Bike shop hospitality

[BADEXPRESSO]

Has anyone had a particular bad experince with a LBS? I have good experiences all the time BUT, it seems as if the last two or three times I have been to a LBS, I have received an absolutly piss poor shop worker(s) that really didn't care to deal with me. It seems as if, if I am not their to purchase a high $$$ bike whether it be MTB or road, they don't want to deal with me. I don't want to specifically name this shop but it is in the West metro area. If oyu have a bad experience from a shop, please list it as their might be a trend to this.

Thanks

[nigel]

As someone who has worked in shops, full time, 5 or more days a week 40+ hours a week for years, i think i can say and other shop guys/gals will agree.

Sometimes you have an off day!
Sometimes you dont want to work on bikes.
Sometimes you get sick of people.
Sometimes you hate selling that $219 bike one after another.
Sometimes you dont feel well.
Sometimes people try and argue.
Sometimes you get sick of people trying to bring the prices down.
Sometimes you get sick of people bringing in printouts from e-tailers.
Sometimes you dont want to deal with the "know it all" customer.
Sometimes people try and come in to impress you.
Sometimes you..........

Get the idea?

Oh there are many more, but geeze man, shop employees are only human!Now im not trying to argue with you, just stating what ive experienced. You cant make everyone happy all the time, but we try, and it be hard at times. EVERYONE has an off day now and again, if the same shop (diff employees too) is (are) constantly treating you the same, it could be a problem with them or you?! I would maybe ask whats up, being honest sometimes (without being hostile or argumentative) is the best way to solve things.

Douglas


Also....some shops do make a living on high end only sales....so they can afford to let sales walk for the lil stuff, yeah its wrong i think and rare, but they can afford to do it *shrugs*

[noise_is_life]

...and then there are some people that are just crabby.

There's a certain mechanic at a well know bike shop that was always pretty grouchy with me, but he always came through with getting stuff replaced on warranty and such.

[manual63]

I will back Doug on his post and add some more to the equation.

First of all, bike shops don't pay very well considering how hard a lot of employees work. I kind of can't expect much from anyone working any job, not just bike shops, that doesn't pay well. I actually made pretty good money working at TC BMX, but I was the shop manager and made commission on my sales, but most shops don't pay much to regular employees.

One thing that really gets to me, and I see it all the time, is these people, usually ones who make a lot of money, come into a shop and expect to be treated with some sort of red carpet treatment. Hey.....if it's busy.....wait your turn. I don't care if you pulled up in a Red Jag and your looking at a $3000 Road bike......you must wait like everyone else. What gets me worked up even more is when I see a shop sales person give the Red Carpet treatment to these jerks, leaving some customers hanging, because they are after the commission......yep....I've seen it.

Now...a word about shop sales people. KNOW THE PRODUCTS THAT YOU SELL PLEASE!!!!! It's not that tough. Do some online research and read the catalogs. You don't need to know everything, but you should have a really good idea about what you are selling people. I think too many shop sales people are not even that into bicycling and thus they have no interest in the products or the sport, it's just a sales job.

The issues go both ways and this is in no way limited to just bicycle shops. Man, I have the same issues with auto dealerships......they suck!

There are a lot of really cool employees that work at shops and usually they are the ones like Nendza and Doug here. They are the ones that love the sport and work at a shop because of it. They are also the ones who will give you the best service and who may be moody at some times, like Doug mentioned, but that's to be expected in a high stress work environment like a bicycle shop. If you don't think it's a high stress job, than work at a shop to find out for yourself......it's not all fun and games like it may appear.

[Kevin Leis]

I love my LBS in fat I won't buy from anywhere else including online. Ramsey Bicycle on Hwy 10. They give their customers a quick turn around on repairs, days not weeks. Plus they don't run the 219 dollar customers out infact thats where they make their money. They do sell high end also. But Al, the owner knows that customer service brings repeat business and if he sells a 200-300 bike to each member of a customers family and all their friends he's coming out ahead. Plus there are alot more casual cyclist then us junkies.:crazy2:

[seberly]

I do not see the purpose of this post. If you have a bad experience at a shop tell THEM, they need to know.

It is way to easy to use the internet to flame.

