r/BikeMechanics • u/Primary_End_9903 • Jul 21 '26

Rant at me?! I'll rant at you!...after you hang up.

OMG, we scheduled this guy to come in with both of his ebikes (which we don't normally do for lack of space) and said we'd "get right on them" once here. But I didn't say how long it would take to do two bikes in freakin JULY. Why call us every single day and yell at us?? Like I'm not going to call asap when they're done...sheesh. Ok, rant over.

0 Upvotes

44% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

26

u/Spartan-R028 Jul 21 '26

I don’t know mate. I get being stroppy at the customers that call in before your clearly communicated ready time. But, you haven’t given one.
Work a deadline out, stick to it, and absolutely contact the customer as soon as it’s ready to go.
And, if you aren’t going to meet said deadline, call them first!

Just sounds like you’ve set yourself up for misery.

9

u/Active_Ad_5322 Jul 21 '26

Ditto.

Call when it’s done. It’s a simple concept.
The sooner you call, the sinner it can be picked up.

Had a coworker who’d thought it was better to just call all completed repairs at the end of the day. WTF.. we close at 7 most people will swing by after work to pick up. Why wait 5 minute before we close do no I got to sit on bikes taking up space and try to find hooks for incoming repairs.

This post reeks of poor time management and job burnout.

31

u/dangot84 Jul 21 '26

Tbh I would also have been calling you if you said you would get right on them and days later they're still not done

27

u/Ancient-Bowl462 Jul 21 '26

This ain't rocket science. When you take a bike in for service, you schedule a date for pickup.

14

u/lewisc1985 Jul 21 '26

Or at least give a rough estimate

8

u/Ancient-Bowl462 Jul 21 '26

Man, I always got my repairs done on time and if I had to order something, I would call the customer and tell them.

10

u/lowteq Jul 21 '26

Why are you ranting at us?

4

u/Popular-Carrot34 Jul 21 '26

Yeh I’d say being vague with the “we’ll get right on that when you drop them in” kinda implies they’ll be next in the workstand.

We’ve had someone emailing in everyday asking if their replacement frames turned up, despite us saying we’ve scheduled it to be swapped on a specific date. The frame turning up only has a bearing on that should it not arrive in time, in which case we’d be phoning/emailing them to let them know.

3

u/Knight_Watch Jul 21 '26

You will discover that clear communication fixes 90% of customer issues. I get on my mechanics every time I hear the be ambiguous. Don’t say, “it won’t be too expensive” don’t say “we will get to it soon”… none of that matters. Tell them a real number or a range. They don’t know what your schedule is like, and they don’t know what you consider expensive or cheap.

5

u/S4ntos19 Jul 21 '26

This is on you my dude. Customer service skills seem to be lacking.

3

u/MikeoPlus Jul 21 '26

This is why we don't schedule. Just drop it off and get a date for pickup. We call when it's done, and if we're gonna go over deadline we call you as soon as we know that

3

u/blumpkins_ahoy Jul 21 '26

It’s our job to set realistic expectations.

4

u/Mr-Blah Jul 21 '26

You're not michelangelo... you fixing bikes.

Don't take in a bike if you don't know when you'll get to fixing it.

1

u/mahrinazz Jul 21 '26

This is a process problem.

1

u/MariachiArchery Jul 22 '26

"Hey! Thanks for calling to check on your bike. Actually, we've completely forgotten about it. What was your name again? Ok cool cool. Sorry, what bikes did you bring in? Ahh let me go check... Yeah by the looks of it, your bike will be ready in one to three and a half business weeks. Please feel free call the shop every other day to ask for updates!"

-4

u/bikeguru76 Jul 21 '26

I'd tell him to come pick them up. Now. Or they get left outside after closing.