if you owned a bike shop, and someone phoned up with a build list/spec, and a member of your staff talked to the customer, and promised to get back with a price within a couple of hours and never did..........
as the owner of the shop how would you feel if you found out.
is it common courtesy to get back to the customer??
in any situation, if someone says they're gonna call someone back then of course it's common courtesy that they actually do so.
unless, of course, they were lying in the first place and had no intention of calling (which, granted in the scenario you described tony would be stupid as you'd think there was the chance they'd be making a sale from it)...
I'd get rid of any employee that habitually didn't get back to a customer within an agreed time scale - even if it's only to say there's going to be a delay
One-off deserves a bollocking
Wouldn't happen in my shop.
Eh? What's that you say laddie? My memory ain't what it used to be you know...
If one of my employees did that they would be told to get on the phone immediately and give the customer the required info & an apology for the delay.
If the employee said I will call you back in x hours then they should do, common courtesy
and would you deal with the shop or take you trade elsewhere...
excuse the double post
If its ton calling its as good as money in the bank. Sounds sad but take your business elsewhere.
Why?
What bikeshop is too busy for new business in January? What will happen with your order, will they devote enough time to it?
Personally I'd probably give them a second chance depending on whether I'd dealt with them before or if they have a good reputation. People *do* make mistakes.
I long for the day Ton calls. I might buy a Porsche based on the first call alone. I could even raise my home budget by 100k!
thebikechain 😆
If I owned a lbs and ton rang I'd have the dfs catalogue out and I'd be planning a new three-piece suite 🙂
Sometimes people are busy
Sometimes people make mistakes
We're ALL Human Beings (I think!)
Slap on the wrists and a "don't do it again" from the boss, an apology from the employee to the customer for not getting back in the agreed time scale... What's the problem there?
It's no different working in a bike shop to any other industry where you have a customer. Sometimes you have busy days where you never get round to doing loads of things you were supposed to (and sometimes customers suffer as a result, even if it is only a mild inconvenience such as this), other days you're sat on your arse, bored, with no customers at all!
Wouldn't happen in my shop.
If you think that's the case, you're VERY VERY naieve... Even with all the best will in the world, Human Beings still make mistakes from time to time...
Ton, give em a call back in the morning, say "sorry to bother you, I was expecting a price back on a build yesterday afternoon, any chance it has been done yet?"... You'll probably be greeted by a slightly embarrassed person on the phone, with a price (or price soon to be sorted), an apology and maybe a couple of quid off as a result...
I think to take your business elsewhere just because someone forgot to call you back with a price in the agreed timescale is a bit ridiculous to be quite honest!
As a customer i would take my hard earned cash and spend it elsewhere, i would also let the orginal shop know this.
As an employer i would be in the market for a new employee. Things are tough enough these days without wasting the opportunity of a possible sale.
Second chance at least, even if you do feel the need to speak to 'the boss', It could be as simple as a misheard digit in a phone number!
sorry to bother you
So you would phone the shop and apologise, i think you have got it the wrong way round ?
My pet hate is people who don't do what they say they're gonna do. I'd shop elsewhere.
f you think that's the case, you're VERY VERY naieve.
Umm, nope.
I rule with a cattle prod and iron fist. I tend to get involved with every communication with customers either directly or indirectly. Kind of an OCD that i can't not get involved. Being that there is only 4 sales people then it's quite easy.
at work, i have a pad next to my phone, as people phone with sales orders/queeries or wanting to buy from us, i take a name and a number, and i phone them back, usually within the hour.
my staff do this too, because they have seen me do it, and it becomes second nature.
i think quite a few bike shops seem to think they are doing you a favour.
i have had this happen before, and a friend told me of a well known shop who he phoned 3 times for a price for a new 2k bike.
so can anyone rec a good santa cruz dealer.
Could you have given the shop a wrong number?
Shop elsewhere.Most of the bike shops around here are bloody awefull.Sometimes you think they r doing u a favour rather than being paid for a service.
Anyone can make a mistake - may have the number down wrong, or had to rush to hospital for the birth of his child.
