My work are running a cycle to work scheme and so i thought ideal oppurtunity to get a new folding bike as my current one is old and could do with replacing, so i chose a Dahon Cadenza and put my order in, then a couple of days later i gt a call from the provider (Wheelies/cycle solutions) saying that they cold not provide that bike because Dahon has a new distributor in the U.K. and they prohibited them from sending bikes out by courier, i was however welcome to pick up the bike from them in Wales, seeing as my employer is London fire brigade i couldn't but help thinking they were calling my bluff hoping that i wouldn't travel all the way there just to pick up a bike.
Is this at all likely? Would the distributor really care how a retailer sells the bikes once they've bought them off of them, especialy as internet retail is such big business now, just seems a little odd to me. Still now i can get a crosser and have selected a Genesis Vapour so all is not lost.
I'm sure I have seen retailers ads.in the mags saying that some
brands[ Trek ? ] are only available in store and not mail order
Trek and Gary Fisher have similar rules - it's to stop online retailer sundercuting their bricks and mortar stockists.
It's a bit like the cosmetics comapnies refusing to supply tesco's etc.
Winstanleys seem to have ended up with a nice workaround - they just send a bloke out with the bikes...
Yes it's likely, I've heard about other companies doing it.
Some bikes come in boxes with 'this bike must only be assembled by a trained mechanic' on them which makes sending them out 'mailorder' a bit dubious.
'this bike must only be assembled by a trained mechanic'
which probably explains why my local Bikehut shut...
igmc.
Gotta say when I had a trek through wheelies (insurance replacement) drove to south wales to pick it up.
Live in east anglia (near norwich) fun 10 hour round trip that was!
LBS seemed to think that companies (trek etc..) stopping their bikes being mail order meant that big discounts couldn't be given on the bikes.
Said he'd cancelled around £400k worth of trek stock when their rules first came in!
Why would the retailer call your bluff and risk losing a sale if they knew you were in London?
Fishers have stopped doing them.
certain manufacturers/distributors wont allow mail order. Think trek dont...
so yeh, feasible.
Why is the provider associated with the scheme for the London Fire Brigade in Wales? Or did you get to pick where you got the bike from, in which case there must be a Dahon stockist closer surely?