When you say you’ll ring your customer, do you actually do it? I don’t want to tar you all with the same brush based on my experience over the years.

Yes.

Always do when I can – problems come with part time people (like me!) not being in on the relevant day to phone, and then other people forgetting/not seeing the message to do it on your behalf!

By my own admission I’m the worst organised person , and do forget to ring people far to often
This is never done on purpose but no matter what I do. I so just forget some times

I always used to try when I worked in a shop, but if you suddenly get swamped all afternoon with customers it can slip your mind, people are only human.

I always get them to ring back tbh.Stops me putting it off to do do something else.

yes – but most of us, perhaps including the OP, make mistakes.

Ha. I dont think I could count the amount of times Ive forgotten to ring someone back.

These shops can have such huge swings in how busy they are its so easy to get swamped and forget to ring someone. Were all human after all…

Writing it down is just so hard…

I think the upshot of this is that bike shops are badly managed from a customer service perspective. Which with notable exceptions (bike tree in Sheffield) is true.

I always try to phone back.
But as as mentioned,sometimes the shop/workshop is manically busy and it sometimes is delayed until the next day.

There’s often threads on here with people asking “what do you want from your LBS?” and the answer I often see is “I wish they’d phone me like they said they would”. I wondered if it is an all too common experience.

I’d be much happier if a shop said to me “give me a call and I’ll let you know if it’s done” rather than me waiting for a call that never comes.

…it sometimes is delayed until the next day.

Sadly my experience is that it is not the next day, or the day after, or the day after that…

it’s not just bike shops though is it?
I know what it’s like to have to get back to demanding clients and I have far fewer than a bike shop would.
it’s no bother for me to ring the bike shop back or pop in to ask how your order/ issue is going.

The fact that quite a few are saying they simply forget to call back tells you an awful lot about their organisation and discipline

The fact that quite a few are saying they simply forget to call back tells you an awful lot about their organisation and discipline

I will say what most bike shop staffers want to say to customers like you now that I don’t work in one-

“Get. F*****.”

We all have things we are not good at. And sadly mine is being organised , just as we’ll I’m better as a mechanic or I would have been fired years ago.

Tbh it does anoy me when I forget to call people back. And have been making an effort to be better.

Durrr….

You could always ring the shop and say ‘Hi, it’s me, I called about getting a thingy for a 1898 and I wondered if you’d got one yet?’

It really isn’t hard, in fact it’s easier than grumbling about it, and when the shop get to know you, you might get a wee bit of discount.

Bike shops and bike shop customers should see that it’s a two way thing; if you both put a bit of effort in instead of moaning like minnies, things work.

OK, the shop will remain nameless but tbh I think this’ll be recognisable to those that know them…

Put in wheel for a repair, needs some parts, they’ll call when it’s ready.
Two weeks pass, no call. Drop in as I’m passing.
“Oh yeah, that wheel. The parts are going to take a bit longer. I’ll try and give you a call, but here’s our number, you can give me a ring any time if you want.”
Wait. No call. Call shop, no answer. Call shop, no answer. etc etc.
Drop in as I’m passing again. “Oh yeah, that wheel. Why didn’t you call? Oh you did? To be honest I never really answer the phone.”

Still they did a bang up job of the wheel 😉

I will say what most bike shop staffers want to say to customers like you now that I don’t work in one-“Get. F*****.”

You seem to be getting your panties in a bit of a twist there, those sort of anger issues can often be successfully addressed.
Probably for the best you were finished or found something more suitable to do.

I can’t speak for others, but my issue is that my “LBS” isn’t actually that local. I try to support independent bike shops but generally it ends up being a dedicated visit that is quite tricky to fit around work/kids and other commitments. As a result it’s important to know if and when things are going to be available. We’re all busy and we all forget sometimes, but if forgetting is a habit, surely the best policy is not to makes promises.

To be honest it’s not a big grumble and is most certainly a #FirstWorldProblem, but I was just curious since I’ve noticed it far more with bike shops than any other service industry.

The fact that quite a few are saying they simply forget to call back tells you an awful lot about their organisation and discipline

That’s why we end up working in bikeshops instead of being anally retentive IT nerds innit bruv?

The shop I worked in has a customer service “database”. It’s only MS Access but it at least provided a record of who needs called and when they were to be called. Of course things can happen to disrupt that – the shop gets too busy, the ceiling collapses, whatever….

That’s why we end up working in bikeshops instead of being anally retentive IT nerds innit bruv?

LOL, this.

If you really need to know, give them a ring. If you don’t give them a ring and just sit, weeping by the phone, you will be disappointed.

If i am in the workshop,when i have finished the bike,i phone them,I will always leave a message on the answerphone if there is one.and if no answerphone will phone again after 3-4 hrs.

If we are waiting for parts,we try to book the job in for the day or next day after the parts are meant to arrive.