I'd ring back, find out what had happened, and give another chance if there was a genuine reason.
Two strikes and they'd be out though.
Ton, try giving the Bikeworx a call in Dundee. John is the owner and tell him i sent you 🙂
Some posts seem a little sharp... I agree with Maverick Boy. Give the shop a second chance.
I admit it is annoying but maybe there was a good reason, as stated above we are only human.
As for sacking an employee for not returning a call. Clearly some individuals with huge management experience post on here 😯
Just caught myself on... Apologies for my appalling post, not in true STW style. Take your custom elsewhere, sack the employee infact bring back corporal punishment for this low life!
Another chance then ditch if not happy with their service.
Got my chamelion from Bikescene in Guisborough. Phoned all over the country to try and get the frame I wanted found it closest to home!
A spectacular fail if it's [b]ton[/b] who buys a bike every other week whether he needs one or not!
The shop I usually use almost never calls me back, ever. I assume this is because the staff prioritise dealing with customers who are actually bothered walk in clutching money over people like me who make speculative telephone enquiries and are probably shopping around and not very committed. I'm not sure that's insane of them, and I'm never really in a hurry. Although as noted above, if they knew they were dealing with Ton's ravenous hunger for new bicycles they'd probably change that. 🙂
If every time someone didn't call/do something when they said they would I took my business else where then I'd run out of shops (not bike related as the shop I use is good). Presumably you chose to deal with them for some reason if that is a good reason stick with them.
Iain
i have had this happen before, and a friend told me of a well known shop who he phoned 3 times for a price for a new 2k bike.
From my experience (strangely) Cyclesurgery (Spitalfields), Dickon at Jungle, On-one and Edinburgh bikes (Manchester) have given me quick and very good customer service on new product enquiries. Strangely Ive bought a few new Santa Cruz/On-one frames and on-one parts.
There are others but not all good customer service converts into sales.
I wont name the places that I found appalling with lack of returned calls and (almost) felt like I was treated like a 14yr old boy asking for stickers.
cmon, who was it?...
and I would not take business else where just cos of that... if the bike shop were not busy, people would complain that they are stood around doing nothing, and that why do they have so many staff??? for a bike shop to be profitable, the staff have to be busy. There could also be a genuine reason, especially in this weather??? I would also mark them on the quality of their work, not just the admin and sales...
I also find when you get to know staff and shops and become a regular, the service improves
I'm guessing its Stif (the shop, not a boner)
i totally agree with Maverick. We do live in a world where not everyone can get it right first time. Maybe its a trainee who happened to be at the phone at the time, never got right info.
MAybe he got right info, was seriously quite busy and generally forgot
IF we were all experts, who knows, maybe there wouldn't of been a recession, everyone would be rich with loads of bikes to play about on.
Honestly, phone back and enquire why they never got back. Heavens know, they may of made a mistake
sorry to bother youSo you would phone the shop and apologise, i think you have got it the wrong way round ?
It's called irony, calling their bluff if you like... Being overly nice in a situation where someone else should be apologising to you to put them on the back foot... I forget that such subtleties of personality are probably lost on most apes that inhabit this forum anyway! So... Moving on...
f you think that's the case, you're VERY VERY naieve.Umm, nope.
I rule with a cattle prod and iron fist. I tend to get involved with every communication with customers either directly or indirectly. Kind of an OCD that i can't not get involved. Being that there is only 4 sales people then it's quite easy.
Have a high staff turnover rate do you? Or just employees that live in fear of not being perfect enough all the time despite being on barely more than minimum wage?
If you employ people to do a job, let them bloody get on with it! Sitting and watching over someone constantly intervening at every level is a recipe for at best a disgruntled workforce, and at worst a total disaster! Sure, you've got to be firm (I've known bike shop owners that haven't, and as a result employees took the piss), but being overbearing the whole time is ridiculous... They don't give you the Nazi salute behind your back do they?
at work, i have a pad next to my phone, as people phone with sales orders/queeries or wanting to buy from us, i take a name and a number, and i phone them back, usually within the hour.
my staff do this too, because they have seen me do it, and it becomes second nature.
