I hate to give a local business low ratings, but the customer service today was absolutely terrible. I really wanted to like this place, but after my interaction with Rich, I decided it wasn't worth it.
I brought one flat tire in about a week and a half ago but I was convinced it had a punctured tube. I am saying this right now: I have NO expertise on bikes or sports gear related to cycling. I made that pretty obvious on several occasions the first time I stopped in. A nice girl possibly around my age or younger was pretty helpful, letting me know that she does see it was leaking and that I can bring in the rest of the bike if I wanted them to look at it. I kept forgetting to bring it in and finally threw the entire thing into my car over the weekend to bring to the shop.
Fast forward to today, I walk in and it's two guys, one being Rich. I wheel the bike in on its back tire and let him know I left a tire here last week to be looked at. He says that my lever for the tire to attach to the bike is missing; I told him that I brought it in with the tire but he insists that it was gone and I must have lost it. Great, so it is my fault. Whatever, that's fine. He tells me they had to do some straightening of the tire itself because it was bent and overall cost is $10. That's not bad I think, but of course this is where the customer service gets worse.
Without even so much as glancing at my bike, he tells me that nothing is wrong with the tire and it's just flat. I told him that every time I ride on weekends, it has lost a good amount of air so he proceeds to explain condescendingly that I should know any tire needs to be at 65lbs of pressure when riding and even after a week of having last pumped it, it'll drop down to 55 lbs. Okay, I appreciate the bit of advice, I said, but I've never own a bike. (Honestly, I have owned a bike before but I have terrible luck in which I will only own it for about six months at a time, from about August to January, as they are usually stolen - no lie, it has happened 5 times in my lifetime).
After hearing this, he disclaimers with "I'm going to go into preacher mode and I'm not trying to school you or anything, but..." then starts to tell me that this is what happens when you buy a bike at Target or Walmart, because there is no one there to educate you in the operations and handling of a bike. I told this man that it was a gift for my birthday, and he said, "Well, he definitely didn't do you any favors by buying this bike at Target or Walmart." Exact words. So... you're basically saying my boyfriend is an idiot for trying to be nice and purchasing me a bike from a store that doesn't overprice like specialized shops? What exactly should I do at this point, sir? Return it? Chastise my boyfriend for being unbelievably inconsiderate for not paying ridiculous amounts for a bicycle just so he can get educated on how to get proper maintenance? Exactly what is your recommendation because I came here to obviously get lectured.
He then proceeded to "suggest" that I purchase a lever, which they happen to have misplaced but are not willing to admit, because "we want to see our riders enjoy their biking experience" and that I should purchase one now while looking for the one that was "misplaced" at home and return it once it's located. We live in the Chicagoland area, buddy, an area that is known for fluctuating weather - I'm not going to be riding this weekend or anytime soon. I did my best to politely decline but did purchase a gauge because I had intended to purchase one to begin with. I complete the transaction, he helps me load the bike and the now detached tire into my car, and said "Good luck."
I understand that stores like these have passionate owners/employees who care about what they do and this can be a great quality to a store. But it would be greatly appreciated if the condescending tone and attitude towards those who do not share the same enthusiasm could be filtered. Do not expect that every person that comes in knows as much as you and if you see that they don't, don't proceed to belittle their lack of knowledge or their significant other's unintentional error of giving a gift without an instructor attached to the gift itself.
I'm giving this two stars for their pricing, but deducting three for that man's horrible attitude this evening. I will not be returning and will take my business (and purchase of the 'misplaced' lever) to another bike shop. read more