In May, I was calling to various bicycle shops for estimates on assembling a frame-up cyclocross…read morebike build. Most of the quotes I received were in the neighborhood of $100-$450, because I sourced all parts myself and planned to bring everything in and have it assembled to spec. I called Oceanside Cycle and was told that it would cost over $1300 for the mechanic to assemble the bike. I asked if that was a quote for hourly labor rates or what the basis was for that. Long story short, that's what the owner threw out off the top of his head. Needless to say, I was not bringing my bike there to be built.
My husband and his friend sometimes bring their bikes there for minor part replacements, and a couple times My husband spoke with the owner about possibly purchasing a new bike. In the end, My husband ends up settling on a part replacement for his current bike which is under 2 years old. He does not make large purchases hastily and is very smart with his money.
After my bike was built at a shop in the West End, I learned that the other mechanic thought it would be better not to do the tubeless tire install I requested, and put in two tubes on my wheelset. I brought my bike out for one short ride, and had a pinch flat the next day when I wanted to go for a longer trail ride.
I brought my bike to Oceanside Cycle. Scott was in there with some lady looking casually at bikes for her and her fiancee. I was told it would be around 30-45 minutes before I could get my tire aired up and on my way. I understand the hustle, and if it's thousands of dollars of earning potential versus my flat tire, why wouldn't he attend to this possibly good sales prospect. So I sat around and waited while he gave his entire spiel.
Finally, my husband and his friend came in through the back door and were wondering what the hold up was. I told them he's working on a sale and I was waiting to be attended. Finally he put my bike onto the stand. Evidently the tube the other mechanic installed was overfilled with air and it busted. So Scott replaced the inner tube and aired up the tire. I had to ask him to check the tire pressure on the front tire, it was not automatically checked, which tells me a lot about Scott's give-a-shit meter when it comes to service. If you can believe, he charged my husband more than $50 to change my flat. The entire time he was banging my wheel around against the countertop and I could hear all the clanging of my cassette against his work surface while he was changing out the tube. I didn't particularly love the way he was treating my $350 wheel, but I didn't say anything, because you can't make someone like that more self-aware. They either give a shit about customer perception, or they don't-- and this guy obviously does not.
Fast forward 2 weeks, I was sick for a few days and it was around 1 week I was off the bike. The front tube had lost a significant amount of pressure sitting for days, and we only noticed it before heading out for a trail more than 10 miles away. Around closing time on Saturday, or just before it.. We decided to ride over to Oceanside Cycle and try to get aired up again. As we rode up to the back door, we could see Scott standing inside looking out the back window at us. I went and knocked at the back door, to see if I could ask to be aired up. The door was locked, and I assumed he was closing up, but still thought he might at least speak to me. Instead, he walks over to the back door and pulls on the door to make sure it was locked and just shouted through the door CLOSED. It was really off-putting. So i just told my husband, "It's fine. I just truly never want to bring my bike to this shop again. That was disgusting the way he yelled through the closed door." I would not have been upset if he OPENED the door to make contact with us, two people on bikes who have purchased services from him numerous times over the years (he used to service a different hybrid bike belonging to my husband's sister for years).. if he had just simply said "I'm sorry, what was it that you came by about?" or even told us "I can't stay today, it's past closing" what have you... I'd have appreciated that.
As we were rounding the corner, we ran into Scott. My husband asked "I guess you don't have two minutes to air up a tire? I'm here all the time, I didn't expect that." and Scott started in with "Well guys, better luck next time"; I said to my husband, "actually no, this is good enough for me, I won't bring my bike here again." So Scott, instead of talking to me like a human being, (he had already walked straight past us without stopping) was talking over his shoulder "No problem, don't come back. Have a great day". So I said "Yeah, it's great. f off." and he goes "WOOOO!! That's a great way to get in the door anywhere" like, bich you didn't even OPEN THE DOOR to speak to us. You pulled the door to make sure it was locked and shouted out to us. I told him, yeah because you're an asshole. Avoid this crummy shop.
