When I bought my Cross Check, I bought local to support my local shop. So far, I have been less than thrilled with service and knowledge after the sale.

I bought a bikesdirect bike for my son for Christmas. We spent maybe 30 minutes getting it ready to ride. Only issue we had was with the front derailuer. A post on here, and some quick responses got that fixed rather quickly. He rides it daily, no issues.
I guess that qualifies me as a setup mechanic. As far as sending a whole bike back to BD for any warranty issue, somehow I doubt that, but don't have any personal experience.

So should the OP should buy from BD instead of local? Depends, ultimately he needs to make that decision. If you are not comfortable working on a bike, ask yourself if you will learn to do so in the near future. If not, then commuting by bike cost will go up as you pay for your LBS to service your bike. my $.02