Odd..Mike's Bikes had orders cancelled by Specialized ???

[Nomad]

The European "family" that bought all 12 Mike's Bikes locations is the Pon Group. They own Univega, Focus, Raleigh, Kalkhoff, Gazelle, Cervélo, Juliana, and Santa Cruz Bicycles. The family business is also the Dutch distributor of Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT, Škoda, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche, MAN, and Caterpillar. Their annual revenue is about €7 billion.

Specialized has reached out to the affected customers, new and old. I've read their email. They lost 12 dealerships in a single geographic market to a well funded competitor. I don't blame them for the scorched earth policy. I've personally had to terminate rogue dealers who went over to the dark side. (Not cycling.) It isn't fun, but Specialized will regroup and make it up to their customers. They're already working on it.

I am confused if the sales were made then they should be honored even if Specialized has good reason to terminate there relationship other then if specialized was not paid which could be the case

 

[Allan47.7339]

A little research will find mschewtt's post in another thread with both emails side by side. One side is obviously trying to make the other side look bad with apparently some success.

Specialized Retaliates Canceling 400 Paid Orders in Nor. Cal.

Mike's Bikes has been the largest retailer of Specialized bikes in North America. They were just purchased by a family owned company based in Amsterdam. Upon learning of this, however, Specialized abruptly terminated their relationship with Mike's. They later notified Mike's Bikes that they...

electricbikereview.com

 

[Jim in Central CA]

A little research will find mschewtt's post in another thread with both emails side by side. One side is obviously trying to make the other side look bad with apparently some success.

Specialized Retaliates Canceling 400 Paid Orders in Nor. Cal.

Mike's Bikes has been the largest retailer of Specialized bikes in North America. They were just purchased by a family owned company based in Amsterdam. Upon learning of this, however, Specialized abruptly terminated their relationship with Mike's. They later notified Mike's Bikes that they...

electricbikereview.com

Thanks for sharing that. It is a good reminder for all of us that there are, almost always, two sides to every story. I got a chuckle out of Mike's Bikes referring to their new owners as "a family owned company". That is like referring to Putin as the "President" of Russia. Technically true, but in reality not even close to the actual meaning of the word.

 

[ava1ar]

Thanks for sharing that. It is a good reminder for all of us that there are, almost always, two sides to every story. I got a chuckle out of Mike's Bikes referring to their new owners as "a family owned company". That is like referring to Putin as the "President" of Russia. Technically true, but in reality not even close to the actual meaning of the word.

Does this justifies the fact that Specialized cancelled the orders of over 400 customers who had bought and paid for their bikes in advance? Business relationships are fine and if Specialized decided to stop working with this store/dealer, but how come customers are involved here? This is the part I don't like at all and it creates a big concern about how Specialized threat their current and future customers.

 

[Mulezen]

Here is a good guess of what went on in the negotiations…Specialize :Sell to us or we’ll pull our bikes.

 

[Elkman]

Specialized reacted in a knee jerk manner and gave no regard to their customers. Not the actions of mature managers at Specialized. With my two Specialized Creo SL e-bikes I have found it impossible to get in touch with anyone by phone or with their contact us form over the past several weeks.

By way of contrast I bought a Scott Scale bike and put in a call and a contact us note to them and I was able to get through to a person in a few minutes who was very helpful. I also received a reply to my contact form that I initiated at 11:03 AM and the reply hit my inbox at 1:12 PM or 2 hours and 10 minutes later. I like Specialized products but their customer service is non-existent.

With the problems reaching anyone at Specialized for my two e-bikes I cancelled by order for a Specialized Rockhopper and bought the Scott Scale instead. Life is too short to waste it trying to get a response from a company if there are other options, like buying from a different company.

 

[kahn]

Specialized reacted in a knee jerk manner and gave no regard to their customers. Not the actions of mature managers at Specialized. With my two Specialized Creo SL e-bikes I have found it impossible to get in touch with anyone by phone or with their contact us form over the past several weeks.

