Cant believe Ive had to send this letter today: Dear Mr Davies I am sorry to have to write to you, to inform you of the incompetent imbeciles that frequent the Bike Section of your Store in Bournemouth (Parkway Retail Park). In late September my 14 yr old son was given an old BMX bike by a friend, which had no brakes, and on 25th September I took it into the Store to have a brake fitted. There appear to be 3 people who work in the Bicycle Section in Bournemouth, I dont know their names, but for the purpose of this email lets call them Stupid I Dont Know and The Liar. Stupid took the bike, wrote down my mobile number and said it would be ready by 2nd October at the latest, but someone would call me as soon as it was done. Having not heard anything, on 9th October I called the store to find out why it was taking so long. After waiting on hold for 20minutes to be put through to the Bicycle Section, I Dont Know told me that it had all been done, and was ready for collection. I asked why no one had had the decency to let me know and guess what? - youre right, he didnt know! On checking he informed me that The Liar had actually left a message on my mobile on 2nd October to advise me it was ready for collection. I confirmed that I had not received this message, and did comment that surely it was common practice to chase a customer if such a message had been left and a week had passed without them collecting the bike. Unsurprisingly, he didnt know the answer to this either! I drove the 3 miles to the store to collect the bike, and after waiting for 20minutes (there was only one person servicing and they were already dealing with another customer) I was finally told that actually it wasnt ready. Apparently, The Liar had left a message on my mobile on 2nd October to advise me how much the parts were, and gain permission to proceed with the work. I again confirmed that I hadnt received this message. On checking the contact details they held, it was apparent that Stupid had written the number down wrong (not enough digits), so clearly The Liar was lying about leaving a message! I was told the cost of the job was £45 but as a good will gesture for the hassle ( if only Id known then that this was just the start of it) the labour cost would be deducted and therefore the cost would only be £25. I gave them my correct mobile number - I actually wrote it down so Stupid couldnt get it wrong again, and asked them to ring me when it was ready. On 16th October I chased them again, and was told by I Dont Know that it had all been done and was ready for collection, but he didnt know why no one had phoned to let me know. I again drove the 3 miles to the store, only to be told by The Liar that actually it wasnt ready, thats why I hadnt had a call. I think he could tell that I was losing the will to live by this point and he agreed it would get top priority and they would call me when it was ready. Finally, on 21st October (nearly a month after first dropping it off), I received a call to say it was all done and ready for collection. Again I drove the 3 miles to the store, and low and behold it appeared all was well. After a brief argument with Stupid he agreed to charge me £20 on the basis it had taken far too long and I had had 3 wasted journeys. Happy days - or so we thought! My son road the bike to school the next day but on the way home had to get off and push, as the back wheel wouldnt turn (the brake was too tight). We AGAIN drove the 3 miles to the store, where I Dont Know didnt know why it wasnt turning properly, but would take it out the back and get Stupid to fix it whilst we waited. 1/2 hour later, he returns with the bike which now appears to be working, except my son doesnt have the strength to pull the brake on properly as its too stiff. We showed Stupid my sons brake, and compared it to a new BMX in the store to show him the difference. Apparently, this was because the brake we had, had a short cable whereas what we needed was a longer cable! Exasperated, I asked Stupid why the **** the correct cable hadnt been fitted in the first place, but he seemed to have been taking training lessons from I dont know. I therefore stated in no uncertain terms, that I wanted the correct cable fitted, so that it stopped the bike, but allowed the wheel to turn when the brake wasnt applied, and that the brake shouldnt be so stiff that a 14 yr old boy has trouble applying it. I stated this 3 times, just to make sure that Stupid understood, and I even offered to write it down for him (he declined - he obviously thinks hes cleverer than he is). On 27th October I received a voicemail message on my mobile from The Liar and I quote - this is Halfords Bournemouth, just ringing about the bike thats in for repair, just to let you know its all done and ready to collect. Now perhaps its me, perhaps Im the stupid one, but I was silly enough to think this meant the repair had been completed and I could collect the bike - honestly, how stupid of me!!!! My son walked to the store on 28th October (ie today), with express instructions to try it out and make sure he was happy with it before he brought it home. You can imagine how surprised I was, when he phoned me from the store to say it wasnt ready! Apparently, the new brake had been sent to the wrong store. With steam coming out my ears, I asked him to put whoever was there on the line, but he said it was ok, they had tracked it down and he just needed to wait for 10minutes whilst they fitted it - by this point they had disappeared out the back and there was no one for my son to pass the phone to, so I told him to get the Manager to ring me asap. Im not sure whether it was Stupid, I Dont Know or The Liar who served my son, as after 20minutes, he was told that they couldnt find it and therefore couldnt fit it today. A Manager called Charlotte then called me (I dont know what sort of Manager Charlotte is, as she confirmed that she wasnt the store manager, and wasnt the bicycle manager, but she did confirm that she was the most senior person in the store this afternoon). I explained everything to Charlotte, who eventually apologised (amazingly this is the first apology Ive had) and she confirmed that having looking into it, unfortunately the part required has actually been sent to a different branch, but that she would arrange for it to be sent on and for the repair to be completed as soon as possible - she also agreed that rather than me wasting more time and petrol, the bike would be delivered by Halfords once ready (although I had to ask for this, it wasnt offered). Im writing to ask you to personally intervene, to ensure that my son receives his bike back, before he returns to school on Monday 3rd November - thats 2014 by the way not 2015. I also want to make sure he actually gets back his bike, not a skateboard, scooted or helmet, which is likely to be the case if Stupid, I Dont Know or The Liar are in charge of delivery. I would also like a refund of my £20 that I have paid so far - I think youll agree, this more than covers my time, phone calls and petrol wasted so far. Please do not insult me by sending £20 of Halfords vouchers, as I never intend to set foot in one of your stores again (and neither will my friends once Ive launched my boycott Halfords Bournemouth campaign on Facebook. I would also suggest that you have a reorganisation of the staff in Bournemouth. My suggestion would be that Stupid I Dont Know and the The Liar are re-employed with the local Brewery, where they could practice organising a p**s up, before moving onto anything more challenging. There are plenty of unemployed students in the local area, who are also stupid, liars and dont know anything - Im sure with the right degree of training in how to give a shit customer service you will be able to make use of their skills in this Store. No regards. Yours sincerely Mrs Luter Sent from my iPad
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 18:30:33 +0000
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