I have an employee who has worked for me for the past 3 years. He’s a good kid, honest, hard worker. I set him up in an apartment, make sure he’s taken care of as he cannot read and is slower than the average person.
Recently, he bought a bike from Dunhams. He uses it for transportation as he does not have a license to drive.

He called me yesterday and said he needed a ride, he was at Dunhams. I went to pick him up and he’s sitting on the curb of Dunhams in the 80 degree sun light. I asked him what he was doing.

He explained to me that he walked his bike (4 miles) to get his money back so he could get another bike cause it broke after 5 days of use. At first, I just told him to get in the truck. After I sat there, I asked him, “They did not give you money or a bike?”. He told me “they said they would see what they could do about it”.

I go in to see what was going on, a little upset they take a guys money who is slow and send him out without resolving anything. I asked the girl manager if he could get a bike, exchange or refund. She says, “not generally, but let me get Brian, the store manager”. I knew her, I actually fired her from her last job when I was with a different company.

Brian and another guy approach me, I wait for an introduction, get done and finally do it myself. I explained to Brian, “The rear bearings were loose on his last bike and the tire pressure was not even right, the freewheel spins free in any direction after riding for 5 days”. He brings up it’s just a $200 bike, it’s not made to ride rough. He went further, that this was the 2nd bike her returned, the first bike did not make it out of the parking lot.

I was honestly shocked, I felt like I was trying to convince my dog that if he rolls over, he gets a treat. The first bike breaks in the parking lot, and you now feel inconvenienced about that?

Eventually, they let us exchange. While in line, I speak up to the two of them, “I’m sorry to be a pain in the ass, I just want to make sure he gets a working bike for his money”. Finally the guy (not Brian) says something. “It is a huge pain in the ass, this is the 2nd bike, we are not exchanging another one, we have a certified mechanic come down to assemble these, this is costing me a fortune”. This got under my skin, I simply went on my own tangent “Well your customer service could be a lot fvcking better too, it’s not his fault the bike was not put together right, licensed or not, the guy did not seat those bearings right”. I went on to tell them, “you should approach a disgruntled customer with a greeting and a “what can I do to help”” then maybe a “Okay sir, what can we do to fix this?”.

Either way, I’m leaving with another bike. Instead of them just being polite about it, instead of gaining a customer, they lost one. I tell everyone I’ve met this story. They are out money, now they are out future sales. I’m contemplating buying a advertisement in the paper for this. It will cost me more than the bike but it was never about the money and I spend thousands on advertising every year. This would be the best money I’ve spent.