Where to begin..
Arrived with my bike at 1pm to have some new gear changers installed.
"It'll be ready at 4pm", he says.
Ideal.
Turn up just after 4pm to find my bike hasn't yet been touched.
"It just gets busy in here." Was the response.
Fair enough I thought, I can understand.
Already I was getting the hint that there may be trouble ahead.
"Come back at 6."
Okay then.
I return at 6pm for it still to be ready, no luck unfortunately.
I was getting annoyed at this stage.
Then, I return a little after 6..
Good news! Nearly finished!
I was getting my hopes up. He talked me through everything he'd done. I had new changers and grips.
So I pay the man.
I left the shop happy and didn't even mind about the delay.
I'd been cycling for about five minutes before I noticed the front changer wasn't changing the gears.
"What's going on here?" I thought.
I decided to head back and see him before the shop shut when during one last attempted gear change, by chain suddenly came off after some nasty grinding sounds. I nearly came off my bike at the bottom of Ardmillan.
I went back to see him, and luckily he was still there.
"I think there's a problem here." I said.
What followed was a ridiculous, childish argument that I tried my level best to avoid but when these fantastic one-liners started flying about:
"I'm sorry to have to teach you about life"
and
"Your bike is s**t"
and
"I don't want to have to deal with you as a customer anymore"
I began to lose my patience.
The manager claimed that it was the fault of my low quality derailer and chain that caused the shifters to fail, which I didn't agree with.
It was left that he would replace the chain and then I would ride it to see if the changers were actually defective. Which, he refused to do for free.
Instead, he accused me of "wanting him to fix the bike for free".
Left my bike with him for a couple of days on the agreement that if the new chain he was going to apply worked and proved the shifters we're working.
Three days later I receive a call telling me the bikes ready and I say I would like to collect it and obviously try it out before I pay, which any reasonable person would assume would be the case.
The manager point blank refused to let me try it and as a result I asked him to take the chain off.
On collection I said:
"Thanks very much."
The manager said
"Anyone who wants to ride their bike after it had had a repair done to it and not pay didn't have the shops best interests in mind."
I said "you don't have your customers interests in mind."
He followed by saying:
"You're the type of customer that I want to f**k off." "You're banned."
I asked him why I was banned and he said:
"You're not the type of customer I want to have to deal with."
There are many bike shops in Edinburgh. I'd advise anyone to avoid this shop at all costs. read more