The Pro's Closet at it again

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by prototoast

While that may be true, if I were TPC, I might have at least filed the claim so that the shipping company could have been the one to deny the customer, not me.

What difference does it make? They told the customer why they weren't filing the claim.

[AngryScientist]

I dont really understand reddit, and certainly didnt read through all the comments, but I'm suspicious of the story that person tells.

According to the poster, he has good photos of the bike being packed (undamaged); and talked to a person at TPC who says this happens all the time, that the poster packed the bike well but that they would not file a claim.

All of those things considered together don't make much sense to me, which makes me think the story can not be taken at face value.

IMO.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Heisenberg

huh, interesting:

https://www.reddit.com/r/cycling/com...e_pros_closet/

tl;dr, guy ships them an Aethos to sell, arrives with a broken frame, presumably damaged in-transit (guy has photos of bike before shipping), TPC says it was packed perfectly and this happens all the time, but they're not willing to file an insurance claim with their shipper and promptly ship the bike back to the guy leaving him high and dry.

Back when I did returns for a big publicly-traded internet cycling retailer, this would've been a NQA "take care of the customer" moment, especially given the guy has a history of purchases with them. But also, salty grains, it's a Reddit post.

PE money baaaaad

Claims are normally the stuff of the shipper, not the receiver.

[RoosterCogset]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Claims are normally the stuff of the shipper, not the receiver.

Isn't TPC both the shipper and the receiver? It's their label billing to their account?

[Pegoready]

Looks like TPC and Radavist parted ways. Reading in between the positive press releases I wonder what happened. I for one believe TPC puts out excellent self-branded content on YouTube and over email and always wondered why they need The Radavist.

https://theradavist.com/the-radavist...ndent-website/

[KJMUNC]

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

Yeah, $1700 seems pretty optimistic for a 5 year-old frame that you can get new for $2700 now.

(Cinch bike?)

Yup, which is why I was ultimately happy-ish with my offer, but then again I'd still argue there are very few frames that perform like a rim brake O2. $1700 isn't a bargain, but anything sub-$1500 is hard to beat given the performance of that frame (plus extras included)

[tikpman]

Originally Posted by wkeller79

This week TPC refused to buy my pretty mint Waterford RS-22, which has mechanical shifting, so now we know old Di2 and fine stainless is a no-go, haha

Weird they took the Vanilla single speed, but not mine.

very meticulous build and bike overall is beast. have to say i guess i am a noob and never heard of this bike brand. gotta do my research.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by prototoast

It's not a great sign if they're cash constrained, but if you look at the timing, it's possible they've stretched themselves thin stocking up for the holiday season, and could realistically expect to have the money for payouts 60 days from now.

Bumping this one, boy does it look like they stretched themselves thin stocking up for this holiday season, and what a holiday season they've had. They should have cash on hand to pay out after this.

[ridethecliche]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Bumping this one, boy does it look like they stretched themselves thin stocking up for this holiday season, and what a holiday season they've had. They should have cash on hand to pay out after this.

What do we know about their holiday sales so far?

[Rodewald]

After having a bike I thought would be of interest to The Pro’s Closet rejected (because it had a repair: a layer of carbon had been worn away because the original owner had run tires larger than spec—actually, the company that sold it to him specced the bike that way, but that’s another story—and out of an abundance of caution I had it fixed even though two shops said it was structurally fine), I did a quick analysis of the 2,000+ bikes on TPC’s website. Somewhere between 10 and 20 percent of all the bikes in stock at the time, including hybrid/commuter bikes, had been repaired by Broken Carbon. I sampled small and large brands chosen at random. The shocker for me was BMC: 14 of 30 bikes had been repaired at Broken Carbon. TPC told me they rejected mine because they don’t take bikes that have been repaired (I pointed out that my repair had been done where they get their repairs done and comes with the same 5-year warranty they offer). I actually sent my data to someone I know at a cycling mag. He had one of his writers do a piece, but it was yet another in a long, boring line of is-carbon-strong-or-not stories and totally missed the points I thought were interesting, including TPC selling bikes they wouldn’t buy and the possibility that a lot of riders are on damaged carbon frames and don’t know it (or a lot of riders know it and are morally bankrupt).

[old fat man]

Has anyone sold them a bike recently? They seem to be drowning in inventory so not buying a repaired frame doesn't surprise me. Maybe the majority of repaired ones they're selling have been sitting around for months. Maybe they have a direct connection with the repair place that allows unbelievable margins.

Who knows what the story is with their current inventory and purchasing decisions? Certainly not us.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by old fat man

Has anyone sold them a bike recently? They seem to be drowning in inventory so not buying a repaired frame doesn't surprise me. Maybe the majority of repaired ones they're selling have been sitting around for months. Maybe they have a direct connection with the repair place that allows unbelievable margins.

Who knows what the story is with their current inventory and purchasing decisions? Certainly not us.

My impression has been that the repaired bikes they sell are not bikes they bought as repaired or broken, but bikes that broke in transit or in the warehouse. They probably have a deal with the local carbon repair place, but I'm sure they would prefer to never have any broken/repaired bikes.

[Philster]

I gotta say that I'm puzzled by the 60 day delayed payment option. I just got an offer and the 60 day option was 125% of the immediate cash offer. They are basically paying interest at a 150% annual rate. What healthy business does that?

What am I missing?

[rice rocket]

Originally Posted by Philster

I gotta say that I'm puzzled by the 60 day delayed payment option. I just got an offer and the 60 day option was 125% of the immediate cash offer. They are basically paying interest at a 150% annual rate. What healthy business does that?

What am I missing?

You're assuming your offer hasn't already been discounted 25%.

Maybe tell us if you think your quote is vs. the market though.

[mistermo]

Cash Flow. If they get your bike sold before they have to pay you, easy money for them - cash flow positive. If they're short on cash and can't pay you now, then this is a way to get you to subsidize their inventory.

My guess is that cash is tight for them right now so they hope to get it sold before they have to pay you. This is best case scenario, of course. If they go belly up....then?