By way of contrast I bought a Scott Scale bike and put in a call and a contact us note to them and I was able to get through to a person in a few minutes who was very helpful. I also received a reply to my contact form that I initiated at 11:03 AM and the reply hit my inbox at 1:12 PM or 2 hours and 10 minutes later. I like Specialized products but their customer service is non-existent.

With the problems reaching anyone at Specialized for my two e-bikes I cancelled by order for a Specialized Rockhopper and bought the Scott Scale instead. Life is too short to waste it trying to get a response from a company if there are other options, like buying from a different company.

I've used their "contact us" form and gotten responses fairly quickly. One request was for those rubber plugs in the non-power chainstay. I finally figured out that is an attachment point for a kickstand. Well, I kicked one of them out and contacted them. He had trouble finding the part by description so I shipped off a photo. He found the part and sent me extras. I now forget what the other contact was for but, again, within a day or two I got a reply. Oh, and most recently, I got an email about a return - the item was sent to the local shop. When they acknowledged the return, they said a refund would be sent but the internal memo mentioned the shop. I contacted to make sure if was *ME* that got the refund. Apology and explained I would be credited. So I really can't complain.

But if they did cancel orders, that would be poor. Although, I can see that it could get complicated as Mike's would not longer be a dealer and assembling bikes and needing parts could complicate delivery. Sending to another shop could be also complicated if only partial payment or deposit. But it still seems lame.

 

[Allan47.7339]

It looks like the Pon Group is winning the social media campaign too.

 

[Mulezen]

IDK about winning…I think Pon would have liked to continue selling a premium brand like Specialized

 

[ava1ar]

It looks like the Pon Group is winning the social media campaign too.

You man overall people preference in this forum? Or in general? So far they didn't do anything affecting their current/future customers in bad way while Specialized did. That is it.

 

[Dallant]

We don't know anything about the past relationship of the new owner with Specialized. It would be good to know the whole story.

Completely irrelevant. Customers are customers and commitments were made! Time to get off the marketing and just do your travel logs.

 

[mschwett]

Completely irrelevant. Customers are customers and commitments were made! Time to get off the marketing and just do your travel logs.

cheap shot aside: yes, commitments were made. BY MIKE'S BIKES TO THE CUSTOMERS. not by specialized. specialized doesn't even know who these 400 people are.

mike's bikes had a relationship - a dealer agreement - with specialized. that agreement was understandably terminated when they sold their business to a competitor of specialized. it would be a bit different if these customers had gone to the specialized website, purchased a bike directly for delivery/assembly at a mike's bikes, and then specialized just went and cancelled the orders. that's not what happened. mike's sold the customers products they didn't have yet, which they'll now never be able to get because they severed their relationship with the manufacturer.

there are clearly two sides to this. the letters sent by both parties make it pretty clear to me (again, i'm a customer of BOTH these businesses and have dealt with both of them) who is taking the high road here. some speculation/reflection on the business by people who know more about it than i do:

...Spesh didn’t cancel the relationship, Mike’s did with the sale to Pon.

And no, Spesh isn’t being “grumpy pants” by not “fulfilling the rest of the existing contract”; the entire point of the contract is to spell out the terms of the relationships, so if the contract is breached or terminated, there is no remaining bits of the contract, it is finished.

I suspect both Mikes new owners and Specialized had conversations about their future relationship long before the sale was finalized. This idea that Specialized just called them up the next day and severed ties without any warning is nonsense.

...if Mike’s hadn’t sold to Pon, they would not have lost their Specialized dealer status for selling to Pon. Simple cause-and-effect crap, that.

Specialized dealer agreements are virtually identical within a market and there is no mystery here. Plus what Mikes did was presell their allotment not custom order 400 bikes on top of their standard dealer order. I am surprised at the lack of basic understanding of the bike industry here. In what world would a manufacturer sell their high in demand products to a competitor who just purchased one of your dealers while your loyal dealers are clamoring for product?

think about it this way. you go to a ford dealer owned by bill. it's a locally owned business which has a distribution/dealer agreement with ford. they don't have a mustang in stock, but say, "hey, we can take a deposit for one when ford send us a batch next year." you give bill your money. in six months, bill decides to sell his dealership... to chevy. it changes from being a ford dealership to a chevy dealership, and bill now works for chevy, who owns his business. is ford going to send a bunch of new mustangs next year to a f'n chevy dealership six months after the original contractual relationship between bill and ford is ended? of course not. the only difference here is that mike's bikes sold more kinds of bikes than just specialized bikes, but legally, there's no difference.

