The Oxford Guide - Differences between Version 21 and Version 14 of Summertown Cycles
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| Summertown Cycles is a bike shop based on Banbury Road, south (towards town) of the main Summertown shops. |
some staff are pretty unfriendly. they talk to you as if you are massively inconveniencing them by visiting their shop. how about some basic people skills? |
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They have a quick and very reasonably priced repair service. They usually do repairs for the next day and sometimes even later the same day. Very friendly and helpful staff. If you're in a desperate hurry they can be bribed with biscuits! |
=== January 2006 === |
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They offer a 10% discount for parts and accesories to University of Oxford staff and participate in the University Cycle Scheme which makes new bikes affordable (allowing staff members to spread the purchase price over a year and avoid paying any tax on it). |
They fixed my bike quickly, competently and, so far as I can tell from an uneducated standpoint, without charging an unreasonably high price. |
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Their expansion into what used to be the garden shop next door has increased the range of bicycles and cycling accessories in stock, including lots of helmets. |
Somewhat eccentrically, they share their premises with a garden centre. |
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=== September 2007 === |
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address='200-202 Banbury Road' |
'''Admin note: The following content (both the original customer's side of the incident and Summertown Cycles' reply) is currently under discussion among the admins of The Oxford Guide. In the meantime, please do scroll down to read all the information available.''' I have just got off the phone with the manager of Summertown Cycles and thought I had better share my experience with them so that people might be a little more cautious about going to them in the future. Be warned that I do have a grievance with them, so decide for yourself whether this is valid or not. I cycled my bike in for an over-due repair (there were several things wrong with it that I wanted them to fix). The condition of the bike was not good, but they valued it at around £80-90 in its current condition (which is what they were asking for the repair). On the day I was supposed to pick it up, they called me and told me that they had totalled the frame whilst trying to repair it and that I should pick up the now-broken bike and a refund of the repair fee they had charged. Given that the bike had worked when I took it in and now didn't, they had caused as much damage to the bike as it was originally worth, so I called the manager to discuss it with him and ask what had happened. He told me that something had not wanted to come out of a socket in the bike whilst one of the repairs was being carried out and that forcing it had written off the frame. He also told me that it was completely unreasonable to expect them to compensate me for the bike. On the contrary, I was told I was lucky that they had refunded me the cost of the time they spent on breaking it! That's as balanced an account as I think I can give. I should probably also tell you that the attitude of the manager (Stewart) on the phone was not exactly conciliatory. I wasn't offered an apology and when I raised my grievance about now being without a working bike, he quickly got aggressive and dismissive. Decide for yourself who you side with, but I don't think anyone would like to be put in the position I was put in. Perhaps Summertown Cycles are fine if nothing goes wrong, but don't expect them to be even-handed if anything does go wrong. ---- September 2007 Reply by Summertown Cycles The previous entry has been posted by a customer who has a very strange idea about passing on responsibility for problems with a bike that he owns. How do we come to be responsible for the fact that a bike has seized-in parts due to years of neglect, just because we agree to try to repair his bike ? I suggested that he take the bike to another bike shop for an independent second opinion, or contact the local Trading Standards office to see what they would consider fair practice in such a situation, but he is convinced that we are in the wrong and that he doesn't need a second opinion. I spent a considerable amount of time trying to reason with this guy before eventually adopting a "less than conciliatory" attitude towards him. The bottom bracket bearing on this bike was dangerously loose when it came to us. Unless this could be repaired the bike only had scrap value. On top of the time taken with this customer trying to diagnose the bike's problems and booking it in, we spent over an hour of mechanics' time and damaged an expensive tool in trying to rescue this old bike. I suspect that everything that goes wrong in this guy's life has to be someone else's fault. He is going to get a shock when he leaves college and goes out into the real world ! If all our customers were as unreasonable as this we would have to have a written contract just to book an old bike in for repair, or perhaps introduce a "George Hamer Surcharge" when we taken in clapped-out student bikes for repair ! Fortunately most of our customers are much easier to deal with, even when, occasionally, things do go wrong. If anyone is considering using our bike shop I suggest that they spend 10 or 15 minutes in the shop on a Saturday morning observing how we routinely deal with customers - whether they are looking to buy an expensive new bike or repair a rusty old student bike. Stuart Meanwell (for Summertown Cycles) ---- Comment from another Summertown Cycles customer Summertown Cycles' reply above is indicative of the manner in which they deal with their customers. In short, the customer is a pain in the neck and they would much rather you weren't there. While you're in the shop they ignore you; when you speak to the staff they offer incorrect information; when you leave a bike for repair they carry out shoddy work and when you come to collect it you can look forward to being ignored again. (Despite this being my local cycle repair shop, I've found them so consistently disagreable that, whatever the repair, I now take my bike all the way up to Cycloanalysts on Cowley Road. They treat you with respect and do a good job for a very good price.) address='202 Banbury Road' |
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host='92.3.126.169' hours_text='0900-1730 Mon-Sat (Thurs open till 1930); 1030-1600 Sun' |
host='163.1.36.116' hours_text='' |
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opening_hours_text='0900-1730 Mon-Sat (Thurs open till 1930); 1030-1600 Sun' |
opening_hours_text='' |
some staff are pretty unfriendly. they talk to you as if you are massively inconveniencing them by visiting their shop. how about some basic people skills?
