Pure Energy Cycling

why would anyone expect free chain lube? Because your cool? Or a member of the community? Or a tdf pro?

When i go to my local shop, where dudes know my name, and call me to ride, and ask me for favors, i will still throw two bucks down on the bench for 'a spritz' of lube. This whole argument stinks of ego, plain and simple.

^this
 
no lube for you!

the_soup_nazi017.jpg
 
I have had nothing but good experiences with this shop. it is a shame to see them blasted for something like this. as a customer, i would not expect anything for free from anybody. i would have to think it was just the way the question was presented. these guys have been nothing but extremely helpful.
 
This is not even a legit thread that should have been started IMO , it has nothing to do with you buying something or having service done . You got mad cuz you thought you should get something free because you might of done it for someone else or cuz you just feel like you should have cuz it's only a small amount . It's things like this that damage a business' name. Not everyone is the same and you dealt with an employee not the shop owner , kind of ignorant of you to try and justify yourself here .

How would you like it being a shop owner if some random guy made a thread about your place bashing you cuz your employee did not give out something free to some complete stranger that just popped in the store asking for something free ? Think about it that way , forget about costs and all that . Just think of the scenario .

Example : I don't charge people for ice and a cup of water , but it costs me money .. Water is not free and neither is electric for the ice machine . Have to pay for cups . Some places you have to pay for it . I don't go around getting mad cuz I have to pay and start bashing the company .

I don't charge for many things , even of your total is 10.08 , I'll make it an even 10 bucks .. I never worry about pennies etc like most places do . I'm not going to say who's right or wrong , I am speaking from experience and I have denied random people that walk in that I have never seen before or they have never bought anything from me that ask for free stuff . Take it how you want .
 
There is a total potential for a sense of "ego" and "entitlement" in this situation, but I think it simply stems from being treated so welcome in other establishments. Having been in plenty of shops where employees where eager to help and had no aversion to sparing small amounts of disposables, I was simply let down by my interaction at Pure Energy.

Additionally, please take a look through the "shop reviews" section of this forum, I think most will be pleased to see that the overwhelming majority of posts here report favorable experiences.
 
wow. tough crowd here.

IMHO, bad business on the mechanics part - certainly NOT a way to build customer/shop loyalty.

Not sure if they deserved to be called out publicly for it, but I can certainly understand why the OP would never go to that shop again.
 
So if you were the shop owner, and someone alerted you to this thread, what would you do?

Not anyone specifically, just whoever wants to answer.
 
So if you were the shop owner, and someone alerted you to this thread, what would you do?

Not anyone specifically, just whoever wants to answer.

I guess he never got back to you...

He is kind of in a no-win situation now. If he ignores it he looks bad, and if he comes on and blames it on his employee or starts ranting like the aedubber then he looks bag again.

Honestly, my view is I would take this with a grain of salt. I wouldn't not go to this shop b/c of this experience, but it would be in the back of my mind if I went there. If I had a bad experience on top of this, then I would't go again.

This experience alone wouldn't cause me not to be a potential customer, but it is apparent they lost one potential customer already (war cricket).
 
Not ranting , just trying to have the OP look at it from different views so he doesn't feel so upset and quick to bash a company and never go back . Nobody is perfect , and not everyone is always in the best happy mood . Squash the moment , move on , and give them a try with something else . I'm sure they are great people 🙂
 
So if you were the shop owner, and someone alerted you to this thread, what would you do?

Not anyone specifically, just whoever wants to answer.

If that employee has a history of being grumpy, maybe a talk is in order. Not everyone is a happy little elf at work.

I'd probably come on here and apologize to Adam for having a bad experience at the shop. You certainly can't apologize for an employee not giving crap away. Might also be cool/funny to offer him a free can of lube of choice on his next visit or a gift certificate. No, not THAT kinda lube.😀
Lemonade out of lemons, and all that.
 
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Imo

If I was the owner I would apologize for the bad service and promise to do my best that it doesn't happen again. This would be lip service because in reality you will not be able to please everyone all the time, just need to have the appearance of doing so. Customer is always right blah blah blah....

Being a bike shop owner seems to me to be one of the toughest businesses. People actually buy bikes with no clue about adjusting gears, fixing flats, ect...
I watched one lady bring back her new bike bitching about how the gears needed adjusting, jeeze, it's not a car lady.

Then you've got the experienced riders wanting special treatment all the time. Example: Hey I rode across the country and I'm a bad ass so give me free lube blah blah blah.

Get a job and buy the stuff yourself already like the rest of us.

I don't buy off the internet and try to support my LBS as much as possible. You should to!!!
 
4 minutes in a shop doesn't make enough of a sample for a review. what about the other 23:56 of the day?

i've gone to my local shop for a while now, and i'm hardly a regular, but it's my go-to. i put up a review after many visits. that's when a review should be done. i recently stopped by another not as close shop and had an excellent experience with my son (who is very anxious with new people), but passed on popping in my ten minutes of experience because what's that really worth? just like a bike review, if you've been around the parking lot on a bike you can't review how it handles on trail, and really shouldn't. if i stop in a couple more times, i'll throw in a review.

i come from a family that owned a small business. i think this thread should go away. i don't think anyone should be casually tossing up crap reviews of shops just because they have been in the door once for a few minutes and had a "bad" experience after asking for something for free.

unless you know just how stressful running even the most successful small business is, i suggest people actually *think* about writing something that can damage someone's livelihood that will hang out on the net for years based on a handful of minutes.
 
there is so much subjectivity in this situation that it's really impossible to say the shop was right/wrong or adam was right/wrong.

part of what we hope to have happen with the 'review' section/threads is to try to give shop owners a chance to respond if there are negative comments. we (norm) reached out to them to let them know something was up and give them that chance. whether they take that opportunity or not is entirely up to them.
 
I just thought of an excuse for such behavior:

If you were wearing the Halter's puking unicorn kit, it would have been totally acceptable behavior exhibited by the wrench.
 
I totally agree on the point that there is no black/white right and wrong in this situation, that's why I didn't post anything negative on things like yelp/google review. Its kinda hard to spend more time in a place before writing a review when it is simply so uninviting. At no point did the mechanic explain that they simply didn't give out lube for free, he simply jumped straight into condescension and sarcasm. This isn't a financial issue.

Everyone has a bad day every now and again, I get it. Whether or not that is the case, I still left the shop offended.

Up until Maximus' posts, I was pretty surprised by how civil and well played this thread has been but its starting to seem like it might be time to lock this thing up.
 
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