I drove up to Thetford today for a bit of pedally singletrack action and realised the air in my rear shock was a bit low. I went to top it up and found I’d brought the wrong pump along and couldn’t screw it on because of the crazy linkages on my Marin. No bother I thought. I’ll go to the shop and just borrow a pump with a shorter thread for two seconds. In short, the owner of the shop is Michael O’Leary reborn. Old, grumpy, unhelpful and downright rude. He refused to let me borrow one for less than a minute because the last time he lent one out it got muddy. I explained that I’d left mine behind, my bike was perfectly clean and that I’d be really grateful. He told me he would sell me one. I’ve already got two and I don’t want to fork out another £25 after paying £6.40 to park you farking cnoot! (I didn’t actually say this). A friendly MTB’er who had heard this exchange offered to help. I may have also asked one of the bike hire lads if his boss was always a bit of a grumpy w*nker. That’s my dad he replied. Not only did I get crap service but I was made to feel guilty as well! If he didn’t have a captive audience at Thetford I’m sure he’d go out of business.

Its pretty miserable but then borrowing a shock pump to you is pretty minor but if people started asking to borrow spanners, allen keys, then it doesn’t stop does it, they’re a business not a free tool hire service.

Yep second what tomo says, he’s a business not a charity.

Try going into a car garage and ask to borrow their tools.

The last time I lent some tools to someone (a track pump) he then accused me of breaking his valve off his inner tube as he didn’t know how to use the pump.

Best to ask him to pump it up. Worth a few £.

Trust me no lbs likes lending out tools.

They don’t have to lend you stuff.

I would have bought a small item, engaged in some chat and then asked for a shot of a pump. Or tried other riders.

Car garages have been happy to quickly let me use an allen key in the past.

asked one of the bike hire lads if his boss was always a bit of a grumpy w*nker. That’s my dad he replied.

😆

Yep second what tomo says, he’s a business not a charity.

Agreed but the LBS could have ‘rented’ him the shock pump. I know its a bit tight of the LBS but I’d have paid a couple of quid if it was that or a failed cycle. Or paid the LBS to do it for you if he disliked anyone touching his tools

if his boss was always a bit of a grumpy w*nker. That’s my dad he replied

Classic ground-swallow moment

Oh come on guys! I’d already spent money in the shop and I realise it’s not a charity, but it’s just good business sense to keep customers happy. How much would it have cost him to lend me a pump for 30 seconds? I think most MTB’ers would happily lend someone a shock pump for a quick blast of air. Ordinarily bike shops have some of the most helpful and friendly staff around. Probably because most are staffed by mountain bikers, not objectionable old men.

TBH the owner might have had to unwrap/use a brand new for sale shock pump.

I rant about customer service in bikeshops but if you can’t expect them to be like a free AA/RAC service.

He didn’t have to use a new one, I could see one next to his right hand as he was moaning at me.

I agree with nonsense. He wasn’t asking him to lend him a new pump from his stock…just to borrow the one he uses himself.
He could have been helpful or tight..and he chose to be tight!

rear shock? at thetford? you don’t need any air in it anyway 😉

The guy in theres a Tw@.

Really unhelpful.

Absolutely right he is not a charity

Although I ride Thetford quite often and have in the past offered help to people out on his hire bikes when things have gone wrong, punctures/slipping gears etc. Not wanting to see anyone in trouble miles from the shop.

Not any more… and if asked I will relay this story

Ah, if he had a workshop pump and you had already bought something he’s an eejit imo.

I can totally understand why people dont rate LBS’s. I walked into my LBS t’other day and i was ignored for 15 mins while staff were chatting in workshop upstairs, they cant have failed to hear me come in cos its a bloody loud bell and i shouted upstairs. I made a point of walking out when the staff finally surfaced. As such i’ve swapped LBS allegience!!

TBH that shock pump by his hand has to be paid for, I don’t quite see why the shop owner has to pay for your forgetfulness, yes it would of been a nice gesture, but then how many times in a day can you be nice without earning money, bills have to be paid?
It always gets me when people come in expecting something for nothing, I’ll give you a great example…

A bloke phones up whilst I’m by myself trying to juggle a customer potentially buying a £40K car, with running a workshop & dealing with people coming in to collect cars from service, & answering the phone’s.
Bloke calls & says he needs a brake light bulb for a car he has bought elsewhere (this is important), he has been to the petrol station & the local halfords, but they don’t have the right bulb, he wants to know if I can help, me wanting to get him off the phone ASAP (because I have more important things to do) suggest the local dealer about 10 miles away. He insists this is inconvenient as we are just down the road, I told him to come over & see if we could help (99% we could) he asked if I could check first, I politely declined!
Anyway, bloke turns up 5 minutes later & interrupts me whilst I’m still with the customer looking at an expensive car, so I direct him to the workshop who fixed his problem in a few minutes.
The bloke then asks me how much he owed (fair play) & as I’m busy I just tell him to give the ‘boys’ a drink (still with customer), he then asked them what a drink was, they just said whatever you want, he then asked for £5 change out of a tenner as that was all he had. So they had to go & get change from a shop…

The ‘bloke’ was driving a £130,000 car, go figure…

As an engineer if you as a complete stranger came up to me at work and asked to borrow a tool i would say no and for the simple reason there are how i make my living and iam afraid to many people either don’t bring them back or break them(ie £120 snap on ratchet)or bring them back covered in sh*t so no i don’t think he was being tight i think the offer of some money (deposit maybe) might of got you the use of the pump.

Not lending the shock post has cost the owner rep.

I was at Thetford to day, never been in the bike shop, you could’ve just
asked around, I probably had the right pump.
there is a moral to this, don’t buy a Marin 😀

It would be good business sense though, cause if he had lent you the pump, this thread wouldve been a “cheers to the LBS in Thetford, really helpful staff” thread rather then a “BikeArt Thetford, the Ryanair of bike shops – RANT WARNING!”

If he knew you didn’t want to buy a new pump, he could have hired / lent his out with a deposit, perfectly acceptable i think.It seems to vary greatly what he is like from day to day, i suppose it depends on how many
badly behaved familys have been through his door that day! I’m suprised he even talks at all, what with some of the customers he has to endure! You can always avoid paying the exsessive parking charges by using one of the other places, Brandon country park’s always been safe, but remember that the charges are being used towards trail maintenance too. By the way, it would be my LBS if i didn’t object to pay parking just to go there!

The first time I went into this store I also had a very minor altercation with the owner (he seems pretty sensitive about muddy bikes being brought into the store – admittedly it is crowded inside). However, on the two occasions that I’ve had my bike fixed there – both were mechanicals that would have ended my ride – he quickly did a good job and only charged for parts. Grumpy mechanics or not, I wish BikeArt was closer to where I live.

I know how a bikeshop starts/gets taken over…someone with a passion for the industry feels they can make a difference with good service and passion for the product-plus theres a good living to be made and out of something the owner likes. Along come the high and the low months (low sales)- get the owners nerves on end, and the ungrateful (and sometimes downright rude) customers coming in. Of course there are the thefts- staff and people walking in trying to steal kit.

Staff quiting with no notice, not turning up for work leading to owner putting in 6/7day-weeks regularly.

Not easy- wonder why some of them are grumpy. Its not a ‘customers’ problem but standing back you can see what a risk a bikeshop is to someones health and pocket 🙁

Then you have customers who want a part fixing ASAP as they want to ride TODAY or TOMORROW OK?. Hmmmmmmm. No thanks.