evans charging 50p for air

Quoted message said:

As usual I asked if I can use their track pump to which a
member of staff said there was now a 50p charge. I walked
out in disgust.

I think I'd have done the same. Wot a cheek! Deserves a
slabbing methinks!

The PSF ;-)

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--Due to financial crisis the light at the end of the tunnel
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davep said:

I repaired a punctured tube yesterday and went into Evans
Cycles in Blackfriars as I left work to get a topup as my
mini-pump will only give me about 70psi. As usual I asked
if I can use their track pump to which a member of staff
said there was now a 50p charge. I walked out in disgust.

That's the trouble with these bike shops - they don't
realise they are a charity.

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. chapmancentral.co.ukchapmancentral.co.ukOpen ↗

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at
Washington University

Quoted message said:

That's the trouble with these bike shops - they don't
realise they are a charity.

Hardly a big deal, Guy, to let him use a pump. It's not
exactly bottled air that costs that he'd be using.

It's a little thing, perhaps, but if I feel a bike shop is
ripping me off, and that's exactly what I would have felt on
that - for something *so small* - I certainly wouldn't be
buying anything big from them - or anything for that matter.
A little bit of good PR from a business can go a long way -
as can a bit of bad PR - and this one's bad PR.

Cheers, helen s

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is switched off--

Just zis Guy said:

davep said:

I repaired a punctured tube yesterday and went into Evans
Cycles in Blackfriars as I left work to get a topup as my
mini-pump will only give me about 70psi. As usual I asked
if I can use their track pump to which a member of staff
said there was now a 50p charge. I walked out in disgust.

That's the trouble with these bike shops - they don't
realise they are a charity.

50p's a bit steep though. Air things at garages are often
20p a go, and the're a lot more in relation to the outlay
for a track pump. Fair enough if the bike shop charges a
small amount, it'll go toward replacing the valve etc
eventually.

What would you do if there wasn't a bike shop to borrow the
track pump from... might as well support them giving a
service like that... even if it is Evans.

Velvet

Just zis Guy said:

That's the trouble with these bike shops - they don't
realise they are =

a

Quoted message said:

charity.

A charity that doesn't provide its benefactors with a warm,
happy=20 feeling that it's on the side of the Good Guys
tends not to attract=20 repeat donations, however.

Charge someone 50p to use a track pump, make 50p. Fall over
backwards to help cyclist in need when basically all it
costs=20 you is a minute of your time, make =A350 on any
number of things that are=
=20
hanging on the walls. Especially if you do the pumping while
cyclist in =

need looks at said shiny items...

Pete. --=20 Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382
660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44
1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net
[email hidden] dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗

dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers said:

Quoted message said:

That's the trouble with these bike shops - they don't
realise they are a charity.

Quoted message said:

Hardly a big deal, Guy, to let him use a pump. It's not
exactly bottled air that costs that he'd be using.

Yebbut, how many cyclists do you need coming in to use the
tools for nothing to impact on the shop's ability to trade?
If I went into my LBS and asked to use the pump they would
undoubtedly not charge me, but if someone unknown to them
walked in they might well charge. Does the OP buy stuff from
Evans? If he does (or did...), they've shot themselves in
the foot, but that's their problem not his.

Anyway, at least the OP now knows why I never go anywhere
without a pump capable of inflating my tyres to the correct
pressure ;-)

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. chapmancentral.co.ukchapmancentral.co.ukOpen ↗

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at
Washington University

"dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

It's a little thing, perhaps, but if I feel a bike shop is
ripping me off,

and

Quoted message said:

that's exactly what I would have felt on that - for
something *so small* -

I

Quoted message said:

certainly wouldn't be buying anything big from them - or
anything for that matter. A little bit of good PR from a
business can go a long way - as can

a

Quoted message said:

bit of bad PR - and this one's bad PR.

