Tired of Bike Shops?

Is anyone else tired of having to go to 3 or more different shops to get things done because they are incompetent? It's a long post but I'll feel better once I gripe.

Store #1:

I go to store 1 to look at shoes and clipless pedals since I'm more confident. Guy takes me over to shoes but seems lost when I tell him I'd really like a pair I can walk in if needed if a tire blows. They don't make such a shoe. Fine. Can I look at what you have as I'm finding women's shoes aren't wide enough but men's shoes are too wide in the heel? After a few minutes of trying on different shoes, I find a men's pair that fit, 3 sizes bigger than what the guy insists I wear. Awesome..LOVE the shoes.

We look at clipless pedals and I tell him that getting in/out is my biggest problem and I have most of what you have when he showed me. I look over and see totally different pedals from Speedplay so I ask about them. Long store short is he sells me the more expensive one because it has more float. I ask about fitting me and he says he can't do it now and sets up an appointment for Friday and said it would take 15 minutes. I leave all excited.

Store #1 is awesome for fittings. That's it.


Store #2

I was up in Omaha selling a bike I put on Craigslist and figured I'd head over to Council Bluffs to get my Fargo looked it. Normally I would call first to see if he can fit me in, but figured I'd be okay as the store had just opened.

Guy says they are backed up but I push saying I just need you go through the cassette as the chain gets stuck and I need an inner tube for the front tire. He finally agrees and starts going over the cassette. He makes some adjustments and pulls out an inner tube. Do you want me to put it on? It's no big deal he says. Excuse me? I just spent 10 minutes trying to convince you to look at my bike and you now have time to put the inner tube on? In 2 seconds, he has the inner tube put in and the tire back on the bike.

I look at some other stuff as I figured while I'm up here I better get what I want. He had really cool clipless pedals that were really wide but since I had just bought some, I didn't worry about it. I look longingly at the Mukluk and ask if I can take him out for a ride. He says yes and I go. I come back, call DH and ask about it. He says yes. All of a sudden I'm given the star treatment. I pay for bike and leave.

Store #2 is great for odd things like the funky looking pedals and cool bikes.



Today I have the appt with store #1.

What was supposed to take 15 minutes ended up being an hour and half. I had my kids with me thinking that we'd spend 15 minutes, be out the door and head over to the mall to get clothes. My Fargo doesn't fit on the trainer after about 10 minutes of trying to make it work. Duh. I could have told you that. I asked if he could just put another tire on from a road bike. Oh..yeah and he does. People start coming in and between the fitting he's helping other people. Great.

He takes another 10 minutes putting the cleats on the shoes. I get on the trainer and he figures out the float and how my right foot fits on the pedal. Awesome fitting except I can't get in/out of the pedals and my knees are starting to hurt because of it. I've also scuffed up the metal and he's not happy but says give it a day or two of trying and come back. Or we could do the cheaper ones that might be easier to get in/out of. I thought you said the more expensive one would do this. I have a splitting headache and leave. My kids have had enough. Although my son is offered a job for the second time which was cool. Too bad we live an hour and a half away.



Store #3

I figure while I'm at the mall I'd check out Scheels? to see what kind of pedals they have. I find ones that look like egg beaters and ask the guy about them. Bike section is totally free and purchase the pedals. I should have asked if they could put them on, but I know Store #2 would give me a better fitting. I call up Store #2 and he says he has the time to do another fitting.



Store #2

They really don't have the time. Great. I finally convince a guy to put on the new pedals and told him I'd take the cleats off my shoes and put the new ones on. He hands me a screw driver and I sit down. I stuff the parts in the box and look at the directions to put the new cleats on. Nothing in the instructions except a poorly picture that makes no sense.

People are coming and going and I observe the customer interaction. It's total chaos even though they have about 5 people working. One guy comes in with a sweet looking bike that needs a needs a new fork after two guys debate whether or not it does. Guy is lost.

He asks about buying a new one and they tell him they don't sell them but can order one and then walks away. Another guy tells him about the different kinds of forks but doesn't offer to really help. My LBS would have pulled up the manufacturer's website and found him a decently priced fork. It was all I could do to not walk over and help the guy or offer to buy the bike as he'd paid 100 bucks for it and it was gorgeous. I kind of regret not asking.

