Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - would it piss you off if....

You bought a brand new fixed gear for your g/f/wife and you took it into get an adjustment on the headset and the tech got nasty tool marks all over it? Yeah ok so it was an REI tech, but still. I am never off before 7pm and REI has the tools and stays open unti 9.

This bike has a lot of sentimental value to me because it's replacing a bike that was stolen from my g/f shortly after we met about seven years ago. She was totally heartbroken. This bike was perfect until the guy put idiot marks all over the black paint. I am seriously thinking about making REI replace the whole headset before I give it to her. I could barely even get the guys to document that they scratched it up.

take photos and file a complaint. rei is a pretty big company. go straight to the headquarters for the complaint and write about it professionally. dont write to them in an angry or pissed off tone, that will not get you anywhere.

thats not fair of them to maul a part that was in perfect shape before and leave it like that. very unprofessional on the tech's part.

if they had the right tools they shouldnt have marked it up. i'd go talk to a manager.

biggie smalls - somebody gots to die.

yeah that'd piss me off a lot

yeah man, no excuse for that.

bikes get dinged. that's just the way things are :3
it's shisty that he put the marks there, but it was bound to happen some day by a rouge rock or another bike

Let the manager know, REI is a good company and will do the right thing.

if they had the right tools they shouldnt have marked it up. i'd go talk to a manager.

Oh I did. I was trying to be polite after pointing the area of concern by saying "It didn't go quite as I was hoping today, but I'm sure he is an excellent tech." The manager responded with "Yeah, I know he is a good tech! I know that because I was a bike tech for 16 years before I started here. When you try to adjust small parts with thin wrenches, stuff just happens". Kind of an unprofessional response IMO. I'm thinking to myself "What if I had a $7,000 Lightspeed?" This little Bianchi means just as much to me.

It took me 20 minutes of being super polite just for them to document that they did it. Totally lame.


Here's a couple of pics. There's more damage, but you get the idea...

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg304/md6040/IMG_1897.jpg
http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg304/md6040/IMG_1899.jpg

bikes get dinged. that's just the way things are :3
it's shisty that he put the marks there, but it was bound to happen some day by a rouge rock or another bike

You should see my bike.. Total POS beater. I just wanted this Bianchi to look unbelievably new to shock her. They haven't been available in this color for several years and they are hard to find. I was SUPER stoked when I found one mint condition in the same color.

file a complaint with their home office. hope you got all the names of the people that shy'd you away unprofessionally.

^ +10.

take it to a higher level, name names. heads will ROLL.

what am i looking at there?

what am i looking at there?

Tool marks on the headset of a brand new Bianchi.

Tool marks on the headset of a brand new Bianchi.

How about a bit more perspective in those photos. Like perhaps from 2-3 feet away.

Looks like a bit of roundoff on the edges of the hexes. Not that unusual, expecially with a painted part.

Take a sharpie marker, touch it up and stop being so melodramatic.

bikes get dinged. that's just the way things are :3
it's shisty that he put the marks there, but it was bound to happen some day by a rouge rock or another bike

You might as well ignore this post.

Brand new bike? Headset adjustment? ...WARRANTY?

Seriously, where'd you buy it from that you can't take it back and have the headset adjusted within at least the first year?

Whassup with all you other guys trying to get people fired over a nicked up $20 headset? It's not like someone cheesed the threads on a Chris King here... it's cosmetic on a cheapo headset, and you want the guy to lose his job? Get a little perspective here.

+1000000 for Sharpie

it would not piss me off, no. it was an accident. the wrench messed up a headset, the bike's sentimental value remains intact (or at least it should).

however, it shouldn't have happened and if you want to make it right you should listen to hockdub. this is not a small bike shop, it's a huge corporation. call corporate headquarters, be polite about it, make sure they're aware of the error as well as the inconvenience that it's caused you but don't get angry. you'll get it fixed and probably something extra for your trouble.

you want the guy to lose his job?

it's a routine customer service issue. they don't fire bike mechanics for scratches on headsets.

would it piss you off if...

years ago, perhaps. Today, Life offers me much bigger problems to worry about.

When it comes to maintenance of almost anything (whether it be my bike, my house, or my child's welfare) I presume I will complete the job with more care than a hired hand. if I elect to let someone else do the work for me (either because of sheer laziness or ineptitude on my part) then I certainly cant fault the other person for reasonable faults. At worse I blame myself for not doing it myself.

hell yes it would piss me off.

you gave them a brand new bike and paid for competent service, which was clearly not provided...i assume you were charged full price? i agree, it's a cheap headset...especially at REIs cost. poor tools are no excuse...they shouldn't be in service if they're worn out. they should replace the headset without question.

That's really f*cked up. The tech was negligent. I would argue that they need to replace the part. If you don't get anywhere with the store manager. Take it further up. I know that at least I wouldn't be happy knowing someone abused my bike.

yes, I would be pissed. just call their customer service number and provide names and details of the incident. demand some sort of fair reimbursement.

Whassup with all you other guys trying to get people fired over a nicked up $20 headset? It's not like someone cheesed the threads on a Chris King here... it's cosmetic on a cheapo headset, and you want the guy to lose his job? Get a little perspective here.



Get the guy to lose his job? Not exactly. Maybe if the guy had an ounce of common sense he'd offer to fix it w/o getting a manager, general manager and district manager involved over a $20 part. I used to deal with that kind of stuff all the time when I worked a similar job. If he would have just said "Yeah, I'll take care of it for you. I'll call you back in a few days once I order the part and get my manager to approve it", that would have saved his ass.

It would piss me off since they are charging for that "service".

The dude did a piss poor job, end of story, thats why you should have done it yourself, the so called "tech" obviously used the wrong size wrench, or way to much pressure when he tightened it, I ALWAYS use an adjustable wrench when I work on a headset, you set the size ;) you apply the pressure needed to tighten it up ;) as for this,"bikes get dinged. that's just the way things are :3
it's shisty that he put the marks there, but it was bound to happen some day by a rouge rock or another bike" BS! I have bikes that I want to keep in minty condition, if I "F" it up thats on me, but if some little piss ant that calls himself a "tech" does it he'll have it replaced and or repaired before I leave the shop! He'd take the part off a display model if need be! I figure he made the mistake not me, so why should I wait for a replacement part?

I ALWAYS use an adjustable wrench when I work on a headset, you set the size ;) you apply the pressure needed to tighten it up ;)

a....aaaaa...aaaaaaadjustable wrench? (shudder; chills up spine). Evil. Last resort always.

sideline, i was humored to see my otherwise mechanically competant neighbor in frusration trying to raise his new bike's quill by turning the headset nut with a pipewrench. Thought i was kidding when i handed him an allen key.

i totally need an electron microscope to take some pics of my bike.

Did they refund the labor?

y'know, a pair of headset wrenches would have probably been cheaper or the same price as it was to get that done at the shop. just sayin'.

i totally need an electron microscope to take some pics of my bike.
made me laff.

Whassup with all you other guys trying to get people fired over a nicked up $20 headset? It's not like someone cheesed the threads on a Chris King here... it's cosmetic on a cheapo headset, and you want the guy to lose his job? Get a little perspective here.

If he can't do a simple bike repair without carving the crap out of somebody else's stuff, then he should lose his job. It's called 'competency'.

Man REI may suck with there bike servicing but they got better stuff than my lbs for cheaper. By stuff I mean lubes and tools.