so my wheels were just 27" steel replacements, purchased them from a local bike shop. today, a friend took a one minute ride on my bike around his apartment parking lot and the rear wheel FOLDED on him. other than loose spokes, is there anything that could have caused this? the place i bought it from trued it before handing it over to me and that's all that has been touched on the wheel. i've literally ridden on the wheel maybe 3 or 4 times so i took it right over to the shop to see if they would warranty the wheel or just replace the rim/spokes and the dude was straight up RUDE to me. pulled the "i don't know what you did with it after it left the door" card and basically told me all he could do is attempt to straighten it out. however, they would still charge me to do so? you would think the company would take the 30 dollar blow to replace the rim and spokes as opposed to lose business.

is it even safe to ride on a wheel that has been folded at one point? seems to me that metal would be substantially weaker after that.... sucks because i've always had a good experience with that place and i've given them a lot of my business as well as sent friends there. may be shopping for bike parts somewhere else from now on.