I went into Frenchie's Bicycle Shop, R7, Margate, FL today to have two new tires put on my road bike. Frenchy picked out the two tires and wrote up the ticket. I paid him for the two tires ($79.98) and looked them up on the internet when I got home and found out they had an MSRP of $15 a piece (Bontrager B). I immediately called Frenchy and he claimed it was an oversight and immediately gave me credit for the overcharge.

Could this be an honest mistake or did he try to take advantage of my ignorance about bicycles? Has anyone else out there done business with this shop?

I am very disappointed, however, am not passing judgement on this shop for one bad experience. I also am looking for a shop to do my routine bicycle repairs. I have only been in the area since June '04, and the shop I was using went out of business.

Jeff
Tamarac, FL

Well, at least he made it right when you told him about it. Anything's possible, but I try not to look for evil intent in situations that stupidity can explain. Did the same guy who wrote up the tires install them as well? If not, there's a good spot for miscommunication to occur. If so, you do have to wonder a little.

jeffandsharon...theres no way that was an over sight. Almost everyone down here in S. Florida is out to screw you. I always get reference prices for everything I shop for before I go into the store.

Awhile back I was looking for a new wheelset. I walked into Mack Cylce down here in Miami and saw a sale tag on pair of Bontrager Race X lites. 30% off!!! I was ready to buy them on the spot. It was 30% off of $1000 making the price $699. Do I need to tell you what Bontragers MSRP on those wheels is? $699. I havent bought anything there since.

Just to play Devil's advocate here. Both situations sound like gouging, but, as a bike shop owner, I can tell you that the MRSP's published by many manufacturers are lowball and create unrealistic profit margins for the dealer. First of all, they base the markup on no extra cost like shipping or assembling. And they will base the MRSP on the lowest price they sell it to their biggest dealers who get volume discounts. They do this on purpose to give the impression that their product is cheaper than a competitors similar product. And then the other competitor does the same thing, and the next thing you know, the dealer is squeezed so hard he may as well pay the customer to take the product. Ok, that is an exageration, but you get the point. I do not pay any attention to the MRSP if it means I am selling the product below what I feel I need to make. The two situations mentioned previously do seem to be sketchy, but be cautious about assuming any MRSP you read gives enough profit to the dealer to make it worthwhile to even stock it.

CRUM, I agree with many of your points. You cant stay in buisness if your turning a profit!! To further explain my wheel situation, all of the other Bontrager dealers had them at $699. I think the dealer was hoping someone would say, "wow, what a deal!" Down here in S. Florida there is straight up blatant corruption everywhere. Heck, you can get your teeth cleaned at the flea market.

I can assure you we don't have problems like that here in our part of S. Florida. Anytime you visit Fort Myers check out AJ Barnes on U.S. 41, good people.
As well as the Bike Route also on 41.

I particularily agree that your wheel situation sounds like sleazy retailer tactics. When I sold Haros back in '94, a nearby competitor also sold them. One day a customer comes in with his brand new Haro Vector. He proclaimed he got it at half price from the other shop. When I asked him what he paid, he said $419 , down from $830. I was amused for a second, then I got pissed. I asked him to turn around. Behind him was the same bike and we had it out at $429. The guy still did not get it. He said, "Oh wow, I could of gotten the same deal here and not had to drive 30 miles." I said, "Yeah, and you could get that deal anytime, it was our regular price." I hated to burst his bubble, but I couldn't let that one go. Those kind of sleazy retailer tricks make all of us look bad. I can understand why the consuming public has a skeptical opinion of most retailers, but most of us aren't sleazy or dishonest. But it does pay to be careful.

jeffandsharon99: Is there a local club near where Margate/Tamarac? If so, what do club members say about the shop? I would not write that place off on the basis of one exeprience about which you are not sure. But the experiences of others can add to your conclusions, one way or the other.

