After having a horrid experience at a bike repair place called Mike The Bike I decided to write as unbiased a review as I could and put it on Yelp. I then couldn't find the review! Yelp has a filter feature where they decide to filter certain reviews that don't make it into the overall ratings. If anyone wants to read them they have to press a tiny button at the very bottom of the page then use a screen captcha. For Mike The Bike he had high ratings based on six reviews. After pressing the filter (or, more appropriately, unfilter, button) 12 very negative reviews show up (and one okay one)! Those reviews don't make it into the ratings system. This is rather unfortunate as I have now heard of two very negative dealings with Mike the Bike since my situation. If the reviews were posted honestly perhaps these situations could be avoided. I was only aware of this filter once I couldn't find my review. Two business owners have told me that Yelp approached them to buy ads and that would increase their ratings.
Feeling weird about posting a negative review I thought I'd even things out by then writing a positive review for Hot-n-Dog as I love the place, I know the owner, but just love what he's doing anyways, and no one has written about the changes that have happened to the place on Yelp. It's had very few reviews and, wouldn't you know it? It got filtered.
Further nastiness: I just got an automated e mail from Yelp highlighting such great bike places as that 'cool guy' Mike The Bike.
My reviews are below.
Mike The Bike, Kensington Market, Toronto
This shop is known for inexpensively using recycled materials and it can
be slipshod. Granted my old bike was a beater. I once brought it in
there for gear repair, but the gears still never worked quite right. A
year or so later, when my old bike went kablooey while shifting gears, I
brought it back in again. The friendly employees (not Mike) looked at
the bike and texted me a couple of days later saying that it'd be
better to just get 15 dollars trade-in as it was toast. I came in and
accepted that agreement, but they couldn't find my bike as I needed the
clip for my bike lock that was screwed on it, so they said they'd get it
and get back to me. They never did. So I called and they said they'd
find it and call me back. They never did.
I then came in with my
new bike (Craigslist purchase, at the time Mike The Bike only had stuff
like fixies for trade but they told me these fixies don't have brakes,
knowing how nasty Toronto cabs are on the streets, I prefer safety).
The back tire had blown out and I wanted to ask about that lock clip. It
was just Mike The Bike in the shop. I reasonably mentioned (ie. I
wasn't a prick about it) how I had been in and then called about the
lock clip and he lost it on me. He threw a cardboard box full of lock
clips down and told me to find it and get out. My jaw dropped in shock,
so he told me to not be a baby and pout. I tried explaining to him what
happened but he didn't want to hear it and told me to be quiet each
time. When he started yammering I told him that maybe he should be quiet
(but not in an angry way, I didn't lash out at him once). "This is my
shop!" he said. He told me that I was all hung up on an 80 cent part. I
told him that I don't know which part it was in the box. "It's your
bike!" I basically said that, yes, but this is one of many things in a
box, I am not a bike expert, I am naive, I just wanted the part. When
other customers came in he talked about me to them and tried to make me
look like some sort of goof/idiot and laid on a smarmy niceness extra
thick to them. He was really mind-fucking me, I'd been going there for
two years and it was always a reasonable interaction before that. I
wound up just grabbing some random lockclip from the box because I
didn't know what was what. He told me that they aren't responsible for
parts left behind on trades, yet it was only near the end of
this-uh-altercation that I was finally allowed to finish my sentences
and explain that it wasn't yet a trade when I originally asked for my
lockclip.
However I still had 15 dollars trade. He agreed to fix
my bike. I was shaking by this point. He also said, "I'm doing you a
favour" in regards to the 15 dollar trade-in. I haven't heard someone
pull that phrase on me since I washed dishes for the guy who's now head
chef at The Atlantic. I asked him how much extra would it cost and how
long it would take. He shook my hand and told me not to worry, "You've
had a bad day." I don't know if he was being sarcastic or what. He sent
me on my way without even so much as an invoice so I was freaked that I
might not see my bike again. I told some people about what happened and
it turns out that I am definitely not the only one to have had troubled
interactions with Mike The Bike.
I came back a few days later
with a friend (as my casual muscle) and the nice employee told me that
it wasn't ready yet. The next day it was. They said that they did a tune
up and replaced the back wheel. Mike The Bike proudly extorted how I
came in for a lock piece and got all that for no charge!!!- not
mentioning my 15 dollars in store credit, of course. Riding my bike an
hour later I found that the replaced back tire was too big for my fender
and was scraping it, the pedals made a funny noise and the chain kept
repeatedly falling off. I did have a two week warranty but I finally
knew now to take it to someone else. Why didn't I do that before? Why
did I keep going back to Mike The Bike? Naivete? Stupidity? Masochism?
The fact that my bike kept breaking down near Mike The Bike's shop? I
don't know. But I have a nice bike now and I want it treated well.
The
new bike repair man that I took my bike to was shocked at Mike The
Bike's fix-it job , walked me through how Mike screwed up and how it
could deteriorate my bike. He got it riding smoothly (with a new, proper
replacement back tire) and safely for a price.
I hope that this learning experience has given me the maturity of knowing when to walk away from a situation.
Avoid Mike The Bike. That is, unless you enjoy mind-games and shoddy workmanship from a real piece of work.
Hot N Dog, 216 Close Ave., Toronto
There's been big changes at Hot N Dog these past few months since
cartoonist Keith Jones took over. Most immediately apparent is how
unique this teeny spot looks! It's like entering a full colour comic
book! Wildly bright signs and slogans and benches and crazy characters
with word balloons, a big wooden airplane hanging from the ceiling. It
ain't just a shop, it's a part of a magic land plunked down into
Parkdale. Or maybe, unlike those pizza places that are so insecure they
want to be Brooklyn (I want to give them a hug and tell them to be
themselves), it is a natural part of Parkdale as it integrates itself
into the hood feeding all those high school students down the block
(weekday lunch time is the high traffic time). This is a mystical centre
that needs to be cherished, Tee Oh can be disparate with its' wonderful
places, we got to really nurture them. The dogs are dirt cheap, not
teeny tiny, with full veg option, including the chili dog, a personal
favourite. He has been experimenting with a mac n cheese dog as well.
Not grilled or boiled but steamed. Tonnes of toppings, the rainbow
sprinkles topping has been discontinued but he still has hickory sticks
and much much more...he just got a juicer as a refreshing healthy option
(try the beet/apple/carrot), perhaps it will counter-act the unhealthy
options! Oh, there's nachos, as well! Keith sells his own comics here
and plans to do a special Hot n Dog newspaper and has other wild plans
as well. I really hope that this review doesn't get filtered like my
Mike The Bike review did so that all can be in the know.
