Afternoon vent

I am about to have a rant about Halford's bike department. I will begin by saying I understand that this is entirely my experience with a single department and there will be plenty of excellent Halford's staff out there.

I bought my bike from Halfords a year ago. They offered "CycleCare" which was a bronze service after six weeks, then two silver services - one at six months and one at twelve. The silver service replaces the gear/brake cables - that alone was the cost of the CycleCare, so it made sense. Add that to the fact that I was just learning how to do bike maintenance - the whole thing was a no-brainer.

Six weeks passed and no contact from Halfords. I went online to book the bronze service - not possible. I phoned them "oh, you need to book an assessment, then they will book you in for the service afterwards." okay - not ideal, but okay. Bronze service went by without any trouble.

Six months passed, so I booked it in for an assessment again. Informed them it was due its Silver service. The assessment came back - my wheels needed truing. "We can book you in for Thursday". Sorry- no good. I use my bike for commuting. Booked in for a month later. I learnt how to true my wheels in that month. Not perfect - but better than they were. Bike went in and when I picked it up "We need the technician to true your wheels but he isn't in till Monday." Seems strange to book me in to get my wheels truing, if the technician isn't in - but they are okay anyway. "Oh and I had never serviced gear cables before, so the front one is a bit tight" A "bit tight" he says. No f**king kidding. It wouldn't budge. Got home, straight up on the stand and trace the problem - they had shoved the gear cable through the sheath and bent the sheath wires inwards, so they were crimping the gear cable. Not too bad to fix. Bike runs well again.

Another six months go by, so in for an assessment again. Guess what - wheels need truing again. No weekend slots for a month. Fine. Bike goes in. No call from them an hour before closing, so I pop over. "We need the technician to true your wheels, but he isn't in till Monday." What? You were just going to keep my bike and not tell me? No good - I need my bike on Monday. "ah well, the spokes are tight so I don't know what to do." other staff member "get spokes the same length, snip off the nipples and replace them" I keep quiet. Interested to see where this goes. "Yeah - I can give that a try tomorrow" Tomorrow comes, I go and collect the bike "the wheels didn't need truing, the tyre just has a slight bulge that makes it look like they do" - shows me the "bulge". Yup - I can see that. Noticed one before, but don't remember it being that bad. oh well. I ask about the front gear change "yeah - all fixed. gears are running perfectly now" I cycle home. Rear gears keep jumping up and down. Sigh. Have some lunch, then check the bike out. Flat tyre. I haven't had a flat tyre since I bought the bike. I look it over - the "bulge" is because he didn't put the tyre back on properly and one edge was overhanging the rim. It had "snakebite" and sliced a hole in the inner tube. Run off and buy some inner tubes. Tweak the gears to get them actually running perfectly.

And now, five days later, I take my bike out and front tyre is flat again. Quick change and off to work. I get 7km into my 12km route and I actually hear the rear tyre explode. Instantly flat. No sign of anything stuck in the tyre. Walk the remaining 5km to work. I have just had the back wheel off and no slices in the tyre - but a lovely 1cm long slice on the inner tube. The inside of the inner tube. When I look at the rim, the tape covering the ends of the spokes is now folded up - so best guess, they messed about with the spokes, didn't fix the tape properly and it has sliced the inner tube.

Never again will they touch my bike. On the plus side - I've learnt a heck of a lot about bike maintenance!