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Customer abuse @ Performance of Fair Oaks CA
I know that you don't go to Performance Bike for their great customer
service, you go for the low prices and convenient hours. That said, you also don't go with the expectation of being mistreated!! My negative outlook on Performance started about six months ago when I went there with a friend to help choose a road bike. A specific Fuji bike was in the right price range and appealed on many levels. We had the bike out on the floor and she was looking at I was evaluating the fit. I held the wheel between my knees and the handlebars and had her sit on the bike while I evaluated the fit. While we were doing this a manager comes up and decides to take over. Without warning he forces himself between me and bike, nearly causing her to fall off! This upset me, but I continued anyhow. Later, when we were discussing the reach and the possibility of a handlebar swap he started moving the saddle forward. I told him that's not how you adjust reach, but he got angry and said "just wait, I'll show you!" I finally settled on the 47cm frame even though he was suggesting the 44. Interestingly, Fuji's site suggests either the 47 or 50 for her height! Idiots... So... last night I'm there with a neighbor. Everything is going fine at first. I pull out some bikes just to look them over with little concern about their size at first. My neighbor, being excited, is sitting on all of them, but I ignore it since that's not what I'm looking at anyhow. We're down to the last bike before we decide which one we should have him test ride when the manager (a different manager) comes over and says that the bike is too big (duh, thanks). I start to pull out the next smaller size when he immediately takes over and doesn't allow me to see how that size fits. Deciding to avoid a confrontation I went away and started browsing the rest of the store while he gave his advice. Later, my neighbor calls me over to show me what they'd settled on. When I got there he said that this was the right size frame. I nearly laughed. It had a traditional geometry (horizontal top tube) so you'd go with a larger seat tube length than with a compact geometry frame. That said, he'd put my almost 6' neighbor on a 54cm frame! I said something about the bike being far too small, that he was sitting nearly upright, far too cramped in the top tube, and besides the saddle was far too low. He said "no, the seat is in the ideal position! See how his top leg is horizontal, that's ideal!" Top leg? Who looks at that? Then he went on about how the bike had a relaxed top tube geometry (huh? Relaxed head angle, relaxed seat angle, etc, but top tube?). I said no, that the saddle was at least 4cm too low! He started getting angry and barked "Fine, the bike is too small!" and stomped off. At the desk I could see him telling the other people something or other while staring at us. There was more, but that's the general gist of the experience. Amazing. I'm seriously considering contacting their corporate number, though I expect that they won't have much concern. For now, I'm done with Performance. -- Work and recreation are not often effected at the same time. One using a bicycle in business makes an exception to the rule. - Dr. Edgar H. Earl, Rochester. (~1892) |
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#2
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Customer abuse @ Performance of Fair Oaks CA
How many people get sold the wrong size bike at a "real"LBS? Lots.
Your friends are lucky to have you to go with them and save them from making a bad purchase. Performance is great for prices and selection- far better than 99% of LBS's here in NJ. Like Sym's says - an educated consumer is our best customer. At least Performance has a variety of sizes so you can narrow it down. Many LBS's have one odd size and say "we can order it" and expect you to buy s bike that may not fit sight unseen. I would be thankful if a Performance opened nearby. On Mar 10, 3:52*pm, Rex Kerr wrote: I know that you don't go to Performance Bike for their great customer service, you go for the low prices and convenient hours. *That said, you also don't go with the expectation of being mistreated!! My negative outlook on Performance started about six months ago when I went there with a friend to help choose a road bike. *A specific Fuji bike was in the right price range and appealed on many levels. *We had the bike out on the floor and she was looking at I was evaluating the fit. *I held the wheel between my knees and the handlebars and had her sit on the bike while I evaluated the fit. *While we were doing this a manager comes up and decides to take over. *Without warning he forces himself between me and bike, nearly causing her to fall off! *This upset me, but I continued anyhow. Later, when we were discussing the reach and the possibility of a handlebar swap he started moving the saddle forward. I told him that's not how you adjust reach, but he got angry and said "just wait, I'll show you!" *I finally settled on the 47cm frame even though he was suggesting the 44. *Interestingly, Fuji's site suggests either the 47 or 50 for her height! *Idiots... So... last night I'm