BRETON'S BIKE SHOP IS OFFICIALLY BANNED!
MEGA BIKE SALE THE SIGN SAYS IN THE PARKING LOT MAKING YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING TO GET A GREAT DEAL . . .WHEN YOU ARE ACTUALLY ABOUT TO GET FLEECED, OR WORSE BADLY INJURED.
I have to admit that my wife and I were at first taken in by Mr. Breton's false, fatherly down East, Maine charm, and thus was seriously considering buying a new dirt bike for my 9 year old son in his shop.
The perpetual Mega Bike sign in the front of the shop reminded me of those fake oriental rug places that have had a GOING OUT OF BUSINESS & PRICES SLASHED sign on the door for 5 years.The reality is that the prices at Breton's are as prohibitively expensive as any other place
I decided to search for a bike at Wallmart as it would probably wind up just lying against the wall of my garage and make better use of the $500 by putting it in a college fund at FIDELITY INVESTMENTS. (I got a great Mongoose $149).
Still I did need to get some bikes repaired that were out in my truck with Summer 2017 coming on and decided to give Mr Breton a shot at the job. I NEVER thought I would be BILKED by a Maine UNCLE SCROOGE.
I was absolutely stunned when I came to pick them up and the fatherly Mr. Breton, PRESENTED ME WITH A BILL FOR $350 TO FIX THE TIRES ON A COUPLE OF OLD BIKES ETC. The same job at the Five Star Gorham Bike Shop in Kennebunkport I was told later would be $225.
I noticed the rusty chains on the bikes hadnt been oiled when I picked them up and spoke up
to Mr. Breton who said "oil was extra" & tried to up sell me on a tiny bottle of bike oil for $15 whose only distinguishing difference was it was "bio degradable." So what. Who cares?
I didn't realize that Mr. Bretton spends all his time just juggling his different businesses ( a fish and fly shop, a frame shop, and a dress shop) and has no time to get his hands dirty repairing bikes. Its usually poor done by poor Tiny Tim a high school student with a bad limp paid minimum wages. The problem is Tim hasn't been properly trained in bike repair as I was to soon find out.
AN HOUR OR SO LATER I WAS DRIVING MY BIKE ON SHORE ROAD IN OGUNQUIT AND ALMOST CRASHED INTO A DUMP TRUCK DUE TO TOTAL BRAKE FAILURE. Tiny Tim had neglected to check and adjust the brakes after changing the tires which could have led to me winding up in the hospital.
My wife was equally distressed when she found out that her bike had a problem shifting gears in going up hill. It would be logical for any professional bike tech to check the brakes after taking both wheels off to replace the tires and then reinstalling them. The guy told he would call when the bike was done and tell us if everything was fixed but this never happened.
When I brought this to Mr. Breton's attention later claiming later I hadn't paid for a full tuneup when I told him I almost crashed and narrowly escape calamity. We thought that strange as both my wife and I both distinctly remember that my instructions on leaving the store were "DO WHATEVER YOU THINK IT TAKES TO MAKE SURE THE BIKES WORK PROPERLY AND SAFELY."
Mr Breton asked me to return to the shop the following day, saying "I will definitely take care of it when you get here," YAH RIGHT!. Yet when my wife and I arrived, Mr Breton rather than stand by his work and apologizing for incompetent bike repairs that that could have put me in the hospital started to argue with us in the most obnoxious way.
He looked briefly at the brake lever and at my wife's gear shift and the seemed to make an instant calculation that he could turn our misfortune into a money making opportunity "What do you want to do?" Translated that meant, "Please don't expect any good deeds from me. I see this as an opportunity to bilk you of another $100 or $200 off you." Scoundrel!
I said very politely "Mr, Breton if you don't take care of this right now as you promised I am going to write a Yelp review which will deservedly scare a lot of your your customers away." Mr. Breton's arrogance response, "Be my guest." I neglected to tell him that last month over 2500 people read my reviews.
Later that afternoon we went to another bike shop Wheels and Waves just down the street and the guy took one look at the breaks on my bike, and said," I am not going to let you walk out of this shop til I fix these, because otherwise you could wind up in a traffic accident". Adding insult to injury, he also noticed that the Specialized bike Breton's supposedly " fixed" still had a ballooning tire that needed to be replaced!
I wrote in the originally that if Mr Breton says he's sorry for the safety issues and addresses my concerns I would be happy to amend this review but I never heard from him. My brother says "Never try to argue with or negotiate with a Mainer."I don't want to hurt your business just show through Yelp the customer has power, and that proprietors will be held accountable. Mr. Breton Say "Uncle," and I will give you a break. Thanks Yelp! read more