I purchased my bike, a Columbia Ratlhead 19.5", on July 30th. I paid cash, and paid for the extended service plan (1-year in-store warranty).
On August 14th, I returned to the store, citing a defective 6th gear that I was able to display for the on-duty clerk (Ryan). He was helpful, heard the situation, witnessed the defect, and approached a manager about repair.
The attending manager, "Carl", informed me that he didn't know anything about my situation, but that he would be unable to perform any kind of exchange or replacement, despite that I was able to show the bike's gears were not working. I was informed that a repair technician would not be available until Sunday, and that my bike could not be repaired until then. I looked over to see 5 other bikes, same model and price, and asked if it would be possible to arrange an even exchange. I was informed that unless the store could repair my bike, nothing could be done.
The 90-day return policy for defective products obviously applies differently to bikes, but another representative told me that a recent change to policy had taken place due to a suspected internal scam that involved purchases of bikes at one store, and exchanges for cash at another. I saw this as a terrible reason to send someone home with a defective product and no service, within 14 days of purchase.
Despite that I expressed that my bike was my primary mode of transportation, that I had just pedaled 2 miles to get to their store on defective gears, and that I relied upon this bike to get to work the next morning, I was informed that my situation was my own, and that my bike would not be repaired, replaced, exchanged, or otherwise maintenanced until a technician could attempt repair, which would be four days later.
A call to the corporate office yielded a similar result: I was informed by CS rep "Jessica" that a district manager could not call me back for 2-3 business days, again putting me within the threshold of having to wait for a defective bike to be "looked at."
Sports Authority's return and repair policies for their bike exchanges are, in all regards, a process their internal employees cannot support. Managers are put in positions to deny their paying customers service, and if I had known that this would be the case, I would have bought my bike from Sports Chalet or Big 5.
That I cannot get any service whatsoever on my defective bike from Sports Authority for nearly a week is inexcusable. Though my receipt releases them from any liability within the range of the initial purchase, their insistence that I leave the store and continue to commute around Los Angeles on a bike with a failing gearshift mechanism leaves them as legally liable as ever.
My experience with this store has been unrivaled in recent years by way of my dissatisfaction, my inconvenience, and the quality of the product I purchased from The Sports Authority in Burbank. This kind of service in a retail market is absolutely unacceptable, as there are several other competing stores in the area who would've been able to give me a quality bike for the money I paid.
Manager "Carl" of Sports Authority was less helpful than clerk "Ryan" who spent half an hour tuning my bike, to no effect... The gear mechanism is still failing. Carl merely denied me, stuck to "procedure", and was happy to let me leave on a bike that was proven to be defective beyond efforts to tune.
I paid an extra $30 of hard-earned money to purchase a repair and maintenance plan for the very purpose of avoiding this type of conflict. My first instance of needing such service, literally within 14 days of purchasing the bike, yielded nothing but difficulty and resistance.
Anyone mindful of the importance of service, support and customer satisfaction should avoid this store completely. Their "maintenance plan" for their bikes is a joke. The bike they sold me, 14 days after purchase, almost got me killed as I crossed a busy intersection and the gears locked up. Not even an explanation of this gave Sports Authority management the desire to help their customers.
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