'Rip Off' bike shops?

This has probably been done to death elsewhere, so feel free to direct me to any relevant threads but thought this might be interesting.

I’m asking on behalf of a mate who doesn’t use STW – it’s some sort of loosely academic research thing, but initially just gathering experience and opinions.

When do you feel you have been ‘ripped off’ by a bike shop? No need to name specific retailers here, just details of what products/ services were involved/ how you thought you had been ‘ripped off’ or whatever.

Not trying to start any sort of confrontation, just gather a bit of experience and opinion on the matter.

FWIW, I reckon the concept of ‘rip off’ bike shops is largely a fallacy fuelled by the likes of CRC et al, but I’ve never given the subject much thought.

Any input appreciated – let’s keep it friendly.

Cheers everyone.

Can I mention the times I’ve been ripped off by customers? I bet, in pure financial terms, I’d win 🙂

I don’t feel I have ever been ripped off by a bike shop my opinion of anything sold at rrp for the last few years is HOW **** MUCH 6.5k for 150 dollars worth of carbon with some bits screwed on

Then I plod back on to look at photos of custom frames

By rip-off do you mean ‘shop that charges the RRP’?

Never been “ripped off”. If I don’t like the price I don’t buy it.

Also, a tube is with £5.99 if you need a tube, have no tubes and the LBS has tubes.

I’ll contribute. Long term LBS near Stonehenge, made a mess of the BB shell threads on my bike whilst cleaning up some overspray. Returned to them as BB clearly wasn’t going to go in. They bodged it on it using brute force. Went back for an explanation as to why I now had a damaged frame and a damaged BB and was basically fobbed off.

Rip-off.

Can I mention the times I’ve been ripped off by customers? I bet, in pure financial terms, I’d win

😆

I’d just like to add that the vast majority of bike shops that I’ve ever known are usually full of pretty honest staff. Sure, prices are usually higher than online, but then service is usually pretty good and they’ll normally discount for regular customers.

There is one local(ish) shop to us though, and I don’t know how he stays in business! I’d say 1 in 5 of our service customers at least right now is coming to us (a relatively new shop) after he’s ripped them off repeatedly and charged for work that’s not been done, or made his own prices up on the spot. And he’s 8 miles away too!

I always feel a little bad when someone comes in with say a £500 bike that needs new chainrings, cassette, chain, brake pads, tyres etc and they end up with a £200 bill including labour. BUT… I will always phone them up to discuss any parts required before fitting them if it is beyond what they’ve already been quoted for. Said other local(ish) shop has a reputation for quoting just the labour price for a service on a bike, then the owner turns up to a £100+ bill without having even been consulted!

Good customer service is all about managing expectations… Sometimes sadly, they’ve gotta dig deep in their pockets to pay the bill, but much better to phone and discuss it with them first to prepare them for it.

When do you feel you have been ‘ripped off’ by a bike shop?

As above, never
I simply don’t buy if I don’t like the price and I don’t think I’ve been scammed or defrauded by any bike shop.

Bikes are a leisure item, they’re not a life necessity like fuel or food so you can’t really be ripped off by being asked to pay whatever price they ask.

Most shops I use/ have used have been good. I have, however, been ripped off once before. I don’t think he intentionally went out to rip me off, he had mis diagnosed the problem before he looked my bike, changed a perfectly good part and missed the broken bit. Unfortunately for me, it was a week later before I was on the bike and I realised. I didn’t go back, not because of the rip off, but because if he can’t sus out what’s at fault then he’s not getting any more of my money.

Good service is the key for me.

If I’m deemed to not be “hip” enough for the staff to talk to me because I’m in my 40s and wearing a suit I’ll go somewhere else. My old LBS was like that despite me dropping a couple of grand in there on new bikes over the years. My new LBS on the otherhand treat me like a customer, so I spend my money in there.

Bit of a myth really- Spokes may seem a rip off because it’s all RRP and the sales are a bit lame but the servicing is very cheap compared to most bike shops.

RRP may seem a rip off compared to CRC but you can look at it, feel it and if it’s a dear thing like a fork you can have it fitted for nowt.

Never. If something was priced too much I would not buy it.

Loved my LBS in Bristol btw.

I went to a local shop in Cambridge who told me: An old 2008 jacket same as 2012 but different colour wanted a lot more (£20) than the 2012 cat on his desk. I didn’t complain, just said thanks for his time and went home.

To be fair they have high rental costs based in a shopping centre.

No need to blast it on stw lol.

Seems more rip offs occur privately.

