Local bike shop screwed me!
#26
For The Fun of It
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Louisissippi Coast
Posts: 5,845
Bikes: Lynskey GR300, Lynskey Backroad, Litespeed T6, Lynskey MT29, Burley Duet
Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2134 Post(s)
Liked 1,643 Times
in
825 Posts
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.
Likes For Paul Barnard:
#27
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Mich
Posts: 7,356
Bikes: RSO E-tire dropper fixie brifter
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6 Post(s)
Liked 2,948 Times
in
1,907 Posts
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.
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.
__________________
-Oh Hey!
-Oh Hey!
#28
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Scotland
Posts: 503
Bikes: Way too many
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 896 Post(s)
Liked 605 Times
in
362 Posts
If it was a valuable bike that vanished in a short time frame, then I'd believe it was a genuine scam.
#29
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Mich
Posts: 7,356
Bikes: RSO E-tire dropper fixie brifter
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6 Post(s)
Liked 2,948 Times
in
1,907 Posts
Default professionalism is expected from a business.
__________________
-Oh Hey!
-Oh Hey!
Likes For Troul:
#30
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Northern NY...Brownville
Posts: 2,568
Bikes: Specialized Aethos, Specialized Diverge Comp E5
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 237 Post(s)
Liked 452 Times
in
264 Posts
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.
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.
Last edited by Kai Winters; 05-31-23 at 02:20 PM. Reason: found out the details and not as the op describes
Likes For Kai Winters:
#31
For The Fun of It
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Louisissippi Coast
Posts: 5,845
Bikes: Lynskey GR300, Lynskey Backroad, Litespeed T6, Lynskey MT29, Burley Duet
Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2134 Post(s)
Liked 1,643 Times
in
825 Posts
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.
Likes For Paul Barnard:
#32
For The Fun of It
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Louisissippi Coast
Posts: 5,845
Bikes: Lynskey GR300, Lynskey Backroad, Litespeed T6, Lynskey MT29, Burley Duet
Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2134 Post(s)
Liked 1,643 Times
in
825 Posts
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.
#33
LBKA (formerly punkncat)
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Jawja
Posts: 4,299
Bikes: Spec Roubaix SL4, GT Traffic 1.0
Mentioned: 17 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2208 Post(s)
Liked 960 Times
in
686 Posts
Last fall I had a Specialized Hot Rock bike sitting around my garage. Grandson outgrew it. Excellent shape, $500 new. So I took it to a local bike shop to see if they wanted it. I would've sold it to them for almost anything since I had no use for it. They didn't want to buy it but said they'd put it on consignment. I said sure, whatever. I filled out a form and that was that.
Over the winter I almost forgot about it. They never called and I didn't give it any thought since it was snow and ice outside and not exactly bicycle weather. Today I was in that section of town and I stopped in. The bike isn't in the showroom and the guy tells me he doesn't have any recollection of the bike and has no sales records from that long ago. I (stupidly) don't have a copy of the form I filled out.
Here's the thing: If he'd told me when I brought the bike in that they were struggling and couldn't give me anything for the bike but took donations, I would've gladly given him the bike. But instead he chose to lie and effectively stole the freakin' bike. I don't care about the money but it's the principle of the thing.
Talk about making it hard to support your local bike shop.
Over the winter I almost forgot about it. They never called and I didn't give it any thought since it was snow and ice outside and not exactly bicycle weather. Today I was in that section of town and I stopped in. The bike isn't in the showroom and the guy tells me he doesn't have any recollection of the bike and has no sales records from that long ago. I (stupidly) don't have a copy of the form I filled out.
Here's the thing: If he'd told me when I brought the bike in that they were struggling and couldn't give me anything for the bike but took donations, I would've gladly given him the bike. But instead he chose to lie and effectively stole the freakin' bike. I don't care about the money but it's the principle of the thing.
Talk about making it hard to support your local bike shop.
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.
Last edited by Juan Foote; 05-31-23 at 07:35 AM.
#34
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: NE Indiana
Posts: 8,686
Bikes: 2020 Masi Giramondo 700c; 2013 Lynskey Peloton; 1992 Giant Rincon; 1989 Dawes needs parts; 1985 Trek 660; 1985 Fuji Club; 1984 Schwinn Voyager; 1984 Miyata 612; 1977 Raleigh Competition GS
Mentioned: 10 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1125 Post(s)
Liked 249 Times
in
200 Posts
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.
#35
For The Fun of It
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Louisissippi Coast
Posts: 5,845
Bikes: Lynskey GR300, Lynskey Backroad, Litespeed T6, Lynskey MT29, Burley Duet
Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2134 Post(s)
Liked 1,643 Times
in
825 Posts
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.
Likes For Paul Barnard:
#36
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Scotland
Posts: 503
Bikes: Way too many
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 896 Post(s)
Liked 605 Times
in
362 Posts
Oh it's definitely worthy of criticism and at least sloppy business, but I just don't think the bike was deliberately stolen.
#37
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Northern NY...Brownville
Posts: 2,568
Bikes: Specialized Aethos, Specialized Diverge Comp E5
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 237 Post(s)
Liked 452 Times
in
264 Posts
OP's statement is incorrect...
Aware of details...
End of commenting...
Aware of details...
End of commenting...
Likes For Herzlos:
#39
Banned
Likes For rosefarts:
#41
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 5,938
Bikes: Colnago, Van Dessel, Factor, Cervelo, Ritchey
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3943 Post(s)
Liked 7,286 Times
in
2,942 Posts
#42
Full Member
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 227
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 82 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times
in
2 Posts
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.
#43
Full Member
Join Date: Jul 2020
Location: Ellay
Posts: 340
Bikes: 2002 Eddy Merckx Team SC Resto-Mod; 2019 Ibis Hakka MX; 2017 Spot Brand Ajax Belt Drive
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 169 Post(s)
Liked 192 Times
in
121 Posts
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.
#44
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 5,938
Bikes: Colnago, Van Dessel, Factor, Cervelo, Ritchey
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3943 Post(s)
Liked 7,286 Times
in
2,942 Posts
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. ... I'm sure many people on this board have lost receipts before.
#45
Expired Member
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: TN
Posts: 11,507
Mentioned: 37 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3657 Post(s)
Liked 5,394 Times
in
2,739 Posts
#46
Tragically Ignorant
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: New England
Posts: 15,613
Bikes: Serotta Atlanta; 1994 Specialized Allez Pro; Giant OCR A1; SOMA Double Cross Disc; 2022 Allez Elite mit der SRAM
Mentioned: 62 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 8186 Post(s)
Liked 9,098 Times
in
5,054 Posts
Likes For livedarklions:
#47
Full Member
Join Date: Jul 2020
Location: Ellay
Posts: 340
Bikes: 2002 Eddy Merckx Team SC Resto-Mod; 2019 Ibis Hakka MX; 2017 Spot Brand Ajax Belt Drive
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 169 Post(s)
Liked 192 Times
in
121 Posts
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.
Likes For mattcalifornia:
#48
Banned
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.
#49
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 5,938
Bikes: Colnago, Van Dessel, Factor, Cervelo, Ritchey
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3943 Post(s)
Liked 7,286 Times
in
2,942 Posts
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.
#50
Full Member
Join Date: Jul 2020
Location: Ellay
Posts: 340
Bikes: 2002 Eddy Merckx Team SC Resto-Mod; 2019 Ibis Hakka MX; 2017 Spot Brand Ajax Belt Drive
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 169 Post(s)
Liked 192 Times
in
121 Posts
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.
Likes For mattcalifornia: