Advice needed with problematic new hybrid mountain bike

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Evening,

My wife bought me a new hybrid mountain bike at the start of june. I had been using an older bike prior to that and found it quite hard going so my wife bought me a Carrera Subway 1 Mens Hybrid Bike from halfords (£300)

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/hybrid-bikes/carrera-subway-1-mens-hybrid-bike

From the moment I started using it, it felt like a much better bike but after a few minutes use I noticed the chain crunching and popping everytime i put any pressure on the pedals ..ie cycling up a small hill etc, this was on the 2nd gear on left and 8th gear on right. So I moved to 7th gear and proceeded. The problem remained and after a couple more runs on the bike, the 7th gear started doing the same thing...crunching and popping etc, so I shifted to the 3rd gear on left and noticed the problem would occur less but still would happen. I cycle 20k a day on the same route...a dual carraige way with a slight incline, so no off road etc. I found the 7th and 8th gears were ideal for the route i take and with no sign of the problem dissapearing I took it back to halfords where they informed me the bike hadn't been set up correctly. So i left it with them and collected it 2 days later. The problem reoccured almost immediately and although slightly better, within days was back to being unusable in either 8th or 7th gear. The following weekend I took it back down and they, again, set it up. This has went on since june with every 2 weeks or so me taking it back down for yet more setup work. Each time the bike has been unusable after a week or two. In total it has been back to them 5 times and shows no sign of improvement.

As I am a bit clueless with bikes I wanted to know, is this something I should just accept and live with or should I ask for a replacement etc? I have never experienced this kind of recurring problem with any of my previous bikes and the route I take is hardly demanding on the bike. I am at the stage where it is affecting my daily journey and I kind of feel I shouldnt have to accept this.

Is this a common issue thats easily resolved or should I be asking halfords to fix/replace/refund etc as 7th and 8th gears are unusable?

thanks for reading
 
It's a pretty much bottom end drive train, but it should still work longer than that.

Just sounds like the people setting up the gears in Halfords are useless.
If you like the bike, perhaps take it to a proper bike shop to get setup.
Or return the bike if still possible and take your money elsewhere.
 
Not much help here I'm afraid, but is this a case of mis indexed gears? or could it be something like a bent derailleur, or an improperly aligned derailleur hanger?

Can you take a close up of the rear derailleur? It should look perfectly straight

Example of a bent derailleur

zoc4ev.jpg


Example of what it should be like (the derailleur hanger and derailleur are two parts though)

2hn2yi1.png
 
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