Never been “ripped off”. If I don’t like the price I don’t buy it.

Also, a tube is with £5.99 if you need a tube, have no tubes and the LBS has tubes.
Agreed, only fools and their money are easily parted, so they tell me.

I’ve tried hard to support my LBS here in Guernsey but…

1. They once tried to sell me the disc brake pads they’d replaced off my own bike.

2. I bought a Chris King headset from them, and they went and fitted another make.

3. Tried to charge me £1.50 for ONE cable end cap.

To be fair the owner seems like a nice bloke but his staff are a bunch of arrogant twunts!

Now I spend my £2-3k per year at CRC, Merlin and Wiggle.

I tend to do most of my own maintenance but when I can’t be bothered just send it to the shop. That’s what happened a few year ago when I was building a new Yeti 575. Most of it was finished just wanted the gears setting up. Rang up LBS let them know what was needed and was quoted about £15-20 to do the work. Went back to pick the bike up and was told bill was £75. When I asked them why they told me that it was against the law to release a bike that was not roadworthy and they had done lots to bring it upto standard. . Honestly they had done nothing extra to warrant the extra charge. On top of that thy had stashed the bike out of sight so I couldn’t even get my hands on it. In the end I gave em £45 and got the bike back. Previously I had used the shop for service and buying bikes for my kids so now that doesn’t happen any more. Just use another shop down the road who are way better and deserving of my cash.

Anyone got owt from Dave Hinde lately?

LBS for service on the very rare occasion I need it. And the odd bits and bobs.

Big purchases do tend to come of the web though, this has as much to do with available choices as much as anything. If my LBS had what I was after I might buy it off ’em. Nice blokes though, trust ’em to work on my wheels. Handy having a shop about 500m away.

Never happend… all my dealings with LBS’s have been bloody brilliant. They’ve all gone above and beyond the call of duty for me.

Does the Rutland Cycles “We don’t have it but we’ll take your money anyway” policy count as rip off?

When do you feel you have been ‘ripped off’ by a bike shop?

This is a really vague concept. I am aware at least one of my local bike shops deliberately charges extortionate rates for work they don’t want (eg. changing tubes).

Andy

That’s not being ripped off, though, unless they don’t tell you the price first.

Hang on WTF are you lot dribbling on about FFS

Have you EVER tried dealing with an accountant or a solicator

Your LBS is normally JUST trying to make a living

Have you EVER tried dealing with an accountant or a solicator

Frequently

Not really been much LBS bashing so far.

Only feel rip off if they are rude or start to bull.

Those who’ve never run a business often have no idea how much you need to charge in order to make a semblance of a living out of your labour.
Employed types might like to take ten minutes to work out how much a particular task they’ve been set at work actually costs their employer; remember to factor in that you’re paid when on holiday, sick, being indolent etc…
Now ask: would YOU pay that much yourself if you wanted a similar task done, but had to pay someone else to do it?

Can’t say I have. If something is too expensive then I don’t buy it but I can’t say I’ve ever looked at anything in my LBS and thought ‘bit expensive that’.

Went into my new LBS last week (just moved) for a quick look. Unfortunately I was the only customer in sight and stuck with a reason for walking in (panic mode engaged) I asked for ‘a tube please mate, for a 2.4’. The very friendly chap then gave me a bontrager inner tube in a nice bag, all good so far. Then he asked me for £5.99. So I gave it to him.
I then walked out of the shop, jumped into my car, sat down, said to myself: ‘you tw4t, you’ve just bought 10 inners on CRC for £20’.
Nice as the chap was, and close as the shop is, safe to say I doubt I’ll ever go back.
Plus the tube is only for tyres up to 2.25. 🙄

I reckon the concept of ‘rip off’ bike shops is largely a fallacy fuelled by the likes of CRC

Not sure CRC has ever tried to convince me that my lbs is a rip off. I use both for different reasons.

When you order something online and it arrives UN a plastic bag with no instructions as they are passing off oem as new retail gear.

the last XT cassette and chain I got from crc had all the instructions with it.

I could very easily name the shop in question – it’s in Lancashire, near the sea, near Blackpool

A few years back I took my old spesh in to fix creaky cranks (it was an old bike, an ’04).

They ‘did the work’, I took it away.

Creak returned, I took it back and asked for new BB to be fitted.

I get a phone call saying all the threads on my crank arms had been stripped out while they tried to remove my crank arms and that was “just one of those things”.

I went to pick up bike, asked to speak to manager. While manager tries to re-iterate it was “one of those things”, a mechanic pipes up that it happened when I initially took bike in to have creak looked at first time.

