Yep, I did similar around the time. Can't blame people for being mad that the thing they bought is damn near unusable (and was destined to be, but they didn't understand that part). If someone buys a new bike, even if it's cheap, it shouldn't roll like you're on gravel after a couple weeks and become impossible to pedal within months. But damn, there were a lot of horrible machines sold in those days.

And then of course, the least fun part of that era, the guys who would bring their machines back weekly despite very stern warnings to stop visiting "those sites".