Louis

Ranger...

It sounds as if you are satisfied with your LBS other than their call-back failures.
If so, accept it as a minor annoyance and work around it. If they're a otherwise good shop it's worth doing a few eye-rolls , in my opinion.

marqueemoon

Mine always calls or e-mails, and for work they schedule a time to bring the bike in so I'm not stuck without it. I think this is mainly because they are a small shop and have limited storage space, but it works out well.

If the work is done on time consistently, but I need to call to confirm it's not a big deal, but the calling is just another reason why I love my shop.

DiegoFrogs

As a slight sidetrack: Do shops have some sort of special greaseproof telephones? I'm sure you're always just at some critical, dirty point in a job when a jackass calls to see if you carry brake cables or waterbottles or some such obvious thing. That must be so goddamn annoying.

jacksbike

Well it seems from the majority of posts that most bike shops are very good about contacting the customer. They should be-they keep them in business and pay their bills. When I owned and operated a bike shop I did the same thing as Rev.Chcuk: we would contact the customer if the bill was going to be higher than estimated/call them when the bike was done so they could come pick it up/ and notate on the back of the repair bill what date and time that we called. As a small business it was definitely in our best interests to have the bike picked up(space reasons), get paid (our suppliers and my employess would like that !) and have a happy customer (fast service).
I have no idea why a shop would let a customer wait weeks to inform them about a special order part or that the bike was readly for pick up.
As to customer service- yea there is very little of that left anywhere. In my opinion only, it is the paying customer that has caused the shift to the big box stores and mail order due to price. We reap what we sow. I frequent my local hardware store and pay whatever they ask for because of the service and knowledge that they impart onto me before I start a fix-it job. Try that at Home Depot. Low to medium prices and staffed with abject idiots, as a whole. For every 10 visits there, 8 of them are lousy.
Your local shop has to charge fair prices on items and labor in order to pay the rent , employees, and make a living. He/she cannot compete on prices with web/mail order.
So, the customer wants the cheapest price on that bike computer and can't belive how much the local shop is going to charge to install it ??!! Pay the price the shop wants for the item and maybe they will give you a reduced installation price. I think that independent shops cannot retain employees because they can't afford to pay high wages, health insurance, etc. like large companies. It is a catch 22: shops do not make a large profit on new bikes, labor rates are archaic, competition on accessories with the web or mail order is very tough. It is a difficutl small business to be in with high seasonality and low profits. Cameras and skis do not come back for service-once you've sold them, that's it.

lala

Mine does, sometimes. But I'm there so often it doesn't matter.

Cycliste

Mine calls and also emails. I can leave the bike for a tune, run errands and get a call on my cell as soon as ready. I think it reflects good organization and customer service.

Retro Grouch 

Not only are the phones not greaseproof but some of the guys, (not me of course) have been known to put grease the earpiece as a prank.

BoSoxYacht

things haven't changed much in the 15(or so) years it's been since I was a Shop Wrench . I used to spend at least an hour a day calling people to get the authority to go ahead with repairs or telling people that their bike was ready. Most of the time I got an answering machine , so the repairs would pile up . Most people don't put a huge importance on bike repairs (most people in the world , not the ones posting on this forum) As Jerry Seinfeld once said ," PEOPLE .... They're the worst ".

recursive

Mine calls.

beartoothrider

The other side of this coin - I seem to get a lot of customers that exhibit this behavior pattern. They drop of the bike for repairs (or skis for tune) on Monday lets say, I tell 'em it will be done on Friday afternoon. On Tuesday they stop in and ask if their bike is ready, I remind them that it will be done on Friday, they look annoyed and leave. On Wednesday they stop in and ask if the bike is ready, I remind them that it will be done on Friday, they look annoyed and leave. On Thursday they stop in and ask if the bike is ready, I remind them that it will be done on Friday, they look annoyed and leave. On Friday, the bike is done as promised, but the customer is a no-show. I call and leave a message that their bike is done. About 2 weeks later, I call and leave a second message that their bike is done. A week or 2 later the customer finally returns for his bike. This has become a recurring pattern, and never the same customer. It's downright funny how predictable this has become. If a customer stops in more than once before the promised repair date, I know the bike will be sitting in my shop for at least a couple weeks.

khuon

I have two shops I frequent often. One is my LBS and the other is my former LBS but is now to far to be considered local. I call it my FBS because between the two, it's actually my favourite. Both shops call me without fail. When I get my bikes built up at the FBS or I'm ordering parts through them, they'll periodically call me to give me status updates.

notoptube

my shop has more of a problem getting customers to pick up thier bikes or parts occasionaly someone will forget to call but it wont take long we dont have space for storage of anything

rmfnla

OHMIGHOD, thank whomever they don't; I spend enough money on my bikes without being invited in to spend more!

CMcMahon

They call me when my repairs are done. They also call me when they recieve parts that they ordered and know that I'm interested in, regardless of whether or not I actually end up buying them. Hell, they even gave me their extra pizza the last time that I was in there.

On the other hand, the fact that I've been shopping there for nearly a decade now, am good friends with half the staff, and offered the oner's brother-in-law a room to rent probably put me on their good side.