[Closed] Planet X - dodgy trading practices?

Theres only 1 distributor I can think of that works on a pre VAT markup of 50% with a few of its lines. Factor in VAT and youre looking at 30% markup surely? Highest top rate buying 100k of bikes a year would probably get you a 36% markup, but to shift 100k of bikes youve gotta pack um high and sell um cheap.
In an ideal world where everyone sold at RRP youd make a gross profit of maybe average 30%, but everyone price shags, so in reality on bits 15% on a bike, 20%, but then factor in the time building it and the first free service which comes out of the price originally..

Theres only 1 distributor I can think of that works on a pre VAT markup of 50% with a few of its lines. Factor in VAT and youre looking at 30% markup surely? Highest top rate buying 100k of bikes a year would probably get you a 36% markup, but to shift 100k of bikes youve gotta pack um high and sell um cheap.
In an ideal world where everyone sold at RRP youd make a gross profit of maybe average 30%, but everyone price shags, so in reality on bits 15% on a bike, 20%, but then factor in the time building it and the first free service which comes out of the price originally..

?

In response to Sherry et al

wysiwyg - Member

Theres only 1 distributor I can think of that works on a pre VAT markup of 50% with a few of its lines. Factor in VAT and youre looking at 30% markup surely? Highest top rate buying 100k of bikes a year would probably get you a 36% markup, but to shift 100k of bikes youve gotta pack um high and sell um cheap.
In an ideal world where everyone sold at RRP youd make a gross profit of maybe average 30%, but everyone price shags, so in reality on bits 15% on a bike, 20%, but then factor in the time building it and the first free service which comes out of the price originally..

+1

this is the most sensible explanation of LBS mark ups I have seen on here. Correct me if I am wrong but are trade purchase prices pre vat usually in the region of 50% of RRP (loosely). Adding vat and possibly dealing with price match/discount and the mark up isnt great. I know the big shops get better prices on bulk buys but not massively so.

In fact, I do wonder how LBS manage to keep afloat, especially here in the NW where we are surrounded by quality shops and also big discount retailers (Merlin, Ribble, Winstanleys) and shops like Leisure Lakes, Evans, Edinburgh Bike Co and so on.

Put it this way, if you opened a 100k account with Madison tomorrow with one massive order of Shimano, on most lines youd still pay more that buying it from Rose Bikes AFTER paying your VAT at Shimanos top rate.
Basically if youre a shop owner theres more markup in buying from a german retailer than the UK distributor.

I cannae say no more.

To be honest, it's not ideal to have a 48hour plus window in which you've no idea what's in stock or not, knowingly overselling to customers, then having to sort it out once you've taken their money; their should be a more elegant solution. Also, it sounds as though the refund should have been sorted much more promptly.

But that belies the true travesty of this thread:

Occam's razor I reckon - cock-up is much more likely than conspiracy, particularly as it's PlanetX.

That isn't a correct understanding/use of Occam's Razor.

To be fair to the OP, the story indicates he's been treated poorly.
Those who think he "should wind his neck in" should take their own advice. Those who think he "owes" a thank you to On One / Planet X are delusional.
He owes them nothing : they appear to owe him money.
If he's still not had his refund, despite being in contact with them already today, then its not down to him to start another email correspondance with On One.
Its down to them to sort the problem out.
What would they want him to say in this email?

"Hi, I've still not recieved the frame I paid for, or a refund as promised. You eventually offered an explanation online that avoided the issue of this frame reappearing for sale today at a marked up price, and asked me to contact you again by email.
Why is this? have you forgotten my details since we talked earlier, or is the pile of refunds that need sorting so big you don't know which one to do?
Or is it just to remove the problem from the public eye?"

I guess a response from On One along the lines of Marcelus Wallace would be a little more reassuring.

Your refund is being sorted as we speak.
You ain't got no problem, KungFuPanda. I'm on the case. Go back in there, chill out and wait for the Wolf who should be coming directly.

damo2576, if that were true no bike shop would be in business except the likes of crc.

Convert, lots of good valid points that I agree with. But to manufacture a carbon frame with new technology for let's say £50 and then sell it to the consumer for over £700. Someone is making a very good profit. Yes there are plenty of middle men but even so.

Recently I enquired about a replacement swing arm. Got quoted 350/400 from bike shop then bike company directly said 200 at a special price. Which was more than cost I'm sure. I still maintain the bike industry in general is overpriced. Like many other industries.

I dont see what the OP did wrong here and in fact it seems to have moved things on and he should get a refund that should have been with him a while ago. An audit, stock take whatever should not impact on customer service, especially if that customer has been told on repeated occasions that they will recieve a refund.

I have had a couple of 'stock' issues with Planet X and On One in the past and havent bought from them in a long time because of that.

