My friend bought herself and her mother a bike from Bike Guy at my recommendation. Her mom lives in Fairbanks, a 6 hr drive from there to here or something like that. The mom came down on Mother's day with the father and picked up her bike. The father then decided he also wanted a bike, so my friend purchased one for him. But the right size bike was not on the sales floor, so bike guy had to put it together. It can take him a week or so to get a bike together because he is soo busy. My friend and I stop at the bike shop during a lunch time micro-ride. Bike guy tell her the bike is ready and asks her when her parents will be coming down to pick up it up. She says they aren't coming down, he needs to get the bike up there to them. Huh?? Bike guy is having all sorts of shipping problems lately. I saw the boot prints on the busted up boxes and the damaged bikes from his last UPS shipment. His local carriers are having issues also he says. My friend just looks at him and tells him the father would like his bike right away. So Bike Guy says maybe he can close the shop down on Sunday (yesterday), drive 6 hrs each way to deliver the bike. This is a $300 bike. I'm going to my friend, "don't let him do that". She askes if he would go there just to deliver the bike or if he had other reasons, he said just to take the bike. She just says "OK" and we leave. I was astounded. Didn't even talk with him about the shipping costs, didn't even thank him. I asked her if they arranged shipping when she bought the bike, she said "no" and it sounded to me like he didn't know he was supposed to ship it.
I am bothered and embarrassed by this. If it had been me, I would not have allowed this guy to shut his business, take holiday time away from is family, spend his own $ on gas and loose at least 12 hrs of his time driving. He has taken a loss on this bike, that's for sure.
I don't required my friends to be perfect, but come on, have some consideration for others, it's not all about "us".
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2 comments:
I work retail and while I'm sure your friends aren't total assholes, most folks have that "The customer is always right" mindset.
Most times, that's a good way to do business, but once and awhile....some customers need to be "fired"
This is like an advertisement for the Bike Guy. I mean, if he can treat the friend of a friend this way, well, just imagine what he can do for his local customers.
It's either that, or what, he loses the customer to some big-box store or an online retailer?
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