Gripe of the day - What is yours?

[Bibio]

Originally Posted by Adam Ef

Getting crap from an absolute f^&ktard of a customer on the phone at 5.15pm after a really hard day working put me in a great mood for finishing work at 5:30 (actually nearer 6 due to dealing with the aftermath of his bullsh*t). Getting really sick of little sh%ts who have obviously dodgy (stolen) high end full suspension bling bikes way beyond their means being pushy and coc*y morons and treating us like dirt.


There are so many people bringing "bargain" gumtree bought bikes to us that are blatantly stolen, with cobbled together parts on otherwise high end bikes that the sellers have hashed together to pass off to unsuspecting buyers, who are qeueing up to get them. Quite how people don't realise that a £3300 bike they bought for £150 with an odd front wheel is likely to be stolen goods is beyond me.

simple answer.. report it to the police and find out if its been stolen. if it has then its a smile of the day.

[Adam Ef]

Not quite so simple. It becomes very complicated very quickly.
Last time we got involved we had threats against the shop. We already have more to do more than we can fit into a day without all of this.

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by Bibio

thats weird.. not enough cash in it for them?


try bikesure, i think its adrian flux.. i have been with them for years and they have been great. also lowest price for my modded bike, well more to the point the only ones that would look at insuring the bike with the mods.


they have hiked their breakdown cover this year.

I've asked them to ring me Monday, it will be either the mods (really hope not) or the fact it's multibike and they may be withdrawing from multibike policies (I hope so!)...or like you say not enough money. They charge me £75 per year fully comp for the SV
I've been looking at getting the bikes separately and it's really not a great deal of money even with not being able to put NCD on one so I'm less stressed now. Cheers for the tip off.

[Bibio]

Originally Posted by Adam Ef

Not quite so simple. It becomes very complicated very quickly.
Last time we got involved we had threats against the shop. We already have more to do more than we can fit into a day without all of this.

so its ok if i go into a clients home and discover kiddy porn on their PC and dont report it coz i'm scared of repercussions?


the more you let people away with things the more they do it.

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by Adam Ef

Yep. Bicycles.
It has become our problem in the past when the Police have got involved and dragged us into it.


One woman today had somehow managed to buy her son a full carbon, full suspension Lapierre Zesty with blinged out Hope components, brakes etc (google it.. £3500+ value) from a renowned part of Bristol for just over £100. It had a missing headset part, probably left on the original forks that were left locked somewhere. The headset alone costs £150. Of course she doesn't want to pay for it but has unwittingly bought into a very expensive bike to repair. It becomes our problem as it's taken up a couple of hours of our very busy day and will likely lead to her taking it back with no work done on it, so a waste of time and loss for us running the workshop. At least she's polite. The little scrotes who also treat us like dirt in situations like this are a different matter.

Can see why that's difficult..but why are they telling you the purchase price of their bikes?
I've never taken my car (or motorbike ) to a garage and had to tell them it's history.

It's sort of good if you can whistle blow and get them back to their owners but I guess it could be bad for business (though they're not the customers you want ?)

[Bibio]

Originally Posted by Dave20046

I've asked them to ring me Monday, it will be either the mods (really hope not) or the fact it's multibike and they may be withdrawing from multibike policies (I hope so!)...or like you say not enough money. They charge me £75 per year fully comp for the SV
I've been looking at getting the bikes separately and it's really not a great deal of money even with not being able to put NCD on one so I'm less stressed now. Cheers for the tip off.

£75 you jammy git

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by Bibio

£75 you jammy git

It's been like it for about 8 years and every other year they **** up the renewal and send me a £25 good will check, one year they sent me £100! Even if I have to split the multibike I'm going to try keep my SV with them if I can!

[Bibio]

Originally Posted by Dave20046

It's been like it for about 8 years and every other year they **** up the renewal and send me a £25 good will check, one year they sent me £100! Even if I have to split the multibike I'm going to try keep my SV with them if I can!

*****..

[Bibio]

Originally Posted by Bibio

waiting 3 months for a limited copy of Goldfrapp - Supernature on vinyl only to discover its scratched, warped and chipped. contacted CS and they are trying to wriggle out of it.


out of around 20 new LPs' i have had 2 keepers. the rest have been flawed.

they sent me another copy and its all good


they even said keep the other.


it sounds incredible compared to the CD i have.

[Adam Ef]

Originally Posted by Bibio

so its ok if i go into a clients home and discover kiddy porn on their PC and dont report it coz i'm scared of repercussions?


the more you let people away with things the more they do it.

That's a definite crime.



We have no proof that this is definitely a crime and no way of getting any. But it's fairly obvious. Top spec bike with cheap wrong size front wheel fitted?... hmm, very likely someone locked their bike up through the front wheel and little thief came along, undid wheel quick release and stole the rest leaving the original wheel locked to a bike stand. = we see this a lot.


We have got involved in the past and it cost about two days of lost workshop time dealing with it... 16 hours lost at about £30 per hour and then resulted in threats of violence against the shop. The Police were not very helpful at all either. It ended in the person who owned the bike buying it back off the person who brought it in for a service for the £50 they'd paid for it when they bought it off someone in the street. The Police mediated and organised that arrangement as the original owner couldn't show them a receipt. Unless I'm mistaken the Police effectively assisted in the selling of stolen goods? The person who had bought it for £50 was not charged with anything. So, it really didn't bring about any justice.



+To put it in context we have been stressed beyond belief the last couple of months and are still working for minimal wages as is the norm in the bicycle industry..


My main gripe is the attitude with which these dodgy little fu*kers treat us. Its insult to injury It's an attitude that tends to go hand in hand with the people that have no morals about taking or buying someone elses's pride and joy that they've worked hard for.