General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Performance Bike Barkruptcy Rss Feed  
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2018-12-20 9:18 AM

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DC
Subject: Performance Bike Barkruptcy
Did a search & didn't find any previous threads on this. News "sources" are scarce on this.

Anyone got insider knowledge on why? Their prices/in-store brands are a great deal but, at least in the mid-Atlantic, the store customer service sucked. Could this have contributed?


2018-12-20 10:35 AM
in reply to: Porfirio

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Subject: RE: Performance Bike Barkruptcy

Originally posted by Porfirio Did a search & didn't find any previous threads on this. News "sources" are scarce on this.

Anyone got insider knowledge on why? Their prices/in-store brands are a great deal but, at least in the mid-Atlantic, the store customer service sucked. Could this have contributed?

I don't claim to have any insider information, but I would think their institutional lack of customer service played a part in their demise.  I know for me personally, I'm happy to pay a bit more, maybe as much as 20-25% if I can get questions answered from a knowledgeable person or see/touch/feel a product before I purchase it.  However, if a company is going to give me the same level of customer service that Amazon routinely gives (and I'd argue Amazon's CS was BETTER than Performance Bike's was), well, I'm going to spend my money at Amazon and enjoy the savings.

Another thing that Performance did that was annoying at best - they routinely tried to force me to their website to make what I'd consider to be "routine" purchases - tubes, tires, shoes, etc.  Here's the deal, if you're going to force me on-line, I'm shopping at Amazon with free two-day shipping and a very liberal return policy.

They just couldn't adapt to the changing retail environment and are now going the way of the dinosaur.

2018-12-20 11:23 AM
in reply to: k9car363

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Subject: RE: Performance Bike Barkruptcy
"institutional lack of customer service"

Yeah, this is my thought as well. Again, while I think they have great prices at times, their corporate policy hardly trickled down to their stores (mid-Atlantic at least).

RIP Performancebike.
2018-12-23 6:41 AM
in reply to: Porfirio

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Subject: RE: Performance Bike Barkruptcy

Maybe I'm an outlier, but I've always had a good experience dealing with them.  I bought two bikes from them over the past 8 years and hundreds of dollars' worth of components and such.  One of their stores was about 10 minutes from here, and it operated like a little mom and pop LBS.  The other close-by one was more corporate for sure.  I've also run my bike in unannounced for some quick service things, usually would get them done in 5-10 minutes and a couple times they didn't even charge me.

Agreed that some of the people working there knew little about bikes (and absolutely nothing about fittings), but now with the closest LBS 25 minutes away I'm going to miss them.

2018-12-26 6:45 PM
in reply to: Porfirio


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Subject: RE: Performance Bike Barkruptcy
Originally posted by Porfirio

Did a search & didn't find any previous threads on this. News "sources" are scarce on this.

Anyone got insider knowledge on why? Their prices/in-store brands are a great deal but, at least in the mid-Atlantic, the store customer service sucked. Could this have contributed?


I saw the sign out front the store in my area and just had to stop in and see what deals they had. It only took me about a minute to realize exactly why they failed. Inventory. Way way too much inventory. That right there kills business faster than anything else. I can't wait to go back this weekend to see how deep the fire sale gets after Christmas. The rumor is that this particular store isn't scheduled for closure but they are having closing sales in all their stores to get rid of as much inventory as possible. I hear it's managed centrally and not by the individual stores.
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