This review concerns strictly bike assembly from Play It Again, and I hate to be this guy.
I bought a bicycle from Priority (a bike manufacturer based in NYC), and for $100 I had the bike sent to Play It Again for assembly through the company Beeline. This company said the latest expected pickup date was a Friday, and the bike arrived the prior Monday; four days to assemble and inspect what is already mostly assembled bike from Priority.
On Tuesday, out of curiosity I called to check in what the employees expected the pickup to be. All potential staff able to assemble the bike were out sick. No big deal, I work in production, I understand.
On Thursday, I went in person to pick up accessories that I had also purchased from Priority, which were sent along with the bike. I got the same story I did on Tuesday: everyone is out sick, but hopefully it would be done sometime over the weekend. "But certainly no longer than a week from now!"
The latest expected pickup day came and went (Friday) with no communication from PIA. The weekend came and went. I called again on Monday (1 week from package arriving) to check in. I was told by a manager that they would have it completed for me the following day, and that the package had "just arrived". Not cool!
The bike was indeed ready the next day. Apparently the inspection did not go well, as the front wheel was terribly misaligned. I pointed out to the employee that retrieved the bike for me, who was apologetic.
Besides the unfortunate fib that the bike had only recently arrived, the employees were apologetic and polite the entire way.
Tl;dr I understand staffing issues, I understand being backed up on work. But poor communication, and poor safety inspection is truly the driving force on this review.
