Bike shop owner discussing online sales....

Norm said:
Haha ok yeah a bit obnoxious, but still some pretty funny stuff in there.
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It is very funny. 🙂

I'm an antisocial, sarcastic person, who loves obnoxious, not politically correct and dark humor internet rants and moments in life.

This although funny, represents the attitude that a lot of bike shops take toward their customers, and I will not give you my time and $$$ if I can do without your help.

I myself do not have what it takes to have good customer skills or patience to deal with stupid things people that I manage do at work.

I worked in Food Service industry my whole life. Great food is only 1 part that makes a great dining experience. Cleanliness, perceived value and most of all GREAT SERVICE is just as important (if not more) to a memorable dining experience. I stay in the back of the house and manage the business without much costumer interaction.
I know my limitations and that is why when I hire people to run the front of the house, I look for people who know how to make everybody who walks through the door feel like we are old friends even if this is their 1st time through the door. Training is also a big part knowing how to deal with people, and that takes time and $$$.

It is not easy and I believe that great service is a difficult art that can not start with me thinking that you are stupid and I'm better than you. (even if that is the truth). 🙂
 
olegbabich said:
This is why people avoid bike shops. 🙁
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Perhaps, but after spending an inordinate amount of time in bike shops over the last 30+ years as an observant customer (fly on the wall), I can confirm just about every damn one of those comments (I'm a bit too old for the hipster thing). I've dealt with it myself when co-workers come to me with biking questions.

One possible advantage of being a DH racer in the late 90's was you pretty much had to buy everything online. Few shops dealt with DH gear at all nor had much knowledge about it. Plus, the bikes were nowhere near as durable and reliable as they are now, so being able to work on your bike was almost a requirement. I used to carry a small bike shop's worth of spare parts with me to races. Most of those spares I bought through a wholesale account I had access to (now closed; long story), so in many ways I was the worst of the worst when it comes to buying online.

Today I will still buy things online, but I will also try to buy from one of my LBS's (Halter's or Guy's in Feasterville, PA - who I was told employed Halter before he opened the store in NJ) although it often depends on how quickly I need something. If I order from Chain Reaction, I generally know I will get the order fairly quickly. Sometimes quicker than through a shop after going through the ordering and pick-up process.

Regardless I my history or purchasing habits, I generally believe shops will need to adapt or die. In some cases, that may mean adding a coffee shop to the store. Others may try adding spin classes. Some will really focus on service and fitting. Each will have their own plan depending on their location, clientele and employees. I don't think there are right or wrong answers as long as it works.

Which reminds me I need to PM jdog to order something for me...
 
I had two experiences with my local shops last year. 1- I bought a new fork online and needed a star nut. Wanting to ride Sunday I drive over to the shop on Saturday to find that they did not have any in stock... I bought some chain lube, gave up went home and ordered one. 2- I broke a spoke the week before vacation and figured a shop would be able to help me out. I am never able to make a shop's "store hours" because of work so I went in on a busy Sunday. (not the same shop) I dropped the wheel off and asked that they replace the spoke and true the wheel. They explained that there could be issues bla bla bla but they agreed to give it their best shot. After being called and told it was ready I asked my wife to pick it up for me. I get home and try to mount the wheel but the skewer was missing and while the spoke was replaced the wheel was not true. These are tiny little things and they don't bother me too much but I can tell you that they don't encourage my patronage.
 
This is the quick story of how I bought my first bike:
My parents offered to buy me a MTB as a high school graduation gift. I think I was looking in the $350-$500 range (early 2000's). I had my mind set on some bike (maybe a Specialized, but I honestly don't remember) after reading an issue of Bicycling Mag. Not yet knowing that different shops carried different brands, I started calling around to find said bike. Shop 1 didn't have it, shop 2 didn't have it, shop 3 didn't have it (probably because none of them were Specialized dealers). I would call and say "I'm looking for a Specialized Whatever" and they would disinterestedly say "we don't have it" and that'd be the end of the conversation.

Shop 4 was Kopp's in Princeton. I called up, asked if they had the Specialized Whatever and they said "No, we don't stock Specialized, but why don't you come on down and we can show you some similar bikes". I ended up buying a Haro from them a few days later (picked up a new helmet and some other crap, also). Seriously, 5 extra seconds of conversation got me to drive 30 minutes and buy a bike from them.

That's not to put Kopp's on the pedestal of the only good shop in NJ. I've seen @Bike N Gear, @jdog, or @cfrone1 work with customers that fit the description of the Craigslist post and treat them the same as a customer that wants to spend $5,000 on a bike (and not ask for a discount).
 
2WHLZ said:
I broke a spoke the week before vacation and figured a shop would be able to help me out. I am never able to make a shop's "store hours" because of work so I went in on a busy Sunday. (not the same shop) I dropped the wheel off and asked that they replace the spoke and true the wheel. They explained that there could be issues bla bla bla but they agreed to give it their best shot. After being called and told it was ready I asked my wife to pick it up for me. I get home and try to mount the wheel but the skewer was missing and while the spoke was replaced the wheel was not true. These are tiny little things and they don't bother me too much but I can tell you that they don't encourage my patronage.
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I had bike returned after service with missing pieces and I had wheel serviced under warranty that came back with all spokes not tensioned. I was a noob and did not know to check. Now I double check everybody and everything.

That actually got me started in learning to wrench at home.

Part of great service is paying attention to details.
 
jnos said:
Seriously, 5 extra seconds of conversation got me to drive 30 minutes and buy a bike from them.
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I had a similar experience. Asked the local shop if they had any full-suspension bikes under $2000. They said no, doesn't really exist. Another shop 30 minutes away who carried the same brand said they had a leftover marked down 40% to $1800 (it was end of the year, and I'm an XL) . Bam, sold. Later I went to the first shop's website and they had access to the same leftovers at the same price, but they didn't know or tell me that.
 
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