Ty B.
Yelp
Routes rented me a bike with a bald and cracked rear tire that put me in a nearly deadly situation, and were unbelievably dismissive and rude about it. The sidewall on the tire ended up giving while I was riding on the streets of Santa Fe. It was bulging and thunking progressively louder against the broken kickstand, about to blow, after it had earlier been filled following a flat. I was very lucky to have pulled over before it blew, and to be near another bike shop.
When I called Routes from that bike shop to ask for reimbursement for the new tire and labor, I was talked down to and told that the bike had been serviced before I rented it and that it must have been my fault. I had to have the owner of the other shop speak to him, and then Routes begrudgingly agreed to pay. When I went to return the bike, the co-owner Joshua acted dismissive and condescending toward me, repeatedly interrupting and talking over me as I tried to calmly tell him about my experience with the staff member (a young Latino man who they refuse to name), who had also been dismissive and argumentative when I initially picked up the bike.
After I had returned home from my vacation, Josh sent me a pseudo apology email for the tire issue, saying that this type of experience was rare, that he would speak to the staff member, and attempting to refund two days of my rental (which was about $18 short). I responded to ask what the name of the staff member was and to kindly correct his math, and then ended up in an unwanted exchange with the other co-owner, Heather, who he had CC'd. She initially called me and left a voice message, pretending to want to know what had happened (because apparently they cannot communicate with each other), but then after I attempted to call her back to have that discussion and asked for the employee's name again, she switched to trying to pay me off instead (refunding the full amount I had paid them), presumably in fear of receiving an honest negative review and to avoid having to face the issues. Instead of saying "we will work hard to make sure this never happens to another customer," she tried to tell me they haven't had any such problem in seven years, which is not only untrue based on another complaint here about a bald rear tire and broken shocks, but also fairly irrelevant since it takes a considerable amount of mileage - and thus customers - for a tire to wear to the point of bulging. They are supposed to inspect and service the bikes after every renter. When I tried to address this, she cited the amount she had refunded me and told me "this matter is now closed." Little did Heather know that I was not planning to write a review and would not have if they had handled the situation honestly and kindly.
**Update following Heather's response: This is exactly the dismissive and dishonest attitude I am talking about. I spelled out all of the issues to both the staff member, on the phone at the time of the incident, and Josh, in-store the following day. I still have a receipt as well as email proof that Heather and Josh both knew the initial flat was a separate trip to the Santa Fe bike shop, paid by me, despite it also being due to the severe wear (it was a tiny piece of glass, and the tire was a hybrid and lined with a protective strip). The kickstand was clearly broken, which the Santa Fe bike shop confirmed while telling me the bike should never have been rented to me in its condition. If Heather did not personally find out about all the details or even the primary sidewall bulging issue, it is because Josh or the staff member did not communicate them to her and she chose not to discuss it with me and to pay me off instead. I never got to talk to her about any of what happened, because she was not interested. It disgusts me that she says "through all of our emails and phone calls" when there was no phone conversation with anyone other than that one staff member and everything had been addressed before Josh emailed me. The positive reviews I see here are mainly about the tours and tour guides, and, as I learned, they like to pay people to avoid negative reviews, as well as bully and gaslight those who do write honest negative reviews. Several of their bikes are old, broken, dangerous pieces of crap- see Matt A's review also. This company cares more about their public image than they do about safety.
