Bike shops

[Cuchilo]

You're out for a ride and get a puncture . No problem but you know there is a bike shop very close so you hobble to the shop .
They say £5 for a tube £10 to do it for you . You only have £5 and have the stuff to DIY but would like to keep your DIY as you are far from home . Will they take a bank transfer . No .
Then you ask to buy a new tube just incase your DIY fails and they say £6
It seems some shops , no matter how polite and friendly you are just want to be dicks .

 

[Dirk]

Last time I had a puncture in town, my LBS put a new tube in, gave me a coffee and didn't charge me anything.
I dropped some cakes in for the lads the following week.
Guess where I go for most of my stuff.

 

[PeteXXX]

George Hall Cycles, in Mkt. Harborough, were exactly the opposite.
When I had multiple visits from the p*ncture fairy, on a canal side ride, they let me use their workshop to fit new tubes etc.
Mind you, I did have the ££ on me to buy the new tubes.

 

[vickster]

I don't go anywhere without at least one bank/credit card for such eventualities

 

[Cuchilo]

I don't go anywhere without at least one bank/credit card for such eventualities

and this shop wont be seeing my bank card EVER .
I was fine on my own but so close to a shop it seemed daft not to go there .

 

[adamhearn]

It seems some shops , no matter how polite and friendly you are just want to be dicks

Whilst it would have been great to get free fitting/service/whatever you thought you were due I dare say they consider being a sustainable business as more important than you...

And only carrying £5, was that on purpose or a lapse? Of course, if you were riding with a spare tube as well as a set of patches then you could have saved yourself all the bother

 

[hoopdriver]

Marathon-plus tyres
Patch kit
Spare tube
Tyre levers
Pump
Multi tool
Spare chain link
Twenty pound note tucked in my saddlebag and left there - so it's always there

And, happily, a wonderful bike shop in town! Handsome Bicycles, in Hastings - I couldn't even imagine them behaving like that.

 

[screenman]

Cleveland cycles Coningsby, would not even sell a tube as they were just about to shut for lunch.

 

[Vantage]

I'm all for keeping the lbs in business by supplying them work that I can't do myself, but moaning about them charging for work that you just can't be arsed doing yourself? Help me out here.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Tannus tyres, what’s the p*fairy?

 

[Drago]

My body guards in the chase car always carry a few grand in case the P fairy visits.

 

[Globalti]

Unbelievable post!

Too lazy or disorganised to carry a spare tube, pump and tyre levers then whining when a shop wants to charge a perfectly realistic sum of money to divert a qualified mechanic for ten minutes. Even at ten pounds the shop would make no profit, no matter how quickly the job is done.

 

[Cuchilo]

Unbelievable post!

Too lazy or disorganised to carry a spare tube, pump and tyre levers then whining when a shop wants to charge a perfectly realistic sum of money to divert a qualified mechanic for ten minutes. Even at ten pounds the shop would make no profit, no matter how quickly the job is done.

Unbelievable post !
Too lazy to read what i posted or too disorganised to remember what was posted while you wrote your reply ?
I had repair kit on me but was very close to the shop .
I had offered a way of paying .
I opted to buy the £5 spare tube as using the one i already had would leave me with no spare if i couldnt remove the problem from the tyre on first repair .
They put the price up by £1 knowing i was only carrying £5 cash .

 

[TissoT]

Sounds as if you where just having a bad day Though I am not sure that the bike shop should be branded as a "Dick"

 

[KneesUp]

Retailer here.

If the shop owner had said the tube was £5 at the start of the conversation, and then later asked for £6, (s)he is not my kind of retailer.

I get that they wanted to get a certain return on the job, but if that's the case then I'd phrase it as £6 for a tube, or £15 fitted, rather that £5 for a tube if you also spend £10 on fitting, or £6 for a tube on it's own - that's just misleading / confusing / irritating to the customer.

And it means they have made £0 out of a punter rather than whatever they would have made selling the tube for £5.