So, they had given my bike back and had never told me they’d knackered what they tried to fix.

Got new BB & crank fitted, as a “offer of goodwill”.

Utter pish; dreadful sevice and a slimy attitude to customers, assuming that a 6 year old bike would just have it’s threads stripped was par for the course.

NOT what I call an LBS, definitely what I call a rip-off.

Ripped off – never.

Cheesed off occasionally but always resolved to what I would hope is everyone’s satisfaction.

I have even shopped at a sometimes maligned large green chain with no real misery and.genuine customer satisfaction.

When you order something online and it arrives UN a plastic bag with no instructions as they are passing off oem as new retail gear.

I don’t have a problem with that for consumable items. In fact I would rather they came without any packaging. If needed, the instructions can be downloaded on the internet.

When I got my merlin it came with a huge pile of shimano instruction sheets which I kept for a few years then realised I was never going to use/need them so put them all in the recycling.

I bought a bike once and there were mistakes in its assembly. They were not great at sorting it out, and general after sales service was not a patch on that I have had from various on line shops. I felt ‘ripped off’

On a happier note, I now have a fab lbs and am happy to buy quite a bit of stuff there. Anyone in Bristol- I reckon you could do a lot worse than Terrys cycles in Yate, great shop.

Well, I’ve had to use C&N Cycles Redhill a couple of times.

not only have I NEVER felt ripped off, but actually the contrary, that they simply haven’t charged enough.

I went in for a headset to be fitted, and it was a tenner. Now, I don’t care what you say, you can’t do ANY job for a tenner these days. Given a shop has rent, light, heat, staff, insurance, inventory tools and other costs, to even look at a bike, let alone do anything, these says, needs to be able to charge a reasonable rate per hour. I couldnt do it, and so a tenner was perfectly fair. I earn nearly twice that per hour, but add the costs of my place or work and other stuff, and my cost (rather than what I earn) it probably £30 an hour to work in an insurance office.

I then went back to get a chainring removed from a crank, the chap did it there and then, and didn’t charge me, despite me protesting he really should. Ok, it was a 30 sec job with the right tool, but I’d been trying for hours with the wrong ones! I HAD to buy a handful of inner tubes, just to make it a fair transaction.

I have only ever been ripped off by one shop – Pembrokeshire Bikes in Fishguard (though they have now moved to Narbeth).
I needed a star nut fitting to some forks, phoned and told a price, which then mysteriously doubled when I picked the forks up. When questioned was basically told tough.
He also did the same to a friends son who needed a slight buckle taking out of a wheel – quoted £25, charged £50.
To add balance though the other local shop, Mikes Bikes in Haverfordwest, were always fantastic and even undercharged me a couple of times.

I’ve had LBSs try to charge me for work not needed, and for parts not fitted. That’s the only time I could really say I’ve felt ripped off- sometimes prices are high, but that’s OK.

I can’t say that I’ve ever felt ripped off, to be honest.

I accept that I will pay full retail or considerably more than mail order for the convenience of having items in stock that I can get right away. Tubes, chains, brake pads, and stuff like that are prime examples. If you want then cheap, order them online and wait a few days. If you need them now, then don’t complain.

I know someone that was looking for a bike for his wife, and a LBS wanted to sell him one that was new, but 2 or 3 model years old at almost full RRP. That would have been a ripoff, IMO. Even though the bike had a full warranty, I can certainly envision some huge difficulties in getting something replaced in a timely manner from the manufacturer on a bike that old, so it should have been substantially discounted. He didn’t buy it (I told him not to) so no ripoff in the end.

Charging for work not done or parts not provided is not a ripoff, it’s theft by deception!

Happens daily ‘thats worn and needs replacing’.

I went in for a headset to be fitted, and it was a tenner. Now, I don’t care what you say, you can’t do ANY job for a tenner these days. Given a shop has rent, light, heat, staff, insurance, inventory tools and other costs, to even look at a bike, let alone do anything, these says, needs to be able to charge a reasonable rate per hour.

I’ve had simillar with my new LBS, i got my headset fitted…. £7.50 … WTF… I gave him a tenner and told him to get a packet of Jaffa cakes.

I then went back a week later for some fettling…. again, he charged me a ridiculous price… so i bought 2 jerseys too…. although he did give me a huge discount on them too…

Add to this he stays open till 9-10pm pretty much every night and will drop everything to do an ‘urgent’ job if you walk in…. He’s just ACE !

I only found him by complete chance as he’s the closest LBS to my office and had some grease in stock i wanted.