Suppose a certain LBS mechanic were to appraise / check over a nice mid 80s vintage road bike (nishiki prestige), w/ nice period components (say, shimano 600, bronzed sugino cranks, bronzed diacomp calipers). Then proceed to tell the naive, unsuspecting owner, who said he just bought the bike used for almost $200, that the cranks and chainrings were warped, bottom bracket shot, and that the replacement, repair and labor would cost $180 +. And advise the customer that he had nice used compact(!) crankset at home that he could sell him on the side. And tell him his bronzed calipers wouldn't work with 700c wheels, which he would probably need, along with new calipers. Then suppose the customer leaves with his bike, takes it to another shop, where they determine the cranks and chainrings are not warped, in fact they are in great shape, but the bottom bracket needs new cups, axle, and bearings, and offer to make the repair and go over the entire bike for $50 (replaced cables and housing as well). Would it be advisable to conduct a "sting" operation by taking a similar classic old road bike to the same LBS to see if they truly are that dishonest, or that incompetent? Or just let karma run its course... The evidence is both hear-say from the customer, who is not knowledgable about bike mechanics, and the state of the bike itself, which was very different from what the cusomer was told. Maybe the mechanic was being overly cautious about getting the bike up to good running order, but it seems very shady.

I think it's someone elses problem. Call the police.

Well, we don't know exactly what they told the customer, only what he told us they said. I wasn't thinking of a true sting, just getting some firsthand experience of how they operate towards unknowing customers.

I think I just had my car fixed by the same place...

heh, in fact the customer said to us "I guess there are some bike mechanics just like some car mechanics".

I think it would be interesting to go into that shop with a nice vintage bike that hasn't been cleaned for a while... Or perhaps artificially dirtied up...

Of course, if I were to do something like that, and then find the dishonesty, then there is the question of what to do about it.

It would be a tedious process to prove the issue, just as it would for a car mechanic or home repair person... It has to be easy to get away with this sort of crap, and low risk if caught or people wouldn't do it.

I think Dave Stoller learned a lesson about life that rings in this case as well. Come on we all make money somehow and directly or indirectly participate in the same sort of dealings. Be it the butcher with his hand on the scale, the car salesman with his schpeal, or your family doctor prescribing the most expensive meds, or a hospital charging obscene amounts for bandaides. We live in a dirty world. Some of us have cleaner hands than others. And then you have the major corporations. Do you think Enron was playing with a full deck??

I think the mechanic coveted the cool gold-anodized parts, they were the main things he advised replacing, + making $$$ on replacement parts and labor.

Is it really worth the trouble?

Yeah, I could probably nit pick the hell out of a few local shops myself, but why bother? It's why I learned to work on my own bikes in the first place.

Yes! You should take 2nd hand info, from someone who isn't knowledgeable about the subject and proceed! Think of the "educational value"!
You might want to make sure the "offended customer" can keep their story straight twice in a row though.
Often, an ignorant customer can make innocuous statements like "what will it cost to make it as good as NEW", when they really mean "serviceable". That can be a huge difference in price. The "devil" is in the details!

If he said that, then you know he's a liar. It's not hard to get 27" wheels.

That's why I already said we didn't know exactly what he was told. However, he was adamant about the fact that he was told his entire crankset was "warped" and would have to be replaced. And we determined it wasn't even slightly warped, in fact it was in great shape. Also, I stated I didn't want to run a true "sting", just a test run to see how they treat unknowing customers. Though I doubt it will come to that. It would be fun to make them squirm though.

Just spread the word that the place is a rip off, that will either stop their BS or shut them down.

I'm the one fixing um myself, so I always know when the mechanic is trying to fast talk me!

I have little patience for the hard sell, no matter what they are selling.

I have actually only wheeled my bikes into shops twice in recent history, and both shops sold lots of used stuff. I do all my own work and wouldn't want to pay their labor rates or live with a result I did not like.

It is fun acting ignorant and seeing if they give you the correct story, though. I have done that lots of times with other items such as electronics. Sometimes you get really amusing answers (lies).

My most recent favorite involved a car rental guy trying to tell me that if I did not take their insurance, and the car was damaged it would be on my driving record! I looked at him with stupefied disbelief, regained my composure, and told him firmly "NO". I should have asked him if I totaled the car, and I bought the insurance, my driving record would be clean?

amen to that, I do all my own maintenance except for trueing a newly built wheelset - bon't have a decent trueing stand and spoke tensionmeter.

Actually to get some new polished non-aero 27" wheels is pretty hard. I went to 5 LBS with no luck then i decided to try and get some polished 700c and had to find 1 in ST Pete FL and th other in SF CA!