Obnoxious cycle shop owners.

[pplpilot]

There's a local bike shop near me that unless you have £3000+ to spend they treat you like something they trod in. When I first went shopping for my first road bike I went there, needless to say I've never been back, condescending toss pots kinda reminded me of the 'Not the nine o'clock' news sketch but bike based -

 

[tadpole]

I just hate it when you visit a shop and ask for an item only to be told it does not exist, never has, and theyv'e never stocked them, when all the time you've got the broken one at home in the shed. On one laughable occasion - leather toe straps! Hardly inspires confidence in their knowledge and expertise.

Spoke tool in a "serious" Bike shop In Taunton

 

[Lanzecki]

Spoke tool in a "serious" Bike shop In Taunton

That reminds me.

"Do you have a Spoke key please? I need a 4mm" "No-one of any quality has made a wheel that needs 4mm" "Best tell Shimano that" As I walk out.

Halfords had the key....

There are people like this in all walks of life, I have a local gentlemans outfitters that looks on you like dirt unless you are dressed as a country gent with the correct head wear. He just seems to dislike people. But he's been there for 40 years. I guess the customer base is very loyal and enjoys that kind of abuse.

I'll walk into my LBS happily, the owner greets everyone, and while you may have to wait for a while to get served, you will get served.

I wanted a new co2 pump and a hand pump. I left with one pump that did both jobs. He got less money, but I will return willingly. Much more so then the local bike superstore.

As has been said above, It's quality of service and niche services they can provide that the bike superstores cannot. Quality over price.

 

[stevede]

I appreciate that the OP's original post was not about a cheap price, quite the opposite, but as the thread has evolved a quality / service theme has followed.

Below is a quote from John Ruskin, he has another excellent one along a similar vane. I have them both pinned by my desk and can often be seen pointing at them when one of my colleagues is whinging about how they cannot compete on price. The quality mentioned could easily be the service offered as well as the actual product itself. Thought it was worth sharing.

19th Century entrepreneur John Ruskin once said:

“The bitterness of poor service lasts long after the initial sweetness of a cheap price,”

“There is always somebody in the world who can provide an inferior product or service at a cheaper price. Anyone who buys from this man becomes his lawful prey.”

Above all, never be afraid to sell value to customers and remember, that quality is not expensive – It is Priceless.

 

[Svendo]

Ahh so it wasn't just me they don't like the look of then? It's a fair sized shop, you'd think they'd want more custom, observable old gits.

I had a poor experience there too years ago. Went in to buy my first proper bike shoes and clip in pedals. Went and asked for advice, basically told 'they're over there'. Utterly disinterested in actual service, and completely missed the chance to suggest a range of products, and buy good will for the future. I did buy the cheapest shoes and pedals and have only been there twice since for little bits when had no choice, and not for years now.
Asked about the shop with local bike clubs and riders occasionally and consensus is he and his son are miserable gits!

 

[redcard]

Willy Bain's in the south side of Glasgow. Doesn't sell bikes - just parts and repairs. Couldn't do enough when I went in for the first time. Asked me when I wanted my bike back, and felt he would keep the bill as low as he could. Spent a lot of time on my bike and gave a lot of useful advice.

Not so local, but definitely my LBS.

 

[Nebulous]

Appropriate news item from BBC.

I haven't watched the video, just read the article but it shows how some people can break through the retailing doom and gloom.

 

[MacB]

@nickyboy has made a couple of 'to the point' contributions on this thread, taking it slightly further it really is all about the business model. A LBS is a middleman for everything but service, it's only in that area that they can out compete an internet supplier. Their USP is the value they add and that covers the entirety of the face to face, and aftercare, experience. Their business model should account for that and staff need to be employed and trained accordingly. If the owner's the problem then they are in the wrong business.

I get tired of being told I should feel sorry for the little business and the big nasty internet retailers stomping on them. When in reality they are both just different flavours of middlemen taking a cut of the pie.

 

[fudgepanda]

20 secs on wiggle : http://www.wiggle.co.uk/?s=rs80

Er, yes. You and youngoldbloke are both correct, I could have checked google or wiggle but I was mid-post and have difficulty single tasking, let alone multi tasking. But thanks for the info anyway. I will look elsewhere next time.

 

[Lanzecki]

Er, yes. You and youngoldbloke are both correct, I could have checked google or wiggle but I was mid-post and have difficulty single tasking, let alone multi tasking. But thanks for the info anyway. I will look elsewhere next time.

I only had the link because I had to look them up as well. Fancy carbon alloy stuff. Spawn of the devil.

 

[markharry66]

I have two local bike shops near me. One I used to use for service and repair of all my bikes until they were rude to me they are in Welling after being told why should I be pushed to the front of repair que (never expected to be just wanted to know when I would get my bike back). I use the one in sidcup, friendly, good advice, fair pricing vs rude and insulting think I will not be using that one ever again.

 

[subaqua]

this brings back a childhood memory of going into the LBS (W Stevenson- sadly no longer where it was in the tin shack) in my home town and asking for the multiple visor things the BMX riders of the day used. he wasn't too poleased to be asked - " do you have any rip offs ? "

 

[fudgepanda]

I only had the link because I had to look them up as well. Fancy carbon alloy stuff. Spawn of the devil.

Being relatively new to this cycling business I tended to think of Shimano as only making gears and the like.....until I remembered that my cycling shoes are also Shimano. And then the more I thought about it I remembered that the brakes on my bike are also Shimano. Personally I think bicycles should be made of old railway track and made in a shed by a man called Bert. Alloy? New fangled rubbish. And as for carbon, not spawn of the devil, but beelzebub himself

 

[Bill-H]

I went into my lbs asked if he could get near to online price for my bike he said yes then when I told him price he couldn't do it so I cheekily asked how much to build Internet bike quoted £25 pound so I offered the Internet price plus £20 then plus £25 as I would have had to pay that anyway I have since used this shop for everything he will try and match prices if he can I do tend to still use him if he can't . I get great service and always good advice from him and two staff members

 

[Peteaud]

Spoke tool in a "serious" Bike shop In Taunton

K, RC, or TBC ?

Hope not the last 2 because they have both been ok with me.