I brought my bike in for a front derailleur adjustment on 5/26/20. Nothing too difficult. When I entered, I noticed the store was busy, which I assumed was a positive thing in light of the pandemic. I said, "Hey, looks like business is going good for you." The owner says, aggravated, "Ya, more than I want." I should have taken that as a sign of things to come at that point, but I figured this fix was nothing major. I drop the bike off, and I am told someone would follow up in a few days. A week goes by, and I still hadn't heard anything, so I call in. The owner tells me he has to order a new front derailleur as mine was shot, or he could pull one off an old bike. He says the only place that has them in stock is Minneapolis, so it could take up to a week to come in. I say whatever is fastest, and he says he will be in touch.
I wait another week without hearing anything, so I call again. Mind you, each time I call, someone picks up and simply says "hello" without stating anything to let you know you've reached a business, another example of their professionalism. I ask to speak to the owner, and I'm told he's away for the afternoon, but will call me back. Spoiler alert: No one ever calls.
I try again the next week. I talk to another employee who again picks up the phone with "hello" and again, I ask for the owner. The employee says "Uhhh...are you, like, a distributor or something? I think he's busy." It's clear that I'm not going to get help from the staff, so I insist on speaking with the owner. Kid says "Uhhh...I guess you can wait if you want." The kid just puts the phone down, and I can hear them messing around in the background laughing for about 10 minutes until he finally picks the phone back up and says, seemingly surprised, "Oh, you're still there? Hang on..." I finally reach the owner, who has had my bike now for 17 days without any sort of timeline on a fix. He gives me the same runaround about how he has to order the part, and I point out that he told me that over a week ago, and he says, in the most condescending tone "I don't know what you want from me, it's not like I make the parts."
After getting the runaround for over three weeks, I decide to just go get my bike. When I get there, I ask to talk to the owner. He comes out and immediately starts berating me. "Do you have any idea what's going on in the country right now? What do you want from me? I've told you over and over again, and you keep calling me, seems like you just want to have the same conversation over and over again." I'm trying to remain civil, and I ask how long he thinks it will take to fix. He says "Well the part is in stock now." I assume he means he has it in stock and can fix the bike. He says, "No, it's in stock on their website, so I can order it now." So I point out that he told me the part would be in last Friday, and again he says "I don't know what you want from me, if you want just take it somewhere else or we can just keep having the same conversation."
At this point, I decide to just take it and ask if he can simply call me when he has the part in stock to repair the bike. I explain I really just needed it repaired for a family trip on the 4th of July. He says in response, and I quote, "I promise I will have your bike fixed for the 4th" I ride the bike out assuming he will call me any day with the part in stock.
Not surprisingly, he never called me. I ended up bringing the bike to Pedal Power in Berlin. They fixed it good as new in about 5 days, which included ordering the part. I don't believe I have ever experienced customer service as poor as what I experienced at Bobby Sprocket. My biggest takeaway was how apparent he made it that he could not give a rat's ass about me as a customer or fixing my bike. This should have been obvious to me when a small shop owner bemoaned having a robust business during a pandemic with many other small business owners are closing up shop. Do yourself a favor if you can, go to a different shop. Don't waste 3 weeks like I did. read more