Chaos have quite the client list, but their own site is a bit rubbish.

sherry - Member
I still maintain the bike industry in general is overpriced. Like many other industries.

That isn't a correct understanding/use of Occam's Razor.

Strictly speaking, no, but this isn't a philosophy thesis so I spared the nuance. In this instance however, the simplest explanation = most likely, so probably best to consider before bandying about legal threats. Glad to hear there's an explanation at least, but it certainly looks like it could have been handled better.

In which case, there is a perfect opportunity for someone like yourself to step in, sell stuff cheap AND make their fortune.

This time next year, Rodney...

Interesting that the op hasn't bothered his arse coming back to the thread. Angry rant, perhaps only highlighting the 'bad' bits of the story and not giving the full picture.

Driudh, I wish i could! I did look into opening an bike shop some years ago and its pretty difficult to get distributors on board with there reps loyalty to other shops and not wanting to many brands in the one area. A lot of hoops to jump through. Might have changed now.

Might see me on dragons den yet ha ha.

It must say something about dave and brant, they have been on here LOTS recently (and other sites i guess??) trying to sort thier customers issues out!

Does anyone think the boss of tesco, or CRC or even wiggle would care if they made a mistake??? Me thinks not....

WELL DONE CHAPS!

You seem to CARE! Rare in this world!

ciderinsport - Member

Does anyone think the boss of tesco, or CRC or even wiggle would care if they made a mistake??? Me thinks not....

CRC don't make as many mistakes??

How big are CRC in comparison? What %age of "faulty" transactions do you think they have?

But then, they don't seem to make as many mistakes....

Really 😯 I thought you were a regular on here!

Not defendending anyone, but, seriously!

Not just CRC et al but any large on-line retailer, they all have issues, it just seems Dave (and Brant) are happy to go on a chat forum and explain, where no one else would be bothered. Makes me think they care.... thats all!

Surely you can do a stock take without basically having to **** your business up for 48hrs, and if you know its an issue, ban leave afterwards to sort out the **** ups

Surely if it takes 48 hours to do it you stop the ordering process in the meantime?

Surely if it takes 48 hours to do it you stop the ordering process in the meantime?

I can't believe your problem isn't sorted out yet druidh - will we ever hear the full epic tail from both perspectives? 8)

At the moment it's a bit of a race between Rangers finally being rescued from administration and me getting a satisfactory response from On One.

will we ever hear the full epic tail from both perspectives?

does anyone care?

But then I remember how over priced bikes/parts are with Hugh mark ups from production to sale.

😆

Hang on - here's another one!

😆

That's made my evening.

😀

does anyone care?

There's been a c*** up...the OP has quite rightly felt that he's been treated harshly.

However, the Planet X bods have come back with an explanation and at the very least the offer of a prompt return of paid monies. It's not ideal but they've taken the time to explain their side and appeal to the OP to get in touch.

Case closed.

daveplanetx
"yaddayaddayadda"

first rule of dealing with customer complaints..

it doesn't need 500 words worth of excuses, just a quick and satisfactory fix

second rule, make sure it doesn't happen again.

"druidh - Member
daveplanetx - Member .
"That'll explain why Jules has been too busy to get back to me......"

- Actually I spoke to jules about your case today as we hear a lot about it on here - he telephoned you yesterday and you were meant to call him back today - he has been back in touch with you so you are not correct here , I will ask him to call you again tomorrow , its a bit bizarre how you are so pleasant on the phone yet enjoy raising the issue in every single thread relating to anything to do with on-one . .
To be honest druid why don't you just post your full story so we can get it over and done with, you have lauded to it many times . I think there are two sides to every case and I think you have been treated very fairly - if you are want to truly air things in public then why not get on with it instead of posting and sniping about "your story" every single time on-one gets a mention ? We definitely looked after you pretty well and we agreed a deal that still stands and if there is any customer service case where we made great efforts to offer a fair solution it was yours , so I would truly like you to acknowledge what a great effort we made for you .

Back to the pertinent comments - our operating system does require stock take to be done like this , we have signed a deal to have a new system developed . All the off the peg systems we have looked at have limitations - so we have just started a 1 year project so April 2013 we should , if it goes to plan , have a start of the art , custom written , bespoke , all singing dancing operating system that does everything we need and will take us through the next few years of growth . Touch wood .

Back to OP I agreed that if the refund wasn't processed straight away it would have been unacceptable and I apologised if this was indeed the case - as soon as I get hold of an order number I can see if it has been done - can't check anything without this . Refunds are done daily , so this should be sorted - sometimes the issue can be with the funds taking a few days to land back on the account but thats on the cardholders side .

Cheez0 +1

Dog ate my homework. Apologise, rectify, carry on - include haribo in the package 🙂

Q: Would anyone be forgiving of a trader in classifieds behaving like this once a deal was agreed and goods paid for?

