Sales staff that should know better

[Trevor Holloway]

Went into the bike shop in Walton on Thames, poor sales chap had a difficult customer last Saturday :
I asked "How much is the electric bike ?"
He comes over with the brochure "£1,600"
"Is that 24v or 36v ?" I asked.
"It says 250 w in the brocure".
"Whats the barrey capacity ?"
"Errr it does not say but it can add 200% of your effort to around 20mph !"
"Not legally. Only upto 15" says I
My friend asks "Does it recharge the battery when freewheeling ?"
"Yes" says the salesman "the power usage meter goes negative."
"Not enough to make a difference on a long run - if it actually puts any in at all." I chip in.

"Er it sounds like you have been doing some research ?"

Looks like a lot more than he has !

 

[eddieo]

if LBS I bet it was a Trek or Giant, and chap has not been trained properly, so what can you expect, hardly his fault....

Did you a favour really, as you can imagine the response if you brought them back a faulty bike for a repair

 

[Alex728]

given the lack of basic engineering knowledge, product knowledge or even the passion to learn about a new product to help the business, I wouldn't buy a push bike from that shop!

 

[Bigbee]

I think you're being over critical.You could find the answers to your questions on the internet but clearly were looking to give some one a hard time and post here about it.You dont name the shop but really dont have to as I doubt if there are that many IBS in WOT.Now a business which in this difficult times has had the balls to take on a new product not knowing if they will sell well has been ridiculed on here.Well done and take a bow.Now some one else wont even buy a push bike from there just because a young lad who was trying to help was just a little less knowledgeable than flecc.Some of you are surprised that there are not more ebikes around,when some ones trys to reverse this they get customers like the thread starter putting his pennys worth in.Great.

 

[Mussels]

I think you're being over critical.You could find the answers to your questions on the internet but clearly were looking to give some one a hard time and post here about it.You dont name the shop but really dont have to as I doubt if there are that many IBS in WOT.Now a business which in this difficult times has had the balls to take on a new product not knowing if they will sell well has been ridiculed on here.Well done and take a bow.Now some one else wont even buy a push bike from there just because a young lad who was trying to help was just a little less knowledgeable than flecc.Some of you are surprised that there are not more ebikes around,when some ones trys to reverse this they get customers like the thread starter putting his pennys worth in.Great.

I don't mind a shop assistant not knowing answers but I do expect them to have access to them, the brochure should have had that information and on that basis I would have left it. I do think he sounds over critical though as there's a lot to know about pedelecs and I've been to established pedelec shops where the staff were still learning, they were eager to learn and that gave me confidence.

 

[Alex728]

.You dont name the shop but really dont have to as I doubt if there are that many IBS in WOT.Now a business which in this difficult times has had the balls to take on a new product not knowing if they will sell well has been ridiculed on here.Well done and take a bow.Now some one else wont even buy a push bike from there just because a young lad who was trying to help was just a little less knowledgeable than flecc.Some of you are surprised that there are not more ebikes around,when some ones trys to reverse this they get customers like the thread starter putting his pennys worth in.Great.

The market is a harsh master, especially with the Internet giving transparency to the failings of all suppliers and exposing failings in customer service.

I don't think Trevor was over critical, he was exercising due diligence for a substantial purchase.. Other posts show him to be fairly knowledgeable about push bikes and presumably a supporter of decent LBSs.

Maybe the lad was doing his best but it still wasn't good enough. Paying customers are not a free training resource - it would have taken 10 minutes in a quiet time to train the lad about the new-ebikes to answer customer queries, or alternatively he could have said say "I'm not sure, but I will ask my boss or Trek / Giant and find out." (and then make sure he actually got back to the potential customer!)

BTW I think I've identified both the shop and the bike and yes the manufacturers don't do them any favours as the electric components specifications do seem to be hard to come by (although not the bike parts), and aren't even listed on the website

With a £1700 purchase people have every right to be cynical - especially as the shop in question seems perfectly knowledgable to deal with the "lycra" bikes.. this seems like a lack of interest in selling the new products, maybe sceptism from management the lad has picked up on. They need more than the balls to just take stock, they need the balls to deal with customer queries and support the purchase after they've taken the customers money..

SE England is a small place compared to somewhere like East Anglia (I've cycled through much of it on a unpowered bike) and TBH there is actually an abundance of e-bike dealers in SE England, so competition is intense.

In that region alone there is already one specialist e-bike dealer in Twickenham, I think the chap who runs it posts here, another nearer Woking and others in Kent and London which isn't so far away - all of them have had good reports from folk on here.

 

[eddieo]

My LBS is a hard core bike shop, owner x velodrome pro racer...when I first went in 18 months ago they could not be less interested, now they stock Giant and thinking of Trek. The owner said he would have no problem building a motor into a wheel if I needed it.....he was sitting in shop at the time building a wheel from scratch.

They have to be given time

 

[Alex728]

My LBS is a hard core bike shop, owner x velodrome pro racer...when I first went in 18 months ago they could not be less interested, now they stock Giant and thinking of Trek. The owner said he would have no problem building a motor into a wheel if I needed it.....he was sitting in shop at the time building a wheel from scratch.

They have to be given time

Some of the local shops in my area are slowly waking up to ebikes (I have kept David at Wisper informed) and they can afford to do so as there isn't much competition, but in other areas time isn't on their side - such as the OP's area where a specialist e-bike dealer with full service facilities is barely a couple of miles up the road..

Customers aren't always prepared to wait for businesses to clue up, not when the internet and honest discussion on forums makes it easy to buy stuff online from other areas, and its easy to be self-sufficient with regards to servicing.

