motostrano question

[Brown81]

Next!

This.

 

[Rob]

Yeah I've heard the owner of Motostrano isn't the most, shall we say, customer service oriented.

+1 I'll never shop there again... I don't care how much they won't match other shops prices.

When I hand over MY hard earned cash... THEY should earn it.

Fook'em

 

[squidworth]

Also keep in mind that a small business purchasing smaller quantities don't get the same wholesale pricing a larger internet based company would. So if a smaller shop that doesn't stock a huge inventory of tires is most likely telling you the truth about not being able to go lower...

 

[Var]

That was my favorite place to shop when my buddy Joe worked there. I haven't gone in there since he quit a couple years back

 

[AbsolutEnduser]

Just like the OP, I have also not bought from Motostrano. However, each time I have walked in, my experience has been nearly "pleasant". A guy near the counter fielding calls and greeting me; sometimes a girl in the clothes area helping someone else or coming to ask me a question.

in short, expecting just a normal shop and that's what I got . No problem. If I ever need a product, I would try them again why not.

just sayin

 

[busapassion]

I like saving money too but how would you react to 5-10 people per day asking you to sell a tire for 5 to 15 over cost. How would you as an owner of a business feel when you have to pay the employee, rent, utilities. I sometimes match the internet prices for customers if the customer asks really nicely. If you come in with an attitude, out the door you go. Some jack asses come in and ask to sell them things at cost or below cost.

 

[rama]

Hey Alan,
How's the cat doing?

I see what you did there.

Businesses who don't have the 'customer is always right' attitude used to baffle me too, but now I chalk it off as either:

1. they're doing so well they can be choosey about who/what business they do. Good for them, we can all be so lucky.

or

2. Darwin at work. Don't sweat it, they'll close their doors soon enough.


In either case, I'd echo the sentiment: "NEXT!"

 

[Papi-C]

I like saving money too but how would you react to 5-10 people per day asking you to sell a tire for 5 to 15 over cost. How would you as an owner of a business feel when you have to pay the employee, rent, utilities. I sometimes match the internet prices for customers if the customer asks really nicely. If you come in with an attitude, out the door you go. Some jack asses come in and ask to sell them things at cost or below cost.

Don't have a brick and mortar store if you don't like dealing w/ the public, go online only. A storefront requires customer service. Customer service means you suck it up and POLITELY decline. Catching an attitude is bad customer service which in the long run costs you money as people are more apt to post online about their bad experiences than the good.

 

[florsh]

Car / Truck tires vs Motorcycle Tires...

Man, this is some crazy shit… Somehow I've never needed to buy new tires for a truck, car yes, truck, no. I've been fortunate enough to drive/own a new truck for the past 10 plus years never needing to replace tires. Buy a new truck, drive it it for a couple years, trade it in on a new truck ie new tires, new everything else… I currently have a 2007 Ford F150 FX4… Love it and I'm gonna keep it for who knows how long… It has 47K and the tires are toast… Decent quality truck tires… = $1,000 plus… on the cheap $800 plus Ugghh
My main commute bike is a 2008 BMW K1200S it currently has just over 53k on the clock, I run Michelin Pilot Power tires and average 6.5-7k miles per set. New tire cost under $350 per 7k… Anyways, I've been price shopping new tires for the truck, and the local tire shops are are easily $100 plus cheaper than buying online, plus there're including installation and CA tire disposal fees plus no shipping… Why are motorcycle tire prices different?

 

[busapassion]

Don't have a brick and mortar store if you don't like dealing w/ the public, go online only. A storefront requires customer service. Customer service means you suck it up and POLITELY decline. Catching an attitude is bad customer service which in the long run costs you money as people are more apt to post online about their bad experiences than the good.

People who want to pay $5 over cost don't really support a business anyway and are usually the first to complain. You own what business? Oh that's right, you don't own a business.

 

[Rob]

I like saving money too but how would you react to 5-10 people per day asking you to sell a tire for 5 to 15 over cost. How would you as an owner of a business feel when you have to pay the employee, rent, utilities. I sometimes match the internet prices for customers if the customer asks really nicely. If you come in with an attitude, out the door you go. Some jack asses come in and ask to sell them things at cost or below cost.

I would not react in a way that makes customers (ya know, the people keeping you afloat) feel like shopping elsewhere. I'm not a business owner so I guess this is all just... common sense.

I'm sure you're a great business owner but we're not really talking about you now are we? ... unless you own Motostrano.

Edit: what business DO you own? I'll be sure to ask nicely...

 

[cencalballer]

So I know a few of you buy stuff from Motostrano. Local shop, lots of stuff, blah blah blah.

So today I was pricing tires. I look up the tire I want and nearly shit my pants at the price. I go online and find the tire cheaper, a lot cheaper. And hey Motostrano has a little "find a cheaper price?" button. So I hit the button report the price and say I would prefer to buy it from them and don't expect them to match the internet price, but can they come down at all.

The price difference was nearly 100 dollars for the pair (including shipping costs). This is quite a bit of money in profit for a pair of tires.

Meanwhile I call around and Scuderia has the same tire, also cheaper than Motostrano. In fact, both of the tire types I was checking were significantly cheaper at Scuderia.

