Hein-Gericke Glasgow branch.

[quikstu]

Bit of a rant here although deserved I think!

Over the past 3 years I think I have spent about £2200 in this shop. And I think yesterday was the final time that I'll go anywhere near the place.

When I first started on the bike & needed kit I thought the guys were helpful & gave me advice on things. Now that I am a bit wiser in the game I wish to hell these guys would leave you the f-ck alone when you walk into their store.

No sooner are you in the door then they are in your face talking about your current lid & "how do you find the fogcity insert?" You cannot get a minute to breathe without these slaesmen telling you some uninteresting fact about how there brother uses 'these gloves & that jacket' & how it is fabulous for keeping the cold out.

My mate & I were in the shop for about an hour yesterday as my mate was trying on leathers & I wanted new gloves & boots. The THREE sales guys were never more that 2ft away from us talking their bull****.

Now, my pal ended up buying a £600 one piece which is a lot of money. Understandably he was taking his time to make up his mind whether to part with his cash then, or sleep on it & go back at the weekend.

I appreciate the guys want a sale but to basically harassing a customer into buying stuff there & then is (IMO) totally unacceptable.

They kept on saying things like "we can't promise you it'll still be here at the weekend" & "once the word gets out we are stocking these they'll be a queue at the door.

I had to politely say to the guys to leave us alone & let my pal make up his own mind.

To give the guys there due they did immediately walk away BUT one of them was back within TEN seconds with a Knox back protector saying if he bought the suit there & then he would chuck in the £80 protector for £20. Fair enough you may think but IMO it was a total disregard for my request to leave us for a while.

I had to ask him again to give us a sec. He then just stood there in silence & answered my mates questions which were directed at me!

We were both getting annoyed at this point & my mate getting closer to punching the guy.

As the guy mentioned the deal with the back protector again, I said chuck in two for £40 & he'll take the suit as I had gear to the value of £230 that I had just bought.

I then said to my mate leave it & think about it overnight & the guy said don't listen to him, he's trying to talk you out of it cause he's in the huff because I knocked back his back protector request.

I was ready for leaving the shop.

Eventually all three of them stood around my pal until he bought the suit.
He did feel pressurised but managed to make his own mind up thankfully.

Bit of a sour experience but I think this just sums this shop up.

There is being nice & there is being FAR TOO in yer face.

My message to HG is to learn how to treat a customer correctly.

Tossers, the lot of them.

Anyone else had similar experiences in here???

Rant over.
Thanks
:wink:

[Godikus]

HA sounds like things have changed a bit since i was last in. it was about 4 years ago mind. went in to get some boots and couldnae get a single one of the morons attentions. completely useles, didnae want to know.

Sounds to me like they addressed the problem i experienced by over training them in sales.

[Viney]

I would just have been a bit firmer, and say something like, "excuse me, your help is not needed, we will find you if we need you" Its all about being assertive.

Personaly ii would have walked, or asked to speak to the manager.

[Jelster]

Complain to HG head office, as a company they are very tight on customer service and they don't like upset customers.

I had a similar experince at my local branch with a new sales guy. I mentioned it to the area manager who I know and he spoke to me a week later and said they guy had been spoken to and was "undergoing further sales training". He's been fine ever since.

.

[scooby2102]

stu, unfortunately thats the way the world is going now, gettin more and more like the retail car trade everyday

must admit though, anytime I have been in, the guys always offer assistance which is IMHO is always better than being ignored but a quick stare and a "naw, yer awright mate,dont need help at the moment" always works for me

the guy that runs it is usually helpful though, was he one of them, if not then I would defo let him know the situation as the 1st time I was in (with a budget of 400), I eventually spent 900 but he gave me 64 quid off without any trouble

definitley speak to him if he wasnt involved, you might be surprised

[quikstu]

the guy that runs it is usually helpful though, was he one of them,

I'm not 100% sure but yes, I think he was one of them. The other two were the pipe smoking one & the youger guy with the specs (about 27yr old).

[Cronos]

I'm really suprised by this. I pop in there reasonably frequently as I work down the road and I've never really had any hard sells.

In fact last time I was in there they ordered some spares from Bagster for me for free and it'snotlike I'm a big spender.

I think a lot of the time the best way to deal with this type of thing is to be firm and distant. If all else fails, vote with your feet and spend yor money elsewhere.

[northwind]

The Edinburgh one is quite in your face too, but not to the extent of that- better, I suppose, than the many bike shops where it's near to impossible to get any help from a salesman though.

[karen]

You should try this one,walking in and them asking the man who's with you, if they can help him. :evil:. Find them ok now. :roll:

[instigator]

The older guy with the longer hair (owns the gsxr thou' k6) is the pushy sales type, I agree and they have always ended every transaction with me by asking "Have you tried the new scottoil fs365...etc" but when I've declined their offers, they've always left it at that.