[jitterjepp]

I don't think I've ever had a real horrible experience at a bike shop. I got a grumpy guy once but he said he was kind of grumpy that day. He couldn't find what I needed but he called me back later and said he had the parts. Ya, so people get grumpy sometimes. Big deal. When I go I usually ride my bike to the shop unless I'm getting the wheels worked on and I know exactally what I need. I tell them what it is and listen to the input the have on it. I've never had to wait that long for work to be done either. I mean like go on a list. They can pretty much tell I can't go without my bike for very long. Even if I can't ride because of the weather it drives me crazy to think that I couldn't ride if it cleared up even though I know it wont.
The only problem I really ever had was a few years back with a certain bike shop that did some work on my bike before the 24-afton race. They said if I had any problems at all I could come by and they would fix it immediately. Well I did have those problems. I went to the Penn Cycle tent and they wouldn't help me. The same people that said they would help gave me the "ya, so what." Then I walked over to the Trek factory tent a few steps away with my Specialized and a guy I didn't even know jumped up grabbed my bike and put in on the stand. Another guy got up and walked over too and they fixed it. Those guys rock!! I ended up getting in another four laps before it totally bit the dust.

I still go to penn but it's kind of the last place I go because I don't want to see some dudes that tried to play chump with me. I usually go to Kenwood Cycle or Eriks in ST. Louis Park for work on my bike because I've seen the guys who work there at the Afton race (this is the only race i go to). They are pretty cool guys and they know my bike isn't a dust collector or transporation for an hour around the lakes once a month. And that guy from Kenwood riding the single speed as a solo rider. Crazy!

[socrates]

As someone who has worked in shops, full time, 5 or more days a week 40+ hours a week for years, i think i can say and other shop guys/gals will agree.

Sometimes you have an off day!
Sometimes you dont want to work on bikes.
Sometimes you get sick of people.
Sometimes you hate selling that $219 bike one after another.
Sometimes you dont feel well.
Sometimes people try and argue.
Sometimes you get sick of people trying to bring the prices down.
Sometimes you get sick of people bringing in printouts from e-tailers.
Sometimes you dont want to deal with the "know it all" customer.
Sometimes people try and come in to impress you.
Sometimes you..........

Get the idea?

Oh there are many more, but geeze man, shop employees are only human!Now im not trying to argue with you, just stating what ive experienced. You cant make everyone happy all the time, but we try, and it be hard at times. EVERYONE has an off day now and again, if the same shop (diff employees too) is (are) constantly treating you the same, it could be a problem with them or you?! I would maybe ask whats up, being honest sometimes (without being hostile or argumentative) is the best way to solve things.

Douglas


Also....some shops do make a living on high end only sales....so they can afford to let sales walk for the lil stuff, yeah its wrong i think and rare, but they can afford to do it *shrugs*
Doug I do respect your position but unfortunately I must say I disagree, yes everyone has an off day....but more and more (especially with the internet now adays) people are buying products & service (service being the service a store provides during the transactional period)...I for one will vote with my hard earned dollars to support those to give me good service and the reverse for those that don't...yes everyone can have an off day but it shouldn't be too far off and so I will probably give the retailer another try but there are too many people wanting our business to keep getting crappy service....another small example, think about the last time you dealt with utility, crappy service, why? because you don't have a choice...so you're overcharged and underserviced, doesn't make you feel good does it....contrast that with going to a restaurant or bar where they know you, you walk in the door and they say "Hi Doug, how are you today"...makes you feel valued because they recognize you and appreciate your business and so you'll probably keep going back

[Fool4TheCity]

Boehm's Snelling & Selby in St. Paul. The guys are the best. See Tom, Ryan, or John.

[socrates]

I will back Doug on his post and add some more to the equation.

First of all, bike shops don't pay very well considering how hard a lot of employees work. I kind of can't expect much from anyone working any job, not just bike shops, that doesn't pay well. I actually made pretty good money working at TC BMX, but I was the shop manager and made commission on my sales, but most shops don't pay much to regular employees.

One thing that really gets to me, and I see it all the time, is these people, usually ones who make a lot of money, come into a shop and expect to be treated with some sort of red carpet treatment. Hey.....if it's busy.....wait your turn. I don't care if you pulled up in a Red Jag and your looking at a $3000 Road bike......you must wait like everyone else. What gets me worked up even more is when I see a shop sales person give the Red Carpet treatment to these jerks, leaving some customers hanging, because they are after the commission......yep....I've seen it.

Now...a word about shop sales people. KNOW THE PRODUCTS THAT YOU SELL PLEASE!!!!! It's not that tough. Do some online research and read the catalogs. You don't need to know everything, but you should have a really good idea about what you are selling people. I think too many shop sales people are not even that into bicycling and thus they have no interest in the products or the sport, it's just a sales job.

The issues go both ways and this is in no way limited to just bicycle shops. Man, I have the same issues with auto dealerships......they suck!

