How to fire a customer in 10 minutes or less

[mtnbikerfred]

How's this for an idea: Without going into specific details, let's tell all of our favorite LBS owners/managers ONE THING they can do to lose our business quickly and forever.

This is an opportunity to share a bad experience without naming names or flaming any particular shop. I dare those that work at shops to "out" themselves so we know that you're listening. Think of this as group therapy for mountain bikers & shops

I'll start.

Quote me full list on something you already have marked down on your floor AFTER I help your mechanic cold-set the rear end of a steel frame for one of your shop-rats so he can run track hubs (the employee/frame owner was too much of a wussie to hold the frame steady in the stand against torque bar himself)....

You don't have to go into details. Just post something that would/did pi$$ez you off enough that you'd never go back.

[station]

Originally Posted by mtnbikerfred

How's this for an idea: Without going into specific details, let's tell all of our favorite LBS owners/managers ONE THING they can do to lose our business quickly and forever.

This is an opportunity to share a bad experience without naming names or flaming any particular shop. I dare those that work at shops to "out" themselves so we know that you're listening. Think of this as group therapy for mountain bikers & shops

I'll start.

Quote me full list on something you already have marked down on your floor AFTER I help your mechanic cold-set the rear end of a steel frame for one of your shop-rats so he can run track hubs (the employee/frame owner was too much of a wussie to hold the frame steady in the stand against torque bar himself)....

I want in on this but it's so confusing.

[soul rider]

talking down to people...

[mfoga]

When you spend $1400 on a bike (granted they had to price match it down $600 but its not fault you made that policy and shouldn't have if you didn't want to match the prices) and then ask what kind of maintenance is needed on the bike. I explained I have never had any kind of suspension on a bike and wondered what I needed to do to get it setup and maintain it. Don't tell the customer everything is already setup right you don't need to do anything and then say anything else you need to know is in the manual.

PS The manual didn't have anything about the bike at all , it was a generic manual that cover every bike the company made, but I did learn that the bike was not designed to be jumped at all.

[station]

Can I just say RBC in Laguna pisses me off and I have no idea how / why they are still open?

[dubjay]

When you tell a customer over the phone that you are pretty sure you have a particular brake adapter in stock, but you really don't when the customer makes the drive down there.

[mtnbikerfred]

Originally Posted by station

Can I just say RBC in Laguna pisses me off and I have no idea how / why they are still open?

NO!! Wait, didn't you just say that?

[Kid A]

deliver a new bike w/o "once over" including drive train not dialed in and handle bars not sure tight in stem. lets just say it could have been a very bad day of riding in malibu hills if I was riding without tolls in pack. fair to day bike shop in not in business anymore. i prob could have done a bit more of parking lot testing on pick-up but was heading out for trip and hard to get same as mashing under pressure or lean on bars

[davidB]

charge $25 to press in a headset i had bought from them 2 minutes before and take 20 minutes to get to it because the 2 mechanic's behind the counter were busy.

[skate]

Originally Posted by mfoga

(granted they had to price match it down $600 but its not fault you made that policy and shouldn't have if you didn't want to match the prices)

That's a good one. Just about every shop I have dealt with has this problem even our most beloved one's. I always hate hearing "that price is even below our cost I don't know how they can sell it so low" or when they try to sell or give you a price match a bit higher than the price your trying to match.

I agree price match is price match, they shouldn't make policies and then back out.

[pollu_sean]

needed to order a brake adapter for a new fork from the shop. went in to the shop and had them order the part. called about a week later, part still not in, called a couple days after that, part not in, etc. started to figure out that they have not actually ordered the part. finally i ordered the part myself online. got said part in 2 days. then got a call from the bike shop 2 weeks later telling me my part is in.

[davidB]

to add another to the store i already complained about...

say "we can't do that" when asked to drop the quoted price of a wheelset i wanted down almost $200 because that's what another shop had quoted me on. Seriously, it shouldn't cost $740 for hope pro 2's with mavic 819's. But go right on ahead *******.

[boludo]

1. Giving list of all parts specs even though i just gave the guy my 20 yr history of mtn biking and threw out things the dumb bastich never knew. Waste of time.

2. Up selling. I know what i want an need.

3. My worst experience ever was with my first bike buy. I had $1500 cash in my pocket, went to the local specialized dealer to buy the best M3 bike with the cash. It was 10 minutes before closing and the dumba$$ sales guy tells me he doesnt have time for me and to come back tomorrow. I was the only person in the shop, knew what bike i wanted and they had it on the floor. So i went the same day to rock n road and bought a bike from them, afterhours too.

