[wahoofishything]

So I discover a crack in the rear triangle of my 2000 Santa Cruz Superlight and take it down to my LBS to get the crash replacement process started ($250 which is not bad). It was Sat May 29th during the 3 day holiday weekend so it wont be until Tues June 2nd that it gets shipped to SC for replacement. So I am at the mercy of shipping times but I figure my LBS will be pretty quick in getting it back together once the replacement arrives. I even emailed Santa Cruz and let them know that a XL purple rear triangle from my LBS is arriving shortly and that I’m dying to get it back ASAP. Willie @ SC emails back saying he saw it on Mon June 7th and that it will ship either that Mon. on Tues. (Willie rules by the way).

With two day shipping I figure it will arrive Wed or Thur which is fine since I’ve had a bad cold all week. Friday rolls around and I haven’t heard anything so I give them a call - “Its not there yet”, they say. WTF? I email Willie and ask if he has a tracking number for the shipment, and within an hour (on Fri afternoon by the way), he sends me the UPS tracking info - it had arrived at 12:30 PM on Wed June 9th. Huh?

So I call back the LBS with this info and now they find it. So I let them know that I’m very anxious to get my bike back, especially since they have had the part since Wed. By this time on Fri the service dept is closed but they will leave a message so that the mechanic will see it first thing on Sat.

On Saturday morning the shop opens at 10AM so I ran some errands and then dropped by at 11:30 to check on the status. “We’re very busy and we might not get to it today, maybe Monday or Tues.” ARGGHHH! I let the salesperson (who I bought the bike from and is always very helpful) know the situation and that I wasn’t happy. I could tell he wasn’t pleased either. I’m not the kind of person to raise a big scene, maybe I should have talked to the manager, or maybe I don’t have a beef.

I’ve bought one bike, wheels, tires, clothes, a fork, and assorted parts from this shop. I've referred lots of friends there and I was planning on buying a new bike from there too.

Am I wrong to be mad?

 

[COmtbiker12]

I think most shops procrastinate things as long as possible, just some more than others.
Mine does the same thing, put off work till the day they say it will be done and hten they discover they need more time to do it.

 

[JRB]

but remember you are an ass if you buy something from the Internet.

 

[lovebunny]

yeah thats how it was for my monster. it took em a month to replace a cartridge and one of my brand new seals is still leaking :mumble:

 

[Echo]

Talk to the owner.

 

[jet]

I went to an LBS (relatively) near me on Fri for a new BB.

I have an 2001 Enduro FSR. What kind of BB do I need? (Everybody- all together now) E-type.

The shop is a specialized dealer so I use a little deductive reasoning and figure they will have an E-type BB in stock.

I even called and asked somebody in the service dept. "We have one that'll work." I F'n hate that. I say; "It's an E-type and not just something that'll work right?"

"Yes it's an E-type"

Riiiiiggghhhttt!

So I get there about half an hour later and the girl I talked to is busy. I ask the big goon behind the counter "I need an E-type BB for a 2001 FSR"

"Do you know what size you need?"

(in my head) 'Don't you? What kind of stupid question is that?'

"What level do you want?"

"LX is fine, I'm not picky"

"Here you go" Hands me a regular BB.

"This is an E-type?"

"BB is a BB"

WRONG!!!!

"No; an E-type is different" I say.

"No; a BB is a BB"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it'll work"

So I pay and leave. I put it in this morning and it does work. Meaning that it fits and my chainline isn't all F'd up. I haven't ridden it in the woods yet though. For those of you that don't know; an E-type has a larger flange on the drive side cup to help hold the plate the frt der is attached to.I believe the spindle is offset a little bit also. If I gotta go back with this BB I'm gonna exchange it for the right one. It'll probably cost more and I'm gonna say

"$32 is $32!!!"

 

[Wumpus]

They are not all the same.

LX BBs

BB-ES70 --- regular BB
BB-ES70-E --- E-type BB

 

[Blieb]

The LBS I go to usually gets things done pretty fast for me.

See, in a 12 month period you have to buy 2 bikes (1 cracked frame = chance to pay for upgrade), 2 sets of rims (I ride rough ), 4 sets of treads and an infinite amount of little parts/clothes/cleaners/lubes/etc.

 

[NastySid]

Well.. *Disclaimer* Im not in my normal state of mind right now.

If you order a part. And you get a preliminary delivery date. All the work you get in between that you promise out is still very much present in your state of mind.

The delivery date may vary with a couple of days/weeks but you still have the normal day to day issues to deal with. So. Let's imagine your parts get's in a day before they say it would (chance is almost 0 but then again ... it's a mathematical chance). Should you:

A. Make good your promises on what you said you would for the people whoose problems could be solved with the stuff you have in stock.

or.

B. Make your stuff ready a day in advance and sod all the promises you made to equal/better customers.. ?

One thing the school of hard nocks has tought me is that.. WHatever they say when they hand stuff in.. It will sit on your shop floor for about a week before someone could be arsed to pick it up.

