Charging for Serial Number Lookup?

[hubbellm]

I received an email from Moots this morning with their latest sales pitches. I noticed something I have not seen before, "SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP". Thinking maybe this is a new tool on their website, I followed the link to check it out.

It appears Moots is now CHARGING $10 to lookup a serial number and provide a geo sheet. Their pitch on the fee is "In exchange for this service we ask for a $10 payment that we will donate to a cycling related nonprofit. (such as IMBA or People for Bikes for example)."

I've always thought serial number lookup/geo sheet info was part of customer service, never tied to a fee. Also, the vagueness of who/when/what the donation will be is odd to me.

I love my Routt 45, the excellence of that bike is not tied to the internal politics within their building. This type of pissy little fee could be a reflection of changes in their culture, or it could just be nothing and I am blowing it out of proportion.

[paredown]

It seems to me this is one of those 'discourage the tire-kickers' fees--eBay buyers for example requesting multiple geo sheets/deets while they are shopping for a used bike.

The fact they are donating it means this is not a revenue line--this is them trying to limit the amount of time they spend on those used bikes moving around out there. If I had a Moots that I picked up used, and wanted the geo deets, I would pay the fee without complaint, and be happy my curiosity could be satisfied.

[MattTuck]

A nominal fee for a valuable service they provide seems like a fair ask.

I am not sure how many such requests they get, but I could imagine it is a hassle to be pulled away from your regular work on a daily basis to field these kinds of questions... most of which are likely related to sales on the secondary market.

[AngryScientist]

how is this a sales pitch?

sounds like a reasonable way to keep the requests manageable and they are donating the money, not keeping it.

makes sense to me.

[Gsinill]

Originally Posted by hubbellm

I received an email from Moots this morning with their latest sales pitches. I noticed something I have not seen before, "SERIAL NUMBER LOOKUP". Thinking maybe this is a new tool on their website, I followed the link to check it out.

It appears Moots is now CHARGING $10 to lookup a serial number and provide a geo sheet. Their pitch on the fee is "In exchange for this service we ask for a $10 payment that we will donate to a cycling related nonprofit. (such as IMBA or People for Bikes for example)."

I've always thought serial number lookup/geo sheet info was part of customer service, never tied to a fee. Also, the vagueness of who/when/what the donation will be is odd to me.

I love my Routt 45, the excellence of that bike is not tied to the internal politics within their building. This type of pissy little fee could be a reflection of changes in their culture, or it could just be nothing and I am blowing it out of proportion.

This.

Nothing new, e.g. Waterford charges $50 for Paramount Provenance report which probably isn't that much more work.
I happily paid for it, BTW.

Also, are there any cycling related non-profits that you wouldn't want your money go to? Otherwise I don't understand your concerns about Moots being vague.

[prototoast]

$10 seems cheap to me. I probably charge $25 if I were in their position.

It might seem reasonable to provide this information for free to the original owner, but sometimes these bikes get sold many times, and a single attractive eBay listing could easily generate a dozen inquiries to moots about the geometry. This takes time, and they deserve to be compensated for it.

[hubbellm]

The "Serial Number Lookup" link is included in an email aimed at selling Moots gear, Moots 40th anniversary gear, etc. They send these regularly to market or "sell" different things.

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

how is this a sales pitch?

sounds like a reasonable way to keep the requests manageable and they are donating the money, not keeping it.

makes sense to me.

[earlfoss]

They must monetize every little thing.

[Ozz]

Seems like they are providing a service and being compensated for it is reasonable.

Frankly, $10 is more than fair for the hassle of dealing with a "non-customer". It probably takes 15-30 minutes minimum of time to read email, look up serial number (confirm serial number if can't be found), compile info and send to requestor.

If you bought from Moots, I would have thought they would provide this with the bike.....Serotta always provided a build sheet that needed to be signed off on before they started.

I wish Seven would do this....I would pay $10 in a heartbeat to get the build sheet for mine....

[merlinmurph]

Sorry, 10 bucks is more than fair. Like the website says, it's a time-consuming request - and it goes to charity. Win-win all the way. In fact, thank you, Moots, for your generosity.

[lookout2015]

They’re not the only ones. Litespeed has a “donate $25 to a bike charity for us to do a lookup”, for example. https://litespeed.com/products/litespeed-serial-number

Seems like a reasonable way to keep the super-casual eBay tire kickers from eating up a small manufacturer’s time, while still providing the service for the customers who actually need it….

[FlashUNC]

If you think $10 is too steep, then avoid asking a watchmaker to dip into their archives for information about an old watch.

[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by earlfoss

They must monetize every little thing.

Well if they are spending a lot of money providing info that was already given to the original owner then yes they should not have to bear that cost. They fact that they are giving the funds to a charity says a lot about the company. Does not seem like a cash grab.

[djg21]

Originally Posted by paredown

It seems to me this is one of those 'discourage the tire-kickers' fees--eBay buyers for example requesting multiple geo sheets/deets while they are shopping for a used bike.

The fact they are donating it means this is not a revenue line--this is them trying to limit the amount of time they spend on those used bikes moving around out there. If I had a Moots that I picked up used, and wanted the geo deets, I would pay the fee without complaint, and be happy my curiosity could be satisfied.

Persons who ask for geometries tend to be those who are purchasing used on the secondary market. Original owners know when they purchased and what the geometries of their bikes are. Moots doesn’t owe customer service to persons who aren’t it’s customers. Why should it assist in cannibalizing its own market? Why should it waste staff time in facilitation sales of used bikes by others?

[alexihnen]

It’s completely fair for a company to charge for time spent. However, I do wonder if there’s an argument for them to simply post the serial number database online. It’s great to have the Vintage Trek serial number database online, for example. Perhaps the company is losing something by sharing en masse, but I’m not sure what.


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