Three years ago I made the unfortunate mistake of purchasing a mountain bike from Gord's Ski and Bike at their Kenaston location. The owner/operator JF Ravenelle actually helped me pick out my bike which I have come to love and have enjoyed many hours on over the past couple years. After a few less then stellar experiences with the staff and service at both locations over the first couple months I contacted JF to share my concern with my experiences. He returned my email with a saddening lack of respect for my concerns. Unfortunately I am unable to locate the email at this time as it would again show the manner that they provide customer service.

My most recent experience with Gord's is the cause of this letter. I learnt after last spring that you need to get your bike in early if you want to have it ready in time for our nice weather which can come early and quickly. Wanting to get a jump on this year’s riding season I dropped my bike off at Gord's on Donald the second week of January. The date to be picked up was set for March 1st.

On March 1st I was contacted by Matt Coppens (Shop Manager) regarding my bike. He apologized for the delay and quoted $320 for the tune-up, parts, and repairs/labour. I said that was ok and to proceed. He said it should be ready for Friday (Mar 5), maybe Monday (Mar 8) if all went well.

On Monday March 15th I still hadn't heard from Gord's regarding my bike so I contacted the shop and spoke with Matt. He apologized again and said they had been waiting on a part for my frame which had been difficult to locate and had to be ordered in. He stated that they didn't want to call me to provide an update until they had the part but that the part had just come in that morning. I explained that I would have appreciated an update instead of being left in the dark for another week.

Another weekend passes and it is now Monday March 22nd and I still haven’t received a call from Gord’s to pick up my bike. I decide to go into the shop after work and speak with Matt. I ask when I can expect the bike to be complete and they guarantee me it will be ready for the weekend (March 26th).

On March 26th I received an email from Matt again apologizing for the delay and indicating that they were still not done my bike. He said that he would be able to give me his own personal wheel so that I could have my bike for the weekend but I would need to leave a credit card number for a deposit. I stated that that was unacceptable and I would be in after work to speak with management. He responded indicating that he was the Shop Manager which left me with only one person to escalate the issue to, JF. After my previous experience communicating my poor experiences to JF I felt this would be a waste of my time.

I decided at this point that my poor experiences should be shared with others as a warning. To do this I posted the following comment on Gord’s Facebook fanpage:

“Gord’s has the worst bike service and customer service I’ve ever experienced in the bike industry. I delivered my bike to be tuned for the season mid January and I have still yet to receive it. Although they have great products I would not recommend Gord’s for service or customer experience!”

Early Saturday (March 27th) I received a message on Facebook from JF:

“WOW!
Nice of you to complain on our Facebook page, Steve… but could you have emailed us instead? I guarantee you that it would have been more effective.
Let me help, what store did you drop your bike off at?”

A half hour later I received this email:

“Please call me as soon as possible!”

I decided that it would be a waste of my time to communicate with JF and I would simply wait for them to finish my bike. Later that afternoon however, JF sent me another message on Facebook:

“Steve,
I have spoken to staff and have gotten to the bottom of this. The main issue has been us waiting for parts.
I need to talk to you before we go further with this, your accusations and defamation did not go unnoticed and I wonder what you were thinking in slamming us while we still had your bike.
Needless to say that if we wanted to, we could really make this truly the worst customer service you’ve ever experienced… Your call”

After receiving the threatening message from JF I decided I would no longer deal with a company that operated or spoke to their customers in that manner, regardless of the situation. On Sunday March 28th I went to the store and told the shop that I would be taking my bike then and would pay what I owed on the bike. As we were heading to the cash register the gentlemen helping me apologized and said I did not have to pay and I could just leave.

After having my bike for 2.5 months I finally walked out of their store with my bike, including 2 flat tires, wires and items hanging from it, and a handlebar grip missing. All in all this was a very very poor and disappointing experience. I would not recommend Gord’s Ski and Bike to anybody. Any company that has a President/General Manager that would threaten a customer should not be dealt with.

Just a word of warning!