The 'life can be expensive' thread
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The 'life can be expensive' thread
Postby __PG__ » Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:06 pm
Can we name and shame them?
EDIT : After looking at the receipt (which was $24) and the division of parts and labour..I'm still angry..but I shrug my shoulders and think 'that's life in the big city'.
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby AUbicycles » Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:17 pm
Reason being that I get the angry phone calls and mails - even if the complaint is justified and still have to deal with it. Also - we are aiming to promote and name the good shops - so this is the preferred approach to make referrals and recommendations to benefit the good guys.
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To contribute - my shameful experience was at a shop overseas where I wanted all the gears setup properly on an old Bianchi road bike. When I went to pick it up they said that the frame was bent (rear dropouts) and essentially so it was unrideable until fixed.... but they decided to do the gears anyway and attempted to charge me for it.
I had a word with the boss and ask whether it was logical that they would spot that a frame was unrideable - but continue to do the gears anyway knowing that it couldn't be ridden. To the shops credit, the manager agreed with me.
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby MH » Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:42 pm
I think we sometimes forget about the sheer cost of running a business in Australia.
I'm sure it won't happen to your friend again as they will very quickly learn to change a tube themselves!
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby LM324 » Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:47 pm
Price of tube would be about $15 in an LBS, is that included? Even though changing a tube is an incredibly easy job, that seems about the normal price of replacing the tube.__PG__ wrote:Not sure what contravenes the forum guidelines, but when a work colleague (who is new to cycling commuting) is charged $25 by his LBS for an overnight replacement of a tube, I get angry.
Can we name and shame them?
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby Abby » Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:50 pm
Did you not offer to do it for him? I've done that a few times for new-ish commuters here at work. They've said they have a flat and not sure what to do - I just get them to bring the wheel in and show them at lunch time how easy it is to change over the tube...
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby Pravda » Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:01 pm
My LBS has a $15 minimum workshop charge and ship $10 for a tube would be about right.
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby Sparx » Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:16 pm
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby TraceyG » Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:19 pm
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby redned » Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:21 pm
Tell your mate that next time I'll do it for $24.
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby redned » Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:23 pm
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby lump_a_charcoal » Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:43 pm
If it was just a powerpoint that needed replacing, it would be covered by that fee (not including parts).
I think $25 is reasonable as a minimum charge, especially if it included parts.
Give a man a fish yada yada yada...
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby merlin6014 » Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:44 pm
Dont like it change the tube yourself.
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby biker jk » Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:49 pm
Yes I have not heard one valid reason for this contradiction.Sparx wrote:I don't understand why we can post the name of online retailers that we have bad experiences with but not bike shops.
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby simonn » Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:53 pm
What I don't understand about this is that you have posted this while having access to an information source that contains a great proportion of the entire knowledge available to humanity. Why not use it instead? There are written descriptions, pictures, videos all explaining most things you would want to know about.TraceyG wrote:After paying my LBS to change a few tubes for me, I asked them to teach me how to do it myself, which they did, and without charging me.
Don't get me wrong TraceyG, this is not really aimed at you, but in general it baffles me that people just seem to look at photos of cats.
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby Ross » Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:08 pm
What? People look at pictures of pussy on the internet?! Well, I never...simonn wrote: Don't get me wrong TraceyG, this is not really aimed at you, but in general it baffles me that people just seem to look at photos of cats.
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby __PG__ » Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:16 pm
Labour was $12.00, charged out one quarter hour of the $48 hourly labour rate.
Total cost was $24, not $25 as orginally posted.
Oh well...that's inflation for you. I've told him to bring his old tube into work tomorrow, buy a puncture kit and I'll show him how to patch tubes.
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby wurtulla wabbit » Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:35 pm
It costs me $12000 per month of sales to balance the books.
that's not a cent for me and in a tight month, I work for free !
Running a small business in Australia is hard work, anyone that thinks otherwise is a <language>
If you don't want to spend $25 on a job, DIY or learn to DIY !
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Mod Says: Here are the Forum Rules - we have a family audience and thus appropriate language including acronyms or semi-blocked language.
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby merlin6014 » Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:06 pm
Is there a thread for good ones? Ive had a few positive lbs experiences latley.AUbicycles wrote:Also - we are aiming to promote and name the good shops - so this is the preferred approach to make referrals and recommendations to benefit the good guys.
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby Paddles » Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:15 pm
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby wurtulla wabbit » Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:20 pm
IF they do this, it should be allowed to be public knowledge.
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby roller » Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:28 pm
__PG__ wrote:Can we name and shame them?
AUbicycles wrote:Yes this is fine as long as there is no naming or obvious indication of which shop it is.
this made me giggle
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby outnabike » Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:30 pm
And the LB Shops should be able to have a whinge about all the time wasters that pick their brains for various things, bikes, prices and then buy overseas.
It's kind of a two way street, no?
We don't have a clue about who a negative forum member is, completely unknown. Yet because a member claims to ride a bike he can go all out and ruin a LBS?
I would say just name good folks and be happy with that. Just on opinion of course, many may disagree.
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby rabobank89 » Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:41 pm
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby AUbicycles » Thu Feb 28, 2013 5:03 pm
Regarding online shops - a good question. Typically I have been more open to overseas shop complaints because they are over there - but still like to see it as constructive or factual criticism. The difference is the little local bike shop run by Mr Goodguy and then along comes an anonymous Mr Vindictive who signs up and will stop at nothing to trash the reputation of Mr GoodGuy.
Fair enough though, the online part has become a grey area though most members are great so we don't have many problems, sometimes online retailers ave become involved and respond in the forum or directly with the customer to resolve a situation.
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Re: The LBS shame thread
Postby richbee » Thu Feb 28, 2013 5:04 pm
t'internet isn't always the best source of information for even simple tasks like changing a tube. It's best to learn from the hands on experience of people skilled in the art.simonn wrote:What I don't understand about this is that you have posted this while having access to an information source that contains a great proportion of the entire knowledge available to humanity. Why not use it instead? There are written descriptions, pictures, videos all explaining most things you would want to know about.TraceyG wrote:After paying my LBS to change a few tubes for me, I asked them to teach me how to do it myself, which they did, and without charging me.
That goes for cats on the web too
And well done to that bike shop that showed Tracey how to change tubes.
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