Mike's Bikes of Sacramento bad business practices
 

Ok, I am not a disgruntled customer. I am a concerned citizen. While standing in line for my order pickup, I overheard the conversation with the customer in front of me and the sales guy. The customer was interested in buying a bike that was out of stock. The sales guy stated, blatantly that "I have that bike here, it is an Internet order. I can sell it to you. I will tell the customer that ordered it that it got lost in the process. Let me get approval.". He came back in a moment. "Approved!"
All I can say is,WOW! They just resold a pre-purchased bike someone patiently waited for. Who knows when that replacement will arrive?I Orders at Mike's require full payment in advance. I wish I could tell the customer that ordered that bike what I heard.

Do LBS's have (or is this a brand-specific thing) commission structures? Sounds like a built-in conflict of interest if nobody in the shop gets a commission on internet ordered ship-to-shop bike?

One hates to hear about transactions like that. "If one money is good, then two moneys must be better," is obviously the shop's thinking, but they'll need to refund the first purchase unless that buyer continues to hang on. I recently ordered something for price X and while waiting for delivery was told it was not available and I would not be charged, and when I looked again the price had risen by $100, about 50% increase. I guess they were expecting me to buy again at a higher price? No, thanks.

It is a thing that happens with a lot of retail purchases. Unless a preassigned serial number or other registration key factor has been established, it will be susceptible to that type of behavior.

I would call the store manager. I would also Yelp review that. I shop at Mikes Bikes in Walnut Creek and have bought several bikes from them. I would be very upset if they did this to me.

It would have been better if you'd started with, "A friend told me she was in a shop and heard ..." You have no idea if any of what the salesperson said was true.

What I do know is that you're willing to come here and bad mouth a business without knowing all (any?) of the facts.

There has to be more to this story. I tend to feel Mike's Bikes is a reputable company and I have purchased a few bikes from their other stores. Each store does have their own personality though.

Thread moved from General Cycling to Manufacturer, Retailer, Survey, and Consumer Feedback

Exactly.. what you heard could just mean that their salespeople lie and there's really nothing at all wrong with how they operate.
:rolleyes:

Who knows what happened. I would love to hear all sides of the story before passing judgement as this one seems a bit far fetched.

Hi All,

Sean from Mikes Bikes here! A customer kindly brought this discussion here to our attention. Just wanted to let everyone here know that we are absolutely looking into this situation. If things did in fact play out as indicated in the original post, that is entirely not how we do business, and will be certainly be addressed accordingly. Thank you all for the valuable information and support!

Cheers

From the Staff
 

Sam here, Assistant Manager at Mike's Bikes of Sacramento.

Our sales associate noticed we had a bike in the shop that was in queue to go out to one of our other locations in the Bay Area, as someone there had ordered it. Our General Manager checked inventory, found we could source a bike for that first order at yet another one of our shops, and told our sales associate he could sell the bike. It was NEVER the intent of anyone on our staff to over-sell a bike and leave a pre-paying customer out to dry. That is not at all how we operate.

The OP overheard the conversation and ran with what he heard, which is understandable. However the supposition that we would intentionally over-sell a product knowing that we were doing a disservice to someone is absolutely incorrect. I hope some of you find this explanation useful, and that we get to see you all in the shop, on the road, or out on the trail soon!

Glad the clarification was made and no unsavory business practices. Really pleased the store investigated and clarified the situation.

And that’s how you spank that monkey and put it to bed !

And that's how you make yourself look foolish on the internet....:twitchy:

As you can see people, Local Bike Shops are not shady fly by night places designed to take your money and run. Most of us are actual human beings just like yourself (and some shop dogs, cats and other non-human animals) and we aren't trying to screw you over at least not with any intention.

@Sean.Duckworth and @SammyBikes welcome to the forum, hope you stick around a while. It is an awesome place and always good to have other fellow shop folks here : )