BEWARE Dick's Sporting Goods! They sabotage bikes!

I just had a VERY bad experience at Dick's Sporting Goods.

I purchased a single-speed cruiser bike with coaster brake (steel frame, for later electric upgrade). I took it to the cash register myself and they seemed a little confused that it wasn't brought to them by a salesperson from the bike department, so they called one. He arrived and explained they had to "inspect" the bike before letting me purchase it, and then he did his sales pitch and I turned down their in-store warranty, and waited around for their 30-minute back-room "inspection" of the bike. It sounded normal when I wheeled it to the cash register, but after this inspection, shortly after leaving the store, I noticed a loud grinding noise coming from the rear wheel. I called the bike manufacturer and they said it was a "definitely" a defective coaster brake, and that it could be replaced under warranty but that since I just purchased the bike I should take it back to Dick's and have them exchange it because it never should have left the store in that condition. I called Dick's, no more than 15 minutes after having left the store, and let them know what the manufacturer said. They told me to bring it in.

When I got there, I showed them the problem and they wheeled it back to their back room to "inspect" it some more. When the department manager came out he said he wouldn't replace the bike. He told me that it showed signs of my having been in a "collision" and that he "didn't know what I might have done to the bike since leaving the store." When I told him it had been no more than 15 minutes before I called and came back, he just stared at me blankly. Of course, I was not in any "collision" in that time period. I barely rode it for 5 minutes total before determining that it was unsafe, even after their "safety inspection". Still, he absolutely refused to help me. I was polite at first, and got a negative response. I was firm, and still got a negative response. Finally, after some time and complaint, he gave in and agreed to take it in back and switch out the rear wheel if I were willing to wait for half an hour.

I had no real choice, so I accepted.

About 30 minutes later, he brought out the bike. I asked him to show me the supposed "collision" and it was a tiny bit of paint scraped off the frame near the rear hub; Hmm... Funny... that hadn't been there when I inspected the hub before bringing it in. Anyway, the wheel wasn't grinding any more, so I said I'd accept that and left.

No more than two minutes into my ride, the tire went flat. I checked it out and it appeared that the base of the air valve had a small puncture in it. It was fine previously. Now, suddenly, it was punctured?!?! I put air in it, sprayed water at the valve, and sure enough there was a small, suspicious leak at the base of the valve where there hadn't previously been one.

What I believe is that Dick's Sporting Goods pushes their in-store warranty on you, and then if you don't accept it, they intentionally cause damage to your bike when they do their "inspection" in the back room, where you can't observe them. Whether they do this to get you to pay for a warranty/repair, or just as petty revenge for not aiding their warranty commission or sales numbers is not for me to say, but I DO know that my bike, which has been in my possession less than five hours now, and has been ridden a total of seven minutes with no incidents of my own making (no curbs, no collisions, no problems caused by my driving. Just a short ride on a smooth, clean sidewalk), had a perfectly good inner tube when I purchased it initially. It held air until AFTER I had them replace the defective wheel, which they only did begrudgingly.

I would advise EVERYONE to avoid Dick's Sporting Goods. The company's policy of making their employees sell warranties has led to some shady business practices, and Dick's does not provide any information to take complaints to a higher level. The department managers seem to be in on the scam. If you refuse the warranty on a bicycle, be prepared to have it sabotaged when they do their "inspection" before you leave.

Oh, and by the way: You apparently have to let them do the bike "inspection" and then they require you to sign and initial several waivers that supposedly absolves them of any liability should you have an accident immediately after the inspection of your bike by the crack team of Dick's.

It seems pretty clear to me what is going on, here. Dick's are purposely damaging their bikes as a means of pushing their warranty. If you fall and break your neck because of it, they're not liable because you signed the waivers to get the bike. Any place that won't let you watch when they do their "inspection" should be suspect.

After looking around online, I've found several similar stories from people who purchased bicycles at Dick's, only to be falsely accused of damaging them after turning down the warranty. Since I could get no satisfaction in-store, I've decided to let everyone know about Dick's foul business practices. Hopefully, this will save someone from purchasing a sabotaged bike and getting hurt when some part fails during a ride.

Ride safe.