On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 2:14 PM, Seth Vidal <skvi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 5:12 PM, beth h <periwinkle...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > I'm sorry it's so hard to special order stuff through your local shop. > > I've similar experiences as a customer and do sympathize. > > > > As the lead buyer at our shop, I can tell you that if a shop is left > > holding the bag too many times on a non-stock part they can't easily > > sell to someone else, they may become more skittish about special > > orders in general, and orders for non-stock items in particular. > > > > We do our best to manage special orders where I work, but we make sure > > the customer is committed by asking for half down, advising that we > > give no refunds on non-stock items, and advising that delivery times > > are usually beyond the control of one small retailer (we estimate 7-10 > > days unless they want to pay for expedited shipping). > > > > We also advise the customer that if an order will not fulfill our > > minimum required dollar amount to place an order from a distributor we > > may have to wait until we have enough other stuff to order from that > > distributor before placing the order. This is a reality for a small > > retailer; we just don't have the buying power of a mail-order house > > and we are often required to educate customers to that effect. > > > > These last two paragraphs are the critical bits. > > If you're upfront about ALL of that and give reasonable expectations > and keep communication up then any pissed off customer is unreasonably > pissed off. > > I've just found that a lot of LBSes are rotten at communication and > managing expectations. > > -sv > > -- > Beth, Jim, et al: I 100% sympathize with the potential hassle of ordering parts. I understand waiting till the shop can get their minimum to avoid shipping. I get it, really. Buuuuut, I'm still the guy with cash in hand, trying desperately hard to throw that cash in their general direction. $40 for the bars, $25 for the shifter, and $5 for rinky-dinky SRAM IGH part. NOT a lot of money, so I don't expect them to jump up and get it tomorrow. But he said "Next Thursday." Then when Next Thursday came around and I find out they haven't even picked up the phone to call SRAM... Now it's four weeks since I placed the original order. Maybe it's in, maybe it's not. They haven't bothered to call me and give me a heads up. That's not the retail business. That's having a hobby of owning a bike shop. -- Cheers, David Redlands, CA "Bicycling is a big part of the future. It has to be. There is something wrong with a society that drives a car to workout in a gym." ~Bill Nye, scientist guy--
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