Q: Keeping up with the Jones

wrote in message
oups.com...

I have never ridden a 'bent before and don't feel right
about going to a LBS to test ride when I know I'll be getting the bike
mail-order.

I think it is good that you don't feel right about this. The LBS (if it is
any good at all) deserves the premium price and should deliver premium
service.

I went to an LBS and asked them to get me a bike that they don't normally
carry but that was available from their distributor. Even though I went in
asking for a specific bike, they were still going to honor their
"satisfaction" guarantee.

The LBS (and for that matter any other specialty retailer) invests in
inventory for you to try out, parts should you need them, mechanics who know
what they are doing, etc.

You shouldn't (ethically) consume their resources if you don't plan to give
them your business.

For the record, I am not in the bike or any retail business. I tend to value
good customer service over low price. The problem comes when you expect the
good service from the lowest price provider who doesn't have enough profit
to afford to give you that service.

Jeff

"Jeff Grippe" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
oups.com...
[...]
For the record, I am not in the bike or any retail business. I tend to
value good customer service over low price. The problem comes when you
expect the good service from the lowest price provider who doesn't have
enough profit to afford to give you that service.

I value low price above all other things in life. Service isn't worth
anything these days. Anyone who pays for service is nothing but a dreamer
and a big time loser. If Wal-Mart has what you want, then get it there and
never look back.

Leave the high prices and "good customer service" (whatever that is) to
snobs like Jeff Grippe, who insists on thinking himself superior and better
off then the common run of men like you and I.

Why can't Jeff Grippe be humble like me and go for the low prices at
Wal-Mart? I myself, as Great as I am, have never even heard of any such
thing as "good customer service." I wonder what he could be blathering
about?

--
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
...

"Jeff Grippe" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
oups.com...
[...]
For the record, I am not in the bike or any retail business. I tend to
value good customer service over low price. The problem comes when you
expect the good service from the lowest price provider who doesn't have
enough profit to afford to give you that service.

I value low price above all other things in life. Service isn't worth
anything these days. Anyone who pays for service is nothing but a dreamer
and a big time loser. If Wal-Mart has what you want, then get it there and
never look back.

Leave the high prices and "good customer service" (whatever that is) to
snobs like Jeff Grippe, who insists on thinking himself superior and
better off then the common run of men like you and I.

Why can't Jeff Grippe be humble like me and go for the low prices at
Wal-Mart? I myself, as Great as I am, have never even heard of any such
thing as "good customer service." I wonder what he could be blathering
about?


I have no problem with you deciding that you want to shop at the low-price
provider. The only thing I have a problem with is when you consume the
resources of the high-end provider and then buy from the low-price provider.

If you place no value on customer service then by all means don't buy it (by
shopping at a store that provides it). On the same hand, don't steal it
either. If you go to a bike shop and test ride several bikes in order to
make your choice and then you buy it on-line, you have stolen from the bike
shop. The bike shop can only be there to provide you with bikes to try out
if people buy them from the bike shop.


Jeff

PS I like "humble as I am" and "Great like me" in the same paragraph.

"Jeff Grippe" wrote in message
...

"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
...

"Jeff Grippe" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
oups.com...
[...]
For the record, I am not in the bike or any retail business. I tend to
value good customer service over low price. The problem comes when you
expect the good service from the lowest price provider who doesn't have
enough profit to afford to give you that service.

I value low price above all other things in life. Service isn't worth
anything these days. Anyone who pays for service is nothing but a dreamer
and a big time loser. If Wal-Mart has what you want, then get it there
and never look back.

Leave the high prices and "good customer service" (whatever that is) to
snobs like Jeff Grippe, who insists on thinking himself superior and
better off then the common run of men like you and I.

Why can't Jeff Grippe be humble like me and go for the low prices at
Wal-Mart? I myself, as Great as I am, have never even heard of any such
thing as "good customer service." I wonder what he could be blathering
about?


I have no problem with you deciding that you want to shop at the low-price
provider. The only thing I have a problem with is when you consume the
resources of the high-end provider and then buy from the low-price
provider.

Agreed, but I have never done the above in my life. I do my own research
without the aid of any provider and then I shop price. What could be
simpler? If I use a shop, then I buy from the shop. But I NEVER expect any
service regardless.

If you place no value on customer service then by all means don't buy it
(by shopping at a store that provides it). On the same hand, don't steal
it either. If you go to a bike shop and test ride several bikes in order
to make your choice and then you buy it on-line, you have stolen from the
bike shop. The bike shop can only be there to provide you with bikes to
try out if people buy them from the bike shop.

See my statement directly above. However, I do agree with what Jeff says.

By the way, I have never in my life test ridden a bike before buying it (and
I have got a house full of bikes). What the hell is there to test. I can see
immediately what all the pros and cons of a bike are simply by looking at it
in a catalog and reading the specifications.

Recumbent Cyclist News (RCN) is the best source of course for learning
something about recumbent bikes. Robert Bryant (the editor, publisher and
chief writer of RCN) is a national treasure and I can never say enough good
things about him. But nonetheless, buying a bike is not rocket science.

Jeff

PS I like "humble as I am" and "Great like me" in the same paragraph.

