Ralph Colmans – Taunton

Back when I had the recumbent trike… my 2 front wheels needed sorting… so my first point of call was my local bike shop. Ralph Colmans in Taunton… The plan was discussed with a chap in the workshop… I had 2 wheels that needed rebuilding… left my wheels, my details and let them get on with it.  So 3 weeks later I popped them a phone call to find out how they had got on as I had heard nothing.  And it turns out they had done nothing too. My details had been either lost or not written down correctly… but now they had them things would turn out alright, they would call me the next day to let me know what they can do once they had got details from their suppliers. A fortnight later after still hearing nothing… I went in a picked up my wheels. Still in exactly the same condition.What a poor service!

I wasn’t best pleased and decided that I would give the other local bike shops a call first in future before going back.

Over time of course I have slowly eased my way back in there when parts weren’t available elsewhere. More recently a friend told me that he found their bike servicing great. He knows nothing about bikes so just drops it off and picks it up, Pays his money, Happy days.  Since the Cannondale BadBoy has popped a spoke and I am soon going to find myself stranded somewhere between work and home with half a wheel I have given in and taken it in.

2 weeks ago I asked about it and was told they wouldn’t be able to fit it in until the Friday 12th October.  I booked it then and there. The chap took spoke measurements, bike info and my details and confirmed my booking. A friday works well for me as they are open late on Thursday for it to be dropped off and can pick it up Saturday morning.

I dropped it in at 6.30 last night, and at lunch time today I received the call… I was hoping for “yes sir… its ready for you” but I got more of a “We don’t have any of the right length spokes left in black”. Since I wanted it done properly I turned down their offer of silver spokes.

The right spokes will be ordered Monday and they can fit the bike in AGAIN next friday. In the meantime they don’t have a bike available for me to borrow either. So next friday it looks like it will be. I have requested that they repair the 1 spoke that is out now to allow me to get to and from work for the next week, then they can start the wheel again with all the correct spokes. I should hope I can update this again tomorrow morning with the single spoke repaired and my booking for next friday to be confirmed with a guarantee of completion on the friday.

I’m going to be kind and offer them a link to their site – Poor Service, Ralph Colmans – Taunton . Lets hope things improve.