there with a neighbor. *Everything is going fine at first. *I pull out some bikes just to look them over with little concern about their size at first. *My neighbor, being excited, is sitting on all of them, but I ignore it since that's not what I'm looking at anyhow. *We're down to the last bike before we decide which one we should have him test ride when the manager (a different manager) comes over and says that the bike is too big (duh, thanks). *I start to pull out the next smaller size when he immediately takes over and doesn't allow me to see how that size fits. *Deciding to avoid a confrontation I went away and started browsing the rest of the store while he gave his advice. *Later, my neighbor calls me over to show me what they'd settled on. *When I got there he said that this was the right size frame. *I nearly laughed. *It had a traditional geometry (horizontal top tube) so you'd go with a larger seat tube length than with a compact geometry frame. * That said, he'd put my almost 6' neighbor on a 54cm frame! *I said something about the bike being far too small, that he was sitting nearly upright, far too cramped in the top tube, and besides the saddle was far too low. *He said "no, the seat is in the ideal position! *See how his top leg is horizontal, that's ideal!" Top leg? *Who looks at that? *Then he went on about how the bike had a relaxed top tube geometry (huh? Relaxed head angle, relaxed seat angle, etc, but top tube?). *I said no, that the saddle was at least 4cm too low! *He started getting angry and barked "Fine, the bike is too small!" and stomped off. *At the desk I could see him telling the other people something or other while staring at us. There was more, but that's the general gist of the experience. *Amazing. * I'm seriously considering contacting their corporate number, though I expect that they won't have much concern. For now, I'm done with Performance. -- Work and recreation are not often effected at the same time. One using a bicycle in business makes an exception to the rule. * * * *- Dr. Edgar H. Earl, Rochester. *(~1892) |
#3
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Customer abuse @ Performance of Fair Oaks CA
Rex Kerr wrote:
My negative outlook on Performance started about six months ago when I I forgot to write about another incident... A coworker took his bike there to have the drop bars replaced with tri bars with barend shifters on the end of the aero bars. The first time that he rode it in to the office I was looking at it and something seemed wrong. I noticed that the rear shifter was on the left aero bar. I commented that they were on the wrong hands, but you could get used to that. Looking closer I noticed that it was much worse (which wasn't immediately obvious due to the cables running inside of the frame)... The front shifter (the friction one) was controlling the r-der, and the rear shifter (the indexed one) was controlling the f-der!! They'd installed them completely backwards! Didn't the installer wonder why he didn't have to trim the der adjustment? Why he wasn't getting indexing? Why was the front one clicking into positions, but not the rear? How could you miss that? -- Work and recreation are not often effected at the same time. One using a bicycle in business makes an exception to the rule. - Dr. Edgar H. Earl, Rochester. (~1892) |
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Customer abuse @ Performance of Fair Oaks CA
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#5
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Customer abuse @ Performance of Fair Oaks CA
Let me put in a good word for my favorite Performance store, in San Rafael,
CA. They have everything I could possibly want, and it's well displayed, so you can browse without having to deal with a counter person on each and every item. When I have needed help, I have found their staff to be extremely knowledgeable and helpful. They are a few blocks from Recyclery, a nonprofit which sells used donated stuff--I have had them refer me there when it was appropriate. |
#6
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Customer abuse @ Performance of Fair Oaks CA
On Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:29:02 -0700, Rex Kerr
wrote: Rex Kerr wrote: My negative outlook on Performance started about six months ago when I I forgot to write about another incident... A coworker took his bike there to have the drop bars replaced with tri bars with barend shifters on the end of the aero bars. The first time that he rode it in to the office I was looking at it and something seemed wrong. I noticed that the rear shifter was on the left aero bar. I commented that they were on the wrong hands, but you could get used to that. Looking closer I noticed that it was much worse (which wasn't immediately obvious due to the cables running inside of the frame)... The front shifter (the friction one) was controlling the r-der, and the rear shifter (the indexed one) was controlling the f-der!! They'd installed them completely backwards! Didn't the installer wonder why he didn't have to trim the der adjustment? Why he wasn't getting indexing? Why was the front one clicking into positions, but not the rear? How could you miss that? Sorry to hear that happened to you. My performance guys have all been great and one of the wrenches is now my personal friend. One day I needed my pedal removed and had the bike out by my car in the parking lot and the wrench came out to the parking lot with the pedal removal tool and loosened it for me so I didn't even have to bring it into the store. I brought him a DVD I burned because he did that. So while you had a bad experience, not all Performance employees are like that. Again, yours are bad, pushy, unknowledgeable and lacking experience. No excuse for that. I wouldn't let anyone 'push me out of the way'. That's just rude and more, it's bording on hostile. I'd report him. Good luck. |