if you've gone into a mike's bikes to buy a specialized bike in pandemic days, you know that they don't custom order you exactly the bike you want. they tell you what they think they'll be getting at various points in time (if you're lucky!) and you give them money if you want them to attach your name to that bike. i have no clue what they do with the money, but unlike other LBS, they asked for FULL PAYMENT in advance or no guarantees. a couple miles across town, the LBS i bought my creo from, and have an aethos on order with did not, which is one reason i placed the "order" with them.

 

[Mulezen]

Note that Pon long had a minority state in Mike’s and there were no changes in management with the buyout. Of course Specialized can terminate their relationship with dealers yet to say Mike’s did is inaccurate. Many stores carry a variety of bikes that compete with each other like my LBS with Trek and Specialized among otherS. Specialized initiated the termination for no good reason I can see.

 

[kahn]

Note that Pon long had a minority state in Mike’s and there were no changes in management with the buyout. Of course Specialized can terminate their relationship with dealers yet to say Mike’s did is inaccurate. Many stores carry a variety of bikes that compete with each other like my LBS with Trek and Specialized among otherS. Specialized initiated the termination for no good reason I can see.

My local bike shop sells the following Road bike brands

Brands​

• Pinarello 31
• Trek 29
• Cannondale 24
• Specialized 19
• GT 3
• Giant 2

• ---

• All-City 1
• Liv 1
• Santa Cruz

And the following mtn bikes

Brands​

• Specialized 31
• Trek 22
• Cannondale 16
• Giant 9
• Santa Cruz 9
• Intense Cycles 6

• ---

• GT 1
• Liv 6
• Specialized S-Works

 

[Elkman]

Actually Specialized which has offices in California is in violation of state laws regarding dealer agreements. The question is whether a company based outside the United States is interested in taking Specialized to court, where they would most likely win, or choose to go with other bike manufacturers of which there are many to chose from in terms of the range of products and price points.

For my part the two Creo SL bikes I bought are the last Specialized brand bikes I will buy in my lifetime. I am becoming a fan of Scott bicycles and even Trek is a consideration.

 

[Dallant]

cheap shot aside: yes, commitments were made. BY MIKE'S BIKES TO THE CUSTOMERS. not by specialized. specialized doesn't even know who these 400 people are.

mike's bikes had a relationship - a dealer agreement - with specialized. that agreement was understandably terminated when they sold their business to a competitor of specialized. it would be a bit different if these customers had gone to the specialized website, purchased a bike directly for delivery/assembly at a mike's bikes, and then specialized just went and cancelled the orders. that's not what happened. mike's sold the customers products they didn't have yet, which they'll now never be able to get because they severed their relationship with the manufacturer.

there are clearly two sides to this. the letters sent by both parties make it pretty clear to me (again, i'm a customer of BOTH these businesses and have dealt with both of them) who is taking the high road here.

In your world if a Ford dealership went out of business, the Ford owner would have no warranty or recourse FOR THE EXISTING OWNERS. Unforgivable. Specialized is crapping on these customers.

 

[mschwett]

In your world if a Ford dealership went out of business, the Ford owner would have no warranty or recourse FOR THE EXISTING OWNERS. Unforgivable. Specialized is crapping on these customers.

uh, no. you’d take your ford to another ford dealership. happens all the time. where did it say that specialized isn’t honoring the warranties of bikes sold at mike’s bikes?!?

 

[Dallant]

I guess it depends on a few factors like “is there a decent Spesh dealership anywhere near me?“, “will they give a crap about me/my bike?”, “do they have the quality and number of personnel to take on all these new customers?”, yada, yada.
I’m sure you wouldn’t be bitching about this if it was you.

 

[TForan]

Specialized just bought three bike stores in my area.

 

[Mulezen]

^ And that’s the real problem…the big boys (any of them) snapping up the locals. It reminds me of the book stores in the 90s.