Charged for Quotation on bike

whitestar1

I was in Wolverhampton and went to a bike shop asked for a quote on a bike so I can start the process for the cycle2work scheme. The chap said I had to make a payment of £50 to do so. Is this a right?

Long_Time_Lurker

It doesn't work like that around my way :x
What have you asked for? Is he building you a bike from scratch?
(I guess i may do it if I got the £50 back if I bought the bike, but my LBS and 'big' stores around here have never asked for any pre-payments)

RufusA

Depends what the money was for. I've seen a number of shops ask for a deposit to hold the bike if doing a quote for a cycle to work scheme, particularly if it's in short stock.

That way they can ensure that once you've got the voucher, the bike you want is still available at the price you agreed. It causes no end of problems when you turn up at the shop with voucher in hand to discover that the bike you wanted is sold out! Changing the value on the voucher is no small process, and using cash to cover the difference is no longer possible!

Rufus.

Mr Plum

I asked an LBS if they could just verbally give me a rough quote for some crash damage and they wanted £25 for it - this would have been a full written quote which I didn't want or need. He wasn't interested otherwise, even though potentially he could have had a £200 repair on his hands.

This was the 2nd or 3rd thing that put me off that particular shop and I won't be going back. I try to support LBSs over their cheaper internet based rivals, but it's difficult to care when the service is poor and their prices are expensive.

Headhuunter

Ribble charge a £65 admin fee to go through C2W...

veronese68

They shouldn't charge for just doing the quote. When we get quotes the shop just scriblles a couple of details on a form. I can't imagine paying £50 for that. They do charge a deposit before they will actually order the bike, but that is refunded upon receipt of the voucher to pay for the bike.

alfablue

If you use Cyclescheme, they charge the shops a 10% comission, many shops pass this on (Ribble & Condor charge £50, Planet X charge £100, Spa Cycles charge 12.5% for example); some shops charge no fee but stick to RRP rather than any discounts. This shops charge is probably their way of getting the fee, odd to call it a charge for the quote though.

Zilla80

Its not the way my shop works. If a customer wishes to order a bike on cyclescheme then they have the option to pay a £50 deposit which will ensure we order the bike as soon as. Useful if the bike is a low stock item it ensures they get it. The deposit is then refunded upon receipt of the voucher. If they don't then we only order when the voucher has arrived and they risk not receiving the bike they wanted.

We used to just order the bike when the customer asked for the quote but the high percentage of people who never follow through with the scheme meant that we had an awful lot of stock being ordered then never being collected.

Cycle scheme does charge us the 10% but i feel its a bit cheeky to ask the customer to foot this as cyclescheme has lifted bike sales in general (although it has slowed dramatically in the last 6 months). However we don't offer cyclescheme on items that have been reduced to clear as the 10% would mean we make a loss.

We operate a charge for providing insurance quotes which are refunded when we complete the work as they are quite time consuming and again a high percentage never have the work done.

alfablue

Zilla80 wrote:

Cycle scheme does charge us the 10% but i feel its a bit cheeky to ask the customer to foot this as cyclescheme has lifted bike sales in general (although it has slowed dramatically in the last 6 months).

This is a commendable attitude.

cooldad

After a tangle with a (presumably) blind moron in a car, my local Evans were quite happy to prepare separate quotes for parts to repair and a replacement bike.
No mention of any charge.

thistle_

At my last place of work where Cyclescheme was available, there were many cases where people had got a quote for a bike, got the voucher for the bike at that value and when they went back to the shop they were told the price had gone up and they wouldn't sell it at the price they had quoted.

The bike shops claimed that even if it was a written quote, unless a deposit was paid they didn't have to sell the bike at the quoted price.

You are then a bit stuck because once the voucher is issued you cannot change the value and you are committed to making the payments, but if the price of the bike has gone up you can't get the bike you want and strictly speaking you can't pay the LBS the difference (because then you could part own the bike) Although this might vary with different schemes and employers.

The trick is to pay a deposit - note this is not the same as paying for a quote.

When I got my C2W bike, I got a quote and asked the bike shop what would happen if the price went up and they also said they wouldn't sell at the original price unless I paid a deposit. When you pay the deposit, they will order the bike in for you at that price.

It might be a LBS conspiracy but it makes a bit of sense to me.

bails1310

My experience is that is depends on the price of the bike, in that 2012 or non-sale bikes, I've never been asked for a quote fee.

Others will offer sale bikes on the scheme, but advise a 10% fee for something will be added.

That said, I've just ordered a Cayo 105 thtough Wiggle at £825 [25% off] and they didn't ask at any point for a fee which I think is right.

Given the climate with spending and sales, if they don't get rid of the charge, you'll find someone else who will I'm sure.

Topaxci

I run cycle2work scheme at my company and administer in house. We don't charge any fees at all. Some of the LBS recognise this and will knock an extra10% off the price.

I'be never come across someone paying for a quote. Though some will pay a deposit to hold/order a bike. As long ad they get the money back themselves from the LBS we don't mind. Like someone else said, the company has to own100% of the bike for the scheme to work.