A new low for a bike shop??
Wirral_paul
Posts: 2,476
Morning everyone
Has anyone ever come across a bike shop that would stoop so low as to actually set up a Twitter account to take the pi$$ out of you?? I thought i'd seen it all but had a text earlier from a mate to tell me about it!!
This new shop (opened January 2011) and dealing in the mid to high range road bikes on the Wirral have gone so far as to set this twitter account up and in doing so declare open war on a now very ex-customer!! At times like this, with the economy not doing brilliantly and many people not having a vast amount of spare cash to spend on luxuries like high end bikes (ok ignore the fact that for most of us - our bikes are an essential - the same as food) - does it not seem logical that it wouldn't be the best time to start playing stupid games to annoy potential customers??
This all stems from the fact that they dont seem able to accept any criticism (which has been fairly private to date) over a £5k+ Orbea Orca that they built and frankly - messed up!! Its not the only basic error made on bike builds i've seen (at least 4 fundamental errors on the Orbea - chain length way to short etc). The owner of the bike has kept comments quiet also so far but he's about to "go public" after the twitter stunt himself.
So do you think this stupid stunt played by this bike shop has earned them a "name and shame"??
mini-rant over (unless you want to get me going and then we'll let rip on **** Cycles) ;-)
Has anyone ever come across a bike shop that would stoop so low as to actually set up a Twitter account to take the pi$$ out of you?? I thought i'd seen it all but had a text earlier from a mate to tell me about it!!
This new shop (opened January 2011) and dealing in the mid to high range road bikes on the Wirral have gone so far as to set this twitter account up and in doing so declare open war on a now very ex-customer!! At times like this, with the economy not doing brilliantly and many people not having a vast amount of spare cash to spend on luxuries like high end bikes (ok ignore the fact that for most of us - our bikes are an essential - the same as food) - does it not seem logical that it wouldn't be the best time to start playing stupid games to annoy potential customers??
This all stems from the fact that they dont seem able to accept any criticism (which has been fairly private to date) over a £5k+ Orbea Orca that they built and frankly - messed up!! Its not the only basic error made on bike builds i've seen (at least 4 fundamental errors on the Orbea - chain length way to short etc). The owner of the bike has kept comments quiet also so far but he's about to "go public" after the twitter stunt himself.
So do you think this stupid stunt played by this bike shop has earned them a "name and shame"??
mini-rant over (unless you want to get me going and then we'll let rip on **** Cycles) ;-)
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Its never good form for a company to belittle their customers (think Ratners), its downright stupid to do so in the public domain and its really dumb if any mistakes made were their fault.
Well done for not naming them (from a 'legal' stand point) but I shall be seeing how strong my google-fu is by trying to find the shop on Twitter and online.
Is there any opportunity for you to blame Wiggle?
FCN 4: Planet X Schmaffenschmack 2- workhorse
FCN 9: B Twin Vitamin - winter commuter/loan bike for trainees
I'm hungry. I'm always hungry!
From a legal standpoint - my company's clients include about half the lawyers in Liverpool area so i may speak to one of their associates later this week if the shop's attempts at harassment continue to escalate. I've never read anything so childish though so would be embarrassed to actually take this to a law firm.
I did have to laugh at their comment about me living in a 1 bedroom bedsit though - its actually a 3 bed cottage with garage beside the river but never mind - thats how childish they are being!
My Google-Fu is failing me, can you link to the twitter account
Twitter
Flickr
Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved
FCN 4: Planet X Schmaffenschmack 2- workhorse
FCN 9: B Twin Vitamin - winter commuter/loan bike for trainees
I'm hungry. I'm always hungry!
Orbea dealer?
Vita Cycles fits the above criteria ...
http://www.vitacycles.co.uk/
(edit - beaten to it..)
interesting coincidence
or is it
Maybe, but even so,
there doesn't seem to be any actual evidence that they have done so.....
The second part is true, but if it is Vita Cycles, I had a browse through their twitter, and they have either deleted the post, or it never existed. Either way I have a feeling this guy maybe didn't get a discount he "felt he deserved" or something else, and is now trying to get them back for not bowing to his knees.
-Spider-
All seems a bit fishy to me.
momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself.
Possibly another Wirral bikeshop not happy with the competition?
It does seem strange for a newly established shop to start publicly disenfranchising it's current and potential future customers no matter what the issue was. Was thinking of putting my bike in for a hub service, but not sure now.
DB
Tifosi CK3 Winter Bike
Planet X London Road Disc
Planet X RT80 Elite
As for going public, I'd be very careful with naming them before finding out where the mistakes lie with them or not. If there are underlying problems with the bike then contact Trading Standards, who I am sure would be interested to hear from you if the build is unsafe.
Not any more - Twitter it seems (or the bike shop that I haven't named - or more likely one of the partners) has removed the account as it was reported at 8am as per my earlier post. If anyone wants to PM me their email address - i'll forward the link from Twitter for the account that was set up last night and then removed - it shows the profile at least - and an example of the snide remarks they started making.
No its not my bike - belongs to a mate (a Police Inspector who is livid over the Twitter posts and is now considering legal action against the shop) who took it back in 6 times to have the gears set up. He got so fed up he was talking to the mechanics in the Bike Factory, Chester about having the whole bike rebuilt after purchasing in Feb or March of this year. In hindsight, Trading Standards should have been involved a long time ago. Before paying the bill to have Bike Factory rebuild it, he let me start from scratch with a new chain and now it works perfectly (using SRAM Red, i use SRAM Force myself so know how to set SRAM up). I didnt mention the loose spoke, headset , saddle, rear mech on his 2nd bike etc but will now - i kept it to faults I myself found.
As for the issue over the internet spat - thats really what baffles me. Its crazy from a business point of view to start something like this so i agree - why do it??
To clarify, I have no connection with any bike shop and generally buy from the internet. I do all my own mechanicing and have done so for 20 years.
It was a custom build so Orbea wouldnt get involved as the frame is superb and isnt an issue. It wasnt my money and isn't my bike so i've got no more connection than trying to repair the faults for a mate who knows he should have involved Trading Standards earlier. The bike now runs seemlessly so its too late to involve them and to be honest - he's got all he wanted in the first place - a bike that actually works and he can trust.
This isnt about the bike build at all (although the owner may now post his story later) - this is about the pathetic nature of what seems to be one individual connected with this bike shop setting up a Twitter account just to attack me personally. Not big and not clever of that person. Word is already spreading via Twitter from numerous others with fromer dealings with that shop
Ah - the truth at the end of teh thread.
So nothing to do with the bike at all - just trying to get your own back.
Cheerio!
Good luck with your legal case - I cant see you'll get anywhere. Move along and if you dont like a shop - then just dont give them any business.
then in a later post say that they said HE lives in a bed-sit?
sorry, but my bullsh*t-o-meter is hovering at about a 9.5 out of 10 on this one..
************************edit**********
hadn't read the 2nd page of posts....
http://anotherdooratthe.endoftheinternet.org
Cycle related blog entries, including a few 5 minute reviews:
http://anotherdooratthe.endoftheinterne ... y/cycling/
Did you read the first post before posting this?? Its pretty clear from paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 that its about the dumb stunt pulled in setting up the fake twitter account is it not??
Nothing to do with me any of this, just hope it all gets sorted amicably, there was (probaby still is, not been in since getting home late last night) a real good vibe in the local shop with the riders who frequented it. They even formed a club and the shop had shirts printed.
Come on chaps, or I'll bang your heads together
So is it the shop, or someone connected with the shop somehow that's on Twitter?