Incompetent and/or Lazy and Rude
So, I had a bike with some sticky shifters. I had looked up on YouTube how to repair them and basically you take the cover off the shifters and spray some degreaser in there and fiddle with a metal lever they call a "paw" until it's springy again, and you're done. It actually looks like kind of a pain, but it can be done. Actually, I know for a fact it can be done because I've had it done before. I took another bike in to The Clean Machine in Chapel Hill years ago with the same issue and they fixed it.
So, today when I showed the problem to a guy at Bullseye I was surprised when he said it couldn't be fixed. I told him the problem and he pushed on the shifter and said sometimes some lube works, and I started to say I had already tried that on the shifter he wasn't pressing, and then he said, curtly, "It can't be fixed." I said in a polite tone, "I think it can" and I was going to follow up by telling him how I had had a similar problem with another bike and it had been fixed at The Clean Machine but he cut me off, by throwing his arms wide and basically saying, "Then you do it!"
Oh, OK. If I felt like having an argument or explaining, I would have said, "I CAN do it, but I CHOSE to come here because last time I was here, actually the last two times I was here the OTHER people here (I think the owner among them), were really nice, and I thought, you know what, I could fix this, but since they were so nice I should give them some business. They can probably do it quicker then I can. They might even enjoy the challenge of it. I mean, they are bike mechanics." But no, I didn't get to explain because this guy was so angry and defensive, all because I said I think it can be fixed.
I wasn't going to argue with him and beg him to take my money, so I just said, "I'll take it somewhere else." He said some other prickish thing under his breath as I walked off, but I didn't hear it, and I didn't care to, so I just repeated, "I'll take it somewhere else."
Who did I deal with? I didn't get his name, but he was a short, bald, old guy.
So, if you need your bike repaired, I'd go somewhere else. I've had good experiences with The Clean Machine in Chapel Hill. Or, just check out YouTube. There's basically a video about how to repair anything.
To be fair, two out of three experiences were positive and two out of three people I dealt with were great, but when you have such a negative experience like this, you're like, "You know what, forget it." read more