I was in the market for buying a bike in Windsor because I was finally in a city where I felt comfortable biking & I wanted to start getting into shape.

At first I made the mistake of purchasing a bike from Costco.

I love Costco a lot, but when it comes to bikes, they only have one kind, & for a short person like me, it turned out to be a huge mistake.

I had rushed to Bicycle World in Windsor, Ontario to outfit the bike with a padded seat, lights, a bell& a basket. I made the mistake of not only being in a rush, but also not making sure I took the original seat with me.

They didn’t give it to me, & they seemed very disorganized & rushed over there. The guy who originally helped me the first time was nice, but I felt stressed when Mary helped me & that day when I went in to pick up the seat because it had to be ordered in.

I moved & didn’t ride the bike until a month or so later. After riding it twice, I realized that the bike was killing me. I was told by a bike shop in Leamington that I shouldn’t be riding that sized bike, so I had to come to terms with the fact that I had to return it which was a big deal since I don’t have a van & the drive back & forth was taxing.

Thank god for Costco’s return policy.

When I was about to return the bike, I realized I didn’t want to return it with the $30 seat I had purchased, so I called up Bicycle World asking where it had gone. I was praying they still had it in the back somewhere.

I won’t go into long details other than to say I had to call back twice because no one called me back the first time, then I was told to come in because they weren’t even sure they had my seat (you can’t miss a brand new seat) & once I got there, the situation still wasn’t resolved, the seat Mary showed me was clearly very used even though I told her it was brand new, how can you forget a customer who was rushing because it was the day of her move.

Her & I came to odds even on the phone because at one point she said something that wasn’t true.

When I got there, the owner eventually did handle the situation & found me a seat, but the brand new one that had been on the Costco bike was gone & I felt guilty not giving that one back. Why a bike shop would throw out a brand new bike seat is beyond me, but hey, I don’t run a bicycle shop. They said it was because they don’t have room. Ok, I won’t comment on that, they had room for the worn out looking one.

I happened to be mentioning my story to a guy at Costco, & he said he had had problems with Bicycle World as well, so he recommended Courtesy Bicycles (Bikes) on 3154 Sandwich Street W (near the bridge). 519-252-0080

He said they will always take back things you don’t want & will help you until you have what you want. That’s not how I felt treated at Bicycle World, I felt like I had to keep whatever I purchased even if it didn’t work for me because the padded seat I bought turned wasn’t very comfortable.

I talked to the manager at Courtesy Bicycles named John (the owner’s name is John) & he seemed nice.

A week or so later, I finally went down to try out some bikes.

I didn’t like any of the bikes & was actually becoming disallusioned. John had initially recommended this comfort bike from Trek, but it was so expensive & way beyond my budget.

Finally in the end I tried it out. It was the last bike I tried. I fell in love with it immediately. It was like night & day compared to the other bikes.

I was told I could put it on layaway & so I eventually put money down on it.

If I have any complaint about the store, it was having to wait & wait & wait for John to talk to me. I was there for hours trying out bike after bike & I had to wait each time for him to suggest a new one.

I don’t mean waiting 5 minutes either, we were there for probably 3 hours & there was no place to sit.

I also had to wait to talk to him about the price & there were times that I would be standing there & he would be talking to someone else, & wouldn’t even look my way

I tried not to let that affect my decision to buy the bike & I’m happy I didn’t.

About 1 1/2 months later I go down to pay off the rest of the bike. I bought other accessories & the guy who helped me was very nice & attentive.

In the end I ended up losing money on the accessories I had purchased from Bicycle World, but I live to learn 🙂

I did have to bring the bike back one more time because there was some noise with it & this time the owner helped me & took the time to patiently show my son how to put the front tire back on. I wouldn’t have had the patience for that.

I also purchased lights for the bike because the lights I purchased at Bicycle World weren’t lights for really dark streets & one of them broke the band so I couldn’t put it on my bike anymore.

Because John the owner took the time to help me, when my son got hit by a car (he’s ok) & his bike was broken, Courtesy Bicycles was the first place I thought of for buying a used bike, because we couldn’t afford a brand new mountain bike.

John the owner took great care of him & we even bought lights for him & a helmet.

Courtesy Bicycles has another loyal customer to add to their list.

Thank you guys

Michelle 🙂


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