HPL

Hello "squintz",
I have run a one man service shop, not bikes; but I'd work on whatever item people brought to me if I had the skill set and tools/equipment. I did both factory authorized and non-authorized service. Ultimately the "buck" stopped with me! As a small business I could not afford to have a dissatisfied customer leave since I greatly relied upon " word of mouth" advertising. As a side note, I have come to the point of doing nearly all my cycle, automotive, home repairs, and more due to the inadequate and/or unprofessional workmanship that I've experienced over that past 25 years or so. I have VERY "OLD SCHOOL" ETHICS regarding the work I perform on someone's property regardless of it's condition when received. "DO NO HARM" is my mantra; and the item should ALWAYS look as good or better than when originally received. I always tried to let a customer know exactly what I would do in advance, especially relating to troubleshooting, before I touched their equipment. This gave them an "out" if they felt it was inappropriate or just didn't want me to go to whatever extent I felt might be required to perform said service(s); generally it related more to service costs and helping a customer know what the bill might come to regardless of type of service required, factory authorized or not. With all that being said, I also had to take into consideration their emotional state and attitude. Respect is a 2 way street and rudeness is different from anger and displeasure so keep that in mind. I am fairly "thick skinned" so I can blow past a lot misbehavior on the part of a customer; avoid personal insults. You want to be satisfied, and as with most of my customers, want to continue doing business with the same establishment which is why I presume you went there in the first place. If I mess it up, I make it right! On the other hand, if you ask me to do work that I warn against and/or I have previously warned you of the possibility of damage by attempting certain work than a modicum of responsibility falls on the customer. Still, I would never proceed with any service in the midst of being performed if I felt that it would be detrimental to your property. I would contact you and give you a heads up so that the ultimate decision to continue now fell into your hands, but always taking due care on my part. I never charged high repair rates, thus I could not afford to have unforeseen problems arise that could have been nipped in the bud much earlier. With your situation as you explained it, I would be responsible for any damage caused because I was willing to do the work whether I can back charge it to the factory or not. Factory authorized service requires a contract between the service company and the factory, and they usually don't let the servicer get away everything; not saying that they won't compensate the service company even for some non-related problems; but that's a different subject. As far as swapping out parts to troubleshoot a problem, I would have told you in advance and/or in the midst of doing the work which provides you the "out" as previously mentioned. Leaving a new or used part that was installed for troubleshooting purposes and not informing you is unacceptable. This would have been annotated in my service write-up, which I would have reviewed with you when you came to retrieve your property. I could not have given back the bike without knowing a different part was "left in" regardless of whether you authorized it or not. As explained by you; I could not let you leave the shop with any costs related to service factory authorized repairs or not; all repairs/replacement would be covered and I would have a great return customer who would hopefully extol to others my services and professionalism. Yes, there is always a gray area in there somewhere, but I want you to leave satisfied beyond a doubt. Read my "Bike shop woes" thread and see if I was "crying wolf" with my experiences. As others have said be nice, but still demand that things be made right. You've experienced both a factory issue and a servicer issue where both should be solved without further cost on your part; I don't care if it was a $5K or a $5 purchase; the same rules apply! Good luck my friend.