Not Often That I Get Angry - However...
 

I recently sold all but two of my bikes. Upon attempting to collect some of them from a local bike shop, I was surprised to learn that I had already picked up my Quintanna Roo...
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9c2736baa5.jpg

I did not remember doing so but one of the shop owners insisted that I did. I then thought that someone had broken into my storage area, at my cottage and took the bike.

I had already accepted the buyer' money for the seven bikes that I sold to him. Sadly, with one being stolen, I had only six left so I did the only thing that I could do, I offered a substitute of equal or greater value and he was happy with my doing so. That said...

The Quintanna Roo is/was worth about 1/4 what the substitute bike was worth. The sub, my full matched Campy ten speed Cyclops...
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f294f33881.jpg

Fast forward to today.

This morning, an employee at the shop, told me that the bike, my Quintanna Roo, was still in the shop and showed it to me. I, apparently, had not picked it up as I was told. Now, I am out my Cyclops which I really wanted to keep. Does the shop owe me anything? I am not sure how to handle this. I will speak to one, or both, of the owners tomorrow.

What would you do?

call the buyer & explain. give him a chance to do the right thing & take the bike he originally paid for

I'd strongly push for that Cyclops back if possible.

I know people make mistakes, but seesh! Come on, now!

+1

+1

Also look around for another shop.

I sold my bikes, along with a hundred others, to a buyer 1000 miles away. To deal on one bike shipment there and one back would eat up considerable value. I did give it some thought, though.

I have already run through the gambit of what I could do and what I should do. The only thing that came to mind, was sub another bike, the only one I had. The truck for the shipment was already parked at the loading site (over 100 bikes were being shipped) and there was no time to make sudden plans. My computer was at my cottage, the rest of the bikes were in the city and we were starting to load in less than an hour. I hated the upgrade to the order, but I try hard to stand by my word. And my word was seven bikes.

Now, this is not the buyer's problem and he just might say, sure, he will take the hit, and the costs to ship both bikes, and... You get my point. To that add, simply, that this was entirely the bike shop's fault for not looking carefully.

My concern now, is should I expect some form of compensation from the bike shop ? I should add that both owners are nice guys and considered to be friends.

My plan, now, is to make them aware of their mistake and see what they have to say. If they do offer to help with the mistake, I will ask for one of their not for display, or lesser, vintage bikes to be tucked away for a future project.

Anyway, not the end of the world and I am no longer angry. We all make mistakes and I am absolutely positive that there was no ill will intended with the mistake. There is certainly no ill will at my end. Just looking for a fair solution to a little problem.

You say you're sure there was no ill will on the part of the shop, so I'll take your word for it.

I do think they should do something to make this right. Hope it works out for you.

Where is the Cyclops now? Where would it need to go and end up at? The C & V board has members thoughout the Americas and overseas. I'm guessing if a swap could be worked out the bikes could travel to their destinations via the BF C & V highway. In an instance like this, BF members will move the bike along it's path one leg at a time. It might take 3 or 4 months, but the bikes will get to their destinations. Think of it as a big relay. Ask for some help and people will step up.

You should talk to the owner of the shop. There has to be something that would work out so you don't loose so much from their mistake. If they want your business they will work with you , not to mention it's the right thing to do. This is unfortunate , but people make mistakes. When that happens it needs to be made equitable. IMHO Joe

@randyjawa

The shop bears the brunt of this imho, they do bikes, they may struggle a bit at times with your program with them, swapping, storing, mixing, matching, wrangling, whatever the scenario, etc.

Also, where there's smoke..... seems slightly hinky the bike showed up after you inquired about it, shouldn't it have been there all along. :foo:

I believe you when you say it was an honest mistake on the bike shop's part. You know these guys better than we do.
Hopefully they're honest enough to do the right thing. You've demonstrated what that looks like. That's a strength, not a weakness... and increasingly unexpected these days. It still happens enough however, that I refuse to give up hope. :50:

is that a picture of your cyclops? doesn't look like a 10 speed. i know that's not really an important detail, but it's weird to me that you're putting a lot of value on a bike but got such an important detail wrong in your description of it.

that said, i tend to put more of an emotional value than a monetary value on my bikes, but i'm no collector. i know every little scratch on my rides. i understand that these old bikes are mostly dollar signs to a lot of people, and that can be more important to some than anything else. still, even looking at it with money goggles, it seems like the considerable value you referenced of shipping one bike back and forth would have been less than giving up a bike 4 times the worth of the one originally purchased, but i don't pretend to know much about the worth of these old things.

one thing's for sure, i would also be trying to figure out what i would need to do to feel ok about all of this if i were in your shoes. i hope something positive comes out of it for you!

My opinion only, there are too many things in this storyline that make no sense.

Easy: Ask the shop to pay for shipping to swap the Roo for the Cyclops. They probably have an account and ship bikes all the time.

Randy, sorry this happened - I recall several posts in the past about your love of your Cyclops bikes.

Campy 10 = ten cogs in back.
Not the "10 speed" you're thinking of.

I like this -- it's an elegant solution. While I think you overshot a bit in making the buyer whole, the bike shop rightly does bear the responsibility for misinforming you. It doesn't sound like there was any malice, so just explain to the stakeholders and ask for them to help make it right. No reason for you to be left holding the bag, and you're not being greedy asking for your bike back.

cool, thanks! i even tried counting out the cogs in the photo, but it's pretty blurry and i was only counting 7.

+1 You did what you felt was right at the time, given the missing bike, but you did have an agreed upon sale that the bike shop snafued... He may not be thrilled, but swapping those bikes puts the deal back to the original terms as they were before the bike shop misplaced obe of the bikes involved. I do think the shop should cover the shipping, as they were the proximate cause.
Good luck, Eric

Yes, the one that says Cyclops all over it is my Cyclops. And, by today's standards and descriptions, it is a ten speed. And, I am pretty darn good at describing vintage bicycles, as you might see if you take a minute to visit my website - MY "TEN SPEEDS".

As for those of you who suggested sorting it out with the shop that made the mistake. That is exactly what I hope to do. And, though I do feel bad about the whole thing, it is nothing major in my life. Who knows, they might offer me another vintage bike to help ease the pain of loosing my Cyclops. It is a truly nice looking and riding bicycle.

as i stated a few times, i'm no expert with these old things. someone else already pointed out the campy 10 speed thing isn't like a typical vintage 10 speed, which is what threw me for the loop. i've tried looking at your website in the past, but having spent a lot of time as a web developer over the years, it hurts my sensibilities to spend too much time on there. cool bikes, though!

I dunno - Randy has built a lot of social capital in the vintage bike world, and that’s not to be overlooked in this unique circumstance. If an error took place like this in a transaction I had with Randy, and the bike were special to him and one of a pile for me, I’d be open to talking about it with him. Other sellers, who knows, but Randy has done a lot for those of us with this hobby.

No. The shop took your bike. The shop returned your bike. Selling the bike was entirely your choice. The timing of said sale was again entirely your choice.

The shop is liable for your actions? Not legally, nor morally.

Did you compensate the shop for any storage fees? You shouldn't have to pay any storage fees after they claimed it was returned the first time.

I'm already lost... :foo:

this confused me too, but then i realized op must have had a bunch of bikes at his lbs and upon selling them went to collect them.