The two younger guys (guy with specs and smaller dude with shaved head (owns the white pug 205 out the front :lol: ) are sound. :)

[buckstone]

Next time you need a new helmet, ask for some help. I did (cos I wanted to try a few on) - they'll start at the top of the range Arais and work down. The sales patter for them all is the same - they'd have you believe a £50 Nitro or whatever is as good as a £350 AGV. They just want to sell you something / anything. Especially Scottoiler FS365 - every time I'm in there !!!!!

To be fair, they did take back a Shark helmet and allowed me to buy something else, despite the receipt expressly ruling that out. It felt snug in the shop but after 5 miles I knew it wasn't right.

They don't have the same price flexibility that some shops can offer - don't know if that influences the way they try to sell things. It shouldn't stop them being courteous and respecting your wishes though.

[Beaniebike]

I'm really suprised by this. I pop in there reasonably frequently as I work down the road and I've never really had any hard sells.

In fact last time I was in there they ordered some spares from Bagster for me for free and it'snotlike I'm a big spender.

I think a lot of the time the best way to deal with this type of thing is to be firm and distant. If all else fails, vote with your feet and spend yor money elsewhere.

Also surprised by this. Been in a few times and always found the staff really helpful. I got 2 piece leathers on which the zip broke. They took them and sent them to get repaired, even although I had lost the reciept. I thoight that was real decent of him.

I was also advised to get a back protector. One of the guys in the shop feels very strongly aboit them as it turns out he came off his bike once and actually broke his back :shock:

[Blue Flame]

One of the guys in the shop feels very strongly aboit them as it turns out he came off his bike once and actually broke his back :shock:

Hmmmm. Wish I'd met him a few weeks ago. :wink:

[scooby2102]

Grant, what speed do you rekon you were at when you came off, I think I remember someone saying that it was about 15mph

Can you remember or was that the last thing on your mind ?

[weegaz22]

they'd have you believe a £50 Nitro or whatever is as good as a £350 AGV.


and whats your reasoning behind that? cos the agv is more expensive it must be better?!? are both not acu approved?

[carelesschucca]

an expensive helmet is not better at protecting you than a cheaper one... it just comes down to the amount of features it has on it... And if a £50 quid helmet fits u better than a £400 one the Cheap helmet is 100% better... Its all arrogance and ego if you think otherwise...

[northwind]

Ain't neccesarily so... The current CE, SNELL and ACU tests and regs are pretty weak, there's a lot of lids that surpass them- and they do tend to be more expensive. A £35 Takashi or FM might just barely pass, while a better lid- HJC AC10, for example- might surpass it. Though there's not such a thing as a bad lid out there any more.

Fit and finish plays a part too... My Arai (a Condor, mid-range) was more immediately comfy, didn't compress as badly and so remains a tight fit, and is in better nick after 15000 than my HJC was after 10000- the HJC got too slack to be safe over time, the Arai shows no signs of going the same way. Cheaper to buy an Arai for £190 every 30,000 than a HJC at £80 every 10,000...

And the more you spend on an Arai, the s***er the vents get ;)

[weegaz22]

Ain't neccesarily so... The current CE, SNELL and ACU tests and regs are pretty weak, there's a lot of lids that surpass them- and they do tend to be more expensive. A £35 Takashi or FM might just barely pass, while a better lid- HJC AC10, for example- might surpass it. Though there's not such a thing as a bad lid out there any more.

Fit and finish plays a part too... My Arai (a Condor, mid-range) was more immediately comfy, didn't compress as badly and so remains a tight fit, and is in better nick after 15000 than my HJC was after 10000- the HJC got too slack to be safe over time, the Arai shows no signs of going the same way. Cheaper to buy an Arai for £190 every 30,000 than a HJC at £80 every 10,000...

And the more you spend on an Arai, the s***er the vents get ;)

the current regs may be weak andy but the helmets pass those regs, who is to say that anything over the stresses placed on the acu badged helmets wont snap the average humans neck? :wink: , imo you do pay for finish, but at the end of the day its a product designed to crash, and if it has an acu badge on it thats good enough for the likes of bsb, wsb, motogp riders to use then its good enough for me

[northwind]

There's tons of space for improvement over the standard regs... I can't recall if there's a CE2 in place yet for helmets, but if there's not there will be.

WSB, Moto GP riders etc don't use the lids we get... No more than they use the Suzukis we get ;)

[Blue Flame]

Grant, what speed do you rekon you were at when you came off, I think I remember someone saying that it was about 15mph

Can you remember or was that the last thing on your mind ?

I can't remember anything about the accident from the point of thinking '**** I'm going down'. I think that my brain ****ed off when the worst was about to happen. :)

I think the speed is about right. The damage to the bike is not major. See here for details http://forums.sv650.org/viewtopic.php?t=36812