Originally Posted by
ZDHart
Might want to check your reading comprehension. The poster did not say that the bike itself, nor the factory labeling screwup was a scam, nor that the bike dealership was trying to pull a "scam".
As to why the bike dealer might sell the bike at discount?
Simple. Here's how it works. They have a bike to sell. Sales are not great for many bike shops these days. You ask for a discount, for whatever reason you might state - or for no stated reason at all. The manager decides that he would be ok to move inventory and take a bit less profit than they would have at full retail price. You get the bike at a better price. Comprehend?
I would expect a discount for a bike that is permanently branded incorrectly - that is a factory FLAW. Why pay full price? Perhaps not a discount of 20%. 15% may be more likely. At least 10%.
Actually, I would expect at least a 10% discount on any new bike. Ask and you likely will receive.
(I got a quick 10% discount on my Dual Sport simply by asking the store manager if he would consider taking 10% off. He said sure. Alternatively, I could have just decided on a specific dollar amount that I thought would be reasonable and offered that. A smart business manager would at least consider almost any reasonable offer.)
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!
A discount over a BEYOND minor decal issue that doesn't effect the bike at all doesn't look bad or have any effect what so ever not even damage to the paint (which would warrant a small discount) sorry not going to go for that one. I am sorry I wouldn't discount the bike and if a customer comes in the shop for the first time and goes "discount discount, where's my discount" I will flat out refuse why am I discounting something, because you walked in and tried to get one? Who are you and why should I give you a discount. I will help customers who are regulars or folks who I can tell are struggling hard or people maybe buying a bunch of bikes and we really hit it off and it feels like a long term relationship. However those people who just say "I want a discount because it is too expensive" are people I can do without. The bike is not expensive you are just cheap and are trying to tell me that our time and knowledge is worth less to you and our services are worth less to you and we as humans are worth less to you. I don't like people asking for handouts when I know full well they could buy the bike without an issue.
A trek store can hand out discounts because Trek corporate really doesn't care one way or the other they don't need to worry about margins as it is their own stores and if a store is failing they use a better performing store to prop it up until their whole bad business idea falls apart and comes crashing down in a fiery mess.
There are people actually struggling out there whom I am happy to help. We had a young father who came in with a bike that needed a ton of work, we had one that we were going to fix up as a staff bike but we heard his story and saw how he was taking care of kids and really trying to stay afloat so we fixed up the bike and gave it to him and he is doing really well now. He didn't ask for a handout or a free bike or any of that he was as humble as he could be but he was honest and I appreciate that.
Sales are not great in bike shops? You work in a bike shop? You know this data from actual knowledge or some gobldygook someone wrote in a blogpost or some internet news site? People are especially freaked out right now because we saw a MASSIVE SPIKE during the first couple years of COVID and they think we are now doing super poorly because the numbers don't match up to that ANOMALY when in reality it is the bike industry going back to normal. Yes many brands over built and had to clear out stuff because they didn't look at the hard data and do some thinking. However right now bikes I need are sold out because they sold well and people bought the stock and now they are coming out with new models but not fast enough. Sales were quite good not the same as the COVID bike boom but that was an exception to the rule now things are back to what I saw pre-pandemic maybe a little slower but my shop is brand new and the shop I was working at at that time was getting close to 40 years old and had WAAAAAAAAAAAY more space and two locations and more buying power because of it.
Getting back to the bike it is not an issue I would be honest to a customer about it because that is what you do but it is a zero issue it has no effect. It is not a paint chip or a blemish that looks bad it is properly placed decal without flaw that simply has the wrong two letters. The actual real difference between the two bikes is basically slightly wider tires on the DS and possibly some minor swaps in pedals (which are cheap test ride pedals anyway) and maybe the rims and slight handlebar difference but they are nearly identical in almost all other ways. I mean the differences are subtle like really subtle like the tires are the actual serious difference. I bet if I photoshopped out the tires and showed you two pictures one of a DS 3 and one of an FX 3 you wouldn't tell the difference. To me the biggest difference is they have the two bikes with different seatpost heights and the fork is slgihtly different but overlayed on top of each other they are nearly identical geometry wise. I guess the Trek logo is moved up on one of the bikes which I guess would warrant a massive discount because of...uhhhh....ummmmmm...errrrrrr...something???...maybe???