funny, it was my experience with LBS’s that drove me to set up a LBS 🙂

Working in a bike shop can be really depressing, the shit people try to pull is unreal.

I had a bike shop strip a bolt on my brake master cylinder, then they claimed it was my fault and refused to do anything about it. I reckon they’ve lost over £1k in trade because of it.

That stinks. But they’re not customers they’re criminals.

Some try to be both, either asking if we want to buy their obviously stolen bike, or fix it, we generally try get them arrested, but you get a lot of shit from it.

2 local LBSes to me – both part of small chain of shops, are not snobbish at all.
The original bike shop I used to use (a single shop), was quite intimidating. I don’t think i ever would have gone in there if my mate hadn’t taken me in! Shop now only sells high end Ti, steel and carbon frames, so don’t know how he’s still going..

” can I have a refund on these shorts cos they make my bum bleed”

😆

Anyway I don’t use my LBS (2 mins ride from home)

what are we using as the definition of LBS? 🙂 my LBS isn’t the nearest bike shop

LBS – the one you run to when something snaps, breaks, falls apart or dies at 4:45 on a Friday before a weekend away.
Or the one where
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MIVVVP_Nto[/video]

Working in a bike shop can be really depressing, the shit people try to pull is unreal.

Its life, You take the rough with the smooth. Its not the customers fault you just had a tool in complaining.

Each one of those people you complain about at some point made a contribution to your wages.

nice,

It’s a good thing! No bullshit, no excuses. Honest, plain talking people who know their stuff.

True singlespeed very true.

True singlespeed very true.

When ever I got a tool in, I used to stick roam on the dvd player, sit on a downhill bike and make funny noises.

Or throw a spanner.

I miss the days of “my chains rusty, this bike keeps getting punctures and do you have a medium sized Allen key for my bars”

OP – Sounds like your sales technique was frankly wrong for that particular customer, especially if they felt that agrieved with you that they told you to your face. As Sancho says most people dont say anything and just go away telling all their mates etc not to visit your shop, at least this guy gave you prior warning your doing it wrong.

As to all the niggling stuff that customers request etc. Surely thats just like any business? By all means moan about it, but the bike industry isnt ‘special’

When ever I got a tool in, I used to stick roam on the dvd player, sit on a downhill bike and make funny noises.

While they were still talking to you? 😆

With a fullface / Iridium goggles!

andypaul99 – he is pre qualifying you to ensure you can afford it, such behaviour is normall at Porsche and Mercedes, a bit sad that a bike shop feels the need..

All he should have done was ask what bikes I already had…he would soon have known I wasn’t messing about. I’m not well off either, it’s just I’m prepared to spent more on bike kit than what I do on most other stuff.

D45yth – I agree he’s gone about it in the wrong way. I remember from my days of working in a shop that most of the guys with the nicest bikes weren’t the ones with the best jobs. Those that earnt loads were often pretty tight and had so-so bikes that never got any love.

Going off ar a tangent, I remember going car shopping have narrowed my choice down to a Clio 182 and a Cooper S. Went to the Renault garage and was told that I didn’t want a 182, I was too young etc. The guy proceeded to try and sell my a 1.4 Clio that was slower than the Mini Cooper I had at the time. The Mini garage took me seriously let me test a few cars etc and got my money. Preconceptions of potential customers can be a dodgy thing.

Also agree with the chap who said about people being friendly because they want something. I was genuinely mates with a few of our customers but some of then took the pee in terms of what they expected in return.

While they were still talking to you?

I’d usually wait for them to leave, I wouldn’t want them to get the hump and scratch my Range Rover on their way out.

I used to work in a bike shop and loved it, the customers i hated but smiled and was nice and friendly because that’s what you do.

I repaired shitty pram wheels and sold rediculous bikes that wouldn’t get used for there intent.

I since have not been into a bike shop other than to pick up a specific part, (no bull crap no chit chat) I am sick of going into them and feeling looked down on and patronized.

I’m yet to find a freindly bike shop that i can go into brows look at the shiney stuff and then walk out of having bought a low end bit of kit or something that’s not in there eyes the right bit, with out getting a weird look.

I deemed never to step foot in my LBS after they delayed and delayed a simple quick wheel tension. When I complained I got told that as I hadn’t bought a bike from him he didn’t prioritise my job and put mine to the back. It wasn’t the first job that had been delayed either.

Silly fool failed to realise that 2 people I knew bought bikes from him from my recommendation to use him.

I have recently bought a new bike from a brand he stocks, bought it online though so his narrow minded customer service meant I would NEVER buy anything from him again.

Dont have a lbs as such here any more. But when I did I always found I was treated in a different way too the middle aged men who just blow cash on a bike they dont ride.

Recently it has been at jejames in Rotherham. One of the managers was being really obstructive and unhelpful whilst I was trying too look at the Orange5 and Alpine frames.

I came back the next weekend and got the same treatment so I decided too see how they would react if I brought my bike. He was completely different when I walked in with my Ti456.

More often than not I find people will respond to being treated with a bit of respect and will return that respect , that applies if you are a customer or staff . Many people go into a shop thinking they know it all and can have quite an arrogant attitude towards the staff , this is I guess the flip side of what the OP wrote . Also some people just seem determined to have a bad time no matter what kind of service they receive .

I my line of work I stick by the adage “The customer is always right” (until I prove them wrong).

But I dont work in the cycle industry.

The nearest bike shop to my house boils my pi55 whenever I am forced to go in there. As such I try to use others closer to where my work takes me.

