Hi. I encountered a car last weekend. This resulted in a necessary wheel and fork replacement for my 2004 Coda Comp.
Fortunately enough, i walked away with a few scrapes and one big bruise but nothing else
So, I took it on Tuesday to the store I bought it from less than a year ago, where i felt like we had a good relationship. The owner initially told me that the similar quality fork was on backorder, but he could replace it with a moderate quality fork (Surly)and I could get the bike in a couple of days. He said that the Coda frames have some sort of mount on them that make them hard to replace with other brands. He also said that I'd likely not notice a difference. The wheel was in stock. I agreed to the proposed repair.
Today (Thursday) I called the store. I talked to a tech that said that the Surly didn't fit and they didn't know when they could get in a similar quality fork to the Surly nor did they have a delivery date on the replacement quality fork. They said that they could put on a standard steel fork at a cost of around $55 plus labor and I could bring the bike back when the replacement fork is ready, if I ordered it.
I kept talking with the tech and I could tell he was getting impatient with me, because I wasn't doing what he wanted. I told him that putting a cheap fork on an expensive (for me, at least) bicycle didn't make a lot of sense. He said something about getting me back on the road in a hurry. When I said that I had another bike and I was prepared to wait, I found the real issue which was that the store didn't want to store the bike until the replacement fork came in. I told the guy I'd make a decision and call back.
I thought about it a while and called back for the manager (apparently not the owner). I said that it didn't make sense to me to put a cheap fork on an expensive bike, nor did it make sense for me to make 2-hour round trips to pick up the bike then bring it back when whatever fork I order gets in. He said(correctly) that they weren't responsible for my accident. Then he said they weren't responsible for the hassles I incur (trip time) to be their customer. There was no profit in storing a bicycle that wasn't going to be fixed right away. I told him that there was plenty of profit when I bought the bicycle less than a year ago and I wasn't happy about it. We had words and I said that, if I have to pull the bike out, that's the last they've seen of me. I didn't hear what words he said when I hung up on him, but I'm sure he wasn't real pleased.
This store is a high volume store, but I liked the vibe when I bought the bike to begin with. There was another dealer closer to where I live, but this store had the model in stock and seemed easier to work with than the other dealer.
Also, on Tuesday, I heard the owner offer to split the tuneup cost on a bicycle that had been bought from them but was a couple of months after the one-year period for a free tune up.
I called the other dealer who said that the stores deal with the same distributors for the most part and that he'd look at the bike and store it until done if I wanted, but he'd prefer not to store it. That dealer is generally a 35-45 minute round trip from and to my home.
So, I'm steamed. It seems like the manager and tech regarded my purchase of the bicycle less than a year ago as "that was then, this is now". Yes, I'm saxguy, but my day job is as a CPA and I find this to be rather bad customer service. Still, I don't have tremendous experience with bicycles more expensive than a couple of hundred dollars. Maybe this is the way high volume dealers work.
I'm thinking of faxxing the owner tomorrow and asking him what he can do to resolve this, but first, I'd like some comments from experienced bicyclists on:
1. Is this reasonable shop behavior?
2. Should I get the cheap fork?
3. How would a typical urban high-volume store handle this?
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Fortunately enough, i walked away with a few scrapes and one big bruise but nothing elseSo, I took it on Tuesday to the store I bought it from less than a year ago, where i felt like we had a good relationship. The owner initially told me that the similar quality fork was on backorder, but he could replace it with a moderate quality fork (Surly)and I could get the bike in a couple of days. He said that the Coda frames have some sort of mount on them that make them hard to replace with other brands. He also said that I'd likely not notice a difference. The wheel was in stock. I agreed to the proposed repair.
Today (Thursday) I called the store. I talked to a tech that said that the Surly didn't fit and they didn't know when they could get in a similar quality fork to the Surly nor did they have a delivery date on the replacement quality fork. They said that they could put on a standard steel fork at a cost of around $55 plus labor and I could bring the bike back when the replacement fork is ready, if I ordered it.
I kept talking with the tech and I could tell he was getting impatient with me, because I wasn't doing what he wanted. I told him that putting a cheap fork on an expensive (for me, at least) bicycle didn't make a lot of sense. He said something about getting me back on the road in a hurry. When I said that I had another bike and I was prepared to wait, I found the real issue which was that the store didn't want to store the bike until the replacement fork came in. I told the guy I'd make a decision and call back.
I thought about it a while and called back for the manager (apparently not the owner). I said that it didn't make sense to me to put a cheap fork on an expensive bike, nor did it make sense for me to make 2-hour round trips to pick up the bike then bring it back when whatever fork I order gets in. He said(correctly) that they weren't responsible for my accident. Then he said they weren't responsible for the hassles I incur (trip time) to be their customer. There was no profit in storing a bicycle that wasn't going to be fixed right away. I told him that there was plenty of profit when I bought the bicycle less than a year ago and I wasn't happy about it. We had words and I said that, if I have to pull the bike out, that's the last they've seen of me. I didn't hear what words he said when I hung up on him, but I'm sure he wasn't real pleased.
This store is a high volume store, but I liked the vibe when I bought the bike to begin with. There was another dealer closer to where I live, but this store had the model in stock and seemed easier to work with than the other dealer.
Also, on Tuesday, I heard the owner offer to split the tuneup cost on a bicycle that had been bought from them but was a couple of months after the one-year period for a free tune up.
I called the other dealer who said that the stores deal with the same distributors for the most part and that he'd look at the bike and store it until done if I wanted, but he'd prefer not to store it. That dealer is generally a 35-45 minute round trip from and to my home.
So, I'm steamed. It seems like the manager and tech regarded my purchase of the bicycle less than a year ago as "that was then, this is now". Yes, I'm saxguy, but my day job is as a CPA and I find this to be rather bad customer service. Still, I don't have tremendous experience with bicycles more expensive than a couple of hundred dollars. Maybe this is the way high volume dealers work.
I'm thinking of faxxing the owner tomorrow and asking him what he can do to resolve this, but first, I'd like some comments from experienced bicyclists on:
1. Is this reasonable shop behavior?
2. Should I get the cheap fork?
3. How would a typical urban high-volume store handle this?
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