There are a lot of really cool employees that work at shops and usually they are the ones like Nendza and Doug here. They are the ones that love the sport and work at a shop because of it. They are also the ones who will give you the best service and who may be moody at some times, like Doug mentioned, but that's to be expected in a high stress work environment like a bicycle shop. If you don't think it's a high stress job, than work at a shop to find out for yourself......it's not all fun and games like it may appear.
So you're saying we must put up with crappy service because the employee's have an excuse (being lowly paid)?....wow...I'm not expecting the heaven's to open up when I walk through the door but alittle common courtesy is a requirement...(yes I agree the issue isn't just limited to bike shops...I have walked out of dealerships before because of the same reason)...a great example of what I'm talking about is Doug....I was talking to Doug about putting hydro brakes on my bike last fall....he spent about 45 mins checking things out and making phone calls to see exactly what it would take to do it on my Klein...that's great service (in the end no Hydro's for Dave)...would I go back to Doug because of this...absolutely, he earned the right to my business and so I owe it to him....(it's a bonus that he's a morc member as well)

[nigel]

a great example of what I'm talking about is Doug....I was talking to Doug about putting hydro brakes on my bike last fall....he spent about 45 mins checking things out and making phone calls to see exactly what it would take to do it on my Klein...that's great service (in the end no Hydro's for Dave)...would I go back to Doug because of this...absolutely, he earned the right to my business and so I owe it to him....(it's a bonus that he's a morc member as well)

*Big cheese eatin grin* Thanks man :banana: :banana: :banana:

I agree that one should not have to deal with "bad" service, but how I treated you is how I try and treat everyone. But thats how I am, see where it got me, in the cycling industry! (joke c'mon hahaha if i can larf about it so can u) There is to much of this happening out there, i see it where i work now, it turns customers off big time and i hate to see it. One should NEVER settle for bad customer service, and completly agree with you on that on all the way, some people are not cut out for retail, but they somehow get the jobs anyhow. not sure where im going with this one so ill stop here.

D

[nigel]

...and then there are some people that are just crabby.

There's a certain mechanic at a well know bike shop that was always pretty grouchy with me, but he always came through with getting stuff replaced on warranty and such.
Sometimes the crabby guys are the best at what they do! Ok as much as i tried to be crabby sometimes i just could not do it very well. hehe

D

[Standard]

There are a lot of really cool employees that work at shops and usually they are the ones like Nendza and Doug here. They are the ones that love the sport and work at a shop because of it. They are also the ones who will give you the best service and who may be moody at some times, like Doug mentioned, but that's to be expected in a high stress work environment like a bicycle shop. If you don't think it's a high stress job, than work at a shop to find out for yourself......it's not all fun and games like it may appear.
Thanks Shad!

I generally try to be happy and upbeat, but there are days when it's just a front and it may show sometimes. It gets tough, especially in the busy season which is right around the corner.

[noise_is_life]

Thanks Shad!

I generally try to be happy and upbeat, but there are days when it's just a front and it may show sometimes. It gets tough, especially in the busy season which is right around the corner.
Props from me too, I've been in a few times with little problems and you fixed them on the fly, no questions ask. You set a high "Standard" :D

[manual63]

So you're saying we must put up with crappy service because the employee's have an excuse (being lowly paid)?....wow...I'm not expecting the heaven's to open up when I walk through the door but alittle common courtesy is a requirement...(yes I agree the issue isn't just limited to bike shops...I have walked out of dealerships before because of the same reason)...a great example of what I'm talking about is Doug....I was talking to Doug about putting hydro brakes on my bike last fall....he spent about 45 mins checking things out and making phone calls to see exactly what it would take to do it on my Klein...that's great service (in the end no Hydro's for Dave)...would I go back to Doug because of this...absolutely, he earned the right to my business and so I owe it to him....(it's a bonus that he's a morc member as well)
Well, you think pay is no big deal. I do think it's a big deal. A company can't expect too much out of it's employees if it's not going to pay them a decent wage. We had this dicussion before. Yes, people should work hard, but in a lot of these environments, hard work doesn't get you anywhere. If companies paid a decent wage, they would be surprised at how good their employees worked. Then when an employee isn't working up to standards, they can lose their job and you can replace them with a good worker.......why......because you pay well. Companies would actually save more money by doing this. Better workers makes the company run more efficient and you would have less turn around and training to do........blah.......blah.....blah......you get my point and it's getting off topic.....we have a section for this stuff.

[TomT]

This thread is like watching a dog chace its tail.

Yes, not all bike shop employees aren't paid what they're worth and that is no excuse for giving poor customer service. I didn't ask them to take a low paying job that makes them unhappy.

