modelmartin

I did say polite but firm.

RoadTire 

The moral of this abbreviated story is that the special tools are minimal and are pretty much paid for the 1st time you don't use the shop. There are a few tools that are more expensive, but not many.

big chainring 

I thought I was a really good mechanic. Got a job at a bike shop. I didn't know nothin. Learned on the job. Worked at the bike shop for a year. I was purdy good at the end of the year. Now I buy and sell bikes as a way to fund my own bikes. I'm a much better mechanic now than I was while at the bike shop. Good mechanics are few and far between. Takes a long time to become proficient.

mrodgers

My wife as a head cashier at a home improvement retail store can override the register and give anyone she wants a discount. 99% of customers are total ******** to retail people. Working the customer service desk, she has had countless people come in yelling and screaming to her from everything about a purchase to their credit card bill. For all those people, she did the minimum.

Every now and then she would have someone come in practically with sorrow on their heart that they had to bother her with their minimal problem. She threw every discount she could at them for their troubles. Had a guy who was returning something that didn't work for him, buying something to replace it that was more expensive, and buying some other stuff. She gave him the first item for the price of the returned item along with 10% off that plus 10% discount on everything else he bought. He was practically crying to her, why was she doing all this, all he wanted to do was return something that wasn't going to work for him. Told him, "you came in here and was nice to us."


You go back to the store that wronged you to the person that wronged you and you politely explain the situation and ask how it can be rectified. When you get the run-around from that person, that is when you go to the manager or owner and you be nice and polite to them and allow them to rectify the situation. Go in immediately with guns blazing like an *******, don't expect them to want or care to take care of you.

New Yorker

One thing I do whenever I leave my bike at the shop: put a plastic bag over the saddle. Keeps it free of grease. If you have white handlebar tape, you could even quickly roll wide masking tape around it before dropping it off. Would take 2 minutes.

hairnet

Take a look at the drive-side spokes too! If there are gouges from the chain then your wheel in boned.

wphamilton

This is a lot of free, more than I would have expected.

GoHorhay

We did look at the spokes. The wheel needs to be trued but everything looked OK.

They have gone above and beyond to resolve the situation. The free items would be the front derailleur (which I had just purchased but was refunded in full), the chain and the chain ring. The rest of it us just replacing the damage that occurred after the initial work. The bar tape was certainly still usable but I'm glad they are replacing it as well.

I actually just received a call from the shop with an update that it should be ready to be picked up this evening. Now, I'm just hoping that I receive a dialed in bike. I will likely have it looked over at my LBS as recommended previously.

Thanks for all the input gang! I do have a work stand and have started to do some basic stuff myself but I have a long way to go. I'll update again once I pick up the bike...

goenrdoug

Be sure to test ride it (not in a suit) and look it over, top to bottom, before leaving -- regardless of how eager you are to ride tomorrow morning.

bikerjp

In my experience they will go out of their way to make things right, but often they lack the know how to actually do that.

Didn't read all this yet, so not sure where you are in the process, but OP, do you have any recent pics of the bike like the clean bar tape? That might be one way to make that point clear. The rest of the stuff is going to be a "it was like that when we got it" kind of thing. You are likely going to have to be very clear about what you want and what they messed up. Personally, I'd never let performance touch my bike and in this case I'd ask them to put it back to the condition it was when you brought it in, refund your money, and if they can't put it back because they broke it they also put new parts on or better yet just give you the parts and take it to good shop for repair. Easier said than done as they are unlikely to want to give you new parts so be prepared for a lot of hassle. If they do work with you without the hassle then good on them.

bt

smell the bar tape when you pick up your bike. tey mey have wiped a light layer of dung on the new tape to pay you back.

roadandmountain

Exactly. There are definitely some bad independent bike shops out there, and mediocre shops are the norm, but performance has managed to pull off the trick of creating a nationwide chain of bad shops with inept mechanics.

There's a reason why the cash registers at mcdonald's don't have number or function keys, only buttions with icons. Too bad performance can't replicate that type of formula for bike wrenching, because they need it.

roadandmountain

Yeah, I hate when people put words in your mouth. It's a passive aggressive form of trolling. I'm just going to put those people on ignore.

BoSoxYacht

Read post # 82 + 83.

Rowan

On this saddle lower than the original mark when people go to pick up their bikes... are these bikes carbon or aluminium frames?

Standard shop practice as far as I can tell these days, is to either mount the bike on a workstand using the clamp around the seat post after it has been extended higher to accommodate the clamp , or pulling out the seat post entirely and putting a dummy one in and clamping to that.

Admittedly, it could be argued to be sloppy mechanical work to not mark the original position of the seat post before doing this, but I wonder if the owners would be happier having the seat in the right position and a crushed or dented top tube instead.

BoSoxYacht

Thank you.

I'm pretty tall so I never adjust height for a test ride, but I have needed to move a saddle to place a bike on a stand. It is important to mark the placement that the customer had.

roadandmountain

99% eh?

On the flip side, anyone can recite a litany of incompetent, rude, and flat out dishonest and corrupt merchants. Some say that 99% of all businesses are dishonest.

fstshrk

You don't need a workstand to do basic stuff. I always put a towel down and flip the bike upside down.

I hope they fixed the bike right this time. They must have at least one competent mechanic.

BoSoxYacht

Please put me on ignore.

You know much more than me about cycling and the industry, so save yourself the heartbeats you waste reading any of my posts.

Are you aware that the forum has an ignore feature?

megalowmatt

No you said firm but polite.

modelmartin

"Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds' Thoreau

SHBR

TLDR, the whole thread.

Seriously, all this because of a front dérailleur?

No wonder humanity has no future.

Replacement should take between 10 to 30 minutes depending on your skill level.

Perhaps about $20 in tools.

Better yet, find a fellow cyclist who can teach you how to do basic repairs.

Astrozombie

Sure but the Bike Gods will not be pleased with you breaking unwritten rules

RoadTire 

So far so good. We'll wait for the update.

edgamar

I'm planning to replace my 105 group for 6800 group at PBike next week. I've purchased many things from there but have not used the workshop. I’m handy with tools but not sure about try to install the “new” 6800. Should I let PBike install it and them learn from there and do my own tune ups?