Wow. I'm going back to the Politics and Religion forum. At least people there only get worked up about race and stuff.

I just wish someone from Sid's would come on here and defend their actions. That is when the comedic gold starts flowing.

To the OP, just because the shop couldn't do the changes to your bike when you wanted you come here and post your little "call out"? It is not like they said they wouldn't do the work, just not when you wanted it done. Oh well. You don't know what they had going on or what was on their plate for the rest of the evening do you? You made assumptions because you didn't get your way. I have never bought a bike from a bike shop and was offered a custom fitting for free. Just because you bought a new bike it may be a special moment for you, but for everyone else it is just business as usual.

Learn to have some patience with the LBS or learn how to work on your bike yourself you will be much happier.

I think most of us have had bad bike shop experiences and can relate to TR909's experience. It's not always what the LBS employee does, but the way he does it (attitude). Sometimes it's just really unnecessary for them to be such unhelpful d1<ks. Sounds like the OP is a bit of a nOOb, but so am I and so was every one of us at some point. Any customer should be treated with respect.

And don't pick on a Hawaii kid :shaka:

wow... i wish i were like you... i wish that when i bought my first bike, i had a full set of tools and a whole encyclopedia full of bike knowledge so that i wouldn't have to get help from people who's job it is to help me.

when you buy a new bike at a shop, its the shop's JOB to give you a bike that works. if they didn't do that for the OP (bottom bracket replacement aside), then they failed at their jobs and deserve to be called out. and even if they weren't obligated to make it work, courtesy towards customers goes a long way.

The shop I bought from offers two free tune-up within six months. I never took them up on it (nothing to tune - except wheels).

8 months later I have machine built wheels that I bought off the interwebs. They need truing. My shop is doing it for free.

Nice.

Why so your bike shop doesn't give you free fittings? I never said anything about having large depth of knowledge when I bought my first bike. That is why I went with someone who I trusted and had the knowledge and tools already, my father. He then showed me somethings, I bought books to learn more and talked to others. Never was the burden of responsibility put on the shop or its employees.
The shop gave him a bike that works. He wanted it to be changed that is why he took it somewhere else to have it modified (swapped out the stock bb and cranks, bars, adjusted brake, and shortened my chain). He just didn't want to wait till the next day for the employee there to do the work. They were willing to do the job, just not on his time table.
Where is the respect for the workers? Everyone always wants to be right as the customer and act entitled but as customers you need to give respect to the people doing the work/service for you.

Would you please read my posts in full before reaching your conclusion, bro? It's not that they wouldn't do it on my timetable, it's that everything was worked out for it to be done when I picked it up 2 weeks earlier. I confirmed with them 3 times that they would do it before picking up. Each time it was no problem, we can definitely do that for you. I told them exactly when I'd be coming and exactly what I needed to get done. When I got there their attitude was great until I paid the bill. Then the same guy I talked to on the phone 30 minutes earlier said he forgot about the swap and said maybe I can ask the mech to do it. I bike shop that cared about customer service would have already had a work order written up when I put down my deposit. Especially when every communication I had with them drew specific attention to work I was willingly paying for. There were no pretenses of them doing anything for free. I was so happy to just have my bike that I would have had no problems if not for the attitude flip literally 2 seconds after I paid my bill in full.

The fact that others chose to pick over my post to harp on the supposed presumption that I don't know how to turn a barrel adjuster (c'mon, really??) instead of seeing that all I wanted to do was show the dichotomy of customer treatment in TWO LBS' out of many in this big city makes painfully obvious that most posters here seem preoccupied in lording their status as OG riders who cobbled their bikes from corrugated aluminum and sheer grit and determination over people less experienced than them. Honestly, who here has had their own bike for more than a few months WITHOUT buying their own tools and learning to work on it. The assumption that I'm not doing the same is a little ridiculous. I apologize for being a simple 30 year old guy who was so stoked to not have to borrow his friend's bike anymore and just wanted to be treated as less than a pariah by a dickhead mechanic who simply said "I don't feel like it". As far as cust service, my point was I had a 180 experience at Liberty Cycles, which teiaperigosa confirmed for obvious reasons. Several others here agreed that they had bad experiences as well but no, it couldn't possibly be the lbs' fault. I'm just a noob throwing an e-tantrum.

supercub: :shaka: I miss makapu'u everyday!

