warning, long rant follows, but really, I can’t take this anymore!
So, my road bike has 2 issues at the moment, it needs new wheels and it needs new gearing due to some races I’m entering (steep ascents).
I went to this lbs (supposedly one of the most reputable around) on Saturday, ask for the availability of the FSA aluminum compact crank, guy tells me he doesn’t have any in stock but will call me back on Monday about it, in the meantime we talk about wheels and I found out he is a builder, cool! I figure I can get both from him.
Monday arrives, he calls me back telling me FSA told him they’re backordered indefinitely on the crank, sucks, I call shop #2 which tells me they’ll ask and call me back by the end of the week (long time!).
In the meantime I do some research and figure that a triple would actually be best for me: actually go in person to shop #1 (same day) b/c I figure hey, they must have Shimano in stock, right, at this point I’m ready to order already.
In shop #1 guy tells me Shimano is backordered, they don’t have any and he’ll call and let me know. Grrr, put the c/c back in my pocked (figuratively speaking) and walk out.
Tuesday (talk about quick turnaround!) shop #2 calls me and tells me they have an FSA compact crank for me (they actually have 2, in 2 different sizes), so much for FSA being backordered, I tell them sorry, I decided to go for a triple and wait for shop #1 to call me back.
No call all day, I call them on Wed morning, guy tells me ‘he’s been busy and has had no time to call his suppliers’ (gee, thanks). Grrr, this morning (Thu) I call again and he tells me Shimano is out of triple ultegra crank and has no idea when they’re coming in.
In the meantime I figured, hey, I’m gonna change the whole drivetrain anyways, why not Campy (2004 chorus is sweet!)? Also found out next year’s Ultegra is likely 10sp (shop didn’t tell me even if it seems common knowledge, thanks for nothing). I call back the store and ask if they have Campy Chorus triple in stock, guy says yes, I say ok, I’m gonna come in on lunch break and order, guy says fine.
I get in practically c/c in hand, guy (which I think is the owner I guess) is fitting some customer and hands me off to an ‘assistant’, doesn’t tell the assistant anything, I have to re-explain what I want (campy chorus triple), assistant tells me they’re out of cranks and rear derailleurs and that unless they maybe find some in Quebec (?) they’ll be a month in coming… this is stressing me out but oh well, I ask for pricing and he quotes me US$1,500+tax+installation.
I had done some price research and what I had found was that the average MSRP seemed to be in the US$1,200-1300 range, and that several stores were around the US$1,100 mark, while some mail-order-only outfits even had it for $999 (!).
I ask the assistant about this discrepancy and if that’s the best price he can give me, as I’ve found some stores online that have things much cheaper: guy tells me first ‘we don’t compete with online stores’ and then ‘if you can find this for a better price I’m happy for you’ and basically cuts me off and makes it very obvious he doesn’t want to waste any more time with me, I turn around and get out and he doesn’t even say goodbye or anything.
I mean WTF, I’m here, ready to drop US$2,000 (there are also the wheels to consider) and you treat me like this? don’t even ask me WHICH stores have WHAT prices? treat me like crap even though you’re sitting at the cash register alone and there’s nobody else in the store?
I mean, man, am I asking too much? I’d just want a store that would treat me decently, have things in (reasonable) stock (or be able to get them) and not completely rip me off (of course one can’t compete with mail-order outfits, I wasn’t expecting that, but I’d have expected an effort to get closer to what other brick’n’mortar stores with an online presence are charging, or if they couldn’t at least haggle on installation fees, whatever, just don’t make me feel I’m talking to a brick wall).
For all I know Campy Canada might charge more than Campy USA, I’m not stupid, it happens, and if that’s the case hey, whatever, I’ll pay your price, but you have to TELL me these things, not act like it’s your way or the highway and basically make it obvious my presence in your store is not welcome since I uttered the ‘online’ word (blasphemy!).
Am I expecting too much? There’s no way I’ll ever step into store #1 ever again (la Bicicletta) and I’ll probably drive to store #2 (tri-action) this Saturday to see what I can do, even if I doubt they carry Campy so unless they have some Ultergra stock I’m SOL (and in any case now that I know that next year Ultegra moves to 10sp I’m kind of weary in investing full retail $ for a complete drivetrain that will be retired in some months).
That or I’ll have to drive down to the US somewhere where it seems that there are plenty of nice stores that don’t jerk their customers around: I sure wish Tom D’s store was closer to here…
ok, sorry for the rant but I really had to get this off my chest, thanks for listening and for any comments you might have.
I guess we’ll see in a few days when I place the actual order.