Bicycle Chain - Raleigh

Reviews 3

ST

Sterling Alexander

Im a Military Service Member new to the Raleigh area. I moved into a place 0.25mi from this store location. My wife decided to take up mountain biking so I brought her to the store to shop for a bike. The "salesperson" was terrible. His lack of enthusiasm and unwillingness to fit my wife and/or sell a bike was summed up with a tepid "heres a white one, what do you think." He could have sold a bike right then had he been more professional or eager to guide a novice biker into making a sound choice. I would have gotten more input from asking a bag of white rice. I then turned my eye to the service dept. where I inquired about having my own bike brought back up to ride able condition. I pretty much needed an overhaul. I ordered two new tubes, tires, break pads, and the "middle" ($100) service package which included truing the wheels, inspecting breaks, hubs, cleaning the bike. This service package does not include crank servicing. This came to a total of $260 after parts and labor (little did I know at the time just how overpriced this was) At the time of ordering I inquired about a military discount, to which the mechanic replied, "Sure, we will take care of you" I thought, "okay it seems like a lot of money, but any place that gives a Military discount is good by me." Mid week I was eager to ride and called to check on the progress. The same mechanic answered, "Your tires just came in, we can have it done today!" "Great, so you got the rest of the bike done already?" "Oh, um..wait. thats right, we had more to do on yours didnt we, sorry thatll be the original due date, my bad dude." "No Problem, again you guys have a military discount, right?" I said. Quoth the Raven, "Sure, we will take care of you." When I went to pick up my bike, the "cashier" (same wet-nap of a salesperson) looked at me and said, "thatll be $273.17." I again asked about the military discount. "we dont do discounts" he snapped. I told him that the service dept. told me twice that I would receive a military discount. The jack-of-all-trades-master-of-nothing then begrudgingly rang me up, after rolling his eyes, giving me a whopping 10% off of parts. that came to about 11 bucks off. Furthermore, my bike was moderately cleaned, and the work was decent at best. Bottom line: The bicycle chain DOES NOT know how to treat customers. I am a very loyal consumer and if they would have shown the least bit of professionalism it would have flourished into years (and many, many dollars) of business from not only my family, but from the military bicycling community I would have referred them to. Later that week I bought a bicycle for my wife, three helmets, a maintenance plan, membership club, and accessories from Performance Bicycle in Cary. The sales staff there treated myself and my wife professionally, aiding her in her fitment, and selection of a new mountain bike, all while leaving no question unanswered. I will by my sons bike there. Also, I learned, For half the price I could have had the same service done. or for the same price I paid, I could have had the crank rebuild and cleaned. I happily drive 25 miles one way to Performance bike rather than 0.25miles. The there is just too much overpriced slack in The Bicycle Chain for me.

A

A Private User

Went to Glenwood location a wk ago. The service I got was absolutely HORRIBLE and shocking. I went in looking for a specific bike, the sales agent immediately told me the bike I was looking for was too expensive and told me to look at another bike. WHAT!!! how does he know what I can afford? He showed me a bike I did not want. After saying I did not want that bike, he then showed me one even cheaper. I was in total shock by this time. He DID NOT want me looking at the bike I came in for which was a Cannondale brand. I told him I wanted to look at the Cannondale I came in for, he said, that bike has a carbon fork. I told him I knew that. He asked how did I know about carbon fork? By this time, I was so angry, I went to the manager to tell him of the service; he was even worse. As I explained how the guy treated me, I told him you should never assume someone cannot afford certain items. I said the guy never asked me what kind of riding I do; if I ever ridden; NOTHING! The manager only said sorry about 3-4 times, then left me to help another customer. The manager never said let me help you with the bike youre looking for. He never asked what kind of riding I do. And he apologized in the most I dont care tone. Those idiots lost a sale. I came in there to purchase a bike; had money in hand & they told me I could not afford what I wanted. I emailed them from their website; hoping it would go to the owner and of course, no response. So hopefully people will read this review and STAY AWAY FROM THAT LOCATION! I have been to that store a few times in the past; the service has always been close to the poor side but this was it!!! DONE! The store in Durham has some ok staff; they have one guy who probably came from the Glenwood location because of his slack service. Its my understanding that not all Bicycle Chains can sell the Cannondale but im not 100% sure. I was told by friends to write to Cannondale to advise how this store is turning customers away from buying their products. Im sending them an email once I finish this review.

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Steven Snell

Long Story Short: at the end of the day after purchasing two new bicycles + accessories from the Bicycle Chain I felt like they wanted to take my money and never help me again. If anything goes wrong with your items be prepared to be nickel and dimed for customer service. Be prepared to have employees engage in arguments with you and be treated as a burden. Things were quoted for turnaround in 1-2 days, but actually took weeks. The explanations of services and fees were misleading, and overall I am left out hundreds of dollars with a bicycle I do not feel is reliable to ride. Through my experiences, the sales team was not helpful in picking out a bicycle for my application. I had multiple failures in the same component; after my first, second, and third ride. After explaining this to the mechanics they acted like it was not their problem. They told me failures after every ride were a normal occurrence. They were confrontational and quick to pass the blame from person to person in the shop. They blamed my poor choice in bicycle, which is strange because they helped me pick out the model in the first place! The kicker was this: after arguing with me face to face, the manager coming in, and the OEM company sending a warranty replacement item for a bicycle part which had ~15 miles on it, the Bicycle Chain decided to nickel and dime me for an extra $10 on replacing these parts. $10 for a simple replacement of a WARRANTIED ITEM on a new bicycle. I hope the final $10 of the hundreds I lost at this store was worth it to them. They have lost my business forever and hopefully others are prevented from making the same mistake I did shopping at this location