from this and from what you were telling me after cranksgiving, it sounds like a really well-run shop...
jumping in to this conversation late: seems to me like a well run shop has a plan for how to deal with customers. managers should have strategies and employees should be aware of them. i don't think i've ever spent time in a bike shop that wasn't willing to work hard to give their customers a good deal on something. there are very specific benefits to working with an LBS rather than just buying off of the internet. customers gotta know that, and any LBS has got to know how to offer those benefits.
Originally Posted by Anightinthewood
This is just my two cents on the topic. I work at my local and very friendly LBS just so you know where I’m coming from.
To the OP: There is no excuse for someone to treat you like that. I hope that is the last time you walk in to that store. If he really didn’t want to work on your bike which is an option for him he should have explained to you calmly why he did not want to do it. Jerks suck on either side of the counter.
Now about the whole online parts and local LBS thing. I have two stories to share.
1) A guy came in our shop with a frame and parts kit he bought online. I mean he really went all out. The guy even had cable ends and things. He left everything for us to assemble in a couple of boxes. The boxes had all the prices and recites still in them. Looking over what he paid for the parts he had I can say with confidence that we could have saved him a good portion of money. Now I know there are some frames and parts that shops just cant get in which case you have to go online. And I don’t know how it is at other shops but I know my store is willing to work with people on getting them a good deal. I mean all I ask is that he had given us a chance to be completive. He could have come to us and said “listen this is what I have and this is what I need what kind of price can you get me?” But he didn’t do that. And then you also have to consider total cost of the build including labor. If he had bought the build kit from us it would have been a free assembly. That’s a good chunk of cash. Plus he bought the wrong bb for his crank forcing him to waste more money. Anyway point of story number one is come to your LBS and give them a chance to be completive and work with you on a project.
2) A long time customer comes in and says he wants to go full carbon for his next road bike. But he doesn’t think he can afford the full carbon bikes we sell so he wanted to know how much would we charge him to assemble it if he bought it online. We give him a price and politely ask him if he had bought the bike already and what he paid for it. Turns out he hadn’t bought it. So we asked him to hold off for a couple days and see if we can figure something out for him that would put him on one of our bikes for a price he can afford. Turns out one of the lines we sell was having close outs on last years model and we were able to snag a full carbon bike with dura-ace group and mavic wheels at a price that he couldn’t even buy just the parts for. He picked up the bike today and was incredibly grateful. There was no charge for assembly or fitting since he bought the bike from us. So point of story number two is we really do try to help you out anyway we can. And if we couldn’t have gotten him that deal then we would have been more then happy to charge him for an assembly and fitting.
Note: When I say we I mean the store I worked at and plan on working at next summer. I don’t know how other people run their bike shops.