Yep. It's probably smoke about the liability thing too.
Heard of that as well as dealers charging a premium for tires not purchased from them.
My solution has been pretty simple. Go to another dealer and tell others about the first dealer's practice. It added 100 miles to my round trip, but besides that new dealer, FJRGoodies.com, installing tires I bought off the Internet and being a great dealer.....they'll match prices in the future.
I've got no problem supporting local businesses to a certain price level (say within 10 or 15%), but when the stealers try and add 50%+ to the price I say no way.
...and don't be bashful. Feel free to share your dealer's name here......
I can't say I blame them for the practice. It's only gonna get worse, too. In my industry, there is a sudden proliferation of on-line sources, especially in the plumbing and electrical trades. Here's what happens:
Joe Schmoe wants his kitchen remodeled, does his due diligence and shops three local kitchen remodelers and starts learning about all shorts of good stuff which piques his curiosity. So, Joe being ever the frugal and smart buyer, jumps on-line and starts researching kitchen faucets. Well after 20 or so seconds up pops the info on the very same faucet one of the kitchen designers was recommending and was including in her budget for Joe's project.
So Joe's kitchen designer presents the project and the budget and asks for Joe's check to get the project going, but Joe has and objection; "Ya know Jane, you're quoting me 25% more for that Grohe faucet than what I found on the internet on www.wehaveeveryfuckingfaucetintheworld.com/attwentyfivepercentlessthanyourdealer/alldaylong.html and I'm not going to order it from you."
Well, not wanting to risk the balance of the sale, Jane nixes the faucet from the order and gives Joe the exact model number and order code for the faucet so that it will fit the custom copper sink he wants. They ink the deal and Jane goes about her business of putting Joe's kitchen into production. Joe goes home and turns on ESPN2's Top Ten show because he gets a chubby drooling over the show's host, eats a TV dinner, downs a couple of beers and falls asleep with a bag of Cheeto's in his arm...
Fast forward six weeks and Joe gets a call from Jane, his kitchen designer. She's giving him and update on his project's production and reminds him that the job is to begin in two weeks and has the faucet arrived yet? Yikers!!!!! Joe got stewed on Cheeto's and forgot to order the faucet! So he pops on-line and places his order. Uh, oh... His email confirmation says that model is on backorder and will not ship for four weeks! So he calls the vendor and talks to a service rep who offers the same faucet of a slightly different configuration not aware that only the back ordered model will fit the custom sink.
Well, the day of the remodeling comes and goes and everything is going just ducky until the plumber calls Jane one day and says there's a problem with the faucet. It's not the right model and won't fit the sink that has just been permanently installed under a 1,200 lb slab of custom cut, 1-1/2" slab of Uba Tuba granite.
Jane calls Joe to advise him of the problem and Joe goes off. His daughter is to be wed at his home that Saturday, there's to be 200 guests and the kitchen must be done! Jane explains that he ordered the wrong item and or the vendor shipped him the wrong part and advises him that the plumber will have to charge another trip fee to install the proper faucet when it does arrive. Joe goes stratospheric and demands that Jane fix the problem or he's going to call his lawyer and sue her for not completing the project in time as she promised.
See, the problem is that a vendor who has to install the item being purchased has no chance of being able to prevent this type of problem and usually takes the brunt of the blame and loses money through no fault of their own when something does go wrong. What if you had taken him the tires you got over the internet and during the mounting procedure, he discovered that you got the wrong sizes, but he only made that discovery after he pulled the old hoops and your group ride to WFO was to depart in an hour and he had no replacements on hand?
How about the fact that he has overhead for a fully staffed showroom, parts and service department, advertising and health plans. Because like any good businessman, he has calculated a certain percentage of his profit coming from sales of labor
and products in order to keep the doors open and improve his business. That ain't gonna happen on service alone. Well it can, but as Iggy stated, he's gonna charge a premium for labor only and I can't blame him one bit.
Then you have the issue of warranty. Who takes care of the labor on defective material? In the scenario above, the kitchen designer would because she's formed a service budget for just such cases. I doubt that any dealer would take care of the labor to off and on someone else's defective tires and you can put money down that the tire maker won't cover it either.
So, just because you've saved some bucks buying over the 'net, don't think that in the end you won't wind up paying the same, if not more the local retail market rates...
As John Rushkin once wrote: "There is hardly anything in the world that some cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper and those people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey."
