It was my eldest son's 11 birthday at the weekend, and like any self-respecting 11 year old boy all he wanted for his birthday was a new bike. Yay - music to my ears as we have great fun on our family bike rides, but poor Joe has been struggling on a way-too-small bike for months now.
Sadly I wasn't in a position to buy the Isla bike of his (and my) dreams, nor was there anything decent I could lay my hands on that was nearly new or second-hand. This is a shame as in the past we have picked up some real bargains...
After shopping around Joe asked if we could call in at Halfords to take a look. I reluctantly agreed - if nothing else I figured I could suss out the right size of frame for him. This we managed easily enough - turned out as I expected that we were after 24" wheels - and after a quick chat with the staff I was pleasantly surprised at their knowledge and they certainly seemed helpful enough.
So, one thing led to another and before I could stop myself I was dragging bikes out for Joe to try - and there were half a dozen or so that Joe really liked. Great prices too... I admit, I was tempted.
In the end we found the 'perfect' bike and Joe was thrilled. I was pleased too as it was well within budget. We came out of the store, both of us almost set on which bike Joe would be getting for his birthday.
A week or two later and Halfords had a sale on and the bike was further reduced. So, I took the plunge and reserved one online, although like a fool, at a different store to the one I had been window shopping in. Why? Who knows...
I opted for the free bike build and booked online to pick it up the following day after 4.00pm, as indicated on the website. Within minutes email and text confirmation came through. Job done.
The following day Joe and I duly arrived at the Halfords store at 6.00pm to collect the ready-assembled bike. We were greeted by a friendly enough member of staff who fetched the guy responsible for the Bike Hut section of the store. My heart sank when I saw him approach, as I got the impression he was a bit of a pedant and sure enough my fears were soon realised.
"We haven't built your son's bike because you didn't telephone us to confirm your online order"Let me point out that at no point in the online ordering process was it ever mentioned that I needed to confirm via telephone; on the contrary, as I mentioned I received order confirmation by both email and text telling me the bike would be ready to collect any time after 4.00pm the following day.
I pointed this out to the haughty member of staff, but he was quite insistent that he didn't trust this thing called the internet and only accepted orders in person or over the phone for his store. I was gnashing my teeth with frustration whilst at the same time painfully aware that Joe was standing beside me looking forlorn. So, after a fairly lengthy exchange of 'opinions' we agreed to differ. I declined his invitation of the bike being rather hurriedly built up whilst we waited, and took the bike home it's boxed state instead.
Having been the unfortunate victim on more than one occasion of a Halford's bike build, this probably turned out to be a blessing in disguise. At least having assembled it myself I know the bike has been put together properly...
Now I just need to index those gears...
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