After deciding to treat myself to a P3C, I hurried over to the LBS here in L.A. to put down a deposit in early March. Got measured, they think a 56cm would do nicely, I agree and that’s that. We all know the bike’s not due until spring, and I’m not really in a hurry to get it anyway as I am (or was) focusing more on my running than my riding. Now here we are in late June, and I’m getting the familiar “in two weeks give us a call back.”
I don’t want to keep bugging these guys as I can understand delays. But considering the bike was ordered in a 56cm which I’ve heard shipped in May, I’m wondering who’s to blame here: Cervelo or the LBS? As an aside, the LBS told me that Cervelo wasn’t shipping complete bikes yet. Is this true or just CYA?
brand new model, brand new molds, brand new vendor, carbon shortage, height of the season, hottest bike going, and this was all known last winter, and i wrote about it even before that. if you get your bike in 30 days it will be 60 days past the expected delivery date. anything inside of that is going to be a success, in my book.
do not order anything with this many brand new elements to its manufacture and get pissed off when its not right on time. you only have yourself to blame. it’s a wonderful bike, be patient, you’ll get it.
“I’m wondering who’s to blame here: Cervelo or the LBS?”
Disclaimer: I own a bike shop and work in the industry so my tendency is to “circle the wagons” and come to the defence of my brothers in arms.
That said, I would say no one is to blame. Perhaps you may have developed some reasonable expectations that were a minor extrapolation of what you were actually told. We experience that all the time: We tell a customer a bike *could *be here in two weeks. They hear “We promise without fail that your bike will arrive and be assembled without defects as depicted in under two weeks…”
That’s understandable, and it happens to all of us.
Realistically, I will suggest that Cervelo has *never *represented one exact delivery date for every P3C. They have delivered the information they have, which is a somewhat general representation of when some (but not all) of the frames will arrive. Also, even when they do arrive, they don’t arrive everywhere.
Austin Tri Cyclist, an excellent tri shop and major Cervelo powerhouse dealer, had both 45cm and 56cm P3C’s in stock last week. We only received 56’s and have 54’s coming. A huge dealer like Nytro or R&A in New York may also have both 56 and 54 right now.
Obviously I don’t know the details, but I wager your dealer is likely to have been honest and forthright about deliveries and the information they have been given. I say that for a couple reasons- first off, it is not intheir best interst to misrepresent the information. Secondly, the information they are giving you is the same information I am giving my P3C customers and the same information I have from Cervelo.
So, I wouldn’t necessarily “blame” anyone for anything. The bikes are wildly popular, difficult to make, reasoanbly priced compared to similar carbon/aero bikes and have been arriving in keeping with the representations made by Cervelo and their retailers.
Austin Tri Cyclist, an excellent tri shop and major Cervelo powerhouse dealer, had both 45cm and 56cm P3C’s in stock last week. We only received 56’s and have 54’s coming. A huge dealer like Nytro or R&A in New York may also have both 56 and 54 right now.
March? Way too late to be ordering a bike like the P3C, try Sept. - Nov. next time.
Since you ordered late:
You weren’t first on the list of your LBS.
Your LBS might not have ordered ‘enough’ initially.
What bikes your LBS did/does receive from their order will go to people who ordered before you.
Cervelo said ‘shipping in the Spring.’, not ‘all pre-orders completely filled by June 1’. If your LBS had 10 people order bikes by the end of last year, they might order 14 bikes, Cervelo might deliver 4, guess what? Your bike isn’t here, and there are 6 people ahead of you in line as the bike do trickle in.
If your bike wasn’t included in the initial order, good luck. Cervelo MAY have trouble filling orders from last year, let alone Johnny come lately Spring orders.
Not to be rude or mean, but most of the blame is on your shoulders.
Its a fairly large bike shop chain here in L.A. although I don’t know how much volume they do with Cervelo.
To the johnny come lately comment, point taken which is why I’m not upset at all. I’m just curious if they’re being straight with me. I really have a lot of patience for this type of stuff. I won’t start getting upset until October rolls around and I’m still hearing “two more weeks.”
One other thing. I’ll paraphrase the LBS here, “We ordered a number of those and your deposit should get one of 'em.” Now if this wasn’t the case (maybe he misspoke, maybe I’m not remembering correctly) and I’m way the hell back in line, is it unfair to ask for my deposit back so I can buy one from Nytro? Not that I’m going to do it, I’d rather just buy it from a shop that’s close by, but what’s the etiquette on that?
sounds like a lot of hindsight is 20-20 to me by everyone posting. I seriously doubt Cervelo or the dealer had it spelled out so plainly as everyone here when the bike was being ordered. People tend to be overly optimistic on ALL sides of these issues. Personally, I’m not suprised that it is taking as long as it could, based on the popularity of the brand, and how long it generally takes for bikes from anyone to hit the floor, but I don’t think so many would have sold had they said they would be happy with being inside of 60 days late of initial estimates.
I empathize with you. I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault. As far as buying from someone else, I’d say stay with the shop, unless they’re being absolute dicks about it. The thing with bikes is that they are constantly in need of a good local shop. Save yourself the guilt and trouble later on by sticking with it.
I’d be bugging them constantly just to remind them that I haven’t left town. There could be ten other people who’ve also ordered 56 P3C and you don’t want to get the tenth one. It’s the squeaky hinge that gets the oil.
This is unfortunate, but don’t let them forget that you’re still waiting.
March? Way too late to be ordering a bike like the P3C, try Sept. - Nov. next time.
Since you ordered late:
You weren’t first on the list of your LBS.
Your LBS might not have ordered ‘enough’ initially.
What bikes your LBS did/does receive from their order will go to people who ordered before you.
…
Not to be rude or mean, but most of the blame is on your shoulders.
THIS IS BULLSHIT AND IM SICK OF READING IT. If he were 1000th in line at the bikestore THEY SHOULD HAVE SAID SO. If they have 2 people ahead of him, they should not be telling him 2 weeks because they might get 1 in then, they should tell him, we expect a shipment in 2 weeks but there are 2 people ahead of you so your bike might not be on this delivery.
This goes back to Toms comments earlier about not having time to call his customers and say hey FYI no bike and we will call you if it comes in, or in 30 days if it does not. Why cant he take the 2 min to do this. Cause he is to busy with people call every week asking about where is there bike.
Thats 4 calls a month when the customer wants vs 1 call at his timing. With a computer and a calander it becomes simple to know when to call someone.
Oh, if they call you then you can say I’m sorry were really busy if your bike comes in we will call you other wise we will update you once a month. So now when they call its a 30 sec phone call and no records need to be looked up and any employee can give that response. Heck your answering machine can give that response when your not even their.
Ok, Ill go eat and get my blood sugar back in line so I wont be so grouchy.
Due to financial constraints I had to wait 2 years! to get my P2K. Then since I couldn’t afford shipping, I had to wait for a friend to bring it from the US to NZ as luggage. His trip kept getting pushed back and back and back. Although I bought the bike in late October and it shipped to my friends house, I had to wait until february to get it. Camn that was hard to handle.
I’ve had it about 18 months now and it was worth every second! When I get my commuter bike out of the shed each morning, I see my custom painted red P2K and all is right with the world. I have a gorgeous bike that does everything I need it to do.
Wait for your P3C and be happy the rest of your life. Well at least unitl Gerard comes out with the P4!
