Surf City Cyclery

[coolbreeze]

I made the switch to clipless and needed some CB premium cleats. Jenson had it on sale for $19.xx with free shipping. Like a kid in a candy store, I wanted it now and not have to wait a week with the free shipping. I called Surf City and asked if they had it in stock. In deed they did. I asked the sales guy how much and he said $25 bucks. $25 BUCKS???? Are you kidding me???? CB sells them directly for $22 on their website - that's MSRP. How can you sell more than the manufacturer unless there is a shortage and a high demand???? Anyway, I asked the guy if they will match Jenson's price and he said NO. Are you kidding me???? I just referred a friend over there a couple of days prior and he picked up a brand new 2009 Stumpy for $2800! What a crock of sh!t. I ended up at Performance and they matched the price with no questions asked....as always. I also picked up a Hoota Honka for my son, who was with me at the time, at regular price. Surf City Cyclery has just lost a customer who likes to spend money on bike parts.

 

[HBLocal]

Sorry for the trouble.

I was dismayed when I saw this comment regarding your experience with our failure to price match something as minor as CB cleats. This is not an excuse for what happened, just an explanation to tell you that our practice is to match any reasonable price from our competitors without hassles. The individual you spoke with obviously did not convey that message to you, and for that I apologize. As you may have seen from this thread we rarely receive negative feedback, so it alarms me when something as simple as this creates problems for our reputation and your satisfaction. Our price for this item was too high based on an error in our system that we created and it has been fixed, not that helps you now, but please understand we take these pricing and service issues very seriously and, with constructive feedback like the comments you provided, we try to keep ourselves in check with the current market. We have also addressed the price matching issue with our staff so we can avoid these problems for our valued customers in the future. We're not perfect, but we'd like to be, so as long as we have that goal we can strive to provide excellent customer service.

Thanks for the feedback,
Sean Flynn
Surf City Cyclery

 

[STR76]

I'm new to the site but have been a customer of Surf City Cyclery for over a year. A couple experiences display my positive opinion the best. First off, last summer when a female friend was shopping for a new bike, the staff could not have been more helpful in finding her a perfect fit. And although we were a week off the sale, Sean gave the tax free discount none the less. Plus free t-shirts from there event!

The second experience truly won me over. We brought in her bike because we were having trouble seating the tire edge on the rim perfectly. Unfortunately when we brought it in the service tech was swamped. He took the time to give me a few "home remedies" I could try. I was more than happy with the ideas he provided but then she decided to upgrade pedals while we were there. Not only did they find the time to install the pedals, for free, they also fixed the wheel while they had it on the rack, again at no extra charge.

Excellent customer service had us riding later that day. Great shops keep you riding! Thanks Surf City Cyclery! See you soon for a tune up.

 

[Pain Freak]

I was dismayed when I saw this comment regarding your experience with our failure to price match something as minor as CB cleats. This is not an excuse for what happened, just an explanation to tell you that our practice is to match any reasonable price from our competitors without hassles. The individual you spoke with obviously did not convey that message to you, and for that I apologize. As you may have seen from this thread we rarely receive negative feedback, so it alarms me when something as simple as this creates problems for our reputation and your satisfaction. Our price for this item was too high based on an error in our system that we created and it has been fixed, not that helps you now, but please understand we take these pricing and service issues very seriously and, with constructive feedback like the comments you provided, we try to keep ourselves in check with the current market. We have also addressed the price matching issue with our staff so we can avoid these problems for our valued customers in the future. We're not perfect, but we'd like to be, so as long as we have that goal we can strive to provide excellent customer service.

Thanks for the feedback,
Sean Flynn
Surf City Cyclery

What a great response. If I lived closer I'd be a customer for sure.

 

[volcomsteban]

Nothin but class with these guys. :clap: If I still lived in HB I'b still be a regular customer. :bang:

 

[OC rider]

I was dismayed when I saw this comment regarding your experience with our failure to price match something as minor as CB cleats. This is not an excuse for what happened, just an explanation to tell you that our practice is to match any reasonable price from our competitors without hassles. The individual you spoke with obviously did not convey that message to you, and for that I apologize. As you may have seen from this thread we rarely receive negative feedback, so it alarms me when something as simple as this creates problems for our reputation and your satisfaction. Our price for this item was too high based on an error in our system that we created and it has been fixed, not that helps you now, but please understand we take these pricing and service issues very seriously and, with constructive feedback like the comments you provided, we try to keep ourselves in check with the current market. We have also addressed the price matching issue with our staff so we can avoid these problems for our valued customers in the future. We're not perfect, but we'd like to be, so as long as we have that goal we can strive to provide excellent customer service.

