Bought a bike for my FiL a couple of months back and it went in for its first service yesterday. I’ve done my first job of the day in the area so I can collect it this morning on my rounds.
The sign outside says 10 am opening on a Wednesday.
There’s at least 4 staff I can see through the window sat on their arses drinking coffee and playing with an iPad.
The guy that was at the service desk/till yesterday has seen me but refuses to let me have it 30 minutes early.
So I’ve stood outside whilst they have a catch up.

Do they not want any repeat business?
I work for myself and I regularly go out of my way for customers, at all times of day and night.
If loads of LBS are moaning about lack of custom why not go that extra mile for people. I do and I know other bike shops do.

Just got in and collect it and they’ve done a shonky job to boot.
Great start to my day.

I’ve had this experience multiple times. What I find bizarre is that the worst and best customer service examples I’ve had are from bike shops. Some seem to go out of their way to help whilst others do less than nothing. I’ve not had this experience in any other industry.

They weren’t open til 10. It said so on the door. What did you expect? They may use this time to set the shop up for the day, get some repairs out the way, get some orders for parts done on the iPad. If I had my own business and it said “Hours- 10-5pm” I’d not work much outside them, certainly not half an hour, unless there was a real need for the customer to get their bike back- maybe if they had a race on Sunday and something broke at 4.30 on Saturday.

what he said ^

What baffles me is bike shops with opening hours 9.30-5.30 weekdays, with only 1 serving staff after 5. It’s like all the people queuing after 5 to drop off, collect or buy something after work are an inconvenience.

The busiest period in the shop may well be 12-2 so the staff don’t get a lunch break until well after that. This may be the last chance of a coffee, catch-up for the rest of the day.

Did you knock on the door? If you just stood outside then what would you expect!
I’d have knocked and had a quick word and asked if I can come in early.

FWIW I always try an accommodate customers we’re usually open half an hour before official and half an hour afterwards and if people ask to do outside that i’ll always try, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask to come in a bit earlier if they’ve finished putting stuff out etc. They may well have insurance restrictions though.

What baffles me is bike shops with opening hours 9.30-5.30 weekdays, with only 1 serving staff after 5. It’s like all the people queuing after 5 to drop off, collect or buy something after work are an inconvenience.

Nothing to do with bike shops, that’s just retail. How many shops just do 9-5 and close sundays? I think shutting Sunday is just bonkers, it’s half of the weekend gone. To me if you want to do a 5 day week close Monday & Tuesday. Same for hours – if in a town i’d say 10:30 till 18:30 made much more sense.

They did a shit job as well, no doubt they will be scratching their head when they go out of business and lamenting the day theonline shops became king.

If you want to stay competitive in a difficult industry then surely doing a decent job (the minimum expectancy) and being at least a little bit flexible is a good idea?

A little flexible is ten minutes. Not half an hour.

The owner had 3 different bike shops repossessed by the bank about 18 months ago due to lack of custom, has he not learnt anything from this mistake?
Lost another customer today.

Surely the definition of flexibility would not allow a time limit? If you have a customer outside – open the door!

Maybe having a slash through the letterbox would have got their attention? 😀

I used to quite frequently see the lady who owned the shop opposite mine turn customers away at 9.50 or 5.00 and tell them to come back another time. She also refused to open Sunday’s and bank holidays … She blamed the customers when she eventually closed down.

Personally I’m always happy to serve a customer as long as I’m at work and if they request that I stay an extra 10 minutes or come in 10 minutes early so they can pick something up then I’m equally happy to do that as most people appreciate it, if I was made to feel like an inconvenience then I wouldn’t return to a shop so I wouldn’t want my customers to feel like this.

If they were working on bikes for collection at 10am or a team meeting and doing ‘something’ like training etc then I can totally see it. But if they’ve seen a customer outside waiting and it’s even 30 mins early, then I’m pretty damn sure they should open the door, ask what they can do and see if it’s viable to give him 5 mins of their time for the sake of customer service.

I see it sooooo many times in motorbiking circles too, lack of communication with customer, poor workmanship, etc… It means they don’t get my money ever again.

This amazes me too. There is a recession and loads of small businesses are going under, but they want to turn away paying customers ?

I suspect the whole thing is a front for laundering drug money. Call the Police.

If there are employees where is the incentive to open the door for you early? They will get no extra pay. I get into work early most days but if the phone rings I ignore it until I get paid, likewise if it rings whilst I’m on lunch. I’m not getting paid so I don’t work, the call could turn into a nightmare and I’d have to give up more time than just a minute to answer the phone. Would be different if i was the owner though.

We have a bike shop in the village. Used to be good, now so so. Thing is they are at the foot of one of the best road climbs in the county. When I lived elsewhere I’d pedal miles to ride around this area. It is awash with lycra clad solos, groups of friends and club rides……

And they are closed on Sundays.

Won’t work everywhere mind but here a bike shop open on Sundays that sold coffee and cake would not only make money on the day but the awareness of the shop by local riders would go up exponentially.

No – that’s just inflexible.

I completely sympathise with bike shops that take the torrent of penny pinching mountain bikers – but this scenario I’m in 100% agreement with the OP.

I run my own business, and the one thing we can do well is what the big establishments can’t do and that’s flexibility.

10am opening midweek, and staff being in half an hour before doors open is almost guaranteed to have been a staff training session. I wouldn’t have interrupted it because someone turned up half an hour early either, and I consistently didn’t when I was in that position and customers tried to interrupt the only solid 30 minutes a week I got with my staff. That shop is still there 15 years later, it didn’t seem to do them much harm.

