Advice to Bike shop owners

Roger Zoul wrote:
"Peter Cole" wrote

Pretty heated rant for a bad tube.


I have to admit that I would have tossed that puppy rather than drive
somewhere for a tube fix. Unless, of course, it was my last one!

I think the rant is over the treatment, not over the tube, however. If LBS
want supports, then customers need to be treated with some respect.

I am not sure about this. We are talking about a customer who expected
a refund on a bad tube. Too many things can happen with a tube, many
attributable to operator error, to expect any sort of warrantee on a tube.

Of course, as I write this I realize that we have all had store
employees automatically blame us for "doing it wrong" no matter what
went wrong with the thing we are bringing back. But this is a lot of
fuss and bother about a $3 tube.

--

David L. Johnson

When you are up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember that
your initial objective was to drain the swamp.
-- LBJ

"David L. Johnson" wrote in message
...
Roger Zoul wrote:
"Peter Cole" wrote

Pretty heated rant for a bad tube.


I have to admit that I would have tossed that puppy rather than drive
somewhere for a tube fix. Unless, of course, it was my last one!

I think the rant is over the treatment, not over the tube, however. If
LBS want supports, then customers need to be treated with some respect.

I am not sure about this. We are talking about a customer who expected a
refund on a bad tube. Too many things can happen with a tube, many
attributable to operator error, to expect any sort of warrantee on a tube.

True. I guess that's why you bring in the wheel and let the tech look it
over. If you can't find a hole, nothing in the rim, then the valve could be
bad and it could have shipped that way. And if the stems are so delicate
that you can't inflate them normally, then IMO, that is a defective tube.


Of course, as I write this I realize that we have all had store employees
automatically blame us for "doing it wrong" no matter what went wrong with
the thing we are bringing back. But this is a lot of fuss and bother
about a $3 tube.

That's probably why the manager stepped in. Of course, at that point time
had been wasted.

Like I said, unless that was my very last tube, I would have pitched it. I
don't like to be without a tube, which is why I buy them on sale and in lots
of 5 to 10.
--

David L. Johnson

When you are up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember that
your initial objective was to drain the swamp.
-- LBJ

Pat wrote:

Trying to hold my temper, I answered that I thought there was something
wrong with the valve. He said, "Do you know the difference between a Presta
and a Schraeder Valve?"

At that point, as a customer, I would have written off my loss for the
bad tube, and left the shop never to return.

Well, dammit, a Schraeder valve tube won't fit on a
700c Kysrium wheel, now will it? Finally, the shop manager or owner came up
and said, "Put on a new tube, charge it to "shop use" and give an extra tube
for free."

Smart manager. A $5 tube, that cost the shop probably $1.50, isn't worth
arguing about. I returned a tube with a bad valve to Cupertino Bike
Shop, and they replaced it without any hassle, though not cheerfully.

SMS wrote:

I returned a tube with a bad valve to Cupertino Bike
Shop, and they replaced it without any hassle, though not cheerfully.

Are they still in business? I used to go there regularly, in '70-'73.
The guy who owned the place, Spence Wolf, was legendary.

--

David L. Johnson

If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a
conclusion.
-- George Bernard Shaw

Pat wrote:
Pretty heated rant for a bad tube.

It just freakin' amazes me that you and a few others missed the entire point
of the post. Whoosh! Right over your head!
The point was this: don't treat customers like step children and think they
will be greatful for the treatment!

Pat in TX



I got that (felt your pain, man). But, at the end of the day, it was
just a stinking tube. Hardly worth a panty bunch.

"Pat" wrote
And, since this is a Kysrium wheel, I would have thought they would have
assumed I knew something about tires and tubes!

I just saw the price of this wheel. I'd say the chances are good that he
just assumed you had no brains.

On Aug 9, 5:49*pm, "Pat" wrote:

if I were a child. That's my purpose in writing my rant. Remember the
"Golden Rule" and treat the customer as you would want to be treated
yourself. I think even the salesman was embarassed as the mechanic treated

When on a recent bike trip to the mountains of nw Georgia, and a side
trip to a gold mine I saw some Burma-Shave type signs that read:
"Always
remember
the Golden Rule:
He who
has
the gold,
makes the rules."

heehee

And, since this is a Kysrium wheel, I would have thought they would have
assumed I knew something about tires and tubes!

I just saw the price of this wheel. I'd say the chances are good that he
just assumed you had no brains.

Veeery funny! BUT, OTOH, he just as well could have assumed that I had money
out the ying yang and just might throw some of it around in his shop (all
the more reason to not treat me like dirt).

Pat in TX

"Pat" wrote: Veeery funny! BUT, OTOH, he just as well could have assumed
that I had money
out the ying yang and just might throw some of it around in his shop (all
the more reason to not treat me like dirt).
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You are giving the mechanic too much credit. What we have here is someone
who is pretty stupid and doesn't know it. Further, he assumes that everyone
else is even dumber, so he can throw all kinds of stuff into his remarks,
trying to impress, and not knowing that he is exposing his lame brain by
doing so. His remark about barometric pressure is an example.

Roger Zoul wrote:
"Peter Cole" wrote

Pretty heated rant for a bad tube.


I have to admit that I would have tossed that puppy rather than drive
somewhere for a tube fix. Unless, of course, it was my last one!

I think the rant is over the treatment, not over the tube, however. If LBS
want supports, then customers need to be treated with some respect.

Even Kysrium wheel owners?

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
“Mary had a little lamb / And when she saw it sicken /
She shipped it off to Packingtown / And now it’s labeled chicken.”