 

[eddieo]

That is fine Alex but a LBS (one mile away) is handy for maintenance for non electric side of things if you are a numpty like me......So it just feels a bit better visiting there now

 

[Alex728]

The problem I found in my area is 3 out of 4 LBS's simply turned away the business with regard to repairs on ebikes - so the one which did was overloaded with work. Even if they don't want to sell the machines you'd think in a recession no one wanted to turn down business?

Another LBS which would have been perfect for me shut down their retail premises, went online only and limited their telephone answering hours, sharing this premises most bizarrely with a breeder of cats! Now cats are wonderful animals but useless for transport purposes - even if you round up enough of them to pull a Bouddica-style chariot you find some want to go in opposite directions, others just sit there and wash themselves, and next thing you know the bobby and the RSPCA are in your garden asking difficult questions..

in Walton on Thames it looks like there's a choice of no less than 3 LBS's within walking distance of each other!

 

[lemmy]

I have every sympathy with LBS but sympathy won't save them.

Having been told by one LBS that electric bikes are pointless, by another that they only serviced 'proper' (ie derailleur) gears and yet another that they would order a pair of Marathon Plus and phone me when they came in to bring the bike in for fitting and hearing no more, I've given up on my LBSs.

Some of them seem stuck in the same mentality as the British motorcycle and car industries, that it's a nice job except for the customers who should take what they are given and be happy with it.

There are good ones out there but I'm afraid my dealings with them make Halfords look good. Evans seem pretty good - the one near me has a young woman running it and she is less macho and more businesslike than the young lycra types in some of them.

But in general now look after my bikes myself, as I learned to do when I was a kid. From my days fitting and greasing wheel bearings, it's a cinch now.

I know there are LBSs out there - my son uses an excellent one - but in my area, I've given up on them.

 

[CeeGee]

Maybe somebody should have asked for the manager of the branch before ridiculing on here an assistant, who could have been a Saturday only kid.

Colin

 

[Patrick]

I don't think all the sales staff should know about pedelecs, but he should have known he was out of his depth. And if the shop was serious about providing advice and supporting their sales (as opposed to just acting as box shifters) then they should have made sure that the assistant had someone to call on who did know about them.

[This all reminds me of an old joke.
Q. What's the difference between a used car salesman and a high street computer sales assistant?

A. A used car salesman knows when he's lying to you. ]

 

[Rad]

The LBS I've been using can't stand e-bikes, but is happy to work on mine and I'm happy to use them. I wouldn't dream of asking him to work on the electric part of the bike, but gears/brakes etc are no problem at all.

Proper one man band LBS as well, I'm happy to give him my business as he's always been 100% straight with me and doesn't try to rip me off.

 

[Mussels]

Maybe somebody should have asked for the manager of the branch before ridiculing on here an assistant, who could have been a Saturday only kid.

Colin

He was decribed as 'salesman' and 'chap', that doesn't sound much like a saturday kid.

 

[CeeGee]

He was decribed as 'salesman' and 'chap', that doesn't sound much like a saturday kid.

Well, I'm obviously wrong then. Of course I wasn't there, were you?

Colin

 

[Alex728]

Maybe somebody should have asked for the manager of the branch

yes, the young man in the shop should have done so.

No one can be expected to know about everything, but a simple honest dialogue would have been better. "This is a very new product. I don't know about all the features, but will find my manager or colleague who does"

And do it there and then, don't make the potential customer wait (it is a £1700 sale!) At worst case if there wasn't anyone available who could help that day, he should be honest - he might lose that sale but the OP wouldn't feel he had been fobbed off or lied to and might come back for other stuff.

its not just the lads fault, its the manufactures and his management who should have prepared him on how to deal with the new product.

The reason I said I wouldn't buy a push bike from there (and I stand by what I say) is more because it gave the impression the shop as a whole didn't care about making an honest sale and supporting the customer irrespective of the type of product.

I don't even think this thread is too harsh at all, he's not named any business or person (which would potentially be unlawful) and as I said earlier there are a number of bike shops in that town, could be any of them!

 

[Trevor Holloway]

As it happens I was there.
I was not trying to riddiule the staff or shop, neither trying to put anyone off shopping there but having a new product in one would have hoped for at least some basic knowledge.

It was not "Saturday staff", it was the main sales guy.

The shop is full of non-electric bikes - road, race, town, off road - upto £3,500 each, with just the one electric bike.

The brochure did not help at all as there was a complete lack of technical informationin it.

Personally I think anyone walking into a local shop looking to spend around two thousand pounds ie not an impulse buy should expect better.

I've spent my hard earned cash in there before and will again.

 

[CeeGee]

Trevor,

Thanks for the clarification - you were, indeed, there.

Colin

 

[Alex728]

As it happens I was there.
I was not trying to riddiule the staff or shop, neither trying to put anyone off shopping there but having a new product in one would have hoped for at least some basic knowledge.

It was not "Saturday staff", it was the main sales guy.

The shop is full of non-electric bikes - road, race, town, off road - upto £3,500 each, with just the one electric bike.

The brochure did not help at all as there was a complete lack of technical informationin it.

if its a Trek I see the dilemma, I looked and I couldn't find that info either, it is of course the fault of the manufacturer but doesn't bode well for timely support in case of problems.

It shows a lack of interest for the UK market compared to a company like Wisper or Powabyke who are UK-based (although they do of course sell overseas). That said I doubt Trek or any other e-bike manufacturer are stupid enough to invest money in a model which won't sell well, so I do wonder if the core market for these machines is in fact another country?