Thanks for the feedback,
Sean Flynn
Surf City Cyclery

very classy and professional response....:welcome:

 

[bvader]

Yeah Sean's a pretty stand up guy. Plus if you really want to see some cool specialized stuff they got it plus more.

 

[Jordansrealm]

I feel bad for ANY bike shop that has to deal with Internet shopper price matchers. You want the convenience of buying parts over the counter right away? You will pay for that. Shops have much more overhead to deal with than many Internet warehouse type resellers. The way I look at it is if the price difference is a few bucks then go to where you feel is the better value. Is spending $3 more at shop a more important or is store b $3 savings better but now you have to drive there or wait?

Also if you search the net and find let's say a pair of bars you like that are normally $250 but you find them for $150 online don't expect a store to match that. Buy it online if u want it's an insult to expect such discounts.

I always prefer buying in stores even if I pay a little more. I like supporting my local bike shops and developing relationships. I've met some really great people that are now friends from shops. I've even gotten discounts because I shop at certain shops often. It all works out in the end.

Pardon typos I'm on my phone

FYI - Sean is one of the few guys that has been around for a long time always treating people great. Not many shops have employees that treat their regulars the same as the newbie. Most shops try and push push push on new customers and upsell. I've sent probably 8-10 people to buy bikes at SCC all fairly new riders. All of them were happy and still shop there. Can only say that about a few shops.
Jordan

 

[A D NOH]

I bought my bike from Surf City recently and Chris and Thad were very polite and awesome! I would definitely go back there again!

 

[bajaguy]

The sales guys have always been good at Surf City and are always helpful. I did buy a bike at Surf City and the sales guys were great. I do have a couple gripes and will probably not be going back to SCC.

I was disappointed that I did not get any discounts on accessories even though I spent over $2K for the bike I bought at SCC. The couple of times I've brought my bike in for service I've felt like I was at a service department at a car dealership with them trying to upsell me into any service work they could think off.

My fiance was looking for a bike shortly after and they had the one in stock that she wanted but they would not deviate off msrp or really offer anything else. Pretty much it is what is. Well I had already pretty much made The Path my LBS since it was closer and they had better prices on alot of things and my experience had been more positive. Long story short she got the bike at The Path for less, was given free $40 gloves, given a discount on all the accessories she bought and was IMO treated better. I am sure alot of people have had great service at SCC but I just think I could find better.

 

[dangk]

Funny, I purchased 2 bikes from SCC and referred friends and they bought 4 bikes so...in total, we purchased 6 bikes (not high end..$600 range) within a 6 month span...Got the same experience as bajaguy.

I recently came back expecting a good price on not 1, but 2 pitches. Nope, their MSRP wouldn't budge, even when I mentioned the amount of bikes purchased here.

Their salesmen Chris and Nelson are really cool guys though, always there to lend a hand.

In short, my friend and I purchased our Pitches from The Path at a great price and they have been my LBS ever since.

 

[Trailster]

The sales guys have always been good at Surf City and are always helpful.
I was disappointed that I did not get any discounts on accessories. The couple of times I've brought my bike in for service I've felt like I was at a service department at a car dealership with them trying to upsell me into any service work they could think off.

My fiance was looking for a bike shortly after and they had the one in stock that she wanted but they would not deviate off msrp or really offer anything else. I am sure alot of people have had great service at SCC but I just think I could find better.

I enjoy seeing people equating discounting to good customer service...

Letting you know there are other things wrong with your bike than what you can see seems like a good idea to me.

 

[ilya]

ya, it's a huge shop in a dead strip mall... the lights dont pay for themselves, lol. Good service department, the end.

 

[GeorgiaOfTheJungle]

I went to the LanceTwitter ride and met another woman, from the LA area, who was riding a bike with an SCC sticker. So, I asked her about it--HB is a bit far from the LA valley where she lived. She told me her story--

She had been looking for a higher end road bike. But, being relatively new at riding, she didn't want to purchase anything (especially high end) without trying it out. Since her specific size would have to be ordered from most shops, this required ordering a bike for her to try, not knowing if she'd buy it or not.

