Halfords may have broke my bike!?

chillsky

My wife has a foldable electric bike that has a little battery that kicks in when you pedal.

She has owned the bike about 2-3 years and uses it to commute to work.

It was in full working order but the chain was starting to rust so I took it to Halfords to have it replaced.

They said I needed a Silver service at £50 plus replacement parts for a chain, brake pads, some grease spray and some cleaning fluid.
Total cost £72.

ok no problem - A little steep but peace of mind I accepted.

The problem is when they returned the bike the electrics didn't work.

They said before hand they wont service the electrics and I accepted that as they didn't need a service.

So after doing 5 metres in Halfords carpark I returned the bike to say that the electrics don't work!

First thing they said is we don't cover electrics is the battery charged?

After showing them the battery fully charged they then pottered around the bike for 15 mins until they showed me a cut electric cable at the bottom of the bike.

They claim they have not cut this cable and I'm claiming that it was working when I gave them the bike.

They have said to leave the bike with them and they will look at replacing the cable? Ok fine ...

Im posting as Im worried they may later say they cant repair and pass off back to me in a broken state?

What can I do and what are my rights in this instance?

enfield_freddy

and people also trust them with there cars


£50 labour? , blimey I thought monkeys were classed as minimum wage animals

Strider590

Sounds like they play the same game with bikes as they do with cars, technicians on sales bonus no doubt.

enfield_freddy

goes to prove , they couldn't even fix a bike

Marktheshark

I know someone who had a house brick in his boot, now he had travelled to Blackpool to get this brick from the builders who built his house so he could replace one he damaged drilling.
He left it in the boot whilst they changed his oil.
They had the car two hours so he walked around town.


When he got home they had broken the brick "checking the spare wheel".

If they can break a house brick, they can break anything.

Xbigman

Halfords recently tried to charge me nearly £100 for two minor jobs but I bought the parts on Amazon for £16 and did it myself.
What really annoyed me was that I left my bike with them overnight to be looked at and they handed it back in an unrideable condition. Their mechanics care little for customer service and are completely unprofessional. They won't be working on my bike again.



Darren

Keep_pedalling

Unlike cars maintaining a bike is something anyone can do, and does not require a huge tool kit.

Invest in a bycycle maintenance course, some basic tools, and you will be able to carry out all the basic repairs and maintain you bikes in tip top condition and save a considerable amount of money in the long term.

JP08

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

Unlike cars maintaining a bike is something anyone can do, and does not require a huge tool kit.

Funny though - whilst being fairly mechanically competent (will tackle a cylinder head gasket on an older car) it took me over an hour and a half, and leakage of blood, to get a new rear mudguard onto my station hack this weekend. The only plea I can offer in my defence is I was fitting modern 700c mudguards onto a forty year old station hack and there just wasn't the clearance for the new fittings. Some adaption and reusing of old fittings required.

Marco_Panettone

JP08 wrote: »

Funny though - whilst being fairly mechanically competent (will tackle a cylinder head gasket on an older car) it took me over an hour and a half, and leakage of blood, to get a new rear mudguard onto my station hack this weekend. The only plea I can offer in my defence is I was fitting modern 700c mudguards onto a forty year old station hack and there just wasn't the clearance for the new fittings. Some adaption and reusing of old fittings required.

You don't work at Halfords do you?