In order to pay for the shop, inventory, employee wages, and other expenses a shop needs to make a profit. However, as it was stated in another thread, it seems that some people would rather purchase via the net from a company that rents warehouse space and only needs a few employees rather than pay a LBS a higher price. That's an option.

Not all LBS are the same, some I like and some I don't. Some have knowledgeable staff but a fancy shop that makes me feel like I'm shopping in a Marshal Fields store. Some have fantastic owners whom I get good service from, but when the owners aren't there it seems like the staff goes stupid. Some seem so busy that it takes forever to get service, and some are so slow that it takes forever to get service. Others have fantastic knowledgeable staff, but limited inventory and a poor browsing experience.

Living in a city with so many shops offers the opportunity to pick and choose where I shop. Some shops were naughty last year and haven't seen me since last spring. :hit:

[zerpy]

I like Douglas's response that "Sometimes..." I think that's an important thing to remember. Everyone is going to have a bad day and we need to cut some slack. However, if you are repeatedly getting bad service at a place, well that's another issue. Good example: There's a local shop that I've gotten, and continue to get, great sales service from. However, I've gotten lousy service three times in a row from their shop. So, if I need shop services, I go elsewhere but for sales I still go the the same guys. Actually for "shop" services I've been trying to learn to do it myself, and props to Douglas for being a huge help with that:banana: :banana: Part of the motivation for learning to do my own wrenching is because of the lousy service I've had at a particular shop has me thinking, and part of it is the economics of it and the convenience of doing it on my schedule.

At any rate, mistakes happen and we need to forgive people for their mistakes. When it is obvious that is isn't a mistake, or bad day, then there is a loss of trust and you can put your dollars elsewhere. The thing is, if you refuse to do business with a place each time they have a bad day, then you are quickly going to run out of places to do business with.

That may be one of the motivations for people to go to the net, prices are less because there is no customer service because customer service is expensive. That can be a positive or a negative. Sometime I need the customer service and should be willing to pay for it, sometimes I know very well what I want and don't want to pay "extra" for the customer service I don't need. But, don't go into a shop, use their service then try to get them to price match the internet. Especially don't get grumpy at their reaction when you just offended them with that as well.

[socrates]

Well, you think pay is no big deal. I do think it's a big deal. A company can't expect too much out of it's employees if it's not going to pay them a decent wage. We had this dicussion before. Yes, people should work hard, but in a lot of these environments, hard work doesn't get you anywhere. If companies paid a decent wage, they would be surprised at how good their employees worked. Then when an employee isn't working up to standards, they can lose their job and you can replace them with a good worker.......why......because you pay well. Companies would actually save more money by doing this. Better workers makes the company run more efficient and you would have less turn around and training to do........blah.......blah.....blah......you get my point and it's getting off topic.....we have a section for this stuff.Well then you better not buy a japanese built vehicle as their employees aren't paid nearly as much as the German automanufacturer's employees, and for that matter you better not buy a product that uses steel from anywhere but the US because we've got the highest employee costs here....I personally don't have any interest in finding out how companies I do business with treat their employees, it's usually quite evident in the service they give...employees that are treated well typically give better service than those that don't...

[socrates]

This thread is like watching a dog chace its tail.

Yes, not all bike shop employees aren't paid what they're worth and that is no excuse for giving poor customer service. I didn't ask them to take a low paying job that makes them unhappy.

In order to pay for the shop, inventory, employee wages, and other expenses a shop needs to make a profit. However, as it was stated in another thread, it seems that some people would rather purchase via the net from a company that rents warehouse space and only needs a few employees rather than pay a LBS a higher price. That's an option.

Not all LBS are the same, some I like and some I don't. Some have knowledgeable staff but a fancy shop that makes me feel like I'm shopping in a Marshal Fields store. Some have fantastic owners whom I get good service from, but when the owners aren't there it seems like the staff goes stupid. Some seem so busy that it takes forever to get service, and some are so slow that it takes forever to get service. Others have fantastic knowledgeable staff, but limited inventory and a poor browsing experience.

Living in a city with so many shops offers the opportunity to pick and choose where I shop. Some shops were naughty last year and haven't seen me since last spring. :hit:Exactly!...bonus points for this post :D

[Standard]

Props from me too, I've been in a few times with little problems and you fixed them on the fly, no questions ask. You set a high "Standard" :D

Thanks Pat! :) Always glad to help and avid rider like you. Speaking of Avid, your brakes still working good?

[noise_is_life]

Thanks Pat! :) Always glad to help and avid rider like you. Speaking of Avid, your brakes still working good?
Working great!