How not to run a bike shop...



N

Noel

Guest
Just researching some cycling for the Philippines next Easter and came
across this http://bikeforlife2007.blogspot.com/

So these guys get to Cebu City (second major city in the country) and
need some repairs....

"The B4L team had a frustrating experience with a local bike shop in
Cebu. Ricky Pineda, Boy Siojo and I brought in 3 of the team's bikes to
the YKK Bike Shop for much needed repairs... and we were refused service!
Their reason? We didn't buy the bikes at their shop! We explained that we
were just passing through... part of a cycling caravan travelling from
Manila to Davao, that we were volunteer riders, part of an awareness
program for indigent children supported by the Cancer Warriors Foundation.

Despite the help of a local sag who spoke the local dialect, our pleas
for help didn't make much of an impression with the staff and owner. We
were even scolded for bringing the 3 bikes into the shop, curtly being
told to leave them outside by the staff & shop guard.

We were fortunate to find a nearby store who accommodated our immediate
request. The Wellson Bike Shop around the corner readily took on our
emergency repairs, to the extent of pending 2 bike assembly orders! Our
gratitude to this shop."

I know where my business will be going!

Cheers
Noel
 
Noel wrote:
> and we were refused service!
> Their reason? We didn't buy the bikes at their shop!


The only bike shop that is local to me has this outrageous policy too.
They could earn handsomely on the maintenance on my now four bikes, but
I haven't been in there since 2004.

EFR
Ile de France
 
In article <[email protected]>, Artemisia
[email protected] says...
> Noel wrote:
> > and we were refused service!
> > Their reason? We didn't buy the bikes at their shop!

>
> The only bike shop that is local to me has this outrageous policy too.
> They could earn handsomely on the maintenance on my now four bikes, but
> I haven't been in there since 2004.
>

That's not outrageous, it's just a particular business strategy. Some
bike shops provide a service and repair facility but don't stock
complete new bikes - would you consider it outrageous if they refused to
carry a stock of bikes just because you wanted them to?
 
In article <[email protected]>, Rob Morley wrote:
>In article <[email protected]>, Artemisia
>[email protected] says...
>> Noel wrote:
>> > and we were refused service!
>> > Their reason? We didn't buy the bikes at their shop!

>>
>> The only bike shop that is local to me has this outrageous policy too.
>> They could earn handsomely on the maintenance on my now four bikes, but
>> I haven't been in there since 2004.
>>

>That's not outrageous, it's just a particular business strategy. Some
>bike shops provide a service and repair facility but don't stock
>complete new bikes - would you consider it outrageous if they refused to
>carry a stock of bikes just because you wanted them to?


And if you did buy a bike from a local shop, wanted a service, and were
told there would be a two week delay because the workshop was booked
solid with people who had bought bikes online, would you prefer them to
give priority to bikes bought from them?
I gather some shops also have problems with people bringing in **** BSOs
and being unhappy to pay the price needed to get them more or less working
when "the whole bike only cost £70" or similar".

A blanket "we're not interested" seems excessive, but maybe the bikes they
do sell keep the workshop busy full time.
 
In article <[email protected]>, Alan Braggins
[email protected] says...

> I gather some shops also have problems with people bringing in **** BSOs
> and being unhappy to pay the price needed to get them more or less working
> when "the whole bike only cost £70" or similar".
>

It's not really a problem, you just have to give them a full quote
before you pick up a spanner. Of course you can't help but tell them
that the work would have been free if they'd bought the bike from you,
but you don't stock bikes that cheap because they simply can't be made
to work properly for long and they're no fun to ride anyway. :)
 
Rob Morley wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>, Alan Braggins
> [email protected] says...
>
>> I gather some shops also have problems with people bringing in **** BSOs
>> and being unhappy to pay the price needed to get them more or less working
>> when "the whole bike only cost £70" or similar".
>>

> It's not really a problem, you just have to give them a full quote
> before you pick up a spanner.

which costs time/money, which they will not recoup because the work
won't be done. So why spend time/money on doing a job that won't be paid
for?
 
On 4 Nov, 07:53, Rob Morley <[email protected]> wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>, Artemisia
> [email protected] says...> Noel wrote:
> > > and we were refused service!
> > > Their reason? We didn't buy the bikes at their shop!

>
> > The only bike shop that is local to me has this outrageous policy too.
> > They could earn handsomely on the maintenance on my now four bikes, but
> > I haven't been in there since 2004.

>
> That's not outrageous, it's just a particular business strategy. Some
> bike shops provide a service and repair facility but don't stock
> complete new bikes - would you consider it outrageous if they refused to
> carry a stock of bikes just because you wanted them to?


