Who is right, who is wrong

[Melony]

Hey guys

Cut a long story short I ordered a 29er from my LBS, it was ordered 3 weeks ago at the time I agreed to the time frame, I went in on Saturday to check all was good to arrive his week.
Yesterday I got a call advising that it would be another 3 weeks, I though this seems a tad to long so I called the manufactures and asked about the eta on said bike I was adviced by the manufacture it would more like 4 to 5 weeks more IF I even recived one at all as their are more orders that bikes being supplied an this was the last shipment before new models hit, when I asked the manufacture if I was high enough in the que to be supplied I got a swift unfortunate no.
I than went and seen LBS and asked if they could do a deal on a similar spec bike, I was willing to pay a little more. After quite an ugly out burst by the sales man/store owner he said no and went nuts at me. I walked out and than went back in the afternoon to see if he had settled down and to either get a similar bike or a refund as I had payed in full of $1499 + add on's, well things went nuts again and he now tells me that I can not have a Refund or a bike to the same value of the floor.

I than refused to leave the store and told him to call the police as I was not leaving until I have either my money back or a bike, police arrived and asked what I wanted when told they thought it was reasonable to want either a bike or refund, when they approached the salesman/owner he agreed to a refund when he had the money to do so.

Am I right in wanting either a refund or a bike or am I in the wrong.

Until the issue is corrected I won't be naming the LBS.

 

[cameron_15]

You are definitely not in the wrong.

To a degree, the store owner isn't either. From my experience working in bike shops, the estimated arrival times of bike shipments is pretty random. Bikes get pushed backwards and forwards by a couple of weeks or months all the time almost at random.

I do not understand why he won't sell you a bike off the floor though. Any retailer know's it's better to sell what you've got!

Is the bike you ordered a run out model by any chance? If so, he might still be making a reasonable margin on the bike, and that's why he can't offer a similar bike around that price... I don't know, it doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Zam]

Yeah certainly are not in the wrong and i would be naming and shaming said LBS, service and rants like this deserve to the customer for a simple request deserve to be shamed, and it is these clowns that call poor when people start ordering and buying online for half the price...

I can understand that to some extent that the supply of bikes is out of his control, but there are certain way of dealing with situations like this and ranting to the customer who has already handed over good money is certainly not the way handle things....

 

[Art Vanderlay]

when they approached the salesman/owner he agreed to a refund when he had the money to do so.

That's not a good sign. Should he not have your money ready to refund. Or does the salesman have trouble getting your money because he has ordered the bike and he can not get a refund from the supplier?

 

[g-fish]

when they approached the salesman/owner he agreed to a refund when he had the money to do so.

I would be very worried about that, the shop should have enough capital to be able to refund on the spot. They also should have only really needed a 20% deposit to order a bike, rather than the whole amount..

Does the shop not stock many brands? It's not really the shops responsibility to offer you a discount on a more expensive bike because their supplier can't keep tabs on their inventory. I work in a shop, and the few times a supplier has screwed up they will give us a more expensive model of their own bike for the same price. If that can't be done, you should get a full refund.

The shop won't have control of the supply of the bike, but the way the owner reacted to you wanting a refund seems a bit extreme and worrying. I'd say get your money ASAP and try and find a shop with some better business sense and customer service.

 

[Melony]

When I spoke with the manufacture he advised me in not so direct words to cancel order, as it would not impact LBS as they have not payed as yet all their accounts are 31 days from stock receipt.

So I read this as LBS has my money no one else.

It is a current 2013 catalogue item, not a 2012 or run out model.

I was floored after 19 years in various levels of retail I have never seen or heared such rude, aggressive or crazy customer service from either customer, salesman or owner.

As adviced by the police don't name or say to much until issue is sorted, after that though well.

 

[Melony]

G-fish
Everything you have said I agree with, I plan on taking my money an running, you try and support the little guy and this is what happens.

 

[mtb101]

get your money back asap. don't do business with people like this.

did you pay by Credit Card? You can get a refund that way.

is this shop if Victoria? other consumers should be warned, sounds like they are going down and if they go into receivership you'll never get your money back. also need to go to http://www.accc.gov.au/pronto and lodge a complaint, don't rely on police advice as this is consumer law, not criminal.

 

[SummitFever]

A good store will not take any money from you until they are sure that your bike is in stock. Its normal practice for a store to ask for a deposit when they put the order in to the distributor. Full payment with no actual ETA is more than a little concerning. Nowadays with computerised inventory control there is no excuse for taking an order without knowing exactly that the bike is available and when it will arrive.

 

[g-fish]

G-fish
Everything you have said I agree with, I plan on taking my money an running, you try and support the little guy and this is what happens.

Nothing wrong with supporting the little guy. Just sometimes the little guy is a sour angry old man who couldn't run kiddie porn shop in the Vatican.

 

[willsy01]

All the hallmarks of a bloke under a pile of pressure as his shop is going under.

 

[bikesarefun]

Maybe instead of naming and shaming, you could reveal the brand of bike?

 

[Melony]

Manufacture is Giant, very customer orientated company, unlike LBS

 

[Trigger02]

hahahaha i would already have my money back!!!!

 

[0psi]

Yup get a refund and take your hard earned elsewhere.

Even if at the time of sale the salesperson believed it would be 3 weeks till you got said bike he would have been informed of the wait when (or if?) he placed the order and should have informed you. It's not rocket science and I'm pretty sure a 15 year old on his first day could have worked that out.

 

[willsy01]

Manufacture is Giant, very customer orientated company, unlike LBS

I've seen this happen to a couple of people ordering Giants. A stern but polite post on their Facebook page yields a very swift result.

 

[willsy01]

Yup get a refund and take your hard earned elsewhere.

Even if at the time of sale the salesperson believed it would be 3 weeks till you got said bike he would have been informed of the wait when (or if?) he placed the order and should have informed you. It's not rocket science and I'm pretty sure a 15 year old on his first day could have worked that out.

Old mate in the shop can't do anything about Giants manufacture and delivery schedule.

 

[harmonix1234]

Name and shame!

 

[moorey]

Name and shame!

Don't you think being a giant dealer is shame enough already?:noidea:

 

[Norco Maniac]

All the hallmarks of a bloke under a pile of pressure as his shop is going under.

all well and good, if this is the case, but no excuse to abuse the customer. could the shop owner have not offered a similar deal on floor stock and made everyone happy?