Spot on practice Ton, and I've always done the same in any job where I'm required to speak on the phone to customers at all... Have you never had a situation that has dragged you away from your desk for longer than expected though, and as a result you couldn't get back to a customer in an agreed timescale?
MaverickBoy - Premier Member> I rule with a cattle prod and iron fist. I tend to get involved
> with every communication with customers either directly or indirectly.
> Kind of an OCD that i can't not get involved. Being that there
> is only 4 sales people then it's quite easy.Have a high staff turnover rate do you? Or just employees that live in fear of not being perfect enough all the time despite being on barely more than minimum wage?
If you employ people to do a job, let them bloody get on with it! Sitting and watching over someone constantly intervening at every level is a recipe for at best a disgruntled workforce, and at worst a total disaster! Sure, you've got to be firm (I've known bike shop owners that haven't, and as a result employees took the piss), but being overbearing the whole time is ridiculous... They don't give you the Nazi salute behind your back do they?
You've met Mark then?
From my experience (strangely) Cyclesurgery (Spitalfields), Dickon at Jungle, On-one and Edinburgh bikes (Manchester) have given me quick and very good customer service on new product enquiries. Strangely Ive bought a few new Santa Cruz/On-one frames and on-one parts.
Conversely, I've experienced perhaps the worst customer service I've had from On One, on more than one occassion... Both before Brant left and after...
Did I get on the internet to moan? Nah, sometimes people have bad days... On One make and sell good products at good prices... I'm prepared to buy off someone who's got out of bed the wrong side in the morning if I'm happy with the product.
hora, not stif............
by the way, had you any intention of actually buying anything?
It must be tough being perfect and not finding that perfection in every other human being. What a terrible miscarriage of justice/shame/crime/sorry state of affairs.
ton - what you thinking of - I can look at UK stock if you likes?
builds/complete bikes/full custom, we can help...
people do make mistakes, i know for sure that I've missed things before - stickies on the computer helps!
Si
a new chameleon, slx build kit, with either pikes or dual air revs.
nice sale for a quiet january day. 8)
Might depend on the customer, and if they knew them.....
They might know them well.
I dunno really........
My LBS are bloody useless at phoning back. It's not cos' they're crap they're just old and can't remember.
SB
ton, do you sell on your old bikes or just stockpile??
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Red Planet in Swindon are a good Santa Cruz dealer, hell you could even come round for a coffee and I could dust off me old bike! 😀
ton - can't get onto the SC site at the mo, looks like we've left the computer on in the shop, so I can't do emails at the mo either - could you please fire me an email to info@18bikes.co.uk and I'll get onto it ASAP in the morning?
Thanks ,
Si
si, will do mate. thanks
if you owned a bike shop, and someone phoned up with a build list/spec, and a member of your staff talked to the customer, and promised to get back with a price within a couple of hours and never did..........
as the owner of the shop how would you feel if you found out.is it common courtesy to get back to the customer??
I'd give the chap the benefit of the doubt he could have written down your phone number only to mislay your phone number/someelse throws away.
Had it happen to years ago gave them a second chance saved a Grand people do make mistakes "To err is Human"
Ton, Bought a couple of Santa Cs from Daventry Leisure Lakes over the past few years...talk to Ian or Mat - always phoned me back and the pricing was good as well!
It's a pet hate of mine, but happens all too often. Every time it happens to me, and it happened today, When someone says "I'll call you back" and they don't, I always think 'you should get their name', but I always forget to do that.
In this case, If it was me, I'd call back and ask to speak to the manager, if he/they weren't then falling overthemselves to apologies and treat me like a king, I'd go elsewhere.
I'm going to assume this is a Leeds/Summerbridge company, I think they are going through big changes at the moment, so possibly worth a 2nd chance.
Also, as an employer and manager, personally I also go down tons route of leading by example and training, not thebikechains cattle pod and iron fist, but each to their own.
Maverickboy... you are way off.
You might have missed my deliberate sarcasm.
Actually a very low staff turnover funnily enough.
Oh dear. I think people may have missed it entirely.
