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@lae
A friend of mine mentioned that her brakes didn't work very well. Turns out she had already taken her bike to Halfords because the brakes weren't too good. They quoted her 70 quid to replace the levers, new inner and outer cables and new pads. She was skeptical but they said she couldn't legally ride her bike on the road in the condition it was in, so she went ahead (she's french so doesn't know about this kind of thing).
I had a very quick look at the bike and they a) hadn't replaced the outer cables and they were very obviously the original 80s ones and b) they had used v-brake levers with caliper brakes and c) the rear brake was so out of adjustment that you couldn't make the rear wheel skid even when pushing the bike along.
Would've taken it back to Halfords but this was six months ago and she doesn't have the receipt. 15 minutes in the garage with some spare levers and cables I had lying around and it all works properly now. The worst thing was that it's the Halfords where I was once the cycle mechanic, about three years ago.
Also my ex-LBS refused to fix (i.e. new bolt) the mudguard on my girlfriend's bike while I was away. No reason, they just flat out refused. Bigger fish to fry. We don't go there any more.