I have sympathies with both sides of the argument. If I
were running a bike shop where I regularly got people
coming in and borrowing a pump, which if I were on a major
commuting route may be quite likely, and didn't see these
people again, I'd start to get annoyed and would consider a
small fee.

cheers, clive

davep said:

I repaired a punctured tube yesterday and went into Evans
Cycles in Blackfriars as I left work to get a topup as my
mini-pump will only give me about 70psi. As usual I asked
if I can use their track pump to which a member of staff
said there was now a 50p charge. I walked out in disgust.

They obviously don't want cyclists in the shop. Can't
blame them really, it would be good for business and who
wants that?

--
Michael MacClancy Random putdown - "Some cause happiness
wherever they go; others whenever they go." -Oscar Wilde
www.macclancy.demon.co.uk www.macclancy.co.uk

I have heard that a lot of requests to "just borrow a
[insert tool[1] here] for a couple of minutes" result in the
said tool never being seen again. IIRC Darth Stuart keeps a
track pump on a chain just inside the door, which may be a
better solution.

1 - fnarr, fnarr

--

Dave Larrington - legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uklegslarry.beerdrinkers.co.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
bhpc.org.ukbhpc.org.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden]=20 says...

Quoted message said:

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
=20

Quoted message said:

That's the trouble with these bike shops - they don't
realise they are =

a

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

charity.

=20
A charity that doesn't provide its benefactors with a
warm, happy=20 feeling that it's on the side of the Good
Guys tends not to attract=20 repeat donations, however.
=20
Charge someone 50p to use a track pump, make 50p. Fall
over backwards to help cyclist in need when basically all
it costs=

=20

Quoted message said:

you is a minute of your time, make =A350 on any number of
things that are=

=20

Quoted message said:

hanging on the walls. Especially if you do the pumping
while cyclist in need looks at said shiny items...

Aside from sarcastic comments from a chimp who works in
the workshop,=20 EBC (Edinburgh branch) have always been
helpful. When I recently bought=20 a pannier rack and
asked if I could borrow a spanner with which to fit=20 it,
one member of staff not only found me a spanner, but
respaced the=20 forks of the rack and then re-aligned the
ends so that it fitted=20 properly. Admittedly I had just
spent money there (And frequently do...=20 more than I
ought to really!), but that level of customer service is
the=20 reason I go back, and the reason I recommend them
to friends.

Perhaps Evans could bolt a track pump to the floor just
inside the door=20 (Preferably near a "special offers" rack)
and put a "donations" box next=20 to it. Total cost to shop
~=A350. Additional duties for shop staff during=
=20
open hours ~0. Potential to recover costs. Not likely to
happen through=20 donations, but there is a potential for
the "Ah, that's looks just like=20 the whatjamacallit widget
that i was looking for.".

Maybe the OP could suggest it... if he can bring himself to
re-enter the=20 shop!

Jon

Peter Clinch said:

Charge someone 50p to use a track pump, make 50p. Fall
over backwards to help cyclist in need when basically all
it costs you is a minute of your time, make £50 on any
number of things that are hanging on the walls. Especially
if you do the pumping while cyclist in need looks at said
shiny items...

Hey, I'm not saying it's what I would have done, but I can
understand it. I'd have said "no problem, please put
something in the charity box" and proffered the kibblesworth
tin which every shop seems to have.

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. chapmancentral.co.ukchapmancentral.co.ukOpen ↗

Victory is ours! Down with Eric the Half A Brain!

Quoted message said:

As usual I asked if I can use their track pump to which a member of staff said

there was now a 50p charge.

That's nothing to how much they charge for 'labour' to replace a bottom bracket, the grasping [censored]. I only went to them because I wanted it done in a hurry. Turns out it would have been cheaper to buy the tools and do it myself. And that's the last time those ****ing cowboys ever get any custom off me, regardless of how desperate I am.

d.

Quoted message said:

I have heard that a lot of requests to "just borrow a
[insert tool[1] here] for a couple of minutes" result in
the said tool never being seen again. IIRC Darth Stuart
keeps a track pump on a chain just inside the door, which
may be a better solution.

