Beware of Quality Bike Parts and their inflexibility with co-ops
Hi all, Wanted to warn y'all of dealing with QBP.
After 7 years of having a dealer agreement with QBP for your basic small potatoes shop stuff, we decided to shut down our account with them over their new inability to ship to a new ship-to location. I succinctly explained the nature of our shop (volunteer, limited shop hours, etc.) and necessity of shipping to a different location, but it fell on deaf ears.
Damn shame, because they said we were an excellent account with good financial management.
I also wasn't pleased that they said they denied other new co-ops an account based on similar issues.
This comes after their corporate policy of tightening up on third party suppliers, designed to keep the local bike shop in business. Ironically, we're still around after multiple for-profit local bike shops in our area have failed, and as a local community bike shop, we're now being hurt by the very policy designed to protect LBSs.
We still have an account with United Bicycle Supply, and I'm exploring new accounts with Cyclone and Seattle Bike Supply.
Can anyone recommend other suppliers that support our shops with community missions?
Thanks, Leslie Durham Bike Co-op
J&B Importers inc!! They have a warehouse like 30 miles from you!! 919-877-1002 give them a call. Troy Bike Rescue has been gettin our stuff from them for almost 10 years!! Its been great! On Mar 25, 2014 2:08 PM, "Leslie Peteya" lesliepeteya@gmail.com wrote:
One more for J&B. I'm not sure of their stance on supporting non-profits but they've worked for us. We've ordered a couple of thousand dollars worth of parts from them over three years and as far as I know there haven't been hiccups.
theBrokeSpoke Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 2:24 PM, Wm Dakota Callaschai < mylifeinthenow@gmail.com> wrote:
Sopo has been using Hawley forever but I've never been in charge of dealing with them directly. Being in Atlanta, we tend to receive shipments next day from them to our PO box offsite with no problems.
On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 2:33 PM, Luke Box lukebox@gmail.com wrote:
"They will take action to shut down accounts that are abused to protect their products, even for seemingly minor PR offenses"
Yeah, I know that's been happening lately in the third party supplier industry, but unfortunately we're taking the hit for it.
We're not open during normal business hours because we're volunteer run, so our hours are precisely opposite of that (most volunteers are 9-5 types, hospital workers or grad students).
Best, Leslie
On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 4:33 PM, Bobby Brown bobby@sopobikes.org wrote:
We have a neighboring business owner agree to sign for the deliveries. He has a key to the shop but more often just holds on to the boxes at his place until we come claim them.
Enzo Loconte Board Secretary Bikerowave
On Mar 25, 2014, at 2:14 PM, Leslie Peteya lesliepeteya@gmail.com wrote:
we work with all the aforementioned distributors, and prefer QBP for the selection and the fact that they have a warehouse in Ogden, UT. They've also supported our Ogden Shop through thick and thin. In my experience QBP accounts fit best with co-ops with regular hours and administrative presence during the 9-5 business day. They will take action to shut down accounts that are abused to protect their products, even for seemingly minor PR offenses.
On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 12:24 PM, Wm Dakota Callaschai < mylifeinthenow@gmail.com> wrote:
QBP is also one of the 6 that still distributes Shimano products. J&B doesn't anymore unless it's old stock. The other 5 are Giant USA, Trek Bicycle, KHS Inc., Seattle Bike Supply and Raleigh America.
On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 4:21 PM, David Eyer Davis < davey@bicyclecollective.org> wrote:
it would be good to forward this tread to QBP
On Tuesday, March 25, 2014 11:25 AM, Wm Dakota Callaschai mylifeinthenow@gmail.com wrote:
J&B Importers inc!! They have a warehouse like 30 miles from you!! 919-877-1002 give them a call. Troy Bike Rescue has been gettin our stuff from them for almost 10 years!! Its been great! On Mar 25, 2014 2:08 PM, "Leslie Peteya" lesliepeteya@gmail.com wrote:
Hi all,
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This thread has been forwarded to a QBP employee active in community bike shops.
Kevin Dwyer The Bicycle Collective
IMPORTANT: This communication is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. It may contain information that is confidential and/or protected by the attorney-client or other applicable privilege and Federal . If you are not the intended recipient, or if you are not responsible for delivering this communication to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that the disclosure of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify me immediately by telephone at (801) 647-0797, and return the original message to the above address, via email. Thank you.
I wonder if they just got content of thread and not everyones emails.
On Tuesday, March 25, 2014, Kevin Dwyer kevidwyer@gmail.com wrote:
It might have been a good things to ask the contributors if they were ok with this being public or going outside of the thread.
On Tuesday, March 25, 2014, Froilan Eliseo Landeros froilanderos@gmail.com wrote:
And, summarized. My apologies to any, I'll respect that going forward.
On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 8:51 PM, Kevin Dwyer kevidwyer@gmail.com wrote:
Our local J&B rep understands what we do and that we are non-profit, and weve had a good relationship since the beginning. The closest warehouse is 30 minutes by car, and we can and do pick stuff up by bike or trailer on some occasions. so they also know us by local reputation to some extent. To set up the account, we did have to go through the national office, but my dealings with them recently were just to change the account name because we had been ordering under the name of our old fiscal sponsor (prior to 501c3 days) for several years.
Andrew troy bike rescue
On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 10:53 PM, Kevin Dwyer kevidwyer@gmail.com wrote:
We have accounts with QBP, SBS, and United Bicycle Supply. We've submitted applications to J&B twice over the last four years and been turned down both times as a nonprofit community bike program.
Is this a new policy direction for J&B? Is it at the discretion of our regional representative? Any advice?
Boston Square Community Bikes Oakdale Neighbors 1260 Kalamazoo SE Grand Rapids, MI 49507 www.oakdaleneighbors.org 616-248-2848
"Like" Oakdale Neighbors on Facebook. Join our Facebook Group. Connect on Nextdoor.
For similar reasons and unpredictable drivers from UPS, a few years ago we arranged for our QBP shipments to be sent to a nearby UPS store. We have to pay a small handling fee at the store, but it solved our delivery challenges from QBP. We worked with our regional sales rep at QBP to set it up.
Regarding J&B, we also have to use the UPS store address as their delivery driver was not able to call in advance to allow a volunteer to meet them at the shop.
Regards, Doug Cutter Fort Collins Bike Co-op
Sent from my iPhone
It's time to let them know that the Community bike Project IS the new local bike shop model! As a whole, we must be a lot of their business.
Josh
On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 11:08 AM, Leslie Peteya lesliepeteya@gmail.comwrote:
It would be nice if there was a person who could represent the concept of a bike collective to QBP and other distributers. (does anyone have a particularly good relationship? want to try it out?)
Bike Farm has had some issues with setting up an account. The rep said we could only order chains and tubes and other necessary parts. If they saw anything high end, they would pull the account.
For those who are wondering, Cyclone has always been good to us. They even gave us a discount on our new tools when we had a fire last summer. SBS is great as well. The two accounts combined get us pretty much what ever we need