urbanknight

Funny to read knowing I have taken my car to the dealership you worked at.

big john

Pretty sure you never got hosed while I was there. If you go there now you are on your own.

urbanknight

Yes I believe you did chat with the cashier for one of the things I had to pay for. Switched to my independent mechanic as soon as the warranty was up anyway.

bblair

Dropped my bike off yesterday with my mail order shifters. Charge will be $30 for install, which is more than fair. I also bought some new bar tape, since he has to install new cables and housings.

We also had a conversation about buying a set of carbon wheels. I'll do that when I return for pickup and can talk to the owner who deals with that stuff.

LarrySellerz

The relatively small LBS mark things up because they have to, for a similar reason as why Wallmart can sell eggs for cheaper than your local corner store.

cxwrench

First, you don't know how the industry works. Second, you're 'that guy'. It's your money, but you are him.

wheelreason

We will be happy to install parts brought in by a customer (assuming they are compatible with their bike), we don't care where they got them or whether they are new or used. It is made crystal clear that there is no warranty whatsoever on those parts, and that the cost to install those parts are/may be different than for comparable parts purchased from us, which do carry a warranty. Easy piecey. Now when a roadie walks in with a situation of his own DIY wrenching over reach, that just makes my day, google the Taxi Danny Devito looking for a $ amount...

bblair

Which is why I stopped by the shop for clarification before I ordered. Many of group rides leave from there, so I'm at the shop often anyway.

But I still do not understand why I could get the authentic Shimano part in 4 days but the shop can't 8 weeks later.

Sy Reene

This may or may not be true. I think that you're assuming that a part bought elsewhere by a customer, was purchased from a non-authorized retailer of said part? I think you meant that the customer would have to pursue any future warranty claim with whomever he bought the part from, if the manufacturer itself doesn't provide warranty service.

cxwrench

Because the shop only has 2 or maybe 3 distributors they can order from. Shimano doesn't sell to any more distributors than that. These distributors sell to all the bike shops in the country. They only have room to stock so much product. On the retail side there are dozens and dozens of businesses that sell Shimano parts directly to customers. Make sense now?

unterhausen

Part of the reason bike manufacturers get parts cheaper is they are expected to provide warranty service for those parts. Usually, shops can get parts warrantied as a courtesy. And that can extend to gray market parts bought from a company in the UK or Europe that pretends to be a bike manufacturer so they can sell parts more cheaply. Sometimes parts manufacturers will warranty parts for consumers, but I wouldn't count on it. I have heard of SRAM doing this, for example. Almost all parts manufacturers can trace the company where the part was originally sold and can get snooty about it. Generally, however, you can get parts warrantied, but you might have to ship it back to the place that sold it to you. It really depends on how much your bike shop likes you. If you really are "that guy," I would expect a shop to politely decline. The OP probably would get help. Some of the rest of the posters in this thread probably not, who knows?

There are lots of counterfeit parts out there nowadays. Pedals, chains, hubs, etc. Parts like derailleurs seem to be okay so far. But given the number of companies now making derailleurs in China, it wouldn't surprise me if you start seeing counterfeits of those too

wheelreason

Yes, I'm speaking of our shop warranty, what the customer does or doesn't negotiate with whomever or wherever they obtained the part is on them.

cxwrench

Ok...first, bike manufacturers don't get parts cheaper because "they are expected to provide warranty service for those parts". That is complete BS. Trek is not going to take care of Shimano or SRAM warranty claims. Warranty replacements as a "courtesy"? Maybe on the extremely rare occasion, but not as a rule. Grey market parts getting warranteed by Shimano or SRAM USA? Nope. SRAM doesn't talk to customers about warranty stuff, you have to go through a shop. 100%. You really seem to not have any experience in the industry, I'd stop posting advice like this and leading people on.

Sy Reene

FWIW, that's not what Trek's warranty itself says, in that all parts are warranteed by Trek itself for 2 years anyway.

bblair

If I buy stuff from the big boys: Performance, Excel Sports, Jensen, there are others...then don't you think that I can reasonably expect them to be genuine parts? I do, that is why I don't buy "new" items from an ebay store.

I have no idea what the markup is for hardware, but it would certainly be reasonable for labor rates to be $X if you bought the part there and $X+20% if you bring your own. I know that in some U.S. States you can bring your own bottle of wine and they charge a fee for uncorking, serving, washing the glasses etc.