[JoeTruth]

After spending $850.00 on my first ever f/s mountain bike in 1995 (or 96) and finding out a kick stand was not included. WTF?!?! Furthermore, they wanted to charge me for it and wouldn't agree to throw it in and thought I was crazy for wanting one on a mountain bike. I thought they were crazy for not thinking it's an obvious no brainer. How's your bike suppose to stand without one???

Hey, it's my bike and my money! What the hell happened to "customer is always right?!" Or should that read "customer is a little nutty!"

(Thank goodness I came to my senses. BTW, this happens fairly commonly to newbies.)

[station]

How about when you work right next to a shop and it's a quick walk down PCH on a nice sunny day, so at lunch you want to go look at bikes because looking at bikes makes you feel better inside so you walk down to the LBS and the old guy who works there is such a dick that you never want to go back, but you do becasue it's super local and you love bikes, but every time he acts like such a dick that after the 10th time you promise yourself you will never go there again?

Originally Posted by JoeTruth

After spending $850.00 on my first ever f/s mountain bike in 1995 (or 96) and finding out a kick stand was not included. WTF?!?! Furthermore, they wanted to charge me for it and wouldn't agree to throw it in and thought I was crazy for wanting one on a mountain bike. I thought they were crazy for not thinking it's an obvious no brainer. How's your bike suppose to stand without one???

Hey, it's my bike and my money! What the hell happened to "customer is always right?!" Or should that read "customer is a little nutty!"

(Thank goodness I came to my senses. BTW, this happens fairly commonly to newbies.)

hahaha, my friends bike has kickstand and he takes it down Rock-it. solid!

[Letyrides]

Call LBS and ask if they have a derailuer hanger for my Trance, guy on the phone says sure they sell Giant, no problem, come on buy we will fix you up. Get there the next day, I tell the kid working what I wanted, he tries to tell me (w/o looking) that they don't have one, then I explain I just called the day before, he then looks at me with blank stare goes to "look" (took him 2 seconds) comes back and tell me they must have sold the last one the day before?! I was so frustrated I just left.

[G-Ride]

A few weeks ago I ran out of chain lube. I just use the plain, original Tri-Flow, nothing fancy. Since lube is the only thing I would ever consider buying there I rode down to the LBS. Normally I like to find things myself, and I'm sure I could have located the lube easily, but I get assaulted as soon as I walk in. I should have taken it as a sign when the sales dude was so impressed that my bike actually had dirt on it and looked like it was well-ridden. "Wow you must ride a lot!" So I ask him for Tri-Flow. He has to walk around and check a few areas, but he finally directs me to a rack with the Tri-Flow. Only problem is that it's the dry formula (wax-based) and I wanted the regular, drippy, greasy, original Tri-Flow. So he says this is the only kind Tri-Flow makes. We enter into a debate. This takes a few minutes. Finally, he concedes and says ok, but this is the only kind we carry. So the owner moseys over. No clue on what Tri-Flow makes, or what they carry, or where it would even be. He seemed surprised that they even had the dry version. Finally the mechanic from the back walks up and overhears, and says, oh yeah, regular Tri-Flow on the back wall. So it takes 3 guys nearly 10 minutes to find me a simple bottle of Tri-Flow. I actually felt bad giving them my $6 because they didn't deserve it.

[station]

So once I walked down PCH to the local LBS to get a spoke I crunched riding the day before. I have my wheel with me for size or whatever and I ask how much for a spoke. In my head I'm guessing $1. So the old guy says to leave the wheel and he'll figure out the size and let me know. Is top in after work thinking by that time he would know the size and I could put it on when I get home. Well he went ahead and put it on for me. Nice of him right? You would think that until he said it would be $35. It was on and I didn't have time to argue so I paid it and went on my ride. Sucks.

[CA_descender]

Here are some reasons and not from the same shop either.

1) Watched TWO mechanics try to dismount a tire, put new tube in and then remount tire in under 15min

2) Bought new bike, sales guy wanted to be sure the bike was good to go so I then got to watch as the mechanic tried to figure out how to install v-brakes on a bike that they had just taken some cantis off of. The mech then turned to tighten the nuts and bolts on MY new ride and could not figure out how to adjust the derailleur so I told them to leave it, grabbed the bike and left.

3) Try to sell me a part for more then MSRP after a 15% discount and when the store 2mi down the road sells it for MSRP without a discount.

4) The worst of all ... speaking to me as if I were 4yrs old, had not a clue on proper fit of a helmet or gloves and when I ask about a component trying to sell me something I did not ask for and then showing attitude.

[Justin]

Sell me a bike that doesn't fit right, because it is in stock.

Cya.