General Cycling Discussion - Repairs: How Long is Too Long?

I bought a Novara Fusion back in March to use for my commute to work (13 miles RT). By May I had some clicking noise issues which I remedied myself (seems as though replacing one of the pedals eliminated the noise). By the end of June, both my front headlamp and back tail light, which are powered by a generator hub, were no longer working. Two weeks ago my shift cable became disengaged. I wasn't too keen on trying to fix it myself since I'm not very familiar with the 8-speed internal hub. So I took the bike into REI where I purchased it. They said it would take 3 days or so. I called. They weren't having much luck repairing the bike; the lights in particular were an issue because they did not have anyone on staff that had worked with a generator light system before. I made another call a week or so later. I was told to call back and hopefully the bicycle mechanic would be on duty to update me on the status of my bike. At this point I'm kind of wondering if the bike will ever be repaired or if I should just exercise 'REI's 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed' and return the bike. Am I being impatient? I've been without a bicycle for 2 weeks and don't have a spare one to get me by.

warranty that thing man!

Warranty. I get impatient if LBS has my bike for more then three work days. Two weeks I would be calling the manager/owner every day demandnig an update.

- everything is relative i guess... bought a bike in April at an LBS... on a ride this morning i popped a spoke... threw the bike on the rack and drove to the LBS...

- i get "Service for Life" at my LBS... the spoke, which required cassette removal, was replaced while i waited (of course i let the wrench/owner wait on others who drifted in)...

- sorry to hear about your probs, but any place that told me "three days" for bike work wouldn't get my business...

- return that bike!

...Very interesting that the Walmart of outdoor recreation could sell a bike under their house brand, spec'd out with generators and internal hubs, and not send out service advisory sheets to the bike departments in their own stores! And, REI's hiring/wage scale virtually guarantees there's a complete bonehead in the repair department waiting to mess up your stuff!

REI sucks; so what if they guarantee everything they sell?

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'm going to head over to REI today and get this wrapped up one way or another. If my car was in the shop for this long I'd probably be very concerned. So if my bike was pretty much my main vehicle for the past 4 months, I should be just as concerned, right? Seems logical to me. Thanks.

REI here in Raleigh is bad about repairs. They told me when I brought a bike in once for minor repairs that it would take a couple of weeks. I laughed and walked out. I would suggest learning to fix it yourself. Internal gear hubs supposedly need very little maintnence, you could probably just re-attach the cable. Fixing your own stuff means you never have to wait! Good luck!