Bottom line, I am sure that shops are at least as frustrated as we consumers are.

Lombard

Especially with today's supply chain issues, my shop made it clear they didn't have the replacement shifters I needed and if I could find them, they would be glad to help with the installation. I told them the only thing I wasn't entirely comfortable with was hydraulic brake bleeding. They were like "Sure, we can do that". Not to mention when factoring the bleed kit cost, it was actually cheaper to just let the bike shop do it.

And believe it or not, parts aren't always cheaper online than they are at an LBS. After all, the online retailers have to adjust the price in order to give you that free shipping. FedEx doesn't deliver for nothing.

I know of one bike retailer who cut all ties with Trek because the terms Trek was insisting on were so unreasonable. Trek was threatening to cut off all support unless their retailers' inventory was at least 80% Trek/Bontrager.

Customers like that are not worth keeping, IMO. Good riddance.

cxwrench

That's not how it works. Ask me how I know. Hint: I used to have an @Trekbikes.com email address.

Maybe you forgot to read this part:

This Warranty Does Not Cover
Normal wear and tear
Improper assembly
Corrosion
Improper maintenance
Installation of components, parts, or accessories not originally intended for or compatible with the bicycle as sold
Damage or failure due to accident, misuse, abuse, or neglect
Labour charges for part replacement or changeover
Non-proprietary products (any other original part or component) covered by the original manufacturer’s warranty
Cosmetic scratches or non-structural blemishes on Bontrager carbon rims or wheels

Lombard

And I'm sure it's no quick job to change over all the parts from the damaged frame to the replacement one. I can't imagine what this costs. What does your shop charge for something like this?

livedarklions

Are you saying you don't want people to pay you to install parts purchased elsewhere? I've been that guy a fair amount and no shop has ever been anything but cheerful about providing the service.

urbanknight

Someone touched on that earlier in the thread, pointing out that a shop might not want the accounting and paperwork nightmare of holding an Amazon account, an Ebay account, a Performance account, etc. It does show how poorly the wholesalers are treating these smaller shops though, when there wholesale cost is more than the big stores' retail price including fast shipping.

I noticed over the past 10 or 15 years many of my local shops have switched to a website layout that looks like it's from a template, and they will have "in store" as well as "in warehouse" as inventory status. Not surprisingly, all of these shops in the area have the same "in warehouse" status on the same product. Does this mean there's some sort of (perhaps regional) large warehouse company that provides the website template and a physical inventory of parts for these stores to sell and ship more quickly?

livedarklions

There's numerous legal reasons that they can't buy from a retailer--it may violate their contract with the supplier, it might violate the retailer's agreement with the manufacturer and/or their distributors, so some retailers won't ship to a store, and finally, if the store purchases the part from the rtailer, it makes itself the last link in the chain of distribution to the consumer, which carries with it liability if the part is defective and/or counterfeit. They don't get that liability if they suggest you to buy it off ebay or Amazon as they aren't in the chain of distribution. I'm pretty sure the store's insurer isn't going to allow them to purchase for sale from just any retailer.

cxwrench

This has been an ongoing problem for years. Retailers have complained and complained about it. It's not cool when someone in the US can order an Ultegra group from the UK and get it for less than a shop would pay for it wholesale from QBP and get it in a week, free shipping. Shimano has worked on it a bit, but it seems like it's just made it harder for retailers to get parts from distributors. Not sure about the website template thing, could be something like that.

Lombard

This makes plenty of sense. Not to mention it's easy enough for the customer to buy the part and bring it in.

cxwrench

If we build a bike from the frame up we charge $400.00. Trek never did labor credits for warranty rebuilds, but Specialized does help out to a certain degree.

cxwrench

Not all, we do that all the time. I was talking about something else I think.
ETA: Was talking about prj71. He says he ALWAYS buys his parts online because he think's the retail bike shop is gouging him on the price, that they're 'marking up' the price more than online sellers. The truth is most shops (at least the one I work at) charge msrp for parts. Online sellers pay less for stuff, sometimes buying unused overstock from bike companies that paid OEM pricing for the stuff in the first place and don't need or care to make much profit on it, they just want to get ride of it. This is how some online sellers provide parts in non-retail packaging. My ideal customer would be the guy who doesn't mind sourcing parts online if we can't get them but buys from us when we have the part(s) in stock.