Tracy Cyclery - Service is so bad it is a literal safety hazard

Tracy Cyclery is one of the worst, if not the worst service I've had the misfortune of receiving. I bought a secondhand bike as money is tight, and brought it in for a tune-up.

The owner inspected the bike and pointed out multiple things that were wrong with it, and broke a piece off my bike just during the inspection. He did not apologize for this - he just laughed it off. That would have been fine if he had actually fixed anything. One week and $160 later, the only improvement on my bike is it the gear shifter on the handlebar stays in place when I shift gears.

The biggest problem is when I took my bike home the brakes still did not work, and the front wheel still did not spin freely. This was one of the first things that was pointed out during the inspection. I called back immediately as they had just been closing when I had picked up my bike, and the owner said I could bring it back in as their work was guaranteed. Ed bragged about it taking less than half an hour to do the work but still charged me for a whole hour, and told me it was perfect when I picked it up.

When I brought it back in I expressed my frustration at something so big being overlooked, and just so little being done for the high price tag. I brought my bike in first thing when they opened my next day off, and the owner was out. I waited half an hour for him and he never showed up, so I left a note asking him to call me as soon as he got in. He never called me.

I called him back a few hours before closing and he told me he "didn't see the note" that I left on the counter. I told him I wanted a refund over the phone and he said there are no refunds and he hung up on me. I jumped in my car and drove over to have the same pointless conversation. It took a very long time for them to even take responsibility for not actually doing the work.

And by them I mean an employee there, not the owner. The owner Ed refused to listen to me or my concerns. They offered to fix my bike but I told them that they had missed their chance and completely broken my trust, as this is a huge safety issue to not have functioning breaks. I asked for a refund and the owner Ed completely shut me down saying that there is no refunds.

When I tried to explain myself he cut me off. He kicked me out of the shop for calling him an *** This guy can dish it out, but sure can't take it. Don't waste your time or your money, it's worth going over the hill either direction to any other bike shop in the world. I especially advise you to never go here as there are huge safety liabilities in the half baked work that they do.

Would you want your child, partner, or yourself to have their brakes fail after being promised everything was perfectly safe? Coming here you're setting yourself up for anything from failed brakes, to losing your bike chain or tire. Edward Phippen is a liar, a cheat, and doesn't care about his customer satisfaction or safety. In addition I can tell he does not treat his employees well.

They would all be better off anywhere else. You and your family deserve better. So did I. If after reading this you still decide to give your business to Tracy Cyclery, make sure to use a credit card because you're going to need to file a dispute when they screw you over too.

I'm angry at myself for not trusting my gut to take it elsewhere because this is the only bike shop in Tracy and I wanted to support a local business.

Please don't be like me. Please be smarter.