So. Today I just have had it with this LBS. I asked him to order me a 17t salsa track cog, thats it; and he did. The thing about it is he quoted me on the phone for $22 for a 17t Track cog by Salsa since he said he couldn't find any 17t DA cogs (So I'd have to pay $2 more for another brand cog - So he says). So, a few days later I get there and the owner (and the seller)wants to charge me $29.99 for a 17t track cog, and he wants me to pay $10.99 for a lockring to go with it, implying that my current DA lockring wouldn't work on it. Maybe he thinks I'm an idiot. I could get two cheapie cogs for that price, although I was willing to pay the 22

I didn't even know what to say-- so I just told him I didn't have enough money with me currently, and left.

Also when I initally bought the bike something strange happened, but didn't seem to click until now. The full price of my bike on the receipt was ~$540 (I bought additional handlebar tape since I put my bull horns on it, and kept the stock wrapped drops for another bike. My beautiful Fuji Track which I love very much was $499, although he had quoted me on $450 originally. He had just said that I was mistaken and it was $500 - At the time I guess I wasn't in the mood to argue, and I was dying to ride it so I just paid the man for it (Fuji Track 06' the msrp is $499 btw). I was out riding and happy anyways with it, so I couldn't really complain.

Now after this incident of him trying to sell me an overpriced part, and another part that I don't even need - I'm kind of aggravated. Not mad, but aggravated. I'm not sure what I should do now, since I really don't want to buy the part(/s). I don't want to go back for the free basic tune up that you get after buying their bikes. I think it would be odd to ask that, and not be able to pay for a part that I ordered. They just retrue your wheels and realign your brakes/derailleurs. (I don't have any brakes, or derailleurs though...)

The person selling me these things is one of the owners, so I'm not sure if it would do anything. They seem rather corporate.

So... WWJD?


EDIT: Picture link !!!
https://f5.putfile.com/5/12720124290.jpg

He would curb stomp them

perhaps the problem lies in the fact that Salsa doesn't even make track cogs?

I searched it later since I thought they were all MTB. I couldn't find a 17t track cog by Salsa anywhere... maybe secretly in production - BUT he said it was a 17t Salsa cog.

Maybe a surly cog? I think they go for about $30. That sucks though. Tell the guy you were told $22 and you won't pay any more for it. After all, you could always just order one on the interweb. If he complains, too bad. The customer is always right, after all.

it was probably a 17t surly cog that are 29.99 retail.
Dura Ace cogs don't go past 16t.

it was probably a 17t surly cog that are 29.99 retail.
Dura Ace cogs don't go past 16t.

It sure looks like one, now viewing pictures of them. It had the holes around the threaded part. He still said it was Salsa though. =/

Also, about ordering one off the intarweb - Should I just go back to refuse the cog and ask for retruing my wheels?

WWJD!?

Who wants jack daniels?

Yeah. Well, maybe not. Do your wheels need retruing? Its possible, if they're a shady shop, that they might do a half assed job on the wheels because you refused to pay for the cog. On the other hand, if you were told $22, you were told $22. Its unreasonable for them to expect you to pay more. I worked in retail long enough to know that sometimes people screw up, but the store needs to take the hit to keep the customer happy. If they refuse to make you happy, they don't care about you, so why should you care about them?

I would like to add, that you should be friendly and understanding with them unless they start treating you like the jerk. They'll be a lot more likely to bend if you are nice about the situation. You can still be firm about the price, just don't go in angry.

So far I haven't expressed any hostility, or asserted myself in any way to them. I just gave him an excuse to not pay at the moment so I could think over my choices before I went on a rampage. (I have a pretty nasty temper)

About that. My wheels don't need retruing at the moment, and I could do a sufficient job myself. I just don't own a tensionmeter. I wasn't planning on keeping this wheelset for too long since it's kinda iffy. (No name hubs, crappy Alex rims)

Soon I'm ordering myself a Deluxe wheelset from IRO, and probably sticking this current wheelset into another fixie. I think I might've made the mistake of actually buying this bike. If I could take it back I'd probably suck it up and have paid the somewhat large expense to ship the Mark V and with the deluxe wheelset since that's what I'll basically end up with on my Fuji, after spending around the same amount of money, maybe even more...