I think i may be the opposite of cattle prod.
You might have missed my deliberate sarcasm.
Whilst I think I'm pretty good at picking sarcasm in spoken word, to pick out sarcasm in written word on an internet forum is a LOT harder... Something like 80% of all communication is visual...
Hence I always use a 😉 when I'm being sarcastic...
Fair play though, you know where I'm coming from at least...
ton, is this a covert way of getting a 'look at me, I'm buying another bike' thread some attention? 😉
I'd give the bloke another chance, it's forgotfulness at worst, hardly bad customer service
Don't believe him. What he said first is all true....
I'm going to stick up for the LBS here.
Having done a few retail jobs, There's a certain type of 'customer' who's always phoning with detailed elaborate build lists, that take up a lot of your time, yet they rarely if ever buy anything, its all speculation.
It would be different if the customer was in the shop face to face,or a regular, or it was a small number of parts, of course they should be phoned back ASAP.
Now, thats unlikely to be you ,Ton, but I used to get very fed up going to a lot of trouble leafing through brochures/pricelists, consulting managers regarding discounts (naturally, these timewasters always expect big discounts)and phoning back only to be told," nahh, mate, I can do better than that mail order!"
And that's time you could have more valuably spend dealing with customers in shop.
bakes, no mate not at all. i can get a bike when iwant, i don't need to come on here to seek guidance.
it was a genuine question asking if it was a good or bad trait in a buisness.
if i owned a business that existed on sales i would be fuming over something like this...
and for the 2nd time
...................IT IS NOT STIF.................!!!!!!!
Maybe they thought you were just shopping around and CBA to get back, knowing that there'll be a punter round the corner prepared to pay full whack that doesn't know or is bothered to shop around.
There is every possibility that the shop does enough business to not worry about telephone quotes.
I think suggestions of sacking the employee are a bit harsh. Depends how desperate the shop are for business.
Do bike staff get good incentives for converting sales?
only kidding
I guess you're front of house yourself so apply your own strict code to treatment of customers which is fair enough
I'm used to shitty customer service, living in London, I'd be elated that they'd picked up the phone 😮
My day was abit dull- this nobber rings up saying hes looking to spend circa 2k. My job though was to make coffee for the customers, fix punctures and fit new brake pads for customers high-end 5k bikes and this nobber wanted to spend a lowly 2k. So, I get home and Ive just realised I forgot to write his number down. He'll probably call tomorrow.
hora, bad news is, he wont.......... 8)
It may be irritating, but people do make mistakes, and circumstances can get in the way of good customer service. As suggested, give them a call to find out what's going on. That's their second chance and if they make a mess of that knowing they've already messed up....
I've done this in the past, I was furious when some service work ended up being hugely more expensive than quoted. Didn't shop there for 2 years. Have since had 2 bikes and loads of kit from them. Ironically, they are actually a really good shop but one issue put me off. A mistake on my part IMO.
Obviously I'm chuffed not to be working with people who think forgetting to make one phone call is a disciplinary offence 🙄
It's annoying but it happens. Having been on the other side of the phone I rarely if eve ask to be called back. It's unfair. If you are faced with a customer in the shop you don't ignore them to make a call. It's hard enough finding the time quite often to do the pricing anyway. You have to have a priority. 1 the person who comes in (and is most likely to actually spend) 2, the person who rings you as is quicker to answer than make the call (but never if face to face with a customer) 3 the call back.
With a pure mail order set up who promote 2 way calls its fair to expect a call back but otherwise I actually reckon its expecting a lot. Don't get all sanctimonious about the customer being right. Until you spend you are not a customer and you just have to be practical. It just doesn't always work. you can't always assume that the shop has enough bodies to do everything.
nice sale for a quiet january day.
Bit obnoxious to be quite so presumptious you might say!
How do you know how busy they were or weren't?
Do bike staff get good incentives for converting sales?
None that I've ever known... Hard enough for the bike shop owners making a living in the first place as it's a relatively low margin retail venture compared to most.
