An Exercise Bike: Game vs Makro

Posted by NessWorld on Nov 25, 2009 in Health | 5 comments

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I worked in retail, for about 18 months. I learned something vitally important. Well actually 2 things. First off, I learned that I never *ever* wanted to work in retail again, but more importantly, I learned how important customer service is.

It’s not rocket science.

It’s not even difficult,  but it requires, a degree of energy, a modicum of patience (this does not apply to twenty something computer store clerks of course), and most of all a burning desire to succeed (hit your weekly/monthly target).

As a result of this short time in the retail industry, I am surprisingly sympathetic with store clerks. They spend long hours on their feet, have ridiculous targets to meet, and are often not incentivised to do so.

However, it has also made me increasingly dissatisfied with bad service. Because as I said earlier, it’s not rocket science, and a lack of service is not only careless and unnecessary, it just plain PISSES ME OFF.

Take this weekend for example. Thanks to an unexpected tax rebate, after paying off some bills, the husband and I decided that it was time to add to our home gym set up, and to speed up the recovery of the husbands knee after surgery, and  so we set off on a Sunday morning with both kids in tow to check out some exercise bikes.

Our first stop was Sportsmans Warehouse.

Pros: Nice selection of really high end equipment, and had we not decided to stick to a smallish pre-determined budget, we could have really set ourselves up with a really good bicycle.

Cons: Had to seek out a sales assistant as they were all chatting at the back of the store. The one who did eventually reluctantly come over to help us was not knowledgeable enough to answer our questions (about tension/resistance/magnetisation etc) and frankly I didn’t like his attitude, which was one of ‘Oh this is such a waste of my time, because no one ever buys an exercise bike on a Sunday morning when they have their kids with them.” HAH.

Also: we asked about getting the battery in my Polar Heart Rate Monitor replaced, and we were advised by the guys at the service desk to send it to Polar ourselves, because they would take too long to do it. Which to me translates as, “We’re lazy bastards, do your own work, why the hell should we service your watch, for a measly battery?” Nice. Management, it might be time to chat to your peons about customer service, and brand management, and oh yes, vision.

Our Second Stop on our quest was Game.

Pros: A fairly good selection of bikes, with a good price range.

Cons: Spent nearly 10 minutes looking at bikes, without being greeted even ONCE by staff. Had to ask someone, to find someone to help in that area.

Notes: However, once that sales clerk turned up, he was extremely helpful, knew his products, and went and found one that was not on display, and offered to set it up for us. However, and this is what really annoyed me, we asked the sales guy if we could get a cash discount. In this current economic climate, with stores going out of business left right and centre. I reckon that stores should be hungry to make sales. It is a big ticket item, and it would barely dent their margin. Good for the sales guy, and he went to ‘get authorisation’.  Management said, “No.”  So I said, “Okay, then we’re not taking it.”  Sales guy then said that the store was putting this particular bike on promotion on Thursday (down from ZAR 2699, to R2499 – a discount of approx 7%).  So we asked why they can’t give it to us for a 5 % discount, and let us buy it today, given that we were standing right there, and willing to take it.

The answer came back, “No.”

So we left.

I just WILL NOT buy an item of that expense without getting a good deal. It’s not even like I was asking for the promotional price. Sorry Game, but you missed out on a nice sale, on a quiet Sunday morning. Sucks to be you!

So we then drove to our third stop, Makro.

Pros: Busy, exciting promotions going on, in store. Time between us looking at an exercise bike, and getting attention from a sales guy? Approximately 5.6423 seconds. Even though he was demonstrating a treadmill to another couple at the same time.

Price? ZAR R2499.00

Deal? Done.

Here’s the one we bought:

It was fairly easy to assemble, given that it came in a box, although it did require two people to do this – one to hold stuff in position, and the other to turn the screws in the right place.

Time to assemble from start to finish:  About 20 minutes.

How does it work?  Really, really well. My top three points about this exercise bike, are:

1. It is seriously quiet. I mean my very light sleeping children to do not wake up, when I stumble out of bed at 05h30am and have a work out.
2. The seat is easily adjustable (same as the ones at a Gym), and its comfortable. Yeah, why should my butt take strain just because it’s exercising right?
3. It has a built in heart rate sensor, so I don’t have the added shlep of putting my polar heart rate monitor on (plus it needs a new battery anyway).

What are your experiences with buying big ticket items like this? Did you get good service? Bad service? Send us your thoughts! Leave a comment with your experiences!

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