£50 deposit to look at a bike?

Pickled Pig

Been asked by a chain of bike stores to pay £50 for them to move a bike I'm interested in to my local(ish) branch so I can sit on it for sizing. They say the deposit is refundable if I don't want the bike.
This seems a reasonable way to prevent time wasters but I just want to make sure there's no hidden catch to this like insisting on buying another bike from them? Has anyone been asked to do this sort of thing before?

benpinnick

Jokers. Ditch them fast. And name and shame them.

jonni3

Evans do this, I was told the same thing when looking for a bike.
It's fully refundable or can be taken off the price of the bike if you decide to buy it if I remember rightly.

g00se

Similar at Cycles UK.

richh

yep went through this with evans. Refund was no problem whatsoever.

Gizmodo

So what's the point in the deposit? Under what circumstances would they keep it - there must be some? Is it that if you don't turn up they keep your money - if so how long do they give you to view the bike?

brettjmcc

It's to deter people who come in and ask to size a 4k bike. Just they apply the rules for everything. Also, it does cost them to bring it in...

RoadyForever

I hate the idea of giving a salesman money before even trying to negotiate a price and I will never give them that leverage - I'd complain and walk away. I have no problems leaving a photo id and credit card.

pilot_pete

When I bought my bike at Evans I just left my wallet with them whilst I went for a test ride. Certainly made sense and I didn't want to have it in my back pocket whilst I rode! They put it in a safe, so I was more than happy.

I would go with the line "Are you wanting to potentially make a sale, or should I go elsewhere with my cash?" If you have a "loads-a-money" stash of cash in your wallet and ask to speak to the boss they will know you mean business. I have used this tack often when buying a car and knocked up to a thousand off the asking price, got upgrades and had my hand taken off as I show the cash then turn to walk away.....!!

If they won't budge then I would go elsewhere.....

PP

Pickled Pig

Thanks for replies. TBH I have no problem paying the deposit as long as I can definitely get my £ back if I say no.
The bike is a 2011 model and heavily discounted so I don't think I'm in a position to haggle too hard. My main concern was there would be some sleight of hand to keep my deposit and wondered if this had happened to anyone else.

rafletcher

RoadyForever wrote:

I hate the idea of giving a salesman money before even trying to negotiate a price and I will never give them that leverage - I'd complain and walk away. I have no problems leaving a photo id and credit card.

"negotiate" and "Evans" - dream on. And what leverage? If you don't get your price take yoiur money back and walk away.

rich164h

I'm not sure its a case of leaving £50 to test ride a bike that they've got in store already. My experience is that it's £50 per bike that they ship to your store from others, or specifically build up from the warehouse. They don't want their shops full of identical bikes in a range of sizes as they just wouldn't have the room so it's an incentive to get you to actual turn up and try them. As I said above, I had no problem getting my cash back either of the two times I've gone through this.

To answer the question about how long you've got to "turn up", well when I did it I'd effectively booked an appointment so that we both knew when I'd be in and they could make sure that there was a dedicated member of staff to help me (and that they knew when they'd need to get the bikes delivered/built up by).

Worked well for me.

brettjmcc

Pickled Pig wrote:

Thanks for replies. TBH I have no problem paying the deposit as long as I can definitely get my £ back if I say no.
The bike is a 2011 model and heavily discounted so I don't think I'm in a position to haggle too hard. My main concern was there would be some sleight of hand to keep my deposit and wondered if this had happened to anyone else.

Pickled Pig, if its Evans we are talking about then no. My local store got me in a QR CD01 bike to try out, even though the guys knew I was only doing it to make sure the 2nd hand frame I was looking to buy was the right size. Paid the deposit, they got it in, sat on the turbo for 10-15 mins to make sure I was comfortable, and said thanks.

The other thing from it was that I was very impressed with the saddle that came with it, so much so I am thinking of ghetting one for my build.

Pickled Pig

It's not Evans, it's Cycle Surgery. Now nobody's come up with stories of losing their money I'll go ahead with the deposit. BTW, it's not for a test ride, just to get the bike in and have a sit on it. Normally I wouldn't be happy with this but as there's 20% off RRP and most places have sold out I'll go along with them.
Thanks again for opinions.