MOT and service = £177 plus 2 scratches

The August has arrived, for me that means the MOT runs out for the CBF. So I took the bike to Chasbikes in Kennington one day last week. ( I don't know why I took my bike to these guys as previously they forgot to connect the petrol sensor, so I ran out of petrol. The light just did not come up. It turned out the cables were not connected. It was back in March.) Anyway, they rang me the same day, saying that it has failed the MOT as the handlebar is too bent. I know it is bent, as some people in Streatham cannot park (see some of the previous posts.). OK, I said that's fine if it cannot pass the MOT without it, then it needs to be replaced. I was thinking about replacing it myself, but my throttle cables are quite short so I would need to fiddle with the carburetor end, and did not want to take the bike apart on the street. So they ordered the bar and yesterday I left the bike at the workshop in the morning. I have also given them the Oxford adventure heated grips I bought earlier to install it. I wanted to do it myself, but as they will remove the grips anyway, I could not see the point to do the work twice. So I went back at the evening to pick up the bike. All looked good, payed 177 pounds in total, which included the 85 pounds bar and the 50 pounds labor plus some VAT. So I was quite happy until this morning when I found that there are new scratches on the bike I did not see before. Here they are:

They made me a bit angry as I am always trying to preserve the state of the bike and then you take it to a place where you pay and then they mess it up. A few people told me to go back and complain, but unfortunately I cannot prove it as I did not take a picture before I left the bike there. So the lessons learned for the future:

• Take pictures before you leave your bike at a workshop
• Before you leave after you got the bike back check everything on the bike so you can go back immediately if there is a problem

I am not saying that this happens with every bike at Chasbikes, but for me they are finished. They got their two yellow cards, so this was the last time they saw me.  I am looking into training, to do most of these maintenance myself, as after this I just cannot trust anyone enough to leave my bike with him. Oh, and another important rule: If you find a good mechanic, stick to it.