Columbus Cyclery — Local services in San Francisco

In summary, I didn’t like that the man with the French accent tried to grift me for a generic, used stem. (And he didn’t seem to like that I wasn’t a hapless idiot who couldn’t realize what he was doing)

I used to think highly of this place and now I don’t. In fact I recommended this shop to my buddy and he bought a great used road bike. So you’re welcome Columbus

I needed a shorter stem, they have a selection of used ones, no prices. I pick the one I want, generic, 25.4 x 1-1/8. There are literally thousands of these things in the world because most people replace their stem. So why buy a new one? Why not support a local business that sells quality used stuff?

The gentleman with a French accent says $35. I ask how much a new stem on their shelf costs? Oops the new ones in the packaging are labeled at $32. This man is clearly making up prices

The gentleman tells me the used stems are really for building up used bikes… So why are they on the shelf if you don’t want to sell them? This stem is not even “like new” it’s used! The gentleman with the French accent says he wants a “fair price”. Tell me about it… 🙄

The gentleman decides to look up prices on Amazon (wrong move) — $20 for a generic new stem. But I’m buying a used stem! He didn’t like that. So I walked. Getting into a used car negotiation over a dime a dozen used stem was the last thing expected lol

If he’d given a fair price up front (closer to $20), I would’ve also happily bought lights at full retail price. Their loss I guess

Columbus, you lost a good customer. My advice to customers, avoid the gentleman with the French accent. Otherwise the shop is great!

EDIT, response to Columbus: eBay was never mentioned, only Amazon. As I explained I was not looking for something new when there are plenty of used stems in the world.

EDIT, response to Columbus: As a customer, looking at a wall of mostly new & priced items, how am I to guess that some items aren't for sale? That's just silly 😂 You decided it wasn't for sale after I called you out on making up an...

The french guy that runs this place is incredibly rude. I was biking home when my chain broke. I looked for the closest place and found this one. The problem was, I didn't have my wallet. I explained to the tech there and asked him if I could get my wife to call in and have her give them my credit card number. He said they couldn't do that. I asked if I could pay tomorrow, but that i needed my bike to go home. He said they would call me when it was done, in about 20 minutes, and i could pay tomorrow. He took my number and I told him i was going to walk around the block. He called me and i came right in, but he said I couldn't have my bike until i paid. I thought he was going to let me pay tomorrow, and he said he thought i was going to get the money from 'someone outside', which doesn't really make sense. Then he said i should talk to the owner. I explained, and the owner simply said, 'you need to go get money.' No 'sorry for the confusion', or 'I'm really sorry but...' I asked if they took venmo, and they said No. But, a really nice guy working there said i could venmo him and he would pay. (I gave him a good tip). Then, right before I left, to let the owner know that there were no hard feelings, i asked the owner if he was from Lyon (there was a sign up), he didn't even look up from what he was reading, he just said, yes. This guy was the personification of rude. If he were acting in a movie and trying to play a misanthropic sociopath, the director would have told this guy he...

I completely regret going to this bike shop. I bought a $400 used bike one week ago and after riding it for four days, the seat kept falling down and I had to tighten the clamp every night. The chain popped off three times. I stopped riding it because it was just a headache. I went back to return the bike only to find out it’s a 30 day warranty, there is not return policy except the 18 month buy back. Which was vaguely explained when we bought the bike and the policy is only listed on the website not on an any of the paperwork I signed. When I brought the bike back, the guy over tightened the seat clamp and I couldn’t adjust it to ride out of the store. He said he couldn’t recreate the chain popping off and sent me on my way, telling me it’s a good bike and everything is fine. I requested that the bike be serviced, as is a part of this 30 day warranty, and they kept saying everything was fine and not believing the issues I was explaining to them. I’ll accept responsibility for not asking the right questions about the return policy but at the end of the day these guys sold me a bad bike and won’t take...