 

[JRB]

Well.. *Disclaimer* Im not in my normal state of mind right now.

If you order a part. And you get a preliminary delivery date. All the work you get in between that you promise out is still very much present in your state of mind.

The delivery date may vary with a couple of days/weeks but you still have the normal day to day issues to deal with. So. Let's imagine your parts get's in a day before they say it would (chance is almost 0 but then again ... it's a mathematical chance). Should you:

A. Make good your promises on what you said you would for the people whoose problems could be solved with the stuff you have in stock.

or.

B. Make your stuff ready a day in advance and sod all the promises you made to equal/better customers.. ?

One thing the school of hard nocks has tought me is that.. WHatever they say when they hand stuff in.. It will sit on your shop floor for about a week before someone could be arsed to pick it up.

I'm gonna go get trashed and see if I can make sense of this.

 

[nicklin]

it took one of the shops in santa cruz 6 months to tell me that rockshox was out of softer springs for the POS psylo that i unfortunately owned. i doubt the order ever left the counter. thanks a lot. never bought a Rs or went to the bicycle trip ever again

 

[NastySid]

A bikeshop can get several pallets of goods per day and things continues to drop in during the season.

As you have an invoice comeing by mail that is due whitin 30 days you first need to check that you got the right stuff and that it's all there and not fubared during transport.

If you have many customers in the shop and lot's of repairs happening you'll probably have to do that after closeing. Sometimes you have a couple of shipments waiting in line for processing. They need to be unpacked, sorted, pricetagged and put it it's place.

If a replacement part comes in from warranty there is some paperwork surrounding that. A bike build is something you want to do with plenty of time. Rush jobs never work out in the end.

And parcels comes and goes and you often dont get any precise ETAs for the goods anyway.

So.

They'll probably want to get this over with as soon as possible to get rid of the pile of stuff on the floor, get paid and make the customer (you) happy.

But as there is no parts at home the project is in limbo. You know you have to do it but whitout parts you can't just give it a slot. There is probably a whole lot of other bikes in for surgery at the same time that has been promised their bikes back at certain dates and times.. And they are just as anxious as you to get their rigs back.

They'll sort you out as fast as they can.. So relax.. take a deep breath.... and stuff

 

[speedster]

It is the shops responsibility to repair a warrenty bike as quickly as possible because it's not something the owner planned on happening.

 

[Zaskar Rider]

It is the shops responsibility to repair a warrenty bike as quickly as possible because it's not something the owner planned on happening.

It is the shops responsibility to repair things as they come in and the shop has time to repair them whilst still building bikes so that they have something to sell and stay in buisness with. Shops can't cater to everyones every need right now. That's a fact of life, wait in line.

 

[I Are Baboon]

Talk to the owner.

Buying four bikes from my LBS over a two year period gets me while-you-wait service, regardless of how busy they are. Anytime I take my bike in, I go right to one of the two owners. But yeah, I'd be pissed if my shop dragged their feet in getting my bike fixed.

 

[jacksonpt]

Do you have a right to be mad? Probably. But you also have to realize they have other customers to deal with. It doesn't sound like they are making any money on you at this point, so where's the incentive for them? I can see why you'd want some kind of preferential treatment, but let's face it... those types of business/customer relationships are few and far between. Some of us are lucky to have great shops with great owner who really take care of us (read: Victor @ Trailblazers), but that's definitely not the norm. Until I found trailblazers, I was pretty happy with my LBS simply because they always had my bike back to be when they said they would. No preferential treatment, but if they said it would be done on Wednesday, it was.

I think you should go in and ask for a date when the bike will be ready. Have them give you an exact day... not a range. If you are unhappy with that... take the bike/parts to a different shop.

 

[splat]

I buy a lot of stuff from eBay, Mail order , etc . But I also buy a lot from my LBS ( Like My wifes full suspention , and 2 kids Bikes) I also Gave them a great framed GPS trail Map that I made. So they Know me. well When I brought my Bike in for service. they were telling every one else there who was brining there bike in, that it was 2 - 3 weeks backup on service . Mine was done in less than a week. and they only charged me $18 for re-aligning the entire rear end of my bike.

Then there is another shop near by , that is more of a chain, and my one of my buddies wife bought a new road bike from them last summer. this spring she brought it in for a tune up. they Charged her $210 ! they changed all the cables and housings. WTF all they should have had to do to that bike was adjust the derauilers and brakes.

the ekey is find a good shop to deal with and continue to deal with them so they get to know you!

 

[McGRP01]

the key is find a good shop to deal with and continue to deal with them so they get to know you!

Exactly. My LBS is great!! I bought my new bike from them last fall and have gone there for everything since. I ride with them every Thursday for our group ride...great bunch of guys!! Last week (Tuesday) I damaged my bike and brought it in for repairs. Even though they had a list of bikes ahead of me, they promised to have mine done by Thurs. for the group ride. That's service!

 

[golgiaparatus]

I'd be irritated too man especially after dropping a wad of cash on a bike like a SC... Solution... Go elsewhere.