What do you want from your LBS

[RMmtb8r]

What do we all want from our LBS. Price, service , just some human touches or just all round good service. I am in Cape town and bought my bike from epic bike shop. No problems what so ever. Then decided to upgrade my wheels, brakes and shifters. Phoned a couple of places for quotes and nobody except Lance came back.In hindsight should not have even phoned around, still waiting for the call from Rikus at CWC.

 

I stopped trying to get other prices and just went straight back to Lance. It does not even matter if some other place is cheaper or not.

 

I thought price was the biggest role in choosing a great LBS, but now I think it is not the alpha and omega, not even close. I think service , someone that does not make you feel like a idiot when you ask stupid questions and somebody that knows what he is doing.

 

And by the way I got a very good price and my wheels are being build by one of the top wheel builders.

 

So my question is what do you want form your local LBS?

[M L]

List is too long and since no one has everything checked on it, I google around for the best prices, buy where I feel like it (if Naas at evobikes stocked everything I wanted I would never buy anywhere else) and then assemble/service my own bike.

 

 

Here's the impossible bike shop trinity:

Competitive prices

Stock of a wide range of products

Service

[RMmtb8r]

Agreed, but i am not technically savvy to service or build up my bike. Yes i can do the odd thing here and there but need help with any thing major With my experience there is none better than the epic bike shop and will drive past a few shops to go to them

[Tjokkits]

Price is secondary, and i am still looking for a shop that collects and deliver my bike, happy to pay a fee. Other than that

 

Well stocked

Good mechanics who bothers to know your name

Sales Staff that knows their products in detail

Replies to pghone calls and emails

 

[Mojoman]

Price is secondary, and i am still looking for a shop that collects and deliver my bike, happy to pay a fee. Other than that

 

Well stocked

Good mechanics who bothers to know your name

Sales Staff that knows their products in detail

Replies to phone calls and emails

But make no mistake its not just bike shops. I am trying to get a new computer sorted, have about R6k to build a little system and not one PC shop (3 or 4) has bothered to come back to me with prices and specs for a build!

Obviously the PC industry is doing just as well as the bike industry or they attend the same customer service schools! Thank the heavens for online shopping and the internet!

[Ramrod]

Price is secondary, and i am still looking for a shop that collects and deliver my bike, happy to pay a fee. Other than that

 

Well stocked

Good mechanics who bothers to know your name

Sales Staff that knows their products in detail

Replies to pghone calls and emails

josh at Cyclist Workshop will collect and deliver your bike for you.

[KENDA]

Amazes me how condescending some bike shops can be. A change in attitude would be a plus.

 

 

[RocknRolla]

When you ask for something to be ordered, they need to actually order it, follow up with a phonecall to tell the customer of an expected arrival date.

Make the customer pay a deposit for parts in order to avoid dead stock due to non collection.

 

Email responses.

[King_Crispy]

josh at Cyclist Workshop will collect and deliver your bike for you.

Hey, he's a bike mechanic, not a chauffeur.

We can't have him driving around the potholed streets all day; who is going to look after our bikes?

[Ramrod]

 

Hey, he's a bike mechanic, not a chauffeur.

We can't have him driving around the potholed streets all day; who is going to look after our bikes?

he needs to do something to earn his dough. Seriously though he does it before/after working hours.

[Rudi Pollard]

I am happy to pay a little more, if the bike shop actually makes an effort to know my name and listen to what is actually wrong with the bike. I hate it when they take the bike in and for example I tell them to please look at the freehub body, it is noisy. Then when I go to pick the bike up they say thanks sir, we washed it, lubed it, changed the cables, set the gears and breaks etc... Yes and what about what I asked for? Oh Crap we forgot to do that.

 

Someone who listens and does what you ask of them will always get my money...

[ians H2Sport]

First - Great mechanic, who has the time to offer advise

Second - the owner/sales guys respond to your queries and have cycling knowledge (obvious you would think)

then in no specific order: Price, well stocked store, friendly approachable manner

[NotSoBigBen]

Just one thing, just one .....

 

Take a note of what I ask for when you say you going to call me back and yes I mean in a book or something and then actually phone me BACK with good or bad news!

[Wyatt Earp]

When you ask for something to be ordered, they need to actually order it, follow up with a phonecall to tell the customer of an expected arrival date.

Make the customer pay a deposit for parts in order to avoid dead stock due to non collection.

 

Email responses.

 

Maybe, just maybe they get oodles of calls a day where the caller is clearly just looking for the "best price" even at times it's quite a biggish item you won't simply find on the floor and after calling the supplier they tell them that they are the 8,9 or 10 th. shop to call for the same item.

I can understand how they sometimes not call back.

E-mails I can assume become even worse.

If they come across as pompous arrogant and negative, maybe it's just that, they are negative and frustrated and I am sure they understand better than most the word "loyalty" is a mere word you find in a dictionary.

[Pieterg]

Someone that does not make you feel like a idiot when you ask stupid questions and somebody that knows what he is doing.-Rule 1

[Tjokkits]

 

 

Maybe, just maybe they get oodles of calls a day where the caller is clearly just looking for the "best price" even at times it's quite a biggish item you won't simply find on the floor and after calling the supplier they tell them that they are the 8,9 or 10 th. shop to call for the same item.

I can understand how they sometimes not call back.

E-mails I can assume become even worse.

If they come across as pompous arrogant and negative, maybe it's just that, they are negative and frustrated and I am sure they understand better than most the word "loyalty" is a mere word you find in a dictionary.

 

Yep its a small market people dont always understand, and then you get customers who horse trade to save R10 so silly. Many people dont have the time for that, i will sometimes make a call or two to make sure i get a reasonable price and if happy move on even if my preferred shop is a few rands more expensive, which they hardly are anyway.