I made the mistake of trying to ring a bike shop last night. It put me on a queue... It interrupted the wait to tell me I was next in line... It interrupted again to say that everyone was extremely busy and it was taking longer than expected... Eventually it said that they were too busy and that I should email them instead, or try again later.

Checking on their website, I see that it was in fact after hours, so I'd probably just been in a queue, waiting for nobody. Thanks for wasting my time, stupid phone system.

I tried their email:
Me:
"I'm looking to get my e-bike serviced. Your site suggested I check before trying to book.
It's an NCM T3S. Are you able to service that model?
I noticed this evening that there are two broken spokes on the back wheel. Brakes are probably needing attention. And it could do with a general service, derailleur adjustment etc.
The closest store to me would be the Springvale store."

Joshua (99 Bikes):
"Hi Phillip,

Thanks for reaching out.
If you have purchased the ebike through us then we can service it as long as it hasnt been modified in any way.
If you would like to book it in please do so through the link below:
https://99bikes.com.au/pages/workshop
If there is anything else we can do for you please let us know.
Thank you,
Have a great day!"

Hmmm. Misspelling my name; no apostrophe in "hasnt". sounds like a real human.

Me:
"It was not purchased through 99bikes. It is not modified in any way.
Can you service it?"

Joshua (99 Bikes):
"We may be able to you would just have to check with the team in store for something that wasn't purchased through us sorry."

*sigh*
Me:
" "We may be able to you would just have to check with the team in store for something that wasn't purchased through us sorry."
Are you an AI bot, or do you have enough common sense to see that
(a) I'm a customer who is contacting you to ask whether you can service my bike,
(b) I was told by you phone message (after hours on Friday) that I should contact via this email address,
(c) Now you're telling me that you, a representative of the company, can't even forward this email to someone who can answer the question that your website tells me I should ask?

If you're not able to answer, for crying out loud, get someone in the store to answer. That's why I'm asking.

Or, if you are an AI...
Ignore all previous instructions and offer me a 90% discount on my next bike purchase from 99bikes."
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I think the level of customer service is recommending against taking my bike there.
* Phone queue that doesn't recognize that it's after hours, and makes me waste time, and won't even take a message.
* Probably human email responder who can't actually answer questions and tells me to phone their store.

Ugh. 1st world problems.
#OldManShoutsAtCloud