Originally Posted by mconlonx

If people actually got into stuff and did their own thing, learning as they go, there'd be little need for any bike shops. But most people are lazy and don't want to put in the time necessary for learning stuff.

So they come online and ***** about people who do stuff, but whom they don't want to pay to do stuff they know they could do if they put the time into it, but for which they are not willing to devote necessary time/resources.

But yeah, there's bad shops, bad employees out there. In the case of the OP, considering history with bikes and experience with LBSs, buying a BD bike and having it assembled/serviced locally would probably be the way to go. I'd call both shops, though, and see where they're at about assembling a bike sourced online -- some shops/mechanics have hair across their nether orifice regarding such work.