Paul Barnard

Yeah, where does the OP get off expecting honesty and integrity out of the shop? When you enter into a business agreement with someone, you have no right to expect them to uphold their end of the deal. Completely nonsensical on the part of the OP.

Troul 

in this particular case, i didn't ask & didn't want to think that much into it.

Either way, if the OP is telling the truth, providing the BBB with the experience might be still worth the effort.
Bad practices is bad business.

Herzlos

It's not necessarily dishonest, if it's a small shop with an unofficial consignment deal with the OP, it's possible they just lost track of it. You'd hope they'd remember, but we're talking about a $100 kids bike here, that'd presumably been there for months. It's possible they mistook it for a repair that was never collected, or it was sold and recorded incorrectly in the til system, or the post-it note about the consignment deal fell off the wall or whatever.

If it was a valuable bike that vanished in a short time frame, then I'd believe it was a genuine scam.

Troul 

it's not just "someone" , it's a business.
Default professionalism is expected from a business.

Kai Winters

Is the shop in Watertown?
You were careless not getting a copy of the consignment agreement.
This area is not known for high pay for the vast majority of people and used bikes sell very well.
There are also very very few bike shops and they are generally quite small compared to bigger cities.
You learned a good lesson...try not to repeat it to often.

Paul Barnard

You'd think that a business would handle a consignment with a bit more care than a post it note. At best, they handled a business transaction poorly. At worst, they were dishonest. Either way, they are worthy of criticism.

Paul Barnard

Yep, whether selling a $2000 consignment bike, or a $200 consignment bike, you have a duty to your customer to do the job right.

Whether a brake adjustment or total brake system replacement, you have a duty to your customer to do it right.

Juan Foote

First off, just want to say I really hate the lack of compassion and empathy being shown, but it can be pretty typical for various subs here according to how grumpy everyone is feeling at that particular time....

So, I worked in what was a boutique Specialized dealer whose location was directly across the street from two BBS that sold BSO. We had SO MANY customers come in with a bike they had purchased not only same day but within days wanting us to repair the various problems that came out of being assembled incorrectly, poor choice of a badly designed bike, and so forth. For many years the owner of the shop would take them in just like any repair, write up a ticket, give them a tag. Almost without fail, and I mean well over 99% of the people were outright shocked to find out that just the shop fees often came close to, or even surpassed the new price of the BSO. We had so many bikes refused to be picked up, or people that simply would not reply upon completion that we ended up having an agreement with a scrap guy to come by every few months and pick these things up. It got to a point where he would just outright charge a fee, like $80-100 just for folks to drop them off. Most refused, but the people that did pay generally came back and picked up a BSO working as well as it was engineered to do.

Now, the reason I mention the above is because I can't even begin to say how many times some person would come back in, months later even upwards of a year asking about "some bike" they brought in for service. Most didn't even actually know what they had purchased. Almost none of them had their ticket. There was very little we could do and what the owner of this shop did was to hang a sign to the effect that any unclaimed bikes left X amount of time became property of the shop to do with as he pleased. It wasn't popular in the few cases it came to bear, but was necessary if nothing else due to the room required to store them.

Your bike was certainly 'more than' a BSO, but as has been pointed out if you as the owner didn't have the presence of mind to keep in touch and follow up, I am not really sure how you can expect a bike shop to be so mindful of one of many and that they have no record or receiving or ownership beyond that paper that seemingly got misplaced. In this case I am not of a mind that I would quit using the shop entirely, if needed, but certainly would be mindful to BE more mindful in future dealings. Sorry you lost your bike.

rekmeyata

I forgot to mention something that I do. As a safety precaution I make a copy of any receipts, and thus have two of them, and put each one in a different location in my file cabinet, if one gets lost somehow the other is till there. Internet sales I print two copies to file, and save the email receipt in a separate receipt folder on the computer...well actually today I guess it's in the cloud, but it's there if I need it for warranty issues.

Paul Barnard

Some people just can't help but try to turn the post around on the OP. I'd venture a guess that half of the people who read a post are looking to try to pick it apart rather than trying to understand. It could be cute and clever at times in the early days of social media. Anymore, it's trite, passe and childish.

Herzlos

Oh it's definitely worthy of criticism and at least sloppy business, but I just don't think the bike was deliberately stolen.

Kai Winters

OP's statement is incorrect...
Aware of details...
End of commenting...

Herzlos

If you've got more details then you have to share instead of leaving us hanging...

grantelmwood

A old bike that was new $500 is probably now selling new for $1000+.
That bike is worth multiples of $100. Where have you been since 2020? LOL

rosefarts

Do you know what a Hotrock is?

tomato coupe

You'll be the first I contact when I have a cheap, used bike to get rid of.

bikecommuter13

There is always something in life. I would be annoyed too had this happened to me. Since it's in the past now, I would take it as another lesson learned. The shop probably made some stupid mistakes -- it happens with humans all the time. If you care about it enough, keep some proof around next time; otherwise, just let it go and don't give it another thought.

mattcalifornia

I can't believe so many people are going after OP. Assuming his post is accurate (which I have no reason to doubt), the bike shop is blatantly dishonest (criminal, actually) or comically disorganized. There is nothing wrong with OP deciding to consign the bike to see if he could get a few bucks, get the shop a few bucks, and put the bike to good use. Maybe he didn't feel like dealing with the hassle of selling it privately. Even if he lost the receipt, the shop should have records of all sales. I'm sure many people on this board have lost receipts before.

tomato coupe

It's not possible for a shop to lose a receipt like the OP and many people on this board have?

shelbyfv

Not that bike, try to keep up.

livedarklions

Insinuating like this is a really crappy thing to do.

mattcalifornia

Businesses are supposed to keep records and have systems. It is required by law for consignment shops. It is also necessary to prepare tax returns. How can you run a business without a system for keeping records? On the other hand, individuals don't usually have record-keeping systems for one-off transactions like consigning cheap bikes and dropping off dry cleaning and stuff like that. You usually stick the receipt in your wallet or pocket or in a pile on your desk. They are completely different situatations.

Calsun

We are being screwed daily and often it is life threatening. Your bike had a street value of $100 and that is what you lost. But you have hopefully learned to keep your receipts in the future.

tomato coupe

Just because shops are required to keep records, doesn't mean things can't get lost or misplaced. It happens.

mattcalifornia

Sure, it's possible. But for a consignment business? That's really bad. They are supposed to have a book (or, ideally, a computer log) of all consigned goods. Most states have pretty strict regulations for consignment/pawn dealers. My takeaway is that the business is probably selling stuff off books to avoid taxes or screw the consignors. If that's not the case, they are ridiculously disorganized for a business. If you think this is just some innocent mistake by an honest shopkeeper or that consignment shops frequently lose records of consigned goods, we'll just have to disagree.