Edit: hope this all gets sorted out and we hear good vibes from both sides 🙂 after all it's none of my business but couldn't resist urge to join in 🙂

FFS, OO & PX trade in large volumes so a small number of cock ups are bound to happpen, look at all the CRC haters threads recently!!

OP has problem, bleats in public, PX provide satisfactory response... thread closed surely 🙄

+1 op. All i got out of planet x`s post was (we haven't really bothered explaining). nice 😐

daveplanetx - Member

- Actually I spoke to jules about your case today as we hear a lot about it on here - he telephoned you yesterday

and you were meant to call him back today -

he has been back in touch with you so you are not correct here

I will ask him to call you again tomorrow , its a bit bizarre how you are so pleasant on the phone yet enjoy raising the issue in every single thread relating to anything to do with on-one . .

We definitely looked after you pretty well and we agreed a deal that still stands

and if there is any customer service case where we [b]made[/b] great efforts to offer a fair solution it [b]was[/b] yours , so I would truly like you to acknowledge what a great effort we [b]made[/b] for you

Yes - it was very useful to have a loan of a frame while I was awaiting the one I'd ordered and paid for and you had failed to deliver. Thank you. However, I would have appreciated being kept up to date with the problems related to my order without me having to phone regularly with promises that "someone would get back to me asap".

Anyway - I suspect we've now bored the pants off the rest of the forum... I'll call Jules tomorrow to find out who I need to send the loaner frame to.

Anyway - I suspect we've now bored the pants off the rest of the forum...

Nope, not me.

I'm eagerly awaiting Dave's response. With a bowl of breakfast muesli*

[*Jordans Muesli, 750g. 99p at Home Bargains!]

we have signed a deal to have a new system developed . All the off the peg systems we have looked at have limitations - so we have just started a 1 year project so April 2013 we should , if it goes to plan , have a start of the art , custom written , bespoke , all singing dancing operating system that does everything we need and will take us through the next few years of growth . Touch wood .

Now there's a date for the diary, I think I'll stock up before then!

I dunno, that was more another list of snipe's and added globe threat rather than the 'put up or shut up' requested. Stw'ers eh!

Anyway - I suspect we've now bored the pants off the rest of the forum...

Nope.

[img] [/img]

Everyone loves a good bitch 🙂

I was thinking about Dave's explanation of the Easter stocktake and the issues it raises. I guess that being an online retailer, it's very difficult to stop taking orders and as such, you have to leave the website open but stop the system behind it - nonetheless, IME you should be able to manage it with a temporary paper (eg manual) solution while the main system is down though it's a hassle and not perfect but better than just waiting until the system's back to find out how much of a mess you're in.

Good luck with the new system though. Mind you, a word of caution - try and keep it as vanilla as possible - IME, bespoke systems are a nightmare in the long term the more bespoke they are as you end up with problems when you need to patch/upgrade over time.

[*Jordans Muesli, 750g. 99p at Home Bargains!]

What's the estimated mark-up there? 😉

Not getting involved in the argument, but I can't help but comment on this:

our operating system does require stock take to be done like this

Then change it, because it's obviously crap, it's obviously causing you problems and it's obvioulsy loosing you custom(ers)

I've spent the last year or more training people on a system that requires us to do a stock take at a few hundred sites UK-wide, for a few thousand materials, once a month. We have ZERO down time for it. It takes literally 2-3 minutes to enter the stock count at each plant, start to finish. (Obviously this doesn't change the fact that you have to physically walk round and count the stock, but that's never gonna change)

Seriously, there's no way on this earth I'd accept or use a system that's so shonky. I've been involved in stocks etc virtually all my working life, and you cannot carry on like that.

Maybe PX/OO could have a traffic light system on the website?
Green- order now you will get your stuff.
Amber- Careful, its a bit iffy!
Red - we're just taking the p155 now.

Now, although i am currently a dissatisfied customer, that was me having a laugh! As a counter to some of the quite open and to be honest quite odd arse crawling that has gone on here and on ither theads towards PX/OO.
I think most of us have had a good deal from them at some point and long may they continue. But if you have been on the end of some bad customer service it does smart. At the end of the the day we ride bikes for pleasure, why should it be painful?

Seriously, there's no way on this earth I'd accept or use a system that's so shonky. I've been involved in stocks etc virtually all my working life, and you cannot carry on like that.

I'll admit I know nothing about this stuff, but in true STW fashion that it isn't going to stop me having an opinion! I find it hard to believe, as a member of Joe Public, there is no viable alternative to losing all stock info for 2 days, and then having to run around like headless chickens to allow for it.

Pimpmaster jazz, your point is? Ok there isn't massive mark ups from production to consumer. Your cryptic suggestion has worked ha ha.