Seems entirely reasonable to make sure the pump can't
be filtched. One doesn't want one's [insert tool [1]
here] stolen.

Quoted message said:

1 - fnarr, fnarr

Indeed ;-)

Cheers, helen s

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h*$el*$$e*nd**$o$ts**i*$*$m*m$o*n*s@$*a$o*l.c**$om$

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is switched off--

Some shops get pestered by local kids wanting to pump their
tyres up every five minutes so a small charge is reasonable
to prevent that. A shop that technically counts as my LBS
(cos it's the nearest proper bike shop, I think) goes one
step further and refuses altogether!

However, if I was running a shop myself, I wouldn't mind
giving some free air, labour or small parts to any genuinely
distressed cyclist who needed to get home.

~PB

dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers said:

Quoted message said:

Yebbut, how many cyclists do you need coming in to use
the tools for nothing to impact on the shop's ability
to trade?

Yebbut, how many little bad PR moves do you have to make
for it to get a *lot* of adverse publicity thus adversely
affecting a shop's ability to trade? I seriously doubt it
happens that much, and if it does there's *plenty* of
opportunity for other sales for an organisation, especially
one the size of Evans. If they can stump up what I suggest
is a significant annual advertising budget jusging from all
the Evans's catalogues that appear as inserts in the
cycling mags, I hardly think the small use of a pump for a
cyclist in an emergency is going to send them bankrupt.

"I have a pump, but it doesn't get the tyres quite as hard
as I'd like, but I don't want to buy a new pump" is not an
emergency. I seriously doubt they'd have bothered with a
charge if it didn't happen often enough to be annoying.

Just zis Guy said:

davep said:

I repaired a punctured tube yesterday and went into Evans
Cycles in Blackfriars as I left work to get a topup as my
mini-pump will only give me about 70psi. As usual I asked
if I can use their track pump to which a member of staff
said there was now a 50p charge. I walked out in disgust.

That's the trouble with these bike shops - they don't
realise they are a charity.

I'm not biting , oh ok ... Condors don't charge and they
have their fair share of couriers going in just for air, but
they know they'll be back for other stuff. I can imagine the
stick Guy Pearson ( my LBS ) would get if he was charging
customers to pump up their tyres ... at 50p a go.

I can picture it now , a young kid who may have managed to
repair a puncture but had problems inflating the tyre (
pump/valve problems etc ) popping into Pearsons in Sutton
High st and being asked for their pocket money before
lending a pump. Helen was quite correct ...bad PR

davep

I suspect the guy in Evans made an error of judgement; the
good publicity which would have resulted from a positive
message to this list would far have outweighed any
incidental costs incurred by the shop.

For what it's worth, I cannot speak too highly of Omega
handmade frames (Swanley), who rooted round to find me a
seatpin clamp bolt when mine sheered and supplied it free of
charge, and the guy in Ruxley Cycles (St Pauls Cray) who is
/always/ helpful. Does the list have an FAQ ? If it does,
perhaps the "good guys" (and the less-than-good-guys) could
figure in it ...

** Phil.

"davek" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

As usual I asked if I can use their track pump to which a
member of staff said

there was now a 50p charge.

They should follow a lead from Cycle Shops in Amsterdam who
have free airlines or pumps outside for public use! Some
even have them for use outside shop hours. I know this
wouldn't work in some areas of enlightened cycling Britain.

davep said:

I repaired a punctured tube yesterday and went into Evans
Cycles in Blackfriars as I left work to get a topup as my
mini-pump will only give me about 70psi. As usual I asked
if I can use their track pump to which a member of staff
said there was now a 50p charge. I walked out in disgust.

Condors is a bit further and I'll most probably suffer a
softer ride home rather than a detour up the Grays Inn Rd
but I'll certainly go up there more often for any future
lunchtime cycling purchases.

I never did like the crumpy devil in the Evans branch down
The Cut and this is the icing on the cake.

If it was helium (as used by some record setting track
obsessives) that would have been OK ;-)