Maybe they were getting training on their first service skills? Shame they didn’t get the training session yesterday 😉

Maybe they need a training session on how to let a customer through the door? Maybe there is an app …

If they were there and knew the OP was waiting they should have let him in, taken money handed over bike and they’d now have had someone who was telling people he rated the shop.

jekkyl – Member

If there are employees where is the incentive to open the door for you early?

The incentive is that in 3 months they’re not looking for another job as the shop they worked in has closed down.

The incentive is that in 3 months they’re not looking for another job as the shop they worked in has closed down.

Enlightened self-interest.

While I’d prefer it if everything revolved around my convenience, a shop being open only during the hours of business written on the door is actually pretty standard.

Many businesses have survived despite this practice. 🙂

Nothing to do with bike shops, that’s just retail. How many shops just do 9-5 and close sundays? I think shutting Sunday is just bonkers, it’s half of the weekend gone. To me if you want to do a 5 day week close Monday & Tuesday. Same for hours – if in a town i’d say 10:30 till 18:30 made much more sense.

This still seems odd to me too. I, like most people I suspect, tend to work 9-5, M-F, ish, so why open when most people are at work? Sunday’s, as many hours as you can, same Saturdays, have at least 2 late night openings (1 so I can drop the bike off, 1 so I can collect). That way the LBS, not Halfords or Decathlon, will get my business.

Delta bikes in Dursley Glos – guy says even if were not open just knock and if we can we’ll let you in. Have done this before, he let me in, bought a tyre which he even price matched with CRC (unprompted) so I also bought some more Stans. Loads of bike shops round my way, but I’ll always go back to Delta as their attitude is great

The solution as always is go to the shop that gives you close to the service you need.

This still seems odd to me too. I, like most people I suspect, tend to work 9-5, M-F, ish, so why open when most people are at work? Sunday’s, as many hours as you can, same Saturdays, have at least 2 late night openings (1 so I can drop the bike off, 1 so I can collect).

Speaking personally, I’m open the hours I am* for a couple of reasons – people expect it, and that’s when couriers work.

Many years ago I tried Sunday opening, late evenings etc. Didn’t increase business, just moved it, and meant I was working much longer hours for no more money. I like my business, but I also like my family.

*10am-5pm, Tues-Sat. Usually. Unless I’m on holiday.

It’s easy to say bike shops should be open on Sundays and Bank Holidays – and they might get more trade on those days, but bike shop people have families too. It’s interesting that the 7-days-a-week shopping culture is shifting our expectations so much. I’m not sure it’s a good thing.

Wonders if the OP would be having the same tantrum issues if the staff turned up 2 mins before the shop opened.

The OP doesnt actually state what time he arrived at the door. If it was before ten then why? They knew the opening hours before they rocked up.
The same scenario applies at the end of the day. There has to be a cut off point when people are not admitted into the shop, otherwise someone will rock up an hour early and expect service.
5-10 minutes fine, but more than that is taking the mikey.

Wonders if the OP would be having the same tantrum issues if the staff turned up 2 mins before the shop opened.

I suspect not as the issue was reported as being the staff looking out the door at him while he stood waiting?

The OP doesnt actually state what time he arrived at the door. If it was before ten then why? They knew the opening hours before they rocked up.

The sign outside says 10 am opening on a Wednesday.

The guy that was at the service desk/till yesterday has seen me but refuses to let me have it 30 minutes early.

There’s a clue there somewhere. 🙄

Every other day of the week is 9am just like when I dropped it off on Tuesday morning.

I get into work early most days but if the phone rings I ignore it until I get paid, likewise if it rings whilst I’m on lunch. I’m not getting paid so I don’t work, the call could turn into a nightmare and I’d have to give up more time than just a minute to answer the phone.

As an employer, this sort of attitude would drive me up the wall. I don’t see how it’s any different to the scenario in the OP, and if that happened in our shop I would be horrified. We’d always deal with a customer who arrived before we were officially open, and regularly do deal with customer after we’ve officially closed. That said, I’d hope that those customers don’t take it for granted, and would understand if for some reason we weren’t able to accommodate them out of hours.

OP, did they know you were there to just collect a bike? In retail you see a hell of a lot of faces, they guy who recognised you might not remember what you’re actually there for.

They may not have their systems set up 30 minutes before opening, they may have been having a team briefing (even if it’s passing round an ipad or whatever). If they don’t know that all you need is to collect something, then they can assume you’d be coming in to browse and ask questions, disturbing them from their setting up time.

They may also have rules about letting people in before their cash is sorted into tills, or there may be the takings from the night before to take to the bank. Or any other security risks.

Really it’s not their fault that they’re not letting you in 30 minutes before they should, it’s yours for not finding out what time they open.

Nothing to do with customer service. You set an opening time and that is when you open.

You want them to open at 09:30, next person at 09:25 so they may as well then start opening at 09:30

Guess what, someone then turns up at 09:00 and around we go.

Bad customer service is not to be open at 10:00 when stated.

I get folk arriving early quite frequently, I always accomodate them, even though I may have other work to do in that time that’s made tricky when we have customers in.

The staff above may have been having a meeting – their only one of the week. They may have been having a chat.

I’d knock on the door, you might have got your bike more quickly.

As an employer, this sort of attitude would drive me up the wall.

Do you pay your staff for all the time they work over what’s in their contract, or do you freeload off the extra ten minutes in the morning, ten minutes in the evening (80 hours, or over 2 working weeks a year) at a great benefit to your business?

One guy was polishing hubs on a stand, not really a security risk i’d have thought, I may be wrong though.

If their money’s out, it doesn’t matter who’s polishing what.