People never listen to us...

it seems to me that the main problem here is that you are afraid to leave this guy at the LBS because there arent any more bike shops near you??

One thing to note, Salsa and Surly are both owned by the same parent company: Q.B.P. (Quality Bike Products). Since all their stuff is in the same catalogue, it may have just been an honeset mistake - Salsa does make track chainrings afterall. It may also have been an honest brainfart on the part of the owner that you'd need a compatible lockring. Check the businesscycles.com reference page to get an idea (if you don't already know) about how tricky that can be. Surly cogs USED to be a bit narrower, and maybe the Dura-Ace lockring is known to be a bit wider. This is all speculation, but I work at a shop and know sometimes honest mistakes can end up looking shady to customers. That being said, he should jump over himself to make sure he's still serving you well and to clear up the confusion. Hopefully it gets worked out, losing faith in your lbs sucks (it happened to me and now I don't bother with 2 of the three shops that are less than two blocks away from where I live).

If you still get treated poorly, here are two good online shops that might deserve your business more:
- www.businesscycles.com
- www.spicercycles.com

[Not affiliated, but great experience w/ them in the past ... ie. in-depth responses to questions from the owners themselves and fast service ... also reasonable prices and access to esoteric parts.]

Edit: Add Ben's Cycles to the above list ... and compare their actual website to their eBay listings. I've noticed some price differences between the two in the past.

Lemme get this straight. He got a $500 sale out of you. You paid $50 more than the agreed upon price, and now he wants to charge you 50% more than he quoted you for a part he ordered?

Screw that. tell him you'll buy it at the price he quoted. if he won't budge that's his problem, because he just lost a sale, and probably a lot more sales in the future. Sounds like your guy wants to charge list for everything. I understand that a LBS can't always compete on price with Nashbar and Performance etc, but nobody charges list for stuff. The list price was only invented to give retailers room to mark down and pretend they are giving you a special deal. He should honor the price he quoted, but more importantly you are under no obligation to buy a part if he misquoted you the price. The verbal agreement was broken when he changed the price.

I'm in a similar situation in that I only have one LBS. Sometimes I love them sometimes I hate them, but I certainly try hard to maintain a good relationship with them, because they are the only game in town. I know their prices are high, but I try to buy stuff from them anyway when I can afford it. I do go in there with eyes open knowing I'll pay a bit more than I would ordering parts online. I spend a lot there every year on penny nickel dime stuff, and I realize they would probably rather be dealing with their deeper pocketed customers who buy new road bikes every year or so, and don't flinch at paying $80 for shorts.

There are other LBS's around. About 4 or 5 more if I were to travel around 30 miles away from my home town.There's one just another block away from this one- it look a little shadier, but my friends have told them that they've given them great prices, cheaper than they could find online. I just went to this one because they had a bike that I kinda liked, and at the moment I didn't have the money to get too much more. The other LBS had a mid, and high end Specialized Allez for a considerable amount more.

We never agreed on prices, I just asked him for a quote and he says $xx or $xxx, then I go to the store to find he's asking more. I had just realized he might be trying to cheat me.. so I searched on the forums what people've done about their situations, and decided to post my own to see what responses I'd get. I'll confront him about this and see how it goes--maybe tomorrow. I'm too sick to move too much currently. (Damn bird flu! )

EDIT: Specialized Langster, not Allez

Threaten to peck him if he doesn't give you the price you want

Seriously though I would pay $30 for a cog from my LBS rather than $20 plus shipping online.

+1. Hell i paid $35 for an EAI 17t

I stripped two hubs (well the fixed side of a flip flop and one side of a fixed/fixed) on cheapie cogs. It's definately worth the money to get a good cog.

OK, but what about the lockring? o.O

I am fairly certain that i am still using the stock lockring from my 04 fuji with the EAI cog. I certainly don't remember paying for a new one during the cog switch.