I Hate A-Hole Bike Shops!
 

So I went to a bike shop and asked if they had this: CatEye Enduro 8 bicycle computer.

The salesman tried to push the Mity 8 model on me, it was the model he had that was similar to what I was asking for.

I said I was just interested in the Enduro 8 and he then insisted that I was asking for "last's year's model" and that Cateye doesn't make the Enduro 8 anymore.

Why do bike shop employees constantly assume that everyone walking into their shop is an ignorant f*ck??

That's not so bad. Some of the bike shops around here try and sell you stuff that's a few years old, telling you that's it's new. With no discount of course.

I went to the biggest bike shop in the Baltics a few days ago. It two huge floors of crappy alu frames. They didn't even have a set of tires for me. I wanted something either 700x28 or 700x32. Nothing! Not even a tube! They had ONE tire 700x38. One! God, I hate that place. Nasty attitude as well. Thanks for letting me vent!

Have a bike shop around here owned by a true aussie, who always says,
"You're dreaming!" in an aussie accident to any question you ask, and then proceeds to try to make your question seem stupid, and your ideas seem ridiculous.
I really hate going to that bike shop. Lucky I have at least another 10 in a 10km radius.

When I was buying my bike for my first tour, I went in looking for a touring bike with drop handlebars. The guy insisted that the hybrid would be best. Silly me, I got the hybrid. I love it, but damn.... right after my tour ended, I knew it was not the bike for my touring needs.

Then again, it did lead to me getting this schweet Bike Friday I have now.

Koffee

Poor communication works the other way too.

I had a woman come into my shop who wanted to buy a bike for touring. I asked her: "Just what do you mean by touring?" She got mad at me. She just said: "Touring. Touring. Don't you know what touring is?" I tried to make the distinction between riding the KATY trail, maybe an occasional B&B weekend, doing organized tours with somebody to carry your luggage and packing all of your own gear. She just kept literally shouting: "Touring. Don't you understand what touring is?"

She bought a hybred from another source and then brought it to me to tune because the chain rubbed in the extreme crossover gears. I tried to explain to her that wasn't going to work. That rubbing couldn't be adjusted out, that much angle was hard on the chain, and those gears were replicated with another combination anyway. Her answer was: "That can't possibly be right because then it wouldn't be a 21 speed bike." All this for a bike that I didn't even sell.

Eventually she wrote a letter to one of my high-school aged employees to complain about my poor service. I guess she thought that he was my boss. We got a good laugh out of that.

....ex used car sales people...

Hey G,

Don't worry...we LBS guys hate A-hole customers equally as much as you hate the a-hole bike shop guys.

We really hate the ones who constantly assume that everyone who works in a bike shop is an ignorant f*ck.

How's that for a generalization ?

....People who wished they had the talent to work in the industry but just don't.....

Bike store brethren unite! Prepare to get torn to shreds for suggesting that a bike shop might suck. I asked why bike shops have to suck a few weeks ago after i got a HUGE runaround in a bike shop. The bike store brethren (shop owners and employees) will come at you like a marching army. It won't matter that the guy was trying to tell you something that was wrong and that you were right. It will just matter that you called a bike shop an a-hole. Get ready. :rolleyes:

thats true but you should remain helpful, professional and courteous even when the customers behave like a-holes.

Often customers feel at a psychological disadvantage walking in to a bike work shop and behave defensively.

The customer´s perception is that its full of nasty sarcastic ex-cons just waiting to take the p** "Hey Fred did you hear that - this moron wants a touring bike for doing the shopping bwaaaahhhhaaaaaaaaa".

They don´t know what they want and they don´t know even what is available. The fact is that that this customer came to you for advice and ended up going elsewhere. If it was my bike shop I would be focusing on making sure that that didnt happen again rather than on criticising the customers for their lack of communication skills (correct though you may be).

He's right, but don't take it personally, they attack everyone who isn't thanking them profusely and digging into his pockets to give them money.

"He's right, but don't take it personally, they attack everyone who isn't thanking them profusely and digging into his pockets to give them money."

You think? How about this: The salesman was wrong, they still make the Enduro 8. It is not last years model and the Mity does not replace it. They are the same computer with different wiring harness. The Enduro has a heavier wire, and is a better chice for most people for this reason.

If the shop guy had said it like, "We do not have that model, this is the same head with a lighter wire" Things would have gone better. If he had looked in any catalog, he would have seen this.

I mind waiting. If I walk in the shop and they turn their backs to wait on another customer because they don't take me seriously, I'm outta there. If they can't roll out the red carpet special for you when they don't know you, what's to say the service will ever get any better?

I drop a lot of cash on my LBS, so I want to make sure I'm going with a shop that will take me seriously and treat me right, regardless of my gender.

Koffee

Is John Travolta on this forum under the alias of G?!?

Man, I'm glad I have a good LBS.

The difference is: the bike store NEEDS the customers and, more importantly, NEEDS them to return or sooner rather than later, the bike store is an empty, boarded-up store. The customer does NOT NEED that store.

I have been in the service industry for more years than I care to remember and have encountered thousands of a-hole customers during that time. As difficult, challenging and strenuous as it was, I maintained my professionalism and treated them respectfully, honestly and, yes, sometimes bluntly. I ranted and raved to coworkers or friends later over beer, venting my anger and frustration, but I gladly welcomed that same a-hole customer with a smile the next time he/she walked back in. That's part of the retail/service sector; it comes with the territory and if bike store people (or anyone else for that matter) isn't prepared to accept it, deal with it and endure it, they are not going to be successful. They should quit or close up now and save everyone the trouble.

Yeah, I think that you're right. If you start a conversation by asking "Why do bike shops have to suck?" or saying "I hate A-Hole Bike Shops!" the guys who work or have worked in bike shops (myself included)get over-defensive. Can you think of a way that we can work around that?

I guess it comes down to expectations. There's an art to serving customers effectively. Some are pleasant, some are somewhere inbetween and some you'd really rather not have, but they are all customers and survival depends on them. I know when I was in the service industry (for a very long time) I adopted the attitude that if I was going to lose a customer, it would be in spite of my best efforts to satisfy them.

Don't hate them, go elsewhere is my mantra. Give me attitude? Sure i'll smile and nod, but my money isn't leaving my wallet anywhere in the vicinity of your store.

I love when they try to push crap on you that has been there for sometime. I kind of act ignorant then ask them where the new Polar CS200 is(for example). usually takes the wind out of their sales(get it) :D

Bravo.

A little knowledge is a great thing. Being an 'expert' is just bering a know-it-all!

you win.