General Cycling Discussion - A customer seriously trying to pull a fast one

Customer brings the three thousand dollar full suspension rig to the counter and says he will take it. Ask him if he would like to test it out. "No I want this one" Start the ring up and pull the tag off the bike. The tag is for a $300 hard tail. We apologise and tell him that we are sorry the bike has been mistagged and that it is $3000. He says no problem and that he wants that bike but forgot his wallet and will go out to his car and get it. Never to be seen again. When putting the bike back in the racks we find the tag for the FS bike on the floor and a $300 hardtail with no tag on it.

Wow! It's a good thing you knew how to read! I bet the guy wasn't counting on that! ;)

Sad to say, but when I worked in retail that wasn't an uncommon occurrence.

Nice going. With the economy collapsing as it is, people are going to long lengths to nab stuff.

IANAL, but isn't changing price tags a crime, and at the $3000 mark, that crime would be felony-level?

he he

Wow! It's a good thing you knew how to read! I bet the guy wasn't counting on that! ;)


True. He must have been reading at bike forums and decided that all us bikeshop folk are a bunch of knuckledragging morons, that are incapable of preforming a proper repair, or doing an honest days work.

Nice going. With the economy collapsing as it is, people are going to long lengths to nab stuff.

IANAL, but isn't changing price tags a crime, and at the $3000 mark, that crime would be felony-level?

It's a crime, and in most places is a felony.

But this particular attempt is just so *stupid* that it doesn't seem like a crime because there's no way he could realistically get away with it.

Reminds me of the time I was working in a Radio Shack just before the second (Rodney King) LA riots. In a neighborhood in Long Beach where our store had the only signage in English for several blocks. We did a total line-item inventory and Headquarters lost the file. We did it again a month later and found we had 10 (ten) 10% shrinkage. Ten percent of the total value of our inventory had evaporated from the shelves. A month later a big dude tried to walk out with a color TV we (now( had wired to its' shelf. He threatened to kill us if we called the cops. He spit on the Manager and ran out of the store. I quit then. A week later the shop was stripped to the walls during the riot. A nearby big bike shop lost about 500 bikes, 100 of them were customers' bikes in for repairs.

U could had a summer intern at the counter then.....

what a dolt

what bike did he try to scam btw?

could have taken it for a test ride and never came back.

You can just roll the bike up to the counter now for a quick ring up? I didn't realize Costco sold $3,000 bikes. :p :D

Pedantic mode on... I hesitate to use the term customer with someone like this who attempts a grand theft, as customers are usually people who are there to buy stuff.

I don't know of a good term though that is original and not overused, preferably something comparing the offending person to the lower GI tract.

What I think is funny is they thought a LBS employee wouldn't know bikes well enough to catch the switch. I mean, if you were scamming walmart with the same deal, I could see it. But someone who's job/hobby/possibly life revolve around bikes?

File a police report. He'll try again at another store.

ooooh, tag switching!
stupid.

Unless you can actually prove that it was he who switched the tags, forget about it. You could get yourself involved in a defamation lawsuit.

Tag switching happened A LOT in the Borders I used to work at too. You had to be really alert for those since they are harder to spot than a 3k bike haha!

He says no problem and that he wants that bike but forgot his wallet and will go out to his car and get it.

Ha! The price just went up ten-fold and that's your response? :innocent: :lol:

True. He must have been reading at bike forums and decided that all us bikeshop folk are a bunch of knuckledragging morons, that are incapable of preforming a proper repair, or doing an honest days work.

Oh, jeez, what a wack job. :roflmao2: I guess this thread serves as some sort of vindication for a disappointing LBS experience thread I shared right here on BikeForums to which Mr. Trenches responded.

surprisingly similar title, too "LBS Seriously Tried Pulling A Fast One: A Lengthy, Yet Enjoyable Story":
Ain't no shame in my game. I stand by both my convictions, standards, and expectations. Read on: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=436414

"Oh it's $3000, not $300? Yeah no sweat, let me grab my wallet!"

In all seriousness, if I were to do this I'd probably use a $1500 bike (to switch the $3k with) or something. At least that would be a little more understandable and easy to pull off.

Calling this person a "customer" is a serious insult to the rest of us who spend our hard-earned money on bikes.

Ha! The price just went up ten-fold and that's your response? :innocent: :lol:

Several customers each day, have left their wallet in the car. It is not a rare or unsual statement.

Oh, jeez, what a wack job. :roflmao2: I guess this thread serves as some sort of vindication for a disappointing LBS experience thread I shared right here on BikeForums to which Mr. Trenches responded.



Thatsright. It would be a rare day to not have at least two or three disapointing customer experiences. Another example: Customer comes in wanting an exchange for the part he has bought online(Online, not from us) He does not have the packaging and is acutally missing one of the shims that comes with the item. He wants an even exhange with the next model up and throws a fit when I refuse(I did tell him I would do it at cost if he had all the parts and the packaging. The only result? A cursing customer that wanted something for nothing.

Calling this person a "customer" is a serious insult to the rest of us who spend our hard-earned money on bikes.


Read all the threads on this forum declaring every one that swings thru the door a customer deserving the very soul of the bike shop employee. You can't have it both ways. We either get to profile the potential deadbeat or every one is a golden gem, that at the least, should recieve our every effort, missed lunch, and unpaid overtime.

You guys get to, repeatedly, lay it on few bad LBS as if they all bike shops were bad. Then I get to call the jerkoff trying to steal a customer. And, for the record, he was a customer until we found later that the tags had been swapped and not simply put on the wrong bike. We were treating him right. We only found out later that he had been trying to steal.

