced the units.

Why couldn't he have just done that in the first place?

Because you could have shop lifted the original and be about to ratchet up your reasonable replacement request to on second thoughts now you've conceded I'll have a refund or a credit note thanks.... Happens all the time in retail chain stores across the country.

Your vociferous complaint convinced him you were genuine as no pikey shop looter would bother to get upset they'd just move on to the next shop.

[bazzo]

Just an irrelevant comment, you obviously live in the Manchester Area; try, High Peak Cycles New Mills, excellent service.