My complaint:
Dear Whomever this may concern,
I have had several unfortunate experiences using your online booking service and then following on from that two unsatisfactory visits to your Bike Hut within the Stroud Autocenter store. When I initially booked my free bike assessment I described the issues regarding my e-bike and the lady arranged my assessment in early may with your bike repair team. I was charged for a gold e-bike service and the required parts to bring my bike up to spec. please see below for the transaction number and date of collection.
Date: 17 May 2022, 10:48
Transaction: 276819
Till: 001
I think it was a few days after this that I started to experience issues with some of the mechanical parts that your team repaired or replaced specifically the rear wheel started to squeak as well as a new issue with the e-bike controller not functioning correctly.
I called up your phone team to complain but the issues seemed minor so I did not take the bike in for the assessment that I had booked to have this looked into. Now the issues have become greater and the controller for my e-bike has now stopped functioning at all, which given the heat has effected my ability to work considering I have a 14 mile round trip daily to get to work. I booked a fresh assessment explaining to the woman on the phone that my e-bike had been serviced and was now faulty, she kindly booked me in the next day and said to tell the bike hut staff my issues. I dropped my e-bike off for assessment with your technician explained the issues and was told to return in 30 minutes. Upon my return I was informed that they would rectify the mechanical issues as they were under warranty but that they could not repair or replace the control unit. They explained that it was halfords policy not to repair e-bikes that had not been purchased from their own store and that it was poor training that this had not been explained to me earlier.
Throughout the process I had been clear that I had purchased this e-bike through a cycle to work scheme separate to the one that your company is associated with and it was only after wasting my own time (it took me an hour to cycle to Stroud to be told this hilarious fact) and your teams that this information was relayed to me.
I have three questions, one why are your telephone operators not aware of this fact?
Two why are your Bike Hut team at least in Stroud unaware of this fact?
Three what exactly does a gold e-bike service costing £100 involve when your staff cant touch the electric components, possibly some kind of polishing activity?
If I had been informed when I had made the initial phone call of this fact I would have taken my business else where and not wasted my money, my time and my mental energy. The resultant loss of earnings in going to your store in leaving work early etc could also have been avoided.
P.S. the bike hut member of staff who served me did complain rightly so to me about bringing the bike into store muddy (which I did before the gold e-bike service took place) when I received my e-bike back it was clean and then I started to have electrical issues with my bike it is not until i am writing this letter of complaint that this has occured to me as the origin of my e-bike controller issues.
yours angrily
Thomas Miller
tkmiller123@yahoo.co.uk
07368932406
Suggested solution:
refund the £100 I paid for a non existent service and compensate me for my lost time and earning that have resulted from your poor training and customer service standards as admitted by several bike hut members of staff present during my visit on saturday 16th july 2022