They don't call SE FLA the Gold Coast for nothing

I recently bought a med price bike in FTL have had fun with it.`Returned from Europe,

took it to the dealer for a prob with the chain binding in the smallest gear ring.Not

often but ocassionally

He couldn't give a sensible answer why it was happening, nor how to correct the

situation. This was the OWNER of the place. Certainly not a fly-by-nite place his

inventory is huge and he has been here for years. So I e-mailed the maker in Wisc.

got a response same day. Somehow I got the impression the dealer wasn't interested

in me as a future customer. Too bad, I bought one, different style to take back to

Europe next April, while vacationing in Calif

Fantastic- Nice- I went to Frenchies Bike and they were very helpful. They repaired my bike the same day. No one else would do that. There prices are right on and fair. Nice, Nice people to deal with. THey have so many bikes. I would tell all to go there. They would enjoy the time at the shop...

Florida,Broward County, Margate- BEST AROUND
 

You are so wrong. They are so nice to deal with. They always try to help. My repair was done fast , same day, and at a very good price. I would be very happy to tell anyone to go there. They have alot of bikes at the best prices in town also. I should know, I bought mine their after shopping all over.:thumb:

You must be joking ! I've beenthere. They are grear !!!!!!!

nice and spammy. new user giving praise buyer beware. nice bump too

Fantastic, Great !!
 

I was there,they are nice and very helpful. I don't know where you are coming from. There prices are better than the other shops in the area. And the repair time is almost immidiate. I bought a bike from them and they had the best price fronm boca to sunrise. What else could you want from a store.

Your joking. the comment was from 2004. Where in 2011. You think thats over night. It's 6 years later.

Thread resurection!!! this is too old

Wow...seems we are getting a lot of this lately - product service reviews as shills in the Bicycle Mechanics forum.

=8-)

Wow, this thread is old, but now that it's been resurrected, this comment from the original group of postings caught my attention.

In almost every retail product line I've ever come across, the MSRP is set unrealistically, almost fictionally, high so the retailer can sell it at a much lower price. That makes the customer think it's a great deal while still making a reasonable margin for the dealer. The screaming "50% OFF" sales of clothing, jewelery, furniture, etc are the worst examples but setting the MSRP higher than reality is very common. If the bike industry does the opposite they seem to be the only one.

it seems to be that way in the bike industry. shimano is reducing margins by raising wholesale and keeping the msrp the same

I have been there several times and they seemed fair. We will see as today I am going there to see what it would cost to true some wheels and adjust everything on the new bike I am getting.

Looks like Frenchies hired an overseas marketing company to do some advertising.

I stopped in on my way to purchase a Schwinn bike from another store. It is going to be 40-60 dollars to go over the bike and adjust "every nut and bolt" on the bike.

As the wheels seem fairly round, I'll do all the other adjustments myself, then, just have them true the wheels up.

Apparently, "Schwinn" is a dirty word there as they don't sell that brand as it is a "Walmart" bicycle and of "inferior" quality! Not too condescending!

Schwinns from walmart & target are sketchy bikes, of dubious quality these days. Though ridable, and generally serviceable, they're pretty poor machines. Many times it's impossible to get them working perfectly, and billing a customer for work that most likely won't end up in a properly running bicycle looks bad on a shop.

No bike ships sell the walmart version of a Schwinn, there are better quality Schwinns out there, and many bike stores sell that particular brand.

That wasn't my point. For a $200.00 bike, it will do just fine. I had a "Stalker" bike for the last 10 years and it was $100.00. Back in my teens, I had several Schwinn Varsity 10 speeds that I built myself.

As someone who has been in business for 19 years, I might have said something along the lines of, "We will be happy to get your new purchase running to the best of its ability and if you are not aware of it, that is an entry level bicycle and it may be in your best interest, for the long term, to purchase something a little better. Like this Raleigh or Trek bike we have here. What are your goals and how can we help you attain them?"

The original poster was questioning the shop. I was merely adding my experience with them, so far.