ComplaintsforMad Dogs & Englishmen Bike Shop

• Initial Complaint

  12/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I went to the bike store and asked for a cargo bike to drive around my 2 kids. They sold me a bike that they said was the most powerful bike I could buy. As I was paying , they told me the bike had been used. No other details. I buy the bike and it has no power at all. Itidefinately cant go up a ****************************************. I bring it back immediately and say, you sold me the most powerful bike available but it wont even go up a small hill. They refused to take the bike back. One weeek later the location went out of business. It felt like they were hearing what people wanted and saying the bikes met those needs (whether or not it was true) just to move the bikes out the door.

  Business response

  12/19/2023

  My name is JB. I am a woman and small business owner with four reputable and highly regarded upscale retail shops here in **********. ******, Monterey, Santa ******* (*********) and ***********. We just had to close our *********** location due to the current market conditions in the bike industry. This is my FIRST and only BBB complaint in the entire time we have been open since Nov of 2017 for any of my shops. 
  ************************* purchased a like new 2023 Trek Fetch +2 electric family cargo bike from my *********** shop. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the bike. It is a high quality bike made by the #1 bike brand in the world, Trek. They are known for making the highest quality bikes in the industry. This bike is designed with the most powerful mid drive *********** with 85Nm of torque, so it effortlessly will assist a rider getting up the steepest of hills, even carrying 1-2 children on the back. This is a brand new mode. ******* came into the shop and test rode the bike. Our shop manager offered to sell her the floor model, which is a used demo bike. She was advised (as she admits) that the bike was used. The bike was discounted by over $1700. Our return policy is displayed next to the register in all of our stores, as well as on our website. We also state all sales final no returns on the receipt that she was given at the time she paid for the bike, BEFORE she left our shop. So she was fully aware of the return policy. 
  The next day she emailed us saying something was defective with the bike because she could not get up the steep hills. We knew this was not true, so when she came back to the shop with the bike, our manager walked her through proper use of the bike. It was at this time that he discovered she really didn't know how to properly ride the bike and she was not shifting gears properly. Improperly shifting gears will make it more difficult to climb hills. So he coached her on this and advised her to take the bike home since we could not offer her a refund per our store policy. We would happily warranty any issue with the bike, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with the bike. 
  A week or so later ******* contacted Trek and told them we had sold her a defective bike. They advised her to take it to a local Trek shop to be inspected. It was determined that the bike was in perfect condtition and nothing was wrong with it. Trek upheld our decision not to return or warranty this bike because there was nothing wrong with it. 
  Then ******* filed a fraudulent credit card dispute requesting a full refund with reason given as 'not as described/defective'. The bike that she purchased was exactly as described and is not defective. She claims the bike cannot get her up steep hills, yet the bike is designed for this application and has been inspected by the mfg and the bike is operating as designed and should have no issues getting up steep hills, provided the rider shifts gears properly. The issues ******* is having with the bike are due to user error. 
  I have advised ******* that if she does not cancel this fraudulent credit card dispute that I will take her to small claims court and I will file a fraud charge with the *************************** This is not right what she is doing. Please do the right thing and dismiss this complaint. It is fraudulent and unjustified. She is financially hurting my small business, as the payment processor is now holding $5042 of my funds until they investigate this dispute. I have employees to pay and rent to pay and insurance to pay. No one forced her to buy this high quality bike. No one misled her. This is purely a case of buyers remorse. 
  I can only submit a few documents, but I have many more. I am happy to send more documentation or get on a call to discuss further. I have tried to submit this multiple times, I keep getting an error saying my files cannot be saved. So please tell me where to email them to and I will do so.

  My business has won best bike shop in the county multiple times, and even business of the year. We have hundreds of five star reviews from very happy customers on ******* Yelp and Trip Advisor. We are considered one of the best bike shops in the industry/nation. We won the prestigious Bike Retailer of Excellence Award (one of only 10 bike shops in ********** to get this award) for 2023. 

• Initial Complaint

  11/08/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  My wife and I assisted my son with the purchase of an electric bicycle. The return/refund policy was not explained at the time of the purchase or properly posted in plain view according to ********** civil law section ****. The e-bike was purchased on 9/12/023 and had to be brought for repairs on 9/18/2023. A request was made to return the e-bike at that time. However, the bike could not be serviced until 9/20/2023. This e-bike has been back to the bike shop three times within 30 days for repairs and two requests were made to return the bike. At the time of the 9/18/2023 request, the employees did not know the return policy. Three phone messages were left for the owner ****** about the issue, but no return call or message was ever received. One email was sent to the company through its website about the issue and it also went unanswered. We went back to the store each day of the September 18th week to address the issue with the bike. On 11/1/2023, we again went back to the store and were notified by an employee that the co-owner, ********************* had responded to us with an email. The email IP address was incorrect so we never received the two emails from her on 10/14/2023 and 10/18/2023. The emails stated the repairs were normal for a new bike and it was not defective. The email also threatened law enforcement action since a dispute was filed with our credit card company on 10/11/2023. The dispute was filed because the company would not respond to our requests about a refund. We also believed the bike was defective due to the immediate need for repairs on a brand new product. The dispute process has not provided any resolution to the problem. We only desired to return the bike within the parameters of the law which was 30 days from the purchase date. In addition, the policy was not clearly posted in violation of ********** law. We have been to the store approximately a dozen times since 9/18/2023 in an attempt to amicably resolve this refund issue.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