I know nothing of the Welling branch except that it’s far away.
Stockwell is the one for me! 
Always fun and games in the shop. A more good natured bunch, I have yet to find.
Infinity in Gunter Grove was good. Gandalf sold me my first biking kit! 
Sound about right if you ask me…
I have no idea who Ping Pong is, but does it matter if they are an employee? Are HG employees not allowed to respond to these kinds of threads? After all, the threads can have a big affect on their business.
Whoo a a a calm it kermit…I never said it did matter…Fiesty ain’t ya.
im not taking anything away from anyone who’s had a poor experience shopping, hell, ive had plenty! its interesting that people in the bike industry mention forums users alot, one persons bad experiance could be down to them being a tw**, not saying this is the case here! but they post it on the web, people read it, then get a bad feeling about the place before they go in…
Its intersting the effect forums have on business, do they really get the truth out? or is it just peoples opinions?
Yes you have a point - this could be read as if someone just had 1 bad experience. Unfortunately as you said - not the case here!
But you know I’d hope that the stores do read these forums. And if they do and improve then as I said earlier - everyone’s a winner.
Personally that’s what I would do if I managed a store because people very rarely tell them directly, they normally just leave and never go back - and the store is none the wiser.
At least this way they’d have some chance of hearing the feedback and doing something about it.
D3XTA what way your bad experiance regarding in the store as i have never had any problems ?? staff are friendly ,have a giggle and are very informative ,same level as service as stockwell !
I was in the Purley HG branch, albeit a couple of months ago. Found the staff to be nothing short of surly. I can recommend Getgeared, one Sunday a month you get a free burger from em!
JC
23virus23 - when I started going there they were very helpful, it was the kind of place that you could go for advice which was handy for me as I was new to biking. And importantly there wasn’t any pressure to buy that you got in other stores.
But after they replaced the manager the whole place changed. It got much more about the sale, no time for advice or a friendly chat unless a sale was imminent. There was even remarks between the staff as to ‘whose’ customer you were that made you feel like a commodity.
Overtime all the staff left (apart from the new manageress) but this new attitude remained. So it became a shop you would goto only if you were sure of your choice/size and knew exactly what you wanted - and couldn’t get it elsewhere.
Still hope it changes and perhaps it might - I was in there this weekend and although they were still a little pushy, at least some banter was back.
D3XTA…You might wanna put your name on the guest list mate
Moto - how funny is that!
Why didn’t he just say he worked there? He would have got exactly the same answer from me.
Very good spot…
ive been at the shop just over 2 months am i not allowed to ask out of curiosity ?
if i say ive started work there i dont need the abuse from the one or 2 having problems which are nothing to do with me !
i asked so if i can i can see if i can get the problems aired in shop and rectified to make the shop popular again ,is that such a problem ? i like folks have a family at home and mouths to feed and need my job and for the shop not to close as work is hard to find this time of year ,5 kids mortgage n so on ,so i ask out of curiosity to see if i can try n solve some of the issues in the store in wich i work
Never had any problems in there, I will admit Danny was great, very helpful, probably one of the most helpful guys to work in a store. But I imagine that’s because he’s generally helpful and it’d be the same no matter where he works. Maybe we were spoilt.
I’ve been in many a time since, always had a bit of banter with the staff.
You’ve said you’ll stick to J&S in Greenwich, I’ve always felt the level of service there was wanting. I’ve never been offered help or had a chat with the staff there.
experiences always differ.
No I don’t work for HG, just putting my two pence in.
Well i have personally never been there …but i do get ALOT of work from them and have’nt had a problem with them yet…so thanks HG in welling for sending work my way;)
Your right its Foogazi or something. Couldn’t remember exactly. My mind is slowly turning to mush.
A mate of mine had a 'mare at HG Welling recently. He bought an Optimate charger but when he got home realized it had a 2 pin plug. Took it back the next day during his lunch break and was told that they all come like that now. He argued that he didn’t think that was right but the sales assistant was adamant so mate phoned Optimate and was told it should be sold with a UK plug. He was still refused a refund and it took a phone call to head office before he could get one and the whole episode has put him off ever using them again.
He was eventually offered a UK plug by HG but by then he was so p*ssed off at being lied to that he insisted on the refund, can’t say I blame him.
Abuse?
…I’m not going to abuse you and I think my comments have been quite measured all the way through. But personally I would have openly stated that I worked there because the way you came across in your original post was as a customer…
And then, an LBer discovers you work there on a different forum? You don’t think that looks even the tiniest bit off?
But - and like I’ve already said - if you can improve the store then great. I think thats all I ever wanted in starting this thread.
'Phoned HG in Welling in December as I was wanting to know if they had a particular pair of their own boots in stock. The (male) response was a surly “Never heard of them”.
I explained that they were in their own catalogue (and an advert, then current) under stock number *******
The conversation went on for a couple of minutes, yes I was being patient and polite, in much the same vein but it was made quite clear to me that the customer is always wrong and merits no service and minimal interest.
So that’s a bit shy of £200, plus any follow on business, that HG, Welling have lost.
They could have a half price sale on and I’d probably still not go in now. Stuff them.
Yes, once James left, you simply didnt get the service. I stopped going there too ! Seems the same issue all over really, get good service from certain people who care, others couldnt give a…