odd way to do business??

Triangle Kebab

A friend of mine is just starting out in the world of road cycling, and has asked me to give him some guidance. By my own admission my knowledge on road cycling is okay, but i'm by no means an expert, however i always like to help someone if i can. He has decided on a Bianchi VIA Nirone 7, so we set off to a lbs here in Reading in order for him to try a couple of different sizes and different bikes. He asked the sales guy if he could try a few different sizes within the range, and this is where in my opinion it got a bit weird, the sales guy informed us, that for him to do that, he would be required to put a £100 deposit down, which would be deducted from the price of the bike when he purchased it. So it was pretty much a case of, if you want to even touch one of the bikes out on display, you must agree to handing over £100. and if you then don't like what you see, or it doesn't feel right, for what ever reason then you have lost your money. Unless of course you buy the bike,as i say i am by no means an expert, but this seems like a very odd way to do business. Has anyone else ever come across this??

navrig

Did they have different sizes of the same bike in stock?

If not they may have to order some in - cost (at least until they sell).

If they did have some in stock were they made up or still in boxes in storage. It would require effort to make them up enough to make them suitable for sitting on AND assuming they don't sell where do they store them?

pride4ever

And you should have laughed and said "can you afford to turn a sale away moron"...

Toe knee

+ 1

Triangle Kebab

they had 4 different sizes of the bike, out on display, i really don't see where the hardship in letting him sit on the 4 that they had out was. He is now looking elsewhere to buy one.

ToeKnee

So, the LBS gets it in stock, you find your size and are ready to order ... do you continue to buy from LBS or from A N Other supplier who is cheaper but with whom you can not test your size (be that on the internet or elsewhere)?

If you are happy with the bike, but just want to agree the size, then I don't see anything wrong with their request.

EDIT: Posted before I heard they had FOUR in stock. Now it sounds like the LBS has lost the plot.

danlikesbikes

Yes it is an odd way to do business.

If it were a case of them not having the bikes in stock/made up to try you would have thought that they would have said so I know thats what both of my LBS's do if I want to try something.

Did go into a shop to try out a new TT bike end of last year (not my regular LBS as trying a different brand) and before I could try the bike the shop owner wanted to charge me £35 to size me and this would be refunded from the purchased price. Though we both knew roughly which size frame I would be looking at anyway so he didn't push the point too much. But he did confirm that he didn't have either size in stock hence his option was the best way forward as he didn't want to order both in at cost and make up if I was only going to take the one.

danlikesbikes

Triangle Kebab wrote:

they had 4 different sizes of the bike, out on display, i really don't see where the hardship in letting him sit on the 4 that they had out was. He is now looking elsewhere to buy one.

Hold on I didn't see that they had 4 sizes in stock - so yes just an odd way to do business.

Though halfords lost my money for a winter hack as wanted a boardman & they had in stock and went into the store was on the display and asked if I could look at it and was told "no it won't fit you" even though I had just had a measurements done for another bike & compared them with the frame sizes and was spot on, plus rode a mates board man in the same size and was perfect. Guess the moral is halfords.... some stores are good & others are pants.

djm501

Evans took £0.01 from me to test ride when I last bought off them.

Of course this is the same as in a pub when you start a tab- they swipe your card and they have your details so if you do a runner they can claim the money off the card. Nothing really wrong with that.
So why £100? That's taking the piss.

I must go and reclaim my penny at some point from Evans. :-D

woodywmb

This is from the Hargroves Cycles site:

Standard Bike Fitting
This service worth £100 normaly is FREE with a new road bike from us.

It might be that they take the £100 to secure a commitment before embarking on the dozen or so bike-fit and shoe-fit procedures. The salesman/woman will also be primed to extract this fee, or at least an indication of some willingness to pay it, in order to encourage a sale.
Any suggestion that you are definitely going to buy might convince them that there is no need to take this "deposit".

wellbeloved747

Not heard of that one before, unless the bike is out of stock

djm501

Love the post-post moderation. :-D

I've not used the term wee-wee since I was about six! rofl.

Sprool

I got same treatment from Evans last summer when looking for a new road bike. Not knowing which size was best for me at the time, they said they'd have to order one in for £100 non-refundable deposit so I could try it. Not knowing which size I should get them to order for me, I decided this was pants as a way of attempting to secure new business.