#7
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Customer abuse @ Performance of Fair Oaks CA
Report them both. Don't you think Performance should know about this sort of
thing--otherwise, how are they going to fix it? Besides, you could be helping protect other customers in the future. |
#8
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Customer abuse @ Performance of Fair Oaks CA
On Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:51:19 GMT, "Leo Lichtman"
wrote: Let me put in a good word for my favorite Performance store, in San Rafael, CA. They have everything I could possibly want, and it's well displayed, so you can browse without having to deal with a counter person on each and every item. When I have needed help, I have found their staff to be extremely knowledgeable and helpful. They are a few blocks from Recyclery, a nonprofit which sells used donated stuff--I have had them refer me there when it was appropriate. An independent LBS referred me to our local community bike shop when I needed a pedal dust cover. That was shortly after I'd got back on the bike from a 14 year hiatus. What hooked me is the smell of a real bike shop. The aroma of the first LBS I'd visited in fourteen years (to buy a Razor kick-scooter for some crazy inflated price) brought a flood of youthful memories rushing back to me. When I went into a second LBS a couple months later looking for Razor replacement wheels, the smell hit me again. The fact that the salesperson was a beautiful and knowledgable mountain-biking woman really brought me into the new century. A few weeks later, coasting home on the Razor. it dawned on me that I could be riding a bike. My two. stored, now classic, Euro-equipped bikes just needed to be overhauled. When I rode the Witcomb into the shop looking for a Lyotard dust-cap the owner, who has long since become a personal friend and fellow "gang member", had never before seen Cam bar-cons. He recommended OCB! where I fell in love/lust with the lesbian mechanic manager*. After I'd found one, and only one, complete Lyotard #23 Marcel Berthet pedal exactly like mine, but with a dust cap for only $2.50, it became _my_ LBS. The unmistakable "bike shop aroma" was most prevalent at OCB! and I was hooked. Its existence has had more to do with my "re-birth" than any branch of a seemingly impersonal chain store could have had. Follow your nose. *We later danced and drank together a few times. She once even offered to show me more of her tattoos! I still love her though she's moved on to a "real job". -- zk |
#9
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Customer abuse @ Performance of Fair Oaks CA
On Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:52:07 -0700, Rex Kerr wrote:
I know that you don't go to Performance Bike for their great customer service, you go for the low prices and convenient hours. That said, you also don't go with the expectation of being mistreated!! I don't know why you shouldn't expect great customer service. It's not as if independent shops have a monopoly on that. In fact they're pretty haphazard. One should expect a chain to have some uniformity and quality control, but in my experience Performance runs the same gamut as independents. The old Performance store in Irvine, CA, was the best LBS in Orange County for awhile. But some others weren't so great. It all comes down to the individuals working there. I'm seriously considering contacting their corporate number, though I expect that they won't have much concern. I don't know why you wouldn't. They're the ones who can do something about it. There's not much we here can do. OTOH, I've stopped doing this. I figure if they can't get their act together, it's not my job to help them figure out how. Matt O. |
#10
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Customer abuse @ Performance of Fair Oaks CA
On Mar 10, 12:29*pm, Rex Kerr wrote:
Didn't the installer wonder why he didn't have to trim the der adjustment? *Why he wasn't getting indexing? *Why was the front one clicking into positions, but not the rear? *How could you miss that? Cause he was probably too busy texting his GF or BFF or some such nonsense. To me, it's like this: Want good Mexican food? Go where wife or son must translate, and even though they can't understand me, they're still nice to me and serve me really good food. (In other words, LBS) Want fill belly quickly with many calories, much grease, and half the flavor and the price? Taco Bell. (In other words, Performance.) ABS |
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