Originally Posted by HobbesOnTour

First, a little humour....
Your post reminded me of this...

A guy went to see his doctor. He was very nervous and very agitated, sweat flowing from every pore on his body.
In the waiting room was one other man, looking just as nervous.
They both avoided eye contact with each other, looking nervously everywhere except at each other.
Eventually, unable to bear the tension anymore, our hero turned to his fellow man and whispered
“What are you here for?”
The stranger looked up in terror, shaking and stuttered that he’d rather not say.Silence resumed.

After a few more moments the stranger turned to our hero and asked him what he was here for.
Our hero mirrored the terror in the stranger’s eyes and whispered
“I have a green ring in a place where there shouldn’t be a ring”, looking down at this crotch.
The stranger gasped loudly and our hero cringed at his shame.
“That’s amazing! I have a red ring around mine!”
All of a sudden, the world seemed a little less scary for our hero, a problem shared and all that.
Just then the nurse called the stranger in to see the doctor. The fear returned to his face, his shuffle to the door was like a condemned man’s last steps.

Two minutes later he bounded out the door, beaming from ear to ear and literally skipped out the door. “Wiped off with a tissue!” he laughed as he left.
Our hero was called in to see the doctor and buoyed by his neighbour’s exit, walked confidently in and dropped his trousers.
“This is very serious”, said the grave faced doctor. “No medication is going to work here. It’s too far gone. If we amputate, we may be able to save your life”.
“But..... but.....but..” warbled our hero, his eyes filling with tears, “the other guy danced out of here. He said you wiped it off with a tissue!"
The doctor looked at him seriously...









“there’s a difference between lipstick and gangrene”


My point is that every case is different, and the difference is not always clear until you’re right there.



Thanks for proving my point
Based on one side of an argument you have decided that the anonymous OP is in the right and the named business is wrong.
That was exactly my point. The OP could have received the exact same responses by simply stating “A bike shop....”.

And you go on to say...

I respectfully disagree. As does just about any reasonable system of justice – the accused always should have the opportunity to present a defence. Again, especially in the case of a named business versus an anonymous poster.


With those long distance mechanical diagnosis skills do you want to come and work in my bike shop?



First of all, no need to get personal.

Second of all, I was trying to suggest to the OP that actions have consequences, that publicly calling out a business prior to attempting to solve the issue with the business could backfire.
I know where I live (not Portland, sorry!) that if I have a problem with a service and bring a case to a higher authority the very first question I will be asked will be what attempts I have made to solve the issue with the business first.

Furthermore, in the part of my post you omitted, I questioned if the matter at hand had less to do with the $54 extra charges and more to do with the attitude of the OP, given their misgivings prior to their tour.




You’ve used maybe 3 times in this post, allow me the same courtesy....

Maybe this is all a big misunderstanding and when the OP arrived it turned out the bike shop got confused between some of the many bikes they had to assemble and the extra charges are for another customer who had agreed in advance.

Maybe the OP should have been a bit more switched on and understood fully what was and what was not included in the services and what to do in the event of any extra work.

Maybe the OP was a bit embarrassed when he got the message/email/smoke signal that the bike he had shipped wasn’t fit for the tour because of the frayed brake cable and the wobbly rear wheel. And rather than feel embarrassed, it’s easier to be angry at the bike mechanic.



The facts are that we don’t know all the facts. Naming a business online before even speaking to them about the issue, is, to my way of thinking, unfair.
Being unfair creates bad karma. I certainly don’t want bad karma weighing me down on my bike, even if my wheels are true.
Also, getting worked up before I even get on my bike for a tour is a sure fire way of making it more difficult to enjoy my tour.

And yes, I have run several successful businesses, one of them my own. Not bike shops, because with my mechanical skills they certainly wouldn’t be successful! But in customer service. And yes, I have refused to serve some customers who will not or can not follow normal business/social practises. I have some great stories. And sometimes, after a bit of reflection, those people, became some of my greatest customers and advocates. Go figure.

TL;DR
Off colour joke.
OP was having a bad day. I think he shouldn't have named the shop until he had spoken to them.