Friedpiggy Posted May 23, 2016 Posted May 23, 2016 I am in the market for a better cassette for my road bike. Last week I went onto the websites of 4 bike shops. 3 in Durban and 1 in Cape Town. I filled in the little online form that promises they will get back to you. So far only 1 shop replied to me. Now the unhappiness stems from the fact that these places obviously are doing so well that they can ignore requests from potential customers. The anger I feel is directed at the next LBS owner or operator that even tries to complain about dwindling sales and how everyone is moving to online stores. I am not surprised with customer service like that. Why even bother with the contact us form in that case? Have now ordered the part needed from Chain Reaction cycles since the local shops couldn't be bothered to reply to an email
King_Crispy Posted May 23, 2016 Posted May 23, 2016 You in such a hurry you couldn't wait till Friday? CRC is too expensive now with the exchange rate as it is
Lurch the stalker Posted May 23, 2016 Posted May 23, 2016 I have learnt that some people have a very different idea to me as to what an acceptable time is to respond to my email. I've never understood not responding in a timely manner to somebody who wants to give you their money, especially in this day and age where I will just find somebody else offering the same thing with a quick search.If you have a contact form, there should at least be one person responsible for it as well as a backup - I don't want to hear that I didn't get a response for two weeks because the person who needed to reply was on family responsibility leave because their goldfish died.
lerouc Posted May 23, 2016 Posted May 23, 2016 These websites, how many was created in the last decade. When the internet became the "in thing" everyone was told to have an online presence and hence everyone got the standard 3-5page sites including home, about us and contact us which was generic. It was probably setup so long ago it either does not work or they don't us the email address associated with it any more. And lets face it, the majority of bike shop owners are the least technical savvy people i have come across when it comes to IT. I also prefer sending an email and have someone respond to me rather than giving a shop a phone call and waiting 10 minutes for them to finish helping a customer or get back from their coffee break or what ever. What i have learned in the past is everyone now a days the new "in thing" is facebook pages and if you go on a page it will tell you how fast a place responds to messages and that usually pops up on their personal facebook profiles which everyone now a days have the apps installed on their phones and they should get a notification almost instantly.
Friedpiggy Posted May 23, 2016 Author Posted May 23, 2016 You in such a hurry you couldn't wait till Friday? CRC is too expensive now with the exchange rate as it is I think waiting 7 days for a reply to a mail is a long enough time period.
Oakley360 Posted May 23, 2016 Posted May 23, 2016 Agreed 200% When I wanted to upgrade my MTB I was literrally telling some shops(in person, not online) that this is what I want, can you get it and how much! Some shops has still not replied to me and to a few of them it looked like a real shlep to get prices. 1 even asked a qoute fee and they still too a week to reply with prices. Just last week I wanted a cassette form a very know shop in Pretoria, the guy even wrote down my number and what I want. Asked him about it few days later and he said, sorry I forgot, what did you want again.... In my younger days I also worked at a bike shop a d simple when so eone enquired about something, you stood with the customer i front of you and picked up the phone and call instantly. These days I think shops have access to online price sheets updated directly from the supplier, so I also dont get it!
Uni Posted May 23, 2016 Posted May 23, 2016 These websites, how many was created in the last decade. When the internet became the "in thing" everyone was told to have an online presence and hence everyone got the standard 3-5page sites including home, about us and contact us which was generic. It was probably setup so long ago it either does not work or they don't us the email address associated with it any more. And lets face it, the majority of bike shop owners are the least technical savvy people i have come across when it comes to IT. I also prefer sending an email and have someone respond to me rather than giving a shop a phone call and waiting 10 minutes for them to finish helping a customer or get back from their coffee break or what ever. What i have learned in the past is everyone now a days the new "in thing" is facebook pages and if you go on a page it will tell you how fast a place responds to messages and that usually pops up on their personal facebook profiles which everyone now a days have the apps installed on their phones and they should get a notification almost instantly.This ... You see it with many smaller / independent bike stores, where their details aren't updated and the site was last updated like 5 years ago. They're obviously paying gif hosting / domain etc and I wonder what's the points. In that case, pick up a phone.
Kranswurm Posted May 23, 2016 Posted May 23, 2016 This little piggy went to market...This little piggy stayed at home.......
Sepia Posted May 23, 2016 Posted May 23, 2016 Durban bike shops never get back to you. Business must be good as the prices are higher. You can get the same product cheaper from reputable SA on line shops including postage. But this is Durban
NicoBoshoff Posted May 23, 2016 Posted May 23, 2016 People need to realise, even great bike shops are like good friends...they're going to disappoint somewhere down the line, because no one is perfect. Doesn't mean you have to write them off. It's how they respond to you calling them out on their BS that will tell you whether it's worth sticking around.
ChUkKy Posted May 23, 2016 Posted May 23, 2016 I think waiting 7 days for a reply to a mail is a long enough time period. No, what Crispy means is that you should have waited till Friday to post this topic. It has fantastic fight potential and will get to about 9 pages before lunch. Friday is fight day, because everyones had enough *** for one week
popcorn_skollie Posted May 23, 2016 Posted May 23, 2016 This little piggy stayed at home.......This little piggy had roast beef
blondeonabike Posted May 23, 2016 Posted May 23, 2016 No, what Crispy means is that you should have waited till Friday to post this topic. It has fantastic fight potential and will get to about 9 pages before lunch. Friday is fight day, because everyones had enough *** for one weekMonday is "I rode xyz event this weekend and it sucked because........."Tuesday and Wednesday are the tech thread days where everyone is fixing up the stuff they broke on their bikes on the weekend. And moaning about how much new parts costThursday is moan about politics and the economy day. "Time to get out of here thread"Friday we don't give a damn, because its nearly the weekend and we get to ride
PygaSchmyga Posted May 23, 2016 Posted May 23, 2016 Bike shops (usually) have cyclist employees. Nuff said.
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