NONE of her local shops would do this. She called all over, before getting ahold of someone at SCC. They agreed to order the bike for her to try, no pressure. In the end, she did purchase her bike from them due to such excellent customer service.

As for upselling, I took my bike in after a crash. One shop had already told me that I'd need several things replaced. SCC looked at it, had a few of the other mechs look at it, turns out that I only needed my hood/shifter replaced (I had an extra that I took in, so it was really a no sell for them). They had my bike back to me within the week.

I agree that the Path is a great shop, and deals are always fabulous, but knocking a shop for selling items at face value seems a bit silly. Maybe you should post your great experiences under the post heading for the Path.

 

[foofighter]

just so everyone knows they're opening up another shop in Costa Mesa off 17th in what would be "east costa mesa" so that's good another shop to frequent

 

[Fired Yo Momma]

What happened to two wheels one earth?

 

[bajaguy]

I enjoy seeing people equating discounting to good customer service...

Letting you know there are other things wrong with your bike than what you can see seems like a good idea to me.

I wanted to keep my previous post short and not get into specifics but since everyone decided to call me out for posting about my negative experiences and calling me a cheap skate here it is. I thought the purpose of this thread was to help shops better service their customers not jump on someone that wants to share a bad experience.

1)The bike that my fiance bought was already tagged less than SCC. Some of you must not mind paying msrp but I am not one of them. If I bought a bike at one shop one day and walked into another shop another day and was offered the bike $200 less I would feel pretty ripped off. How is not having your items priced competitively not equated to good customer service? Part of customer service is making sure your customers are paying for items that are priced competitively. I could see if it was a small market but in Southern California there are too many bike shops not to be priced
competitively compared to the next guy. Both bike shops have good sales guys but why would I pay $200 more at one shop than another.

How do you not equate dangk's experience to poor service? He helped SCC sell 6 bikes and wanted to purchase another two at the same time but was told to pound sand when he asked for a better deal?? How does that show customer appreciation? I worked almost a decade in retail and customer service so I do see it from the retailers point of view and that is not good customer service to me.

2) I called up SCC to see how much it would cost to install a CK headset. The guy tells me $60 even if I bought it from them! I asked him if he was sure and he said yes. Every other bike shop I know charges around $20.

As for my other service experience I will give you the details. My brakes needed adjusting so I brought it in to have the mechanic look at it. Before hand I explained to him that they previously just did a minor tune up on it a month ago. Well he looks at it and points out whats wrong with the brakes. He says its going to cost $40 to adjust the brakes. I ask him if that is covered by the lifetime brake adjustment warranty. He says no since he said it is a "major" adjustment. He then suggests that since I am spending $40 on the brakes that I might as well do a full tune up for $80. I just finished telling him that they just tuned up my bike and I did not think nothing else needed adjusting but he still highly suggested a full tune up. I said I will think about it.

Took it to another bike shop and told the mechanic that I needed my brakes adjusted. He took a look at it and pointed out the same things as the SCC mechanic did. He said give me 15-20min and I will take care of it for you. I ask him how much and he says it's $10. For the heck of it I ask him to look over my bike and offer any suggestions on any other service he thinks it might need. He looks it over and says everything looks good. I walk out with my brakes working properly again and went to ride Whiting ride after and my bike couldn't ride any better.

No shop is perfect but how can they better serve their customers if people are afraid to post poor experiences at a mostly favorable bike shop in risk of the whole STR community attacking them. :-s

 

[bajaguy]

Maybe I should have posted this in the "how to fire a customer in 10 minutes thread" in order to save from being attacked on this thread. I just read the thread for the first time a minute ago and saw a post that Tani posted from The Path that pretty much sums up my feelings and why I shop at the The Path. Post #71.

"Sometimes you piss a customer off for price reasons. We try to be competive in the marketplace for customer service reasons. We know that even if you have the money to spend, and know that you got better service, it is annoying to find out that you could have saved a lot of $. The problem is two part. One is that the market place is big, and quick to change. The other is that this business is barely profitable in the first place."

