LBS lied to make a sale - why so short-sighted?

[Cold]

My friend who works for Evans Cycles as a mechanic told me i'd be "lucky to climb a decent hill with that cassette"! He said it wasn't suitable for what i wanted the bike for. If he knew it wasn't suitable for climbing steep hills how come those who made/sold it didn't know? I suppose you could say my friend would say that but he's not one to call other mechanics work, or knowledge of bikes just for the sake of it. Why didn't the shop when they knew they more or less had the bike sold to me, suggest a more suitable cassette, like the one i've had to have fitted? Perhaps the shop/sales assistant, who i know puts their bikes together, did genuinely think the cassette would do the job? Apart from that i'm quite happy with the rest of the bike.

Maybe you weren't clear in what you were asking them.

You said you wanted a triple but they talked you into a double as your not mechanically minded but how did you know you needed a triple? Also your friend is a mechanic why didn't you ask him for advice before you bought the bike?

 

[screenman]

Maybe Accy looked fit enough to handle a double.

 

[Siclo]

I didn't know it was wrong till i tried it out. At the time of purchase i thought i'd bought a suitable bike.

This double / triple thing with new(ish) riders seems to be a common thing. To be fair to shop staff I think that very often these folk often forget what it is to be grovelling up hills without x thousand miles a year for umpteen years in your legs, after all the longer you've been doing it the easier it all was back then. To be fair to @Accy cyclist given your location they really should have known better and at the very least offered a compromise on cassette / mech, its a tad lumpy round there. I won't comment on the shop staff other than to say that IME they could certainly do with some training on public relations especially when wearing their own jerseys.

As to the OP, again sympathies on both sides, really its the way that manufacturers love to muddy the waters on model / years, @Cuchilo makes a good point, and don't get me started on the distribution model of the cycle industry that really doesn't help this situation

 

[markharry66]

I gave up on local bike shops a long, long time ago. Poor customer service, rubbish attitude to customers and of course price.
Will do it myself and have done for a long time. I am not glad that a lot of these business are going to the wall but can see why.

 

[vickster]

I gave up on local bike shops a long, long time ago. Poor customer service, rubbish attitude to customers and of course price.
Will do it myself and have done for a long time. I am not glad that a lot of these business are going to the wall but can see why.

Think you meant to post in the LBS thread

 

[martint235]

I only got a till receipt.
It's quite a small shop. A bike is a major lump of stock. If it were my business I would know if I'd had it for 1 year or 2 years.
IMO a forum isn't the right place to be identifying the subject business- whether justified or not, it's libellous.

Out of interest and without wanting to get into the naming and shaming row, is it the one on Scotland Road?

 

[Oldfentiger]

Out of interest and without wanting to get into the naming and shaming row, is it the one on Scotland Road?

No, not that one.

 

[glenn forger]

Best not guess, maybe?

 

[Banjo]

I think the problem is that lots of cycle shop staff dont have much cycling knowledge or maybe they are only experienced in one of the many disciplines within cycling.

An in experienced customer taking advice from inexperienced staff is highly likely to end in tears.

 

[ayceejay]

If a bike has a guarantee then the date is relevant otherwise not so much, however if you ask the
bloke in the shop what year it is (a number that is stamped on the bb) and he tells you the wrong number
you are right to be suspicious.

 

[glenn forger]

How do you tell the year from the number please? You mean the bike frame number?

 

[Banjo]

Unless the op goes back to the shop and asks for an explanation then its all speculation.

Even though the op says he is enjoying the bike its obviously niggling in the back of his mind, personally I would go back and in a non confrontational way ask for an explanation.

Never know he may end up with some freebies or a voucher as an apology .

 

[Oldfentiger]

Unless the op goes back to the shop and asks for an explanation then its all speculation.

Even though the op says he is enjoying the bike its obviously niggling in the back of his mind, personally I would go back and in a non confrontational way ask for an explanation.

Never know he may end up with some freebies or a voucher as an apology .

TBH there's no point.
Firstly, as I've said repeatedly. I don't care. The bikes's fine.
Secondly, nowhere was the year of the bike written down. I was told verbally in answer to my question. It's 8 months ago so who's going to admit to remembering the dialogue?

It's taken me best part of 8 months to even discover that the bike is a year older than claimed, I just started this thread because I can't understand why the shop proprietor chose to misinform me.
No, I don't believe it was a genuine mistake.

 

[Shaun]

Who does the no names policy apply to? If someone had a bad experience at their local Halfords or Evan's, is it ok to publicly post about that? Is it just the small independent shops who need to be mollycoddled?

For me it really depends on the context. I think it is fine for someone to say "I no longer trust x, y or z because of the experience I've had" - it is a personal opinion and is how you feel about a retailer; however blanket statements like "x, y or z cannot be trusted" are not necessarily true and should be avoided.

Of course I'm more than happy for any LBS or retailer to join CycleChat and discuss issues that members have had with their service. It has happened in the past and has resulted in some positive outcomes.