No because there is no discrimination in that case. I would, for
example, consider it outrageous if they carried a stock of bikes and
refused to sell me one because I wasn't from the local area, for
example.
 
marc <[email protected]> wrote:

>>> I gather some shops also have problems with people bringing in **** BSOs
>>> and being unhappy to pay the price needed to get them more or less working
>>> when "the whole bike only cost £70" or similar".
>>>

>> It's not really a problem, you just have to give them a full quote
>> before you pick up a spanner.


>which costs time/money, which they will not recoup because the work
>won't be done. So why spend time/money on doing a job that won't be paid
>for?


As an investment in a possible future client. Being told to "sod off
with that BSO" doesn't endear one to a shop. If the why is explained in
a calm and reasonable manner you might come back to that shop.

--
Membrane
 
On 04/11/2007 14:31, Membrane said,

> As an investment in a possible future client. Being told to "sod off
> with that BSO" doesn't endear one to a shop. If the why is explained in
> a calm and reasonable manner you might come back to that shop...


....and buy a real bike from them.

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/
 
Membrane wrote:
> marc <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>>> I gather some shops also have problems with people bringing in **** BSOs
>>>> and being unhappy to pay the price needed to get them more or less working
>>>> when "the whole bike only cost £70" or similar".
>>>>
>>> It's not really a problem, you just have to give them a full quote
>>> before you pick up a spanner.

>
>> which costs time/money, which they will not recoup because the work
>> won't be done. So why spend time/money on doing a job that won't be paid
>> for?

>
> As an investment in a possible future client. Being told to "sod off
> with that BSO" doesn't endear one to a shop. If the why is explained in
> a calm and reasonable manner you might come back to that shop.
>


Which is a difference only in PR not in policy.
 
On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 15:37:01 +0000, marc
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Which is a difference only in PR not in policy.


But a very significant one.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.
 
marc <[email protected]> wrote:

>> As an investment in a possible future client. Being told to "sod off
>> with that BSO" doesn't endear one to a shop. If the why is explained in
>> a calm and reasonable manner you might come back to that shop.

>
>Which is a difference only in PR not in policy.


It would be foolish not to include PR, advertising and customer
relations in the policy.

--
Membrane
 
Paul Boyd <[email protected]> wrote:

>> As an investment in a possible future client. Being told to "sod off
>> with that BSO" doesn't endear one to a shop. If the why is explained in
>> a calm and reasonable manner you might come back to that shop...

>
>...and buy a real bike from them.


Indeed. Quite a few people who buy supermarket bikes and then bring it
to their LBS to get it to work properly do so out of ignorance. To turn
them away is bad business. The opportunity should be used to help them
to learn, not by lecturing them, but by a friendly explanation.

--
Membrane
 
in message <[email protected]>, Rob Morley
('[email protected]') wrote:

> In article <[email protected]>, Alan Braggins
> [email protected] says...
>
>> I gather some shops also have problems with people bringing in **** BSOs
>> and being unhappy to pay the price needed to get them more or less
>> working when "the whole bike only cost £70" or similar".
>>

> It's not really a problem, you just have to give them a full quote
> before you pick up a spanner. Of course you can't help but tell them
> that the work would have been free if they'd bought the bike from you,
> but you don't stock bikes that cheap because they simply can't be made
> to work properly for long and they're no fun to ride anyway. :)


Even giving them a quote costs time. And there is a potentially endless
stream of these things. I really have every sympathy with the LBS which
says 'if we didn't sell it we won't fix it'. It would not necessarily be
my policy, but it is one I understand.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; It appears that /dev/null is a conforming XSL processor.
 
marc wrote:
> Rob Morley wrote:
>> It's not really a problem, you just have to give them a full quote
>> before you pick up a spanner.

> which costs time/money, which they will not recoup because the work
> won't be done. So why spend time/money on doing a job that won't be paid
> for?


"We have a standard £40 upfront charge to assess the problem, then we
will phone you and quote for the actual repair cost. If you decide to
go ahead with the repair the fee is not charged, and if you decide the
repair is uneconomic then the fee can be offset against any new bike you
buy from us". And possibly say something also about what you do with
uncollected bikes when the owner has decided not to repair them, cos I
understand that storage is often a problem too.

I've booked my bike in with Condor so they can look it over after I slid
it on a downhill corner yesterday. I didn't buy it from them (well, I
did buy the wheels and the front mech there, but most of it's from
elsewhere) and I know full well it's going to be more than £40 in parts
alone to get it fixed :-(


-dan
 
"Membrane" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Paul Boyd <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>> As an investment in a possible future client. Being told to "sod off
>>> with that BSO" doesn't endear one to a shop. If the why is explained in
>>> a calm and reasonable manner you might come back to that shop...