I get an email from Motostrano stating that they don't price match tires (despite the claim on their website) and that if he lowered his prices he wouldn't make any money. Basically the attitude was that I should be happy to pay extra to purchase from him.

I replied back and told him that Scuderia was even cheaper (a Ducati dealer vs. a parts shop). His reply back was that he would be doing charity work if he reduced the price.

Now as I said, I want to support the independent shop. But come on. I'm gonna go ahead and take Scuderia's charity work and buy my tires cheaper.

Thats bullshit. I've been hearing a lot of bad stuff about them recently. Enough to make me wonder if the ship is sinking there. They just changed the tire pricing structure and if they're selling them for the initial price then they're one fo the few places making money on tires. The shop I'm at gets pretty much nothing on tires.

 

[Lovedoc]

So you didn't actually ask him to honor his price match? Don't complain about the price then. IIRC they had a really good selection of A-Stars and Sumo expertise. Don't wish them out of business.

As far as attitude, I don't get that butthurt there, unless a service is promised and not delivered, wasn't the case here. I patronize a vendor because of WHAT they provide generally. I think the service thing is getting overdone. Sometimes (no personal jab intended) the biggest complainers are surly customers who are unpleasant enough in their own world.

 

[Brokenlink]

So you didn't actually ask him to honor his price match? Don't complain about the price then. IIRC they had a really good selection of A-Stars and Sumo expertise. Don't wish them out of business.

As far as attitude, I don't get that butthurt there, unless a service is promised and not delivered, wasn't the case here. I patronize a vendor because of WHAT they provide generally. I think the service thing is getting overdone. Sometimes (no personal jab intended) the biggest complainers are surly customers who are unpleasant enough in their own world.

What? This doesn't even make sense. You are right, I didn't ask him to MATCH the price. I asked him if there was anything he could do regarding his extremely high price. I wasn't expecting him to take 80 bucks off the price. I would have been happy with a token gesture (5-10 bucks).

People who want to pay $5 over cost don't really support a business anyway and are usually the first to complain. You own what business? Oh that's right, you don't own a business.

Once again, I had no expectations for him to lose money. But his prices are the highest, period. In fact, when I took my tires in to get mounted at Ca Sport touring, the owner saw the invoice from Scuderia (another brick and mortar that was twenty bucks cheaper then Motostrano) he exclaimed that I could have saved money had I bought them from him. And I would have but they didn't have them in stock. So in essence, it's not that I had unrealistic expectations. It's that Motostrano is jacking up the price of their tires more than anybody else in the bay area.

 

[steev]

found this on their other site. lol, likely a typo, but i thought it was funny after reading this thread.

i've had good and bad experiences with motostrano. i bought a pair of gp pros off their clearance site for 50% off, shipping time was pretty fast also.

but there was one time, placed an order on their website only to find out 3 days later when i called, that items were on back order. if they can't update the site, at least send me an email.

 

[Papi-C]

People who want to pay $5 over cost don't really support a business anyway and are usually the first to complain. You own what business? Oh that's right, you don't own a business.

What are you the owner? If you want repeat business you should be nicer to your customers than you were in that post. I suggest you get back to the online orders you have.

You should be trying to engender goodwill w/ the public who buy stuff from you.

 

[Lovedoc]

What? This doesn't even make sense. You are right, I didn't ask him to MATCH the price. I asked him if there was anything he could do regarding his extremely high price. I wasn't expecting him to take 80 bucks off the price. I would have been happy with a token gesture (5-10 bucks).

I haven't been to Motostrano for a few years, and only had a single internet purchase, but he used to give a BARF discount.

He advertises a price match, if he didn't back that up, and doesn't specifically exclude tires, that's a reason to complain. You didn't ask.

Otherwise, this thread is about you asking for a discount, he says no, some attitude follows. Who knows how that played? Anyway, I don't know why this deserves an internet flogging. You probably should just Yelp him instead of gutting his business core on BARF. Shop around. Or read one of the many tire threads on BARF.

 

[Brokenlink]

Once again, you completely missed the mark. Yes, I asked for a price match. But I gave him the option of not marking it down 80 bucks. I was asking for anything in comparison to the internet price. I suppose you are right, I should have insisted that he mark them down 80 bucks. He would have done that for sure rather than give me 5 bucks off.

The button was "Find a lower price?" not "We match prices". I found not one, not tow, but all of the prices were lower. Online, in a store, hand made in my garage. Whatever. It was cheaper elsewhere. I asked if he could do anything. You see this is a simpler option for him than "can you price match?".

I haven't been to Motostrano for a few years, and only had a single internet purchase, but he used to give a BARF discount.

He advertises a price match, if he didn't back that up, and doesn't specifically exclude tires, that's a reason to complain. You didn't ask.

Otherwise, this thread is about you asking for a discount, he says no, some attitude follows. Who knows how that played? Anyway, I don't know why this deserves an internet flogging. You probably should just Yelp him instead of gutting his business core on BARF. Shop around. Or read one of the many tire threads on BARF.

 

[Rob]

...

He advertises a price match, if he didn't back that up, and doesn't specifically exclude tires, that's a reason to complain. You didn't ask.

...

What, are you mental?