Ski servicing

A snowHead

Hmmmmmm - just picked up my skis from our local ski shop after having them serviced and I'm not very happy with them.

After skiing on them in Dec in Tignes, with a few rocks around, the bases had quite a few scrapes, grooves and gouges on them - nothing deep or major but obviously needed some attention.

The OH took them in to our local ski shop Finches, showed them the bases & they said no probs, £15. When he told me this I was a bit suspicious as this was the price just for a basic wax and sharpen but they had said they would sort out the bases no probs.

On picking them up today, that is exactly what they've had - a wax and sharpen and all the grooves are still there. They said this is all they were asked to do rolling eyes

.

Now I'm sure its not going to affect MY performance at all but I'm not very happy - is there anything I can do at this stage to get the bases better prepared or will they be just fine for the next week's skiing? I'll have to get them properly done when we get back & before we go to Canada.

A snowHead

Oh - and probably what I meant to say, how do grooves & gouges on the base affect the ski's performance?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

cathy, Did they give you a copy of the workshop ticket detailing the work required? Although it's a pain I suppose it's a bit hard to complain about not getting a service that hasn't been charged for - just inconvenience I suppose & fairly typical of UK retail service rolling eyes

Anyway without seeing the bases it's hard to say whether any of the damage needs repairing or not. My rule is that scratches are ok to leave (providing they're smooth & deburred etc & not up against an edge leaving it unsupported) whilst gouges, including anything that exposes the skis core definately need repairing. What's the difference between a scratch & a gouge - well that's purely subjective but I hope you see what I'm getting at.

Bear in mind that a store repair is usually followed by a belt sand to smooth out their repairs (as it looks cosmetically better) but this effectively means a loss of base material ( Shocked

) & base edge metal ( Shocked

) meaning that they then re-grind the edges with loss of edge material ( Shocked

) so I'd recommend requesting that store repairs undertaken are flattened by hand, even if costs a few extra quid.

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Spent the morning getting my Missions syderjoned. Thorough. Recommended.

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Thanks spyderjon & marc gledhill.

'.....the workshop ticket detailing the work required' - they don't quite go in for that level of professionalism rolling eyes

You take them in, say what you want done and they take them off your hands. You get a basic receipt. We have had problems with them in the past, in that they gave the OH one of his skis and one of a rental pair, plus other things.....but I keep giving them a second chance as otherwise its S&R and a bit of a trek. Finches is only 5 mins away in Forest Hill and I try to support local independent shops. But as you say, they haven't charged for work they haven't done - it's just I'd rather have paid more & got them properly done.

I've had another look at the bases and I would say there are some scratches and some gouges. But nothing exposing the core. There are 2 gouges going up to the edge but they're not leaving the edge unsupported. Basically, I think if I were hiring skis I wouldn't accept these. But I reckon they'll be fine.

I think the 'no probs' was more like 'no probs, they'll fix them' - but I wasn't there and have nothing in writing. Maybe they did think they weren't worth bothering with.

spyderjon, so when are you doing your southern roadshow?? Toofy Grin

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

cathy, I've had many people travel further than south London for a lesson in DIY'ing rolling eyes

. I promise that you won't get a nose bleed coming this far up country wink

If you can't make it up narth I've an excellent DVD/written guide with your name on it for you when you're ready to take the plunge snowHead

After all it is free

cathy, watch out, spyderjon's got the gift of the gab. Who else could have sold me gold goggles in a green frame with a white strap. Even I know they won't go with my red jacket, black sallopettes, blue boots and brown skis NehNeh

achilles, did he manage to offload those onto you? He tried to get me to take them off his hands as well! wink

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

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spyderjon, Laughing

Are you in the Nottingham area, if I remember right? It isn't inconceivable I could make a visit as my parents live near Derby - obviously will need to make sure my passport's up to date Toofy Grin

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