Having done a few retail jobs, There's a certain type of 'customer' who's always phoning with detailed elaborate build lists, that take up a lot of your time, yet they rarely if ever buy anything, its all speculation.
Yup, fair enough, I used to get that a bit when I worked in a shop... You've kind of got to expect it though.
To be fair, I've had a job or 2 in the past where I was in charge of spending quite a bit of money for my company, so a bit of time spent on the phone ringing round different suppliers to see if I could save a few quid here or there, was often worthwhile... Certainly wouldn't spend all day doing it, but if 4 or 5 phonecalls in the space of 30 minutes could save me £100, it was certainly worthwhile!
Oh dear. I think people may have missed it entirely.
Mark - they did - you missed out a few smiley faces. I read it and thought 'I've only met him once, but that doesn't sound like him, but I can't see sarcasm there'.
I really hope none of you sanctimonious choppers who are galloping through this thread on your high horses ever, ever make a mistake. Not that I think you'd eat humble pie - I just hope you all remain perfect in your perfect worlds.
How's the job seach going Mark?
Cakes 🙂 You do remember to take those in sometimes don't you?
How's the job seach going Mark?
More interviews confirmed thanks Pete, so looking up 😀
Cakes You do remember to take those in sometimes don't you?
My kind of customer! 😉
Good luck mate, see you soon.
Such is the 1 dimension of posting on a forum. He said what he said, you can only reply to what you have to work with, words. When managing people no one is perfect, least of all me. I have base principles I try to manage staff by, but then character and personality come into it and I'm certainly a terrible deligator and not perfect, which has reprecusions. Ruling by an iron fist can be a positive thing and people react positively to different styles of management. Make of my post what you want.
Ton, phone Bike Scene in Guisborough (01287 610735) & speak to Craggsy (Andy) tell him Jim the Geordie Yorkshireman sent you!
I wouldnt put it all down to mistakes or forgetting to do it. Maybe the guy was looking forward to getting into it and someone popped in to try a bike,and he ended up selling it.. but had to build it up in another size? throwing him RIGHT off?
Give it until tomorrow and you never know.. you might end up with a build thats top notch and a service you might never have guessed.
You are looking for a reasonable price. You'd give three businesses opportunities to quote wouldnt you?
No one calls just one bikeshop and says 'Ive got £Xk to spend' do they?!
hora, i do mate.
all the time.
i can't be arsed messing around trying to get the cheapest price.
that is why i phoned with a spec and asked them to let me know a price...
Did they read the number back to you? At work we had a few instances of it being written down wrong so now I always read the number back to the caller.
I also right things down on a notepad by my desk so it's always visable.
Yesterday I got to work early to ring a customer back, that I'd spoken to on Sat, I'd explained it would be after 9 I called her, but due to it being potentially important I rung her early, to which she replied you don't start work until 9 she was happy I made the effort.
Everyone makes a mistake or two. Its how the mistake it rectified that dictates how to continue your trading.
If they dont ring you back, then call them and speak to the manager. Base your future decisions on how that goes.
Surely you have mentally owned this chameleon now? time to metaphorically sell it on and look at a new steed?
For the very reason that I may have been busy I always tell customers to give me a call if they haven't heard back from me within the time I said I'd call. The reasonable ones don't have a problem with this. Management may be the cause of the delay ie shop understaffed, it may not be the fault of the person you spoke to. In a shop I always think its the people that have actually made the effort to go into the shop that deserve to be seen to first, annoys me when you are ignored or treated rudely by staff that are on the phone. I'd phone them back and give them the chance to apologise and find out how they are getting on. Treat them right and they should do right by you.
All this reminds me of a time when I was trying to get a bleed plug for my Hayes discs. Checked CRC, out of stock, phoned importers who are local and they said they dah them and although they couldn't/wouldn't sort me out, told me that any shop that said they couldn't get them was talking rubbish. This was then what every shop said bar one. I was very pleased especially when the guy said he'd have it in less than a week. they had said he would have to order a complete seal kit but woould just sell me the part i wanted. A week later I went in spoke to somebody else who said they don't do that sort of thing and I should just pay for the whole kit. Inconsistency annoys me.