Having worked in customer service a number of years ago, I do appreciate how even the best of teams can have off days, be it last-minute absence of staff putting pressure on those covering, or unexpected surges in customer volumes. Reading all the reviews on here, it seems the Trek team are pretty decent and I must have just have caught them at a bad time.
I went into the Bristol store on Sat 23rd Oct, hoping to spend my £1,000 cycle2work voucher. I knew the exact bike I wanted (FX 3) and was only looking to grab it, add a few accessories and pay. This proved to be a great challenge, with all staff members either busy with customers or otherwise occupied. I waited 25-30 mins but nobody was available. There were other customers in a similar situation to myself. Unfortunately with no queuing system in place, customers joining after me were often served first. it was a case of pot luck, being in the right spot at the right time. In the future, some kind of ticketed queuing system might work well in the store.
In the end I left the shop and rung the Bath store instead. I got through immediately to an extremely helpful chap called Ben, reserved my bike and was even offered a specific slot for collection. It's another week to wait and a 15 min train ride, but will be worth it to guarantee the collection.