Another lady walks in wanting shoes and the same guy that did my fitting starts helping her out and explaining the different pedals. He brings up the ones I bought and explained they were racing pedals and weren't made for quick release. What? He apologizes as he didn't think about it when I purchased mine. Sigh. He offers to exchange mine for the less expensive set and I do. With another headache I leave.

My LBS

My LBS caters to basic riders. He doesn't have much in stock and if I don't know it exists, I wouldn't ever be offered it. He doesn't offer fittings of any kind. He does know his bikes though and been great to work with.

If I do ask about something, he'll happily pull it up and go over my options. He'll have the item in within a couple of days and usually gives me a decent discount for stuff.

He doesn't have enough people working and his head mechanic left for another job so it gets frustrating to go in and have to wait to get something simple like inner tubes.

He's great for ordering stuff once you figure out what you want.

I wish I had one store that I wouldn't walk out of feeling frustrated and without a splitting headache. No wonder people buy stuff off the internet and do it themselves via YouTube. It's almost not worth the effort to work with a store anymore especially when you have to travel an hour and half to get to one.

Is this a common problem for anyone else?

I never go into a bike shop to buy something of any consequence unless I've already done some of my own homework about it. That usually consists of a fair amount of research online. While some shops really know their stuff and even when they do, they often don't have the time to pour over my options with me. So, while I understand your frustration, you'll do better if you have a better sense of what you're looking for if you do some independent research about it. Then, find a mechanic you like and stick with them, being mindful of the fact that you'll get better service if you schedule it in advance.

I sometimes wonder if bike shops get that they are in competition with the Internet stores. The one thing that the shops have is customer service. The ability to answer your customers questions and show them products that work.

I've seen shops try to sell what they have rather than getting the customer the right product or size. Having equipment that doesn't work turn potentially good cycling customers back into couch potatos that never come back into the store. I have a new shop that just opened and it is so friendly, I have high hopes for their success!

I think some shops get it, but it takes a lot of work to educate a sales force on the myriad of products out there. Just think about clipless pedal systems as an example. How many sales people have personally tried the various options? They often can only speak in generalities. So, if you want more detailed input, you end up having to read a bunch of reviews online or come to a place like TE for advice.

Of course, some shops really do know their stuff, but if you want to speak intelligently with them about what you want, you still have to do some homework in my experience. The more you arm yourself with information, the better your shopping experience will be. I'm not trying to discount Bethany's frustration. I've been there myself--which is why I figured out early on that I couldn't rely on shops to tell me what I needed to know. I can only think of a few LBS sales people whom I really trust. The rest are just sales people, not bike people.

I agree with Indy.
You have to be armed with information and know what you want. You can't depend on the shop to "advise" you. It shouldn't be this way, but it is.
The only things I buy at an LBS are my bikes and shoes (a rather large investment), as well as occasional emergency supplies. We do order on line for everything else, because we don't need them for mechanics. However, even with my knowledge and DH accompanying me, I was treated like crap and sold things that weren't right for me at more than one place.
That was a few years ago; the best thing that's happened is that one of the shop's female employees read my account of what happened with the fit of my Kuota here on TE. I am sure it wasn't too hard to figure out who had written the post. I am treated like a queen now, because of this, as well as the fact that every time I am in there, I see another rider that I know. When DH told the owner that "she knows every cyclist in (the 3 surrounding towns)," he acknowledged this with body language indicating that they are well aware that I am not shy about spreading the word about how I am being treated there.

We went from owning a medium sized bike shop with minor online sales to a very tiny bike shop with major online sales for several reasons, some listed in your frustrations. Staffing was always a challenge so feel your pain on the customer service end.
Love when customer's set appointments and I agree with you, setting an appointment should mean uninterrupted attention - kinda like going to the Dr but again can be a challenge if the shop suddenly gets busy, we schedule those for before we opened or after hours, or when we knew we have enough staff to handle the unexpected.

As in any relationship communication is the key and I too get frustrated when the person helping me can't understand my needs or I can't seem to express my needs.

We did have someone blast a negative Facebook post about our previous shop because my DH refused to drop everything and fix the flat tire on her cruiser bike. Her comment that there weren't any customers in the store so why should she have to leave her bike and come back really irked the DH as he was in the middle of building a bike for someone who did have an appointment and if he dropped everything for a $20 dollar flat repair the person who just invested $3,000 in the bike wasn't going to be to happy.