>>
>>...and buy a real bike from them.

>
> Indeed. Quite a few people who buy supermarket bikes and then bring it
> to their LBS to get it to work properly do so out of ignorance. To turn
> them away is bad business. The opportunity should be used to help them
> to learn, not by lecturing them, but by a friendly explanation.
>
> --
> Membrane


When I worked in a computer shop it wasn't uncommon for people to bring in
low spec 3 or 4 year old machines which we jsut wouldn't look at other than
to make and estimate of the cost and then compared that to a replacement
computer (using the customers bits where possible). Almost allways resulted
in the sale of a new machine.
It did help that you could still purchase old EDO ram at the time at almost
3 times the price of DDR SD-RAM.
 
On 3 Nov, 11:01, Artemisia <[email protected]> wrote:
> Noel wrote:
> > and we were refused service!
> > Their reason? We didn't buy the bikes at their shop!

>
> The only bike shop that is local to me has this outrageous policy too.
> They could earn handsomely on the maintenance on my now four bikes, but
> I haven't been in there since 2004.
>
> EFR
> Ile de France


Personally, the only times I've had any of my bikes in a LBS were for
physical alteration - the addition of cantilever bosses, resprays,
resetting of rear triangle for wider rear axels which requires the
dropouts to be set parallel again. All these things are jobs that need
specialist skills and tools which I couldn't justify buying for
myself. Everything else, I've done for myself.

David Lloyd
 
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> marc wrote:
>> Rob Morley wrote:
>>> It's not really a problem, you just have to give them a full quote
>>> before you pick up a spanner.

>> which costs time/money, which they will not recoup because the work won't
>> be done. So why spend time/money on doing a job that won't be paid for?

>
> "We have a standard £40 upfront charge to assess the problem, then we will
> phone you and quote for the actual repair cost. If you decide to go ahead
> with the repair the fee is not charged, and if you decide the repair is
> uneconomic then the fee can be offset against any new bike you buy from
> us". And possibly say something also about what you do with uncollected
> bikes when the owner has decided not to repair them, cos I understand that
> storage is often a problem too.
>
> I've booked my bike in with Condor so they can look it over after I slid
> it on a downhill corner yesterday. I didn't buy it from them (well, I did
> buy the wheels and the front mech there, but most of it's from elsewhere)
> and I know full well it's going to be more than £40 in parts alone to get
> it fixed :-(


Jesus. My LBS will fit anything you buy from them for free, and most repairs
cost buttons. In the order of a tenner or so. I'd not take my bikes there if
they wanted £40 just to look at the thing.
 
"David Lloyd" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On 3 Nov, 11:01, Artemisia <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Noel wrote:
>> > and we were refused service!
>> > Their reason? We didn't buy the bikes at their shop!

>>
>> The only bike shop that is local to me has this outrageous policy too.
>> They could earn handsomely on the maintenance on my now four bikes, but
>> I haven't been in there since 2004.
>>
>> EFR
>> Ile de France

>
> Personally, the only times I've had any of my bikes in a LBS were for
> physical alteration - the addition of cantilever bosses, resprays,
> resetting of rear triangle for wider rear axels which requires the
> dropouts to be set parallel again. All these things are jobs that need
> specialist skills and tools which I couldn't justify buying for
> myself. Everything else, I've done for myself.


Whilst I'm capable of fixing most things myself, I'm getting to the point
now of thinking that I might as well pay a man to fix it and have some free
time...
 
"Doki" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "David Lloyd" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> On 3 Nov, 11:01, Artemisia <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> Noel wrote:
>>> > and we were refused service!
>>> > Their reason? We didn't buy the bikes at their shop!
>>>
>>> The only bike shop that is local to me has this outrageous policy too.
>>> They could earn handsomely on the maintenance on my now four bikes, but
>>> I haven't been in there since 2004.
>>>
>>> EFR
>>> Ile de France

>>
>> Personally, the only times I've had any of my bikes in a LBS were for
>> physical alteration - the addition of cantilever bosses, resprays,
>> resetting of rear triangle for wider rear axels which requires the
>> dropouts to be set parallel again. All these things are jobs that need
>> specialist skills and tools which I couldn't justify buying for
>> myself. Everything else, I've done for myself.

>
> Whilst I'm capable of fixing most things myself, I'm getting to the point
> now of thinking that I might as well pay a man to fix it and have some
> free time...


That is if you have any free time spare after you've taken your bike into
the LBS by some other means of transport, come back, waited for the repair
to be done, gone back to collect it and brought it back home. Phew!

I suppose it help if you see cleaning chains and truing wheels as being
relaxing.

David Lloyd (on holiday)