smd4

I think he about sums it up:

Eyes Roll

#10 is the #1 reason. There isn't much money in it.

People sell and donate their old used bikes for nothing, and many people get or buy those bikes for under $100 and under $200. Would people pay $100 to a bike mechanic to fix those bikes? Most don't. You spend your time, know the bike and its parts, and how it functions, and you fix the bike by yourself.

Don't bother and blame the bike mechanics. Understand that their time is money as well and they've got bills to pay. They can't work for pennies.

RB1-luvr

It was mildly entertaining.

smd4

I imagine it hits a little too close to home for some.

wheelreason

Everyone who has to deal with the public who doesn't start out as a total AH, eventually becomes one...

3alarmer 

.
...I got a bad review on Yelp once, when I was managing weekends at the bike co-op. It's kind of a funny story, but I won't share it. If I do, I lose, and if I don't I lose.

Iride01 

Not sure about bike mechanics being a-holes. At the shops around here that I go to, the bike mechanic is the owner or at least they are out in full view of the shop and you can strike up conversations with them that are hard to pull away from.

Wasn't much else I could really dispute. I have on several occasions had my bike or son's bikes worked on and didn't feel like the shop charged nearly enough considering the cost of the parts replaced with new and the time it took them to figure out and order the parts and then install them.

zandoval 

SW84

There's a little bike shop, across the Columbia River in Kennewick, that is great to go into. They always answer my questions and are always nice. I've bought tires there for my Schwinn and Raleigh because they carry nearly every size I see out there on bikes. There's another shop over in Richland (we're known as the Tri Cities) that restores and sells bikes. They are always nice too.

'02 nrs

RU "bellyachin"???

wheelreason

LOL. I only get bad reviews on days that end in y, I torture them when they come back in, well wotth it.

delbiker1 

I was a bartender for near 25 years. That was about 20 years too long. My nickname became " The A'hole", and I wore it proudly. The same thing that makes me, and others, one of those, can make anyone one of those. BTW, I lost the moniker after getting out of the bar business, and getting divorced.

smd4

BTW, the comments on YouTube are just as instructive as the video...

tkamd73 

I like reason #5, he nailed it there!
Tim

TiHabanero

Reasons #1 and #3 got a few good chuckles out of me. The plain truth with attitude. It was funny stuff!

Truth is people suck.

Chuck Naill

. If you are in business, you are in sales. Had the lady asked me to install training wheels I would have said it will be $30 and performed the task. Everyone thinks they deserve more $ and maybe they do. Yes, the public is a challenge, just look at Amazon reviews. It isn't easy volunteering on a soup line. If you go to work to feel good about yourself, stop. No one owes you respect. Respect and repeat business is earned.

smd4

It was fast, so you may have missed it, but there was a trigger warning at the beginning.

Trakhak

About the guy in the video griping about a dad bringing in a kid because he'd "outgrown" his 20" bike and thought he had to buy him a 24" bikes---in my experience, parents were instead usually obsessed with buying ludicrously over-sized bikes for their kids to "grow into."

So the moment dad notices that junior has grown enough that the last bike is now almost safe to ride, he brings the kid in to get the next outrageously, unsafely too-big bike.

If the parent seemed open to discussing the topic, we'd point out that if he bought correctly fitting bikes every time, he'd have bought at most one more bike than he would have otherwise.

The kid would have an easier time controlling a correctly fitting bike, and have more fun on it, and anyway, the majority of kids are happy to ride a 20" bike until they get their drivers license. So the total outlay would be less than dad thought it would be.

Sometimes they'd actually listen.

roadcrankr

Imagine dragging the auto mechanic to the front desk to deal with customers.
Or bringing the restaurant chef out to greet or wait on customers.
Every good business needs a congenial front man. The mechanic ain't it.

Steve B.

The guys (there are many, it’s a big and busy shop) at my favorite LBS - Brands Cycles and Fitness in Wantagh NY, are simply the best. They often stop what they are working on to solve my problem, even though I tell them I can leave it to be fixed whenever. I have few problems usually that I cannot fix myself, but they are just awesome.

SoSmellyAir

This is so true. But as a fellow provider of specialized services, I have come to realize that many customers (and potential customers) are not so good at:

(1) Articulating the service that they are seeking or need, and too impatient to have an intelligent discussion with the service provider to get there; and/or
(2) Valuing service and/or comparing service provided by different service providers, and therefore undervalue the service regardless of the provider.

And it is not just about pay. Many doctors complain that their colleagues get chosen for their bedside manners rather than technical skills. And I am sure we all know cyclists with $5K bikes who would balk at a $100 service because "it did not take so long." So, most bike mechanics have my empathy. Luckily, the ones at my LBS are good, and it is a Trek store!

Russ Roth

The worst part of any customer service job is usually the customers. I rarely had cause to have an attitude with customers in any service job but there are always those who weren't worth dealing with. One shop knew me as so laid back and easy to deal with that I was often handed the difficult ones that came to the service department. When I nearly came to blows with a customer, and another customer was ready to jump him as well, that the owner didn't even ask questions, just told the one to collect his bike and get the hell out and never come back. It can be amazing just how entitled some customers can really be, and sometimes its just better to get rid of some or realize they'll never be a real customer no matter what. Like the one who wanted to know what the cheapest bike was that he could buy for his wife since she always claimed she wanted to ride a bike but complained that the bikes he bought were too slow, heavy and didn't work right. When I showed him a 320.00 trek 7000 he complain that it cost almost 3x more than any of the last 5 bikes he had bought her. He left pissed when I deadpan told him if he'd just taken the time to buy a good one the first time he'd have already saved 200 and wouldn't have wasted his time buying the next four, so maybe he should finally try spending the money. Some customers just don't get it, but then that's why they're not really customers.

Kontact 

People do sometimes get unreasonably upset about reality - especially at the kind of shops that fix a lot of lower income commuter bikes. That stuff would try anyone's patience, regardless of whether you are social or like the peace of working on machines. You do what you can to not get drawn into that stuff.


I don't understand refusing to install a kickstand on someone's bike. That's just stupid - it is the most basic service and you are wasting a consumer's time luring them to your "full service shop" and then refusing to do something because you think they bought the wrong bike. That is 1 star service.

SoSmellyAir

Speaking of, I miss cxwrench. I understand that he got into it with some others here, but I appreciate his technical knowledge.

choddo

I think he realised he was being a dick about the kid’s bike when he read the review. Should have known before but probably is a little bit on the spectrum. Claims to hate people, loves technical things. Edits videos down to the millisecond to get the sentences just right. Perfectly organised tool wall (actually we all like that)