Now we enjoy sending out information via our blog, providing some fun bike gear to people all over the world and keeping our small shop to provide service to a very specific set of local bike riders. I will say, the DH spends quite a bit of time emailing and talking to potential customers and we like to think we are a niche in the online world because we do provide a real bike person on the other end of the transaction.

People are people. They run the gamut in terms of knowledge and 'people skills' and I don't expect any to be an expert on everything. I was in sales myself for over 25 years in the photographic/digital imaging field (till I decided I had enough and got into IT) and I can say that while I tried to know my field well to answer the questions of pro photographers and amateurs alike I just don't know everything about everything. The trick is to try. Most LBS's have computers, and a quick check on the manufacturer's site can provide an answer like, which model pedal has more float? But don't expect them to know which, between brands, gets better reviews in the 'which has more float' question, however. That's your homework.

There are some good forums out there with review sections that I frequent to see what the complaints are about the hardware, if any, and sites like Youtube can have videos on things like adjusting shifting and brakes, if you want to be more self sufficient and not be a slave to an LBS for the basic stuff. So I have some tools and a bike stand so I can do those things and it has saved me some headaches.

Out here in So Cal, a new LBS just opened about a mile away (now I have 5 within about 9 miles) that has a good wrench and a good salesperson that I recognized from other LBSs. Right off the bat I trusted them to order and install new XTR Trail brakes on my SWorks Safire (that I swear I am going to be buried with when I die). They carry some brands like Jamis, that the others don't carry. Of the other shops, there are two that are also good, but not for the same thing and the rest I might go to if those don't have something I need. But no one shop is everything just as no one person is an expert on everything.

I had made an appointment for the first fitting and called beforehand to make sure they weren't busy for the other pedals I just bought. I didn't just walk in and ask for them to put the pedals on and expect them to drop everything.

I had gone over the reviews of the Speedplays after I bought them and everyone gave great reviews. I figured I was good for my appointment and even he couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong while I was on the trainer. There are tons of information via the web but until I bought the pedals and tried them myself I wouldn't know. He did a great job of fitting me as everything just seemed to fall into place comfort wise for my feet once he made the adjustments. It was just getting in/out that wasn't working.

I was happy to fix my flat tire w/o help. I figure that's a waste of time for a bike shop if you already can do it yourself. Normally I call up beforehand anyway to stores because an hour and half trip is a long way to find out they can't work with you when you get up there. I figured since I was the first one in the door at the shop, he'd have a few minutes to help me. Apparently I should call beforehand regardless.

I'm learning how to work with bike shops as it's not even close to retail. I'm sure getting bombarded with bikes all day long with different needs gets overwhelming especially if you are a small shop with a couple of people. Just from being in the store and watching, 95% of the people needed a simple fix like tires or a quick check on shifting/brakes and they are good to go.

I kept thinking, Why don't they have a quickie guy (if they have several mechanics) back there doing the KISS simple stuff so people can come in/out and not wait 2-3 days for a tire to be put on. Most of these people are regular people that have no idea that they even have to wait 2-3 days for a tire and the look on their face is of confusion. Calling ahead to see if they can get a tire fixed isn't what most people think of doing.

I do know shops don't carry everything out there or know about all the stuff. Most of what I find is from bike forums and then go up to my LBS and ask. He'll order something for me and a couple of days later I'm good to go.

I did get the Crankbrothers cleats on my mountain bike shoes and tried them out on my bike. They are a piece of cake to get on/off and I love them already. I've got 3-4 sets of clipless pedals that are worthless to me and plan to sell via Craigslist.

I really don't expect special treatment and hope I don't come across as needing it. I was okay waiting for guys to help out the "quickie" customers but then it started getting out of control and my appointment took forever.

From now on I'll just buy it myself if it's the store or order it online and do it via a book or YouTube if I want it done on my time schedule. It's too far of a trip even if I've called ahead to find out they really can't do it when I get there.

Now to put on the Speedplay pedals on my other bike and see if they work and then call up to see if I can return them if needed. Heck, I might as well sell them on my own instead of having to make a special trip up.

Thanks for letting me vent.