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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??