I went into 23C in Stony Stratford with a £1K C2W voucher (so not idly tyre kicking), looking for my first road bike, the Orbea 105 at that price. Girl behind the counter (we are the only 2 people in the shop) couldnt even be bothered to check the price list. Turned round, walked out, bought one online. Recently upgraded to a full carbon/ultegra toy and bought loads of nice roadie kit, all business 23C could have captured.

Munqe Chick has been MTBing 20 years but hates going into shops as she is tired of being patronised and condescended too, with the result her “LBS” is still back home in Cardiff, 120 miles away, with the guys she grew up with and who encouraged her into riding as a kid.

Sorry to hear so many bad experiences. I used to work on the shop floor in retail, these experiences were always the opposite of the service we tried to give our customers.

I have been fortunate to use the small Cycleworks chain, Leatherhead, Guildford and Haslemere. All have been really good and happy to service bikes, order in parts and complete my recent bike build. They are always friendly and don’t look down on me because I can’t justify a Whyte or Orange.

They always seem to be friendly to the young Mums and Dads buying bikes for kids, as well as the ‘can you repair my puncture’ brigade. Always service with a smile and would always recommend them to others.

I have 2 LBS’ – right around the corner from work, within 200 yards of each other, bot successful in their own right, but on very different scales.

I bought a bike from the big one a few years back, missed the free service deadline by about a month, had hardly ridden the thing anyway, begrudgingly paid for a service and came out £125 worse off. They sell a certain brand of flashy german bikes that look the part and get ridden around town a lot…… Pretty patronising staff who think everyone’s aspiring to ride the tour or fort william.

The other is modest in comparison, sells good value, good quality, non flashy bikes, will fix anything you drag in, love a good chat, ride old school bikes themselves, and will always do a deal, on what you want, not what they want to sell.

Guess which I use now…

I have over 25 years working within the cycle industry and my knowledge is superior you could say so when a customer says that to me it baffles me

Dont think he liked my sales pitch one bit,which was a real shame as I don’t like a customer to leave empty handed out of my shops

What makes you think your knowledge is superior? Saying stuff like that may be why you lost the sale.

This last few years things seem to change at such a rate I can never assume I know everything , a lot of things yes but not all you just never stop learning.

Both myself and my boss do have off days and can be grumpy now and then and can be a little short with people but we both try to be nice and take time to help everyone who comes in
No dirty bike charge
Do fix pram wheels
Pump up old ladies tyres (at least once a day ) free of charge

Some customers are just very hard to please and/ or think they are correct no matter what you try and tell them

I have over 25 years working within the cycle industry and my knowledge is superior

this and your choice of forum username suggest your non-customer had a point. Since when does working in an industry make you an expert? Years ago my local GT dealer heard they’d gone t1ts up from me, going in to stock up on spares for my I-Drive (I’d heard via the US-based MTBR forum). They even rang the distributor to check because they didnt believe me. Plenty of bike geeks out there who have an encyclopaedic knowledge of bikes and kit, who just happen to earn their living outside the industry.

We’ve had LBS owners/employees posting “help” threads on here which suggests not everyone is of the same opinion.

Given your starting point is condescending towards customers I’m only surprised this is the first one who’s had the confidence to speak out.

Crashtestmonkey, thanks for writing that…I was in the middle of writing something similar. I cringed when reading Bikeind’s last comments too.

The bit about customers walking out empty handed…if you haven’t got what they came in for, it’s too bad isn’t it. 🙄

Yep, think I agree with the customer here. Remind me not to bother popping in your shop.

Plenty of bike geeks out there who have an encyclopaedic knowledge of bikes and kit, who just happen to earn their living outside the industry.

Yes, I get lots of good info and new product ideas from customers – because, frankly, I don’t have as much time to browse obscure bike websites as some people do 😉 And some of my best-selling things, like Rohloff Bromptons, have come about because someone has had the idea and asked me to build it.

what had the (potential) customer come in for?

I have over 25 years working within the cycle industry and my knowledge is superior

That doesn’t sound snobby at all. No, ohhh no. Choice of the world “superior” says a lot.

I still hold a stupid, pointless piece of anger in the back of my mind for the guy in the Shimano tent at Mayhem in 2007 (yes, really!) who tried to tell me that my seized chainlink was due to me not having lubed the chain, that the dust was wearing it through. “Have you ridden the course? I rode it last night and it’s really dusty, you need to lube your chain. That’s why it’s seized.”

Didn’t notice the fact I was riding solo and would have done at least four laps since he’d done his.

Snooty, grumpy arsehole, sneering at me, my bike, my chain lube regimen and dispensing utter, nonsensical bullshit while he was at it. If he ran a bike shop, there’s no way in hell I would ever want to put any money his way.

Emotional business, people and their bikes…

All the local shops I use are ace. Odd unhelpful employees at one but stock generally makes up for it.

11 out of 10 for the guy in one of our LBSs who not having the right choice of bikes for our eldest reccommended me to his previous employer 5miles away and gave us some of his time to make suggestions of what he might rate from the stock they were likely to have! Will make dam sure he gets some more custom for something else now.

Great to see that there are some great LBSs still around.

Bikeind – which is you shop?

bikeind – Member

I have over 25 years working within the cycle industry and my knowledge is superior you could say so when a customer says that to me it baffles me

Dont think he liked my sales pitch one bit,which was a real shame as I don’t like a customer to leave empty handed out of my shops

Please tell me you’re trolling 😆

The owner of my favorite LBS wears Crocs at the shop! Snob!

I have over 25 years working within the cycle industry and my knowledge is superior

Oh dear 🙄

The owner of my favorite LBS wears Crocs at the shop! Snob!

Crocs: shoes designed for people with poor bladder control.