Glad to see that you are FINALLY starting to get my drift! Now look up
"parody" in a dictionary. That is what I am a master of and I will brook no
false prophets before me.

--
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
...

I have no problem with you deciding that you want to shop at the
low-price provider. The only thing I have a problem with is when you
consume the resources of the high-end provider and then buy from the
low-price provider.

Agreed, but I have never done the above in my life. I do my own research
without the aid of any provider and then I shop price.

You see this is why I don't bother with your silly posting rules. If you had
read the thread then you would know that the very thing that you say you
don't do, someone talked about doing. I was merely agreeing that (s)he
shouldn't do that.

For reasons known only to you and your god, this sent you into a bit of a
fit and you chose to lash out at me simply because I find service something
that I'm willing to pay for and because I feel that others shouldn't steal
it just because they can.

So you see my dear Mr. Dolan, using your "preferred" and supposedly "proper"
posting style did not avoid your comment which added nothing useful to what
was being said.

I don't get your drift at all. Parody or none I would prefer that you drift
away as you said you would. If you don't intend to keep your word then at
least say you've changed your mind and I'll stop thinking of you as a liar
(in that context).

"Jeff Grippe" wrote in message
...
"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
...

I have no problem with you deciding that you want to shop at the
low-price provider. The only thing I have a problem with is when you
consume the resources of the high-end provider and then buy from the
low-price provider.

Agreed, but I have never done the above in my life. I do my own research
without the aid of any provider and then I shop price.

You see this is why I don't bother with your silly posting rules. If you
had read the thread then you would know that the very thing that you say
you don't do, someone talked about doing. I was merely agreeing that (s)he
shouldn't do that.

If you posted the RIGHT way instead of the WRONG way maybe some of these
little contretemps could be avoided. But you are doomed to forever be
mangled and misconstrued because you post like the idiot that you are.

For reasons known only to you and your god, this sent you into a bit of a
fit and you chose to lash out at me simply because I find service
something that I'm willing to pay for and because I feel that others
shouldn't steal it just because they can.

You said you like to pay for service; I said that service is for the birds.
What part of that did you not understand.

So you see my dear Mr. Dolan, using your "preferred" and supposedly
"proper" posting style did not avoid your comment which added nothing
useful to what was being said.

I don't get your drift at all. Parody or none I would prefer that you
drift away as you said you would.

Why the hell didn't you quote the relevant passage by me to which you are
referring with the "drift' and the "parody" comment, you confounded
numskull! Did anyone ever tell you that you are an idiot? Well, I am
telling you now. Why the dickens don't you confine yourself to email with
other morons on your low level and not bother us intelligent types here on
Usenet.

Post RIGHT or begone!

If you don't intend to keep your word then at
least say you've changed your mind and I'll stop thinking of you as a liar
(in that context).

Just stop posting such incredibly stupid messages to this newsgroup. I feel
I have to protect the rest of the group from a dunderhead like you. Who
knows, they might actually listen to you if I weren't here to tell them
otherwise.

--
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

Edward Dolan wrote:
...But nonetheless, buying a bike is not rocket science....

Unless the bike is question is a RANS Rocket.
--
Tom Sherman - Fox River Valley

"We are discussing whether humans as prey are 'natural'. Clearly,
they are, or that mountain lion wouldn't have been trying to eat a
human." - M.V.

Jeff Grippe wrote:
"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
...

I have no problem with you deciding that you want to shop at the
low-price provider. The only thing I have a problem with is when you
consume the resources of the high-end provider and then buy from the
low-price provider.

Agreed, but I have never done the above in my life. I do my own research
without the aid of any provider and then I shop price.

You see this is why I don't bother with your silly posting rules. If you had
read the thread then you would know that the very thing that you say you
don't do, someone talked about doing. I was merely agreeing that (s)he
shouldn't do that.

For reasons known only to you and your god, this sent you into a bit of a
fit and you chose to lash out at me simply because I find service something
that I'm willing to pay for and because I feel that others shouldn't steal
it just because they can.

So you see my dear Mr. Dolan, using your "preferred" and supposedly "proper"
posting style did not avoid your comment which added nothing useful to what
was being said.

I don't get your drift at all. Parody or none I would prefer that you drift
away as you said you would. If you don't intend to keep your word then at
least say you've changed your mind and I'll stop thinking of you as a liar
(in that context).

You have much to learn in the ways of Mr. Edward Dolan of Worthington,
Minnesota, Mr. Jeff Grippe of New York, New York.
--
Tom Sherman - Fox River Valley

"We are discussing whether humans as prey are 'natural'. Clearly,
they are, or that mountain lion wouldn't have been trying to eat a
human." - M.V.

My dear Edward, as one who pushes buttons with abandon can it really come as
a surprise to you that I enjoy pushing yours back?

Snot faced baby killing liberal NY Jew signing off

"Jeff Grippe" wrote in message
...
My dear Edward, as one who pushes buttons with abandon can it really come
as a surprise to you that I enjoy pushing yours back?

Snot faced baby killing liberal NY Jew signing off

It is no easy trick to render someone like Jeff Grippe speechless. Brainless
he has always been, but now he is speechless. Let this be a lesson to you
all not to tangle with the Great Ed Dolan.

--
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota