Person on the phone was very rude. He intended for me to measure one part of the bike, but clearly agreed that I would measure a different part.
When I called back with the measurements, rather than choosing to be professional and apologize for his miscommunication so we could move forward, he became very condescending and argued with me as to what he had said moments earlier.
It's too bad because I have a lot to upgrade on this bike, and I guess they won't be getting my money.
Never trust someone who isn't capable of even a basic level of customer service.
EDIT: It seems the owner/subord can't resist the temptation to continue responding to my review with defensiveness and blame shifting. So, for every additional response they make, I'll be adding an additional edit below.
** EDIT 1: Notice the owner's first response focuses primarily on the fact the part needed to be measured, which is just wasted text since my post doesn't even dispute that. Just another example of the owner's tendency to get defensive and deflect blame, it seems. I should have listened to the other reviews before wasting a phone call.
** EDIT 2: More fallacious, delusional, defensive, and unprofessional drivel by the owner and/or son. My responses:
"We wouldn't be in business this long if we didn't know what we were doing..."
Seems you don't understand incompetence can sometimes result not in a total business failure, but in lowered profit. Imagine how much more successful you could have been, had someone taught you proper customer service / relations.
"he recommended you bring it to the store"
Flat out lie. This was never said.
"and call back to argue with him over the phone because you measured the wrong part"
Short term memory loss or lies; I explained what really happened in my original review. Attempting to Strawman my reasoning for calling back (from "to relay measurements" to "to argue"), and doubling down on the lie that I measured the wrong part (as opposed to reality: Your store's miscommunication), shows your lack of professionalism.
"We accept responsibility on our end for the miscommunication and misunderstanding"
Clearly you didn't, as your first response was a small insincere apology only made *after* I posted my negative yelp review, and then followed it up with blame shifting and useless PR fluff. Your second response doubles down on your lies, and calls the customer "whiney"? Awesome way to accept responsibility.
"If you were a small business, you would understand the need to be defensive towards whiney yelpers like yourself."
Incorrect. If you had experience under a *professional* business, you'd know that bashing customers with lies and fallacies as the bulk of your supposed apology, isn't a smart way to do business. Everyone can read these responses. Time to accept your mistakes like an adult, and move on. Your competitors are now laughing.
"Our reputation is something we hold dearly"
If this is true, you and your dad should stay FAR AWAY from customers and yelp comments, from now on.
"So instead of getting upset at us because you don't know what part you need"
More dishonesty, as explained above.
"It's very easy to bash someone online, especially with apps like yelp that encourage the bad behavior"
In this case, my review is *good* behavior, as I'm warning good people from wasting time+money on your *bad business*, since my grievance is legitimate. Attempting to co-opt the stories of good businesses being attacked by bad reviewers, to help your bad business, is more dishonesty. Don't assume yelpers are too stupid to see through you. They're smarter than that.
"Rarely do people go out of their way to post something positive unless their experience is significantly meaningful"
Have you not seen the other Bike shops with a hundred times more positive reviews than you, and a significantly higher rating? But thanks for reminding me. I ended up giving my money to a much more competent and customer friendly shop, and need to write them a glowing review.
"For every one whiney yelper, there are ten satisfied customers."
So, to recap: When a customer writes a valid complaint about your total lack of professionalism, you choose to call them "whiney" and display even more lack of professionalism / defensiveness, rather than simply apologizing and trying to make things right. And as a bonus, you display ignorance of basic business realities, like the fact the vast majority of unhappy customers tend to vanish without a trace (ie: positive reviews are rare, but negative reviews are only somewhat less rare).
Awesome. Keep replying! Every defensive and blame-shifting rant you leave (where a simple apology and acceptance of responsibility could have been), simply helps all these good people on yelp understand more and more, that your business is to be avoided. I kinda like this back-and-forth. Maybe I should archive save these texts and start a hilarious blog one day.
Less Than Three
** EDIT 3:
Delusional as F read more