Come on... the mechanic was busy, didn't know your "deal" with the shop and wasn't willing to fit it in and he is the dickhead? You wussed out and weren't willing to make them honor your arrangement. Of course you are going to take a lot of crap on the internet for not standing up for yourself.

BTW saying I am not a hipster cause I don't live in Chelsea, I live in alphabet city is hardly the right defense strategy.

For the last time, they didn't close for two hours and there was ONE person in the shop looking at bikes. This other customer was then belittled right in front of us. The mechanic was not busy, he literally was pissed that he had to write up a work order and complained that it would take him so long that we should just leave. He didn't want to get started because god forbid someone else came in and saw him working on a bike and wanted work done as will. These were his words. I didn't wuss out, my friend who was with me suggested that Liberty would do it, he made a call explaining my situation, they said they'd keep the shop open for us if we got there soon so we bailed and booked it uptown. What's arguing with a mechanic going to do but keep me away from riding my bike for longer?

What pray tell it the proper "defense strategy" for a hipster/non-hipster? I'm a younger guy riding a fixed gear bike in the city and I'm not a messenger or a velodrome racer. Don't all those things scream hipster then by your definition? Wouldn't most of the people on here fall into that category then? Should I move to Red Hook for some street cred? But wouldn't you know I actually have fun doing it and love it most when I DON'T run into other fg riders who size you up the minute they see you based on your bike parts or if you're running brakeless or not. I think I'm too old to be a hipster, I have a real job, I pay rent and my parents didn't help me pay for my bike. But cool, call me a hipster, I've been called worse and it makes me feel young

This forum's full of *******s too, apparently. If you didn't have a good experience at a shop, don't go back. Personally, I agree with you. I would be surprised if I bought a new bike and there was no attempt to set it up right. Not too mention the whole reneg on something promised on the phone a half hour before you got there. I do most of my own work (and enjoy it) but there have been many times where I buy something and they want to install it, adjust it, etc. and I let them do it just because. I can do it myself, but if they want to, I have no problem with it. It's called customer service and I'll go back to those shops even if they cost a little more. I'd rather give them my money than some ******bag.

I recommend Bed Stuy or Bushwick for hipster street cred. At least then you're within a 10-minute bike ride to Wburg.

Funny, 'business as usual' at my bike store involves custom fitting, every time.

No need to be so snippy. Great customer service does a lot to make a customer feel special, and I'd much rather have that than be dismissed as 'another number'.

it's funny, you can always tell the ****ty bike shops from the good ones by the degree to which the employees ***** about internet sales.
the good shops build a strong clientèle by treating their customers right never quite have a problem with money. It's always the guys who work at the shops with ****ty attitude that seem to see all the trouble...

go figure.

Seriously, I am just pointing out that you should have returned the bike and gone somewhere else. Why should Sid's care about maintaining your business when they already have it? When someone welches on an agreement, it is up to you to enforce it. I do think that Sid's just has average service depending on who you get, but that really isn't all that different than any other shop for the most part.

As for the hipster thing, I just thought it funny that someone incorrectly called Chelsea hipster, and you, in the process of denying that accusation, said you lived in the east village (which is a former hipster scene). Hell I have nothing against hipsters or 30-year old non-hipsters, I just thought it was amusing.

Fair enough, but you gotta admit it's hard to think with total clarity after seeing YOUR bike for the first time. Especially when you haven't had one to call your own since '03. All I wanted to do was get her outta there and back home!