If parts are out of stock,i will phone the customer and tell them.and try to give a time scale based on the suppliers delivery date

I was actually pretty darned excellent with customer service, but I never had the opportunity to tell grumpy customers where they could go when I did work in shops because it’s just not what you do, so thought I’d take the opportunity now it has come up. I had a lot of customers that really liked me and would come back for me.

But you’d maybe get 2 customers one day who would be rude. Unreasonably so- it’s just a bike, we’re at the mercy of a distributor who hasn’t got the stuff you need. That you broke because you didn’t look after it. And you’d be dealing with this person when you really want to be calling someone back who was nice and had something that was nice to solve. You’d then spend the next hour dealing with the problem customer’s problem just to calm them down and you get swept away and next thing you know the customer you’re bothered about hasn’t been called and it’s home time.

stilltortoise – Member
To be honest it’s not a big grumble and is most certainly a #FirstWorldProblem, but I was just curious since I’ve noticed it far more with bike shops than any other service industry.

It’s all very price driven so most employees are paid pretty poorly. Doesn’t help.

What’s needed is a system. How about a special book with a date printed on each page from the first day of the year to the last. You could then write on it stuff you would need to do in the future, and then when you get to the future, check the page that corresponds to the day you are at and do the stuff.

Agree with munrobiker.

Most of the time its lack of maintenance,Also theres a lot of people who want things done instantly.
Theres always the few customers that i would like to tell to go away,but as i need a job,i keep quiet and keep smiling

We used to be pretty bad, but we implemented a system and we are pretty good at it, but it is one of my pet hates that a customer dosent get a call, now we record when we leave messages etc.

this is the funniest thread ever… worse attitude to customer service ever..sounds like the average bike shop is being run by jay and silent bob… 😯

It’s difficult – why do you, the customer, want me to call you? If I’m fixing your bike, then I’ll call you as soon as its done because, basically, I want it out of my workshop and the money in the till. Equally if you’ve orders something and it’s come in, then I’ll definitely call you right away.

But the tricky ones are people who want “regular updates” – quite often all I can say about something is that I’m still waiting for something to come in from a supplier. It’s more difficult to take time out of a busy day to call someone and say “nothing to tell you yet”.

Also, it’s very, very common for me to call people and not get an answer – I always leave a message if there is the opportunity, but at a guess less than 10% of people listen to their voicemail.

ben, my shop recently dealt with you on behalf of a customer, he called you also. I’m afraid your reputation for calling back is not good!

Well it may well have been one of those “nothing to report” situations. But I’m a one-person business – just don’t have the time to respond promptly to every email, call, Facebook message or tweet, sadly.

It’s funny – I talk loads to other shop owners, and I’ve found we all get moaned to about other shops 🙂

Whereas I’ve always found Ben to be very contactable… He’s on friend face/email/phone/email and is always on his Todd. I think he should be cut some slack….

Besides, if you think I’m bad, try getting some bike distributors to call back or answer an email 🙂

Different industry but the company I work for has a very efficient system in place for contacting customers; however, one of the most frequent moans I hear is when a ‘desperately urgent’ job is prioritised (at the expense of other jobs), the customer is advised that it’s ready, they are then reminded again, and again… 🙄

Having said that, as anyone that knows me will confirm, I have a pathelogical fear of ‘phones and very rarely get back to anyone myself… 😳

Of course i always like to have to chase up a shop that i am paying to do a job for me, and accept that other shops/ trades etc offer me some level of customer service for such a service, why should i expect that from an lbs. I find it even more pleasurable when ordering a part from them that i have paid more than i could have got it for onine and i am still waiting for 3 weeks later, despite numerous promises they would give me a call when it’s in. I also sorry when i haven’t bought them gift to ensure i get some level of service or get the same discount that your ‘mates’ seem to get, despite the fact i’m regularly spending big bucks. I’m always amazed there are so many of them left.

Interesting thread and reluctantly I find myself agreeing. Over the years I have tried to support various LBS for all the right reasons. On line is so fast and cheap. I can build bikes and do everything and if I buy a headset press then I am truly independent. The problem with the local shop for me is not the price but the time. However I persevere because they are needed but generally in terms of service they are behind the times.

I’m surprised by the responses from bike shop owners / workers. In any kind of service industry the customer comes first. Full stop. Without them you have no business. There are exceptional circumstances where things don’t go according to plan, but if you say you will call, then call. It’s really not that difficult.

FWIW I work in manufacturing, producing plastic bottles to one customer. Our factory is next door to our customers. We have 2 minutes of response time 24/7. When they want bottles we make them. If we cause them downtime of more than 2 minutes per 24 hours we get fined. £2k a minute. We “service” the **** out of the customer. Communication is the buzz word. If you tell them what is happening and when it will, they tend to forgive you. Of course if they are supposed to be filling and don’t, we just have to sit and wait until they do.