Originally Posted by velocipedio
sorry, but it really just seems like sloppy salesmanship and poor communication, not outright dishonesty. yes, the shop will try to make a profit off of you. that's what they do. yes, somes salespeople are less well-informed about some components than others. i have to look up a whole lot of prices. i could not tell you what a set of look keo pedals go for, much less anything related to dh mountain biking.
it sounds like the issue was resolved to the customer's satisfaction, yet the customer still complains. please go to another bike shop. they don't want your business.
shiahh.. i ahve never onserved the behaviour you decsribe. any wrench who takles parts off of an unsold bike and puts it on his own without paying for it would not have a job for long. besides, with distributors often offering employee discounts of as much as 30% off cost, there would be no real point to it.
the point that i was trying to make is that the salesmanm may have never intended to include the wheels in the reduced price and thought the customer understood that. this, in fact, seems to be the most likely explanation, despite the op's and skiahh's paranoia, bike shops are not in the business of alienating cistomers who drop $2500 in one day. they make their profit on service and accessories, and these require return visits.
The GM of the store was my "salesperson" and knows us pretty well. The wheels were definitely included in the negotiated price because hubby commented that they were exactly the ones he wanted and was thrilled that they were included. Bottom line is that we all (LBS included) were very clear on what was to be taken off for the price. No communication lapse... just shady business. And as far as a wrench taking off parts... it happens a lot. I have a friend in another state who works on MTB's and he said it's pretty common in some places... were not just paranoid. You seem to be one of the only ones on here that thinks's it's not dishonesty on their part.
I added up my tickets just from the past month from this LBS and came up with a few bucks shy of $6000
Add into that 4 pretty decent MTB's over the last few years, 2 True treadmills, 1 Hoist weight system, 1 True recumbant stationary bike ( used this a lot while rocking a baby seat next to it!), 2 sets of high quality free weights, a True stair climber, a bench, and 2 medicine balls.....all in the last 10 years from this one store. So... in essence... they have alienated a person who spent way more than $2500. I cannot and will not tolerate dishonesty and that is exactly what this was.