TakeTurns

Sprool wrote:

I got same treatment from Evans last summer when looking for a new road bike. Not knowing which size was best for me at the time, they said they'd have to order one in for £100 non-refundable deposit so I could try it. Not knowing which size I should get them to order for me, I decided this was pants as a way of attempting to secure new business.

Not sure whether you've just made that up or you were talking to a halfwit! Ordering a bike from Evans will require a (refundable) £50 deposit. Worked there for almost a year. It's always been the same principle.

Sprool

I was talking to a halfwit, there's no mileage in me making this up! He was farting about with his mate at the time trying to make eachother laugh when I had £800 to spend on a bike. I was livid and phoned Evans when I got home. They sent me a £20 voucher as an apology. Lucky me. I'm sure reputable dealers like Evans have their share of good and poor staff. I got a tosser.

Rodrego Hernandez

By the sounds of it, they tried to do a bike fit for you which they deduct from the cost of the bike.

To be fair, it is well worth having a bike fit.

If you bought a bike that turned out to be the wrong size you'd probably also complain?

Frank the tank

A strange carry on. The shop had four of the same model in different sizes but wanted a £100 before they let you sit on one.

Are you sure it was a shop and not a cycling museum of some sort?

giropaul

The bike shop may have had 4 sizes of the chosen bike in stock - but only one is the right size for your friend. If the shop did a quick bike fit measurement the right one could be identified. Then he could get that one fitted.

I really don't see the idea of sitting on/test riding a load of bikes anyway - unless the saddle height, stem length, saddle set-back, bar height etc are adjusted. Otherwise you're just test riding a badly fitting bike, which will feel all wrong. If all this has to be done,with associated scratching of the seat pin and bars, I can understand why a shop might want some commitment perhaps.

LittlePlums

Odd, Odd, Odd!

Name and shame, I say.

Surely though, you can narrow the choice down to two sizes, just by looking at the bikes. Sitting on the bikes in the shop will tell you which size would be best, even before taking it out for a test-ride. A bike shop worth it's salt would then let you take the bike out for a spin, subject to leaving something as a deposit. But £100 non-refundable to sit on the bikes? Was it a Saturday? Do shops like this not want to sell bikes?

I've told this story on here before but it bears repeating - I went to try a Synapse 105 at Partridge Cycles in Exeter. The only test ride they would offer me was in a fenced off part of their car park measuring 25m x 5 m (max). I offered to put the full price of the bike on my credit card to take the bike for a ride out on the road for a short run on the understanding that when I returned it in the same condition, they would refund the money (i.e. no risk to the shop that I would "do one"). They told me they didn't do refunds, but I could have a credit note. Really?

I laughed, walked out and took my money elsewhere, to somewhere with a sensible approach to test riding bikes.

NewTTer

Jeez this is so obvious, it was clearly a misunderstanding when you said "try" he thought you meant take out for a test ride, not sit on in the shop to see which size was correct.
Or did he specifically say as you allude to, that to even touch one of the display bikes would incur a cost of £100 ?

jameses

Woodywmb wrote:

This is from the Hargroves Cycles site:

Standard Bike Fitting
This service worth £100 normaly is FREE with a new road bike from us.

It might be that they take the £100 to secure a commitment before embarking on the dozen or so bike-fit and shoe-fit procedures. The salesman/woman will also be primed to extract this fee, or at least an indication of some willingness to pay it, in order to encourage a sale.
Any suggestion that you are definitely going to buy might convince them that there is no need to take this "deposit".

But there's a big difference between a proper fitting (mine took about an hour and a half of the store managers time, watching and measuring and tweeking until saddle height, position and angle, stem length, spacers, bar rotation, sti position, insole shim and cleat position were all in the right place) and finding the correct size (10 minutes to sit on a couple of bikes to see which size suits you best).

Triangle Kebab

it seems like there is quite a mixed opinion on this subject, he has now decided to go look at Pedal on in tadley, where i got my giant defy 1 from. The only reason he didn't go there in the first place was that they don't stock bianchi,he has since decided that he would rather buy something he can at least try, which is why i suggested Pedal on When i was buying my bike, the staff couldn't of been more helpfull. They let me try all the sizes they had out on display and didn't ask for any deposits, even when i took them out for a test ride, i guess thats why i found this other shops practice so odd.