Category: | Bicycle Store |
Address: | 110 West End Ave, New York, NY 10023, USA |
Phone: | +1 212-799-9625 |
Site: | togabikes.com |
Rating: | 3.3 |
Working: | 11AM–7PM 11AM–7PM 11AM–7PM 11AM–8PM 11AM–7PM 10AM–6PM 11AM–6PM |
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Phil Romov
I generally dont write bad reviews, or exorbitantly long bad reviews as this one is. But this is an exception in my case. *** I have been a Toga customer for years now, and I tip the mechanics and everything, so this baffles me even more. These guys can build wheels fine and will sell great bikes. Recently, I did business with them above the run-of-the-mill bike tune-up and check-up. I was very disappointed. *** I bought the powertap through them and had them build a wheel around it. The wheel build itself was great, (although the tire assembly was a disaster, more on that later) however, at least three separate toga bike people: the salesman, the powertap expert, and the wheel builder, all missed the fact that the power tap box also had other things inside that I might want. Like the powertap computer, the wrench to replace battery, the manual, etc. *** They gave me the wheel, but nothing else. They told me it was a hub only sale. I showed them (as we had done during selecting the unit at time of purchase with me and the toga salesman at the same computer) that the sale was actually a hub system (not hub only) and the price I was charged and is on my statement reflects this. The hub system for my model is 999, and the hub only is 849, I was charged 999. This is in black and white on the powertap saris website, and it was inexplicable how they could claim it was a hub only when the price clearly reflected a hub system. *** Fine, I was told that the middle-man distributor between them and saris messed up and that they would order the rest of the package for me. (It didnt seem to sink in to the toga salesman that, according to this excuse, what it comes out to is that toga just got ripped off $150 by their distributor, but anyway...) *** In the meantime, I took the wheel out for a spin that same day and pinch flatted. Ive never pinch flatted with that tire. I took the tire off and noticed the tube was in a z-shape in one place, where the pinch flat happened. This is consistent with someone trying to jam the tube in and not checking for pinches against the bead. I do not make a living from being a bike mechanic, and yet I know how important it is to avoid pinch flats. This incompetence really staggered me. *** Anyway, the salesman told me he would call me back on monday about the rest of the package. He didnt. I called him back on tuesday, and he tried to tell me again that it was a hub only. I again had to explain, for a second time, that I was charged for the hub system not the hub only. Finally he said they will overnight the rest of the package, and it should arrive thursday the latest, and Id get a call. Thursday comes around and I have still not received any call. I called on friday myself and they said package is not there, but theyd call me when it gets there. *** Monday, no call, Tuesday no call. Finally, I call them, "oh yes, of course, the package is here you can pick it up!" At this point I was really, really dejected. I felt like nobody at toga really cared about my situation, and that I had to push everything. What is the point of ordering something overnight, if I get it only a week later? Again, I think this bears repeating, that this is really poor customer service. At this point I had ver low expectations already. *** So after a month long ordeal, I have learned that they dont care to return their calls when they say they do, they dont care to receive the packages when they say they will, they dont care if they are being ripped off, nor do they care if possibly the customer is being ripped off by them, and their overall demeanor is "whatever". This is unacceptable, and Im obviously taking my business elsewhere. I wish to pretend it was an isolated incedent, but between the three people who went through my sales process and build process, to the pinch flat, to the mis-interaction with my person, Im not sure if now I even trust them enough to hose my bike down with water for fear that theyd mess that up also.
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Jack Kohut
Ill preface this review by reminding everyone that Toga is an authorized Reynolds retailer. I brought my rear Reynolds dv3k to their shop to be trued after I noticed two spokes popped. I was told by a sale associate that it would be a quick fix and to come back in 30 mins. I ended up coming back a hour later just to have to wait in the store for an additional 30 mins. Once they handed me my wheel, I paid and was on my way back to my apartment only to have a spoke pop the second I tried to my my wheel back on my bike. The mechanic should have noticed these problematic spokes when working on my wheel but I guess he either lacks an attention to detail or neglected to inform me of the failed spokes. So, I headed back down to the shop to have at round 2. This time they tell me they want to keep my wheel over night to have the "head mechanic" have a look at it. I thought, "Ok, now were getting somewhere." The next day I decided to call Reynolds myself and Im told that the mechanic should be replacing all my spokes and that the wheel should be tensioned back to spec. I immediately, call Toga to relay to them what Reynolds had told me but they counter my request by saying, " the material that the spoke nipples are made out of is too soft and the whole wheel needs to be rebuilt". I decided to call Reynolds on the spot and get some answers and they confirm my suspicions and reassure me that the nipples on my wheel are the same used on on all their wheels and that I should just send my wheel back to the manufacture to insure that the job is done right. It became very clear to me that this "head mechanic" either has no idea what hes talking about or was just trying to milk extra money out of me. To top it off, he never marked the problematic spokes so now I have absolutely no idea which were bad. Now I have to ride the wheel until another problem arises to properly diagnose the problem. The highlight of my visit was when I was heading out the door and a sale associate, Ed, said to me, "You go get after that company!" This infuriated me beyond belief but at the end of they day theyre the ones that lost my business. Note to other – Always deal with the manufacturer on an expensive product or do the research and find yourself a GOOD shop where you can talk to the mechanic directly and not have to deal with sales associates.
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Mark McMillan
TOGA IS COMPLETELY UNSAFE. DO NOT GO HERE FOR ANY SERVICE!!!!! THEY WANTED ME TO RIDE ON A CRACKED FRONT FORK BECAUSE THEY CANT TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SCRATCH AND A CRACK. I was in a bicycle crash. I went in to get an insurance quote to repair my bike before having them repair it. They refused to look at the bike close enough to determine what was actually damaged (the huge dent in the top tube, the crack in the fork, the irreparable front wheel). I know someone who had a front fork failure while they were riding -- they lost all of their front teeth. I had thought someone who said, "I have insurance that is going to pay for whatever is needed to fix this, and they also offered to pay for an inspection" would get a reasonable estimate that would cover everything. Instead he argued with me about what was damaged. He was honestly worse than an insurance claims adjuster. Aside from their unsafe and unhelpful tendencies, the staff is incompetent. You can take my word for it but if you want details, continue reading. The staff tried to tell me that every year this years Dura-Ace is moved down the line and a new line replaces it. First of all, Dura-Ace isnt even re-vamped every year (the most recent iterations, ignoring electronic shifting, were released in 2003, 2008, and 2012) . The line below it, Ultegra, was revamped in off years from Dura Ace. If Dura Ace was "moved down" it would have to be done in the SAME year -- instead of overlapping. Aside from that there are of course real technical differences. First, the weight. The Dura Ace 7800 is close to a quarter pound lighter (I know it sounds stupid but road cyclists can be weight weenies) than the so-called-replacement, Ultegra 6600. But if that werent enough, there are a plethora of other differences. For example, the 7800 Dua-Ace rear derailleur has ball bearing pulleys while "replacement" Ultegra bushings. The Dura-Ace brakes use two sets of ball bearings pivots while the Ultegra uses one set of bearings and one set of bushings. Clearly not a make or break differences but they are illustrative of the differences and TOGAs incompetence. In the end I walked out and went to a shop that cares whether I lose all my teeth, and you should too.