Toga Bike Shop — Local services in New York

I generally don't 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 didn't 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. I've 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 didn't. 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 I'd 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 they'd 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 don't care to return their calls when they say they do, they don't care to receive the packages when they say they will, they don't 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 I'm 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, I'm not sure if now I even trust them enough to hose my bike down with water for fear that they'd mess...

Hands down the worst experience I've had with a bike shop in the city. I took my bike in on a Friday morning, upon entering I was told by some kid who looked completely lost (and all of 14 years old) that it would take 24 hours for a basic tune up. Fine, cool, whatever. Then I was turned over to Kelvin (who I have to give credit to because he seemed to be the only person with any sense of how to run the shop there that day). He then alerted me that it would in fact take until Tuesday due to a back up on work orders. Again, fine, cool, whatever. I pay my bill in full, leave the bike, and go about my day.

When I returned on Wednesday morning to retrieve my bike, there still seemed to be a swirl of confusion around the store and was asked my name multiple times by the same person before sending another kid who seemed to be spending his summer off at the shop to get my bike downstairs. After 10 minutes, he comes back, I take my bike, and go on my merry way.

Within 10 minutes I get a call claiming that I haven't paid my bill, and that I need to return. I grabbed my bike on a lunch break during the week so returning was not an option, but I did offer to pull over and check my bank account to ensure that my debit card had gone through (which it had, and I confirmed verbally that I could see a debit to my bank account dated 6/12/20). The person on the other end of the phone said "we have no record of you paying, can you please come back so we can clear it out?" --- clear what out, dude? If I have proof that I've paid, but you don't, that is your problem, not mine. No customer is going to come back so that you can charge them another $100 for a basic tune up.

After being told he would check the records again and call me back, there was silence. Wanting to make sure the air was cleared, I took the initiative to call the store back to be sure everything was settled. I was informed that indeed, they had not found record.

My biggest mistake was not asking for a receipt (was offered to have it emailed and it still hasn't shown up in my inbox), because had I known that the result would be me screen-shotting an image of my bank account and redacting all financial information other than the charge to their shop and TEXTING IT to some random employee, I would have definitely done so. The person on the other end of the phone then laughed at the fact that I had redacted my personal information and we hung up.

Both times I went in, the place seemed understaffed and customers underserved. I'm all about supporting local and thought I was making the right choice by doing so, but I learned quickly that was not the right choice and I will not return to Toga. I would also suggest you steer clear unless you want to be utterly confused by your entire experience and walk out nervous to have left a (likely) expensive belonging in the hands of a...

I'll 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 we're getting somewhere." The next day I decided to call Reynolds myself and I'm 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 he's 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 they're 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...