Thatsright. It would be a rare day to not have at least two or three disapointing customer experiences. Another example: Customer comes in wanting an exchange for the part he has bought online(Online, not from us) He does not have the packaging and is acutally missing one of the shims that comes with the item. He wants an even exhange with the next model up and throws a fit when I refuse(I did tell him I would do it at cost if he had all the parts and the packaging. The only result? A cursing customer that wanted something for nothing.

People suck. Seriously. Honestly, I thought you made that story up just to be a jerk ;) I think it must be easier to just pass judgement on someone based on prior experiences, than to assess each person on their individual merits. So then you have a customer who comes to YOUR bike shop looking for straight up info about her bike from a living, breathing interactive source instead of trying to become an armchair internet bike "know-it-all" that every mechanic hates, confused with some idiot customer who switches a $3000 price tag.

It sucks on both sides of the counter. But give me a chance to prove incompetency before it is assumed.

You caught me.....But, I will get away with it at another store. No doubt.

People suck. Seriously. Honestly, I thought you made that story up just to be a jerk ;) I think it must be easier to just pass judgement on someone based on prior experiences, than to assess each person on their individual merits. So then you have a customer who comes to YOUR bike shop looking for straight up info about her bike from a living, breathing interactive source instead of trying to become an armchair internet bike "know-it-all" that every mechanic hates, confused with some idiot customer who switches a $3000 price tag.

It sucks on both sides of the counter. But give me a chance to prove incompetency before it is assumed.


See that is the thing(I know there are shops that have poor help) all of the shop people I know, and it is a bunch, want to help the customer, no matter their level of knowledge. We want to make you bike as good as possible. We want you to be able to do repairs on your own. We want to be able to be honest with the customer about their problems without them thinking we are trying to screw them. BikeForums is one of the places that makes this hard to do. There is a pretty steady bias against the bikeshop. This is interesting because there is also a steady call for industry people to help out(As well as LBS fans but they almost never post). The industry guys pretty much decided that it was not worth it to work all day and then get called a crook while trying to help people for free. I know that is how it worked for me. I just have not managed to quit the forum completely. So every couple of days I look and if there is an anti shop thread I troll on it.
Personally I wish you had recieved a great shop experince, but it is my obligation to be a jerk in retaliation for all the jerk customers(Jerk customers far outway crappy shop employees, altho it would be interesting to see it as a percentage. That might be more telling)

So every couple of days I look and if there is an anti shop thread I troll on it.
Personally I wish you had recieved a great shop experince, but it is my obligation to be a jerk in retaliation for all the jerk customers
I am beginning to get the feeling you were a jerk long before you ever set foot in a bike shop, or on the Internet.

I agree w/ that. He's a customer until he proved himself otherwise. Now I no longer consider him a "customer" b/c of the act he tried to do.

See that is the thing(I know there are shops that have poor help) all of the shop people I know, and it is a bunch, want to help the customer, no matter their level of knowledge. We want to make you bike as good as possible. We want you to be able to do repairs on your own. We want to be able to be honest with the customer about their problems without them thinking we are trying to screw them. BikeForums is one of the places that makes this hard to do. There is a pretty steady bias against the bikeshop. This is interesting because there is also a steady call for industry people to help out(As well as LBS fans but they almost never post). The industry guys pretty much decided that it was not worth it to work all day and then get called a crook while trying to help people for free. I know that is how it worked for me. I just have not managed to quit the forum completely. So every couple of days I look and if there is an anti shop thread I troll on it.
Personally I wish you had recieved a great shop experince, but it is my obligation to be a jerk in retaliation for all the jerk customers(Jerk customers far outway crappy shop employees, altho it would be interesting to see it as a percentage. That might be more telling)

Imma tell you what. This is the first serious interest I've taken in riding. "Go to a bike shop? What the hell for? These things last forever, right?" AND I was a messenger at that time. I abused bikes before; didn't respect them (How I would love to have my Univega back) and as such I am totally bike shop ignorant. I didn't know what to expect, but I did get the idea from the forums that people aren't necessarily pleased with their LBS experience.

There are some great shops here in Chicago, so I was shocked and disappointed with this guy. I didn't feel respected or worthy of his attention. FWIW, I wasn't being anti-shop. At all. I need them. They're the best source of information. So imagine this: I teach. 8th grade. Imagine if a student asks me a question and I look at them and say, "what they f* are you talkin about. Figure that sh* out". He'd feel dejected and jaded and defeated. And that's
not cool. And that's exactly how I walked outta there.

The thing is you can't let your biases influence the way you view each new LBS or customer. Keep doin you and working towards advocating cycling self sufficiency. Those who can, will listen. There's not much to say about those who won't. If we continue to pigeon-hole each other nobody well every have a pleasant anything.

What I think is funny is they thought a LBS employee wouldn't know bikes well enough to catch the switch. I mean, if you were scamming walmart with the same deal, I could see it. But someone who's job/hobby/possibly life revolve around bikes?

Seriously!

A few years ago, my co-worker caught a guy at the bike rack at WM; he had carefully peeled the barcode sticker from a $50 bike, and was just as carefully applying it to the $200 bike he wanted. My friend walked right up on him, quietly suggested he not do that anymore, and to leave the store. Of course, my friend is of mixed heritage (good luck telling what -- I never have figured it all out!), and a bodybuilder in his spare time.

The lamebrains at the store I work in now just think they can pull an expensive bike from its spot on the rack, park it in a cheap(er) bike's spot, and get that price by hollering for a manager. Hasn't worked yet in two years, and they try it about 5x a week.

I would think that only works with packages of cookies.


Slackerprince