January 2006
They fixed my bike quickly, competently and, so far as I can tell from an uneducated standpoint, without charging an unreasonably high price.
Somewhat eccentrically, they share their premises with a garden centre.
September 2007
Admin note: The following content (both the original customer's side of the incident and Summertown Cycles' reply) is currently under discussion among the admins of The Oxford Guide. In the meantime, please do scroll down to read all the information available.
I have just got off the phone with the manager of Summertown Cycles and thought I had better share my experience with them so that people might be a little more cautious about going to them in the future. Be warned that I do have a grievance with them, so decide for yourself whether this is valid or not.
I cycled my bike in for an over-due repair (there were several things wrong with it that I wanted them to fix). The condition of the bike was not good, but they valued it at around £80-90 in its current condition (which is what they were asking for the repair). On the day I was supposed to pick it up, they called me and told me that they had totalled the frame whilst trying to repair it and that I should pick up the now-broken bike and a refund of the repair fee they had charged.
Given that the bike had worked when I took it in and now didn't, they had caused as much damage to the bike as it was originally worth, so I called the manager to discuss it with him and ask what had happened. He told me that something had not wanted to come out of a socket in the bike whilst one of the repairs was being carried out and that forcing it had written off the frame. He also told me that it was completely unreasonable to expect them to compensate me for the bike. On the contrary, I was told I was lucky that they had refunded me the cost of the time they spent on breaking it!
That's as balanced an account as I think I can give. I should probably also tell you that the attitude of the manager (Stewart) on the phone was not exactly conciliatory. I wasn't offered an apology and when I raised my grievance about now being without a working bike, he quickly got aggressive and dismissive.
Decide for yourself who you side with, but I don't think anyone would like to be put in the position I was put in. Perhaps Summertown Cycles are fine if nothing goes wrong, but don't expect them to be even-handed if anything does go wrong.
September 2007 Reply by Summertown Cycles The previous entry has been posted by a customer who has a very strange idea about passing on responsibility for problems with a bike that he owns. How do we come to be responsible for the fact that a bike has seized-in parts due to years of neglect, just because we agree to try to repair his bike ? I suggested that he take the bike to another bike shop for an independent second opinion, or contact the local Trading Standards office to see what they would consider fair practice in such a situation, but he is convinced that we are in the wrong and that he doesn't need a second opinion. I spent a considerable amount of time trying to reason with this guy before eventually adopting a "less than conciliatory" attitude towards him. The bottom bracket bearing on this bike was dangerously loose when it came to us. Unless this could be repaired the bike only had scrap value. On top of the time taken with this customer trying to diagnose the bike's problems and booking it in, we spent over an hour of mechanics' time and damaged an expensive tool in trying to rescue this old bike. I suspect that everything that goes wrong in this guy's life has to be someone else's fault. He is going to get a shock when he leaves college and goes out into the real world ! If all our customers were as unreasonable as this we would have to have a written contract just to book an old bike in for repair, or perhaps introduce a "George Hamer Surcharge" when we taken in clapped-out student bikes for repair ! Fortunately most of our customers are much easier to deal with, even when, occasionally, things do go wrong. If anyone is considering using our bike shop I suggest that they spend 10 or 15 minutes in the shop on a Saturday morning observing how we routinely deal with customers - whether they are looking to buy an expensive new bike or repair a rusty old student bike. Stuart Meanwell (for Summertown Cycles)
Comment from another Summertown Cycles customer
Summertown Cycles' reply above is indicative of the manner in which they deal with their customers. In short, the customer is a pain in the neck and they would much rather you weren't there. While you're in the shop they ignore you; when you speak to the staff they offer incorrect information; when you leave a bike for repair they carry out shoddy work and when you come to collect it you can look forward to being ignored again. (Despite this being my local cycle repair shop, I've found them so consistently disagreable that, whatever the repair, I now take my bike all the way up to Cycloanalysts on Cowley Road. They treat you with respect and do a good job for a very good price.)
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