Theres no need to get all huffy puffy. i call them like I see them. And you sound like your whining.

Let me ask you something. How often to go into SCC? Do they know you well enough to give you a discount? If not why do you think it is owed to you?

My mistake that you didnt say you wanted something for free, instead you did expect some kind of discount regardless. Potato/Potato

That is my only beef with your comments, and because of this you will not shop there again? Your words "I do have a couple gripes and will probably not be going back to SCC"

I think that $60 is alot for a headset install, but are you talking about just pressing cups or taking off the forks and everything else, brakes, stem, etc? Thats at least an hours worth of work and most shops charge about $55 an hour for labor.

Better yet learn how to do all that stuff yourself and save some money.

There was a time over the last two months that I was at SCC at least twice a week. All the sales guys knew me by face and even knew what kind of bike I had. So it is not like I bought my bike and came back three months later. They were on my way home and I liked to stop by and check things out. My buddy was going to buy a bike there and I went with him at least four times after I bought my bike to check out bikes.

Read your recent post. I said I had a couple gripes (service, buying my fiance's bike, and not being offered a discount after I bought my Bike) that made me not want to go back to SCC. The service and the experience with my fiance's bike are 90% of my poor experience. Your beef with me is focused on me looking for a discount on accessories after I bought my bike when that is 10% of my poor experience.

As for the headset it was simply pressing the cups in...

 

[HBLocal]

Wow.

OK. We're not perfect, we know that. We're not always the cheapest, we know that too. As with any retailer, it's very difficult to police the current pricing strategies of all our competitors, but we try to manage it fairly. However, the couple things that I have to clarify in this ping-pong tournament of comments are, 1) We never charge MSRP for our Specialized bikes, which seem to be the prices in question here. We list the MSRP as a comparison but we charge "low retail", which is the lowest price we are allowed to mark on our current year-model inventory, and those prices are CLEARLY marked. I think most Specialized dealers practice this same policy. If not, they're supposed to, but if we are approached with a lower price we will not complain, we will compete. There are times our prices are lower than our competitors, and at times they are higher. We can't win them all, but please don't take offense if we have a higher price on something, simply ask us to match our competitor's price. In our current market environment, a shop can change pricing frequently based on mfgr price changes. Unfortunately, most shops are sitting on product for which they receive no price protection, but in order to compete with price decreases, we take the bullet on profitability by lowering our prices to current market. In many cases, these discounts never seem to be enough for some consumers. The sad part of this is that, for some cyclists, their loyalty is only as deep as the shop's discount. This is a two way street, though. We are extremely loyal to those who are loyal to us, and we try to win that loyalty every single day, and my belief is that loyalty should not be based solely on price.

And just to clarify two of the comments made previously:

DangK, if you're who I think you are, you were quoted a price for a Pitch, which was not MSRP but the low retail price, and it would need to be ordered, which we made clear. When asked if there was a deal on two bikes, you were immediately given $150 discount on each bike, so you thanked us and left. So please be accurate in your "MSRP wouldn't budge" comment. We don't need to be vilified unnecessarily.

Bajaguy, sorry you are upset with us. As for pricing to install King headsets, I think we were quoting you the price including facing your headtube. You don't want to install a King headset without that prep.

Ilya, our lights will be on for quite some time, but thanks for the kind words regarding our service dept.

I know I didn't address every issue that's been raised here, nor did I address the few in great detail, but just understand that we do place tremendous importance on our service and prices. Every hard working bike shop owner that gives his life to his family and business strives to achieve perfection, but it's just not possible despite our efforts. Just let us know face to face when we fall down and we'll do our best to make it right.

Thanks for listening,
Sean Flynn
Surf City Cyclery

 

[dangk]

I didn't mean to cause a war or anything. Yes, it's understandable that this industry is highly competitive and this is why for my bike purchase, I saw it as ,for lack of better words, like buying a new car. I just went to different dealerships and searched for the best deal. That's all.

HBLocal, yes that was me. Maybe I did choose the wrong choice of words when I meant MSRP. It's just that the discounted price you gave me wasn't as appealing as what the path offered. I just found that your bike store has higher price tags(tags on bikes) and tends more towards the high end consumers so I didn't bother trying to negotiate further. My apologies if I caused any problems, I was simply making a quick review.