Your worst LBS experience...
#102
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 2,265
Likes: 2
From: Berkeley
Bikes: 2010 Tarmac SL, 2013 Fairdale Weekender, 2013 Fairdale Coaster, 1995 Specialized M2 Pro, 1972 Schwinn Heavy Duty, 2014 Surley Long Haul Trucker
#104
here's mine (copy and pasted from a thread I posted last summer)
I popped a spoke at a saturday race, and had to get it fixed before the race for sunday. So I type in my garmin Bike and find a LBS. I walk in the shop and they had motorscooters as well as alot of lower end mtb and comfort bikes. Oh well. I go to the repair center, and ask if he could help me out. He says ok. He ends up taking a ton of time (like 25 minutes) just lacing the spoke, and then spends like a hour trueing it. I see him spinning the wheel and there is a big hop in the wheel. Finally he calls over some older guy to check it out. He works on it for like 20 minutes, and says, done. So the orginal worker puts the cassette back on and says thats the best he can do. I spin it and theres a Huge hop. I spot it right at the spoke that he replaced (I had all black spokes, he only had a silver) I look and he laced it on the wrong side (over instead of under the crossing spoke, yea pattern reconntion) I say screw it, say its wrong, I'm taking it to a different shop. I call up my girlfreind to look for bikeshops up online. Turns out there is a performance bike shop around. I say ok, and go to there
In there, Chris, an employee says he will fix it. He checks the tention, way too high. So high he backs off every spoke to zero tension and restarts. He brings it back to true. The entire time, we bull ****ted about racing, bikes ect. He ended up giving me a pretty good discount from there posted trueing rates. Overall great service. I do race for a LBS and typically do try and deal with them, but in this case, Performance bike was 2304830984x better service then a LBS.
I popped a spoke at a saturday race, and had to get it fixed before the race for sunday. So I type in my garmin Bike and find a LBS. I walk in the shop and they had motorscooters as well as alot of lower end mtb and comfort bikes. Oh well. I go to the repair center, and ask if he could help me out. He says ok. He ends up taking a ton of time (like 25 minutes) just lacing the spoke, and then spends like a hour trueing it. I see him spinning the wheel and there is a big hop in the wheel. Finally he calls over some older guy to check it out. He works on it for like 20 minutes, and says, done. So the orginal worker puts the cassette back on and says thats the best he can do. I spin it and theres a Huge hop. I spot it right at the spoke that he replaced (I had all black spokes, he only had a silver) I look and he laced it on the wrong side (over instead of under the crossing spoke, yea pattern reconntion) I say screw it, say its wrong, I'm taking it to a different shop. I call up my girlfreind to look for bikeshops up online. Turns out there is a performance bike shop around. I say ok, and go to there
In there, Chris, an employee says he will fix it. He checks the tention, way too high. So high he backs off every spoke to zero tension and restarts. He brings it back to true. The entire time, we bull ****ted about racing, bikes ect. He ended up giving me a pretty good discount from there posted trueing rates. Overall great service. I do race for a LBS and typically do try and deal with them, but in this case, Performance bike was 2304830984x better service then a LBS.
#105
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 710
Likes: 6
From: CenCal - SLO
Bikes: S2, Wilier GTR (Arr), Giant VT, Myata 3-10
Pacific Bicycle in SF I liked - thanks Darcy for the test rides and, later, quick frame warranty.
The Performance shop near there I liked, too, although there was a real df that worked there, the other staff more than makes up! - great sound system, big roomy store.
Snobby ahole at the Berkeley Performance did order small parts for my mtn pedals a couple of Decembers ago; heh, did he perk up when I asked him, "...do you ride a lot?" So, a few weeks later, I call to see if the parts are in, as I'll be in Berkeley. My luck, I get the same guy, who slowly, and with emphasis, states that they will call me when they come in. Three weeks later, I call, get the same thing, same guy. A few weeks later, I call, and get a different voice, and, yup, they are in. Turns out the parts had been sitting in the shop since before my first call. Just my time and energy, that's all.
Mnt bike crank ruined, I call WC Performance to see what they have - a low end RaceFace, just like what I have in my hands, for reasonable price, o.k. It's obviously an OEM removed from a new bike and thrown in a box, and the bottombracket is Truvativ, also removed from a new bike and boxed, but o.k., I'm desperate. Too bad I didn't notice until setting down at home to do the install that the pedal threads are FUBAR and there are parts missing from the bb kit. Just my time and energy, that's all.
In the first case, the manager made good, in the second case, there was grumbling about the return policy, implying that I was at fault, but in that case I couldn't be bothered to escalate.
Nobody's perfect, including YOU; you make your choices, try to make them smart ones, including treating people well, even they act like aholes. Maybe they had a bad day. The man who handed me the f'd up crank - his son was in the hospital; he was running on autopilot, poor bstrd.
Both stores have/had some great people.
The Performance shop near there I liked, too, although there was a real df that worked there, the other staff more than makes up! - great sound system, big roomy store.
Snobby ahole at the Berkeley Performance did order small parts for my mtn pedals a couple of Decembers ago; heh, did he perk up when I asked him, "...do you ride a lot?" So, a few weeks later, I call to see if the parts are in, as I'll be in Berkeley. My luck, I get the same guy, who slowly, and with emphasis, states that they will call me when they come in. Three weeks later, I call, get the same thing, same guy. A few weeks later, I call, and get a different voice, and, yup, they are in. Turns out the parts had been sitting in the shop since before my first call. Just my time and energy, that's all.
Mnt bike crank ruined, I call WC Performance to see what they have - a low end RaceFace, just like what I have in my hands, for reasonable price, o.k. It's obviously an OEM removed from a new bike and thrown in a box, and the bottombracket is Truvativ, also removed from a new bike and boxed, but o.k., I'm desperate. Too bad I didn't notice until setting down at home to do the install that the pedal threads are FUBAR and there are parts missing from the bb kit. Just my time and energy, that's all.
In the first case, the manager made good, in the second case, there was grumbling about the return policy, implying that I was at fault, but in that case I couldn't be bothered to escalate.
Nobody's perfect, including YOU; you make your choices, try to make them smart ones, including treating people well, even they act like aholes. Maybe they had a bad day. The man who handed me the f'd up crank - his son was in the hospital; he was running on autopilot, poor bstrd.
Both stores have/had some great people.
#106
Thread Starter
Dropper of Carbon
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 293
Likes: 0
From: Panama City, Panama; Spring Hill, FL
Bikes: '08 Motobecane Jubilee DLX; '09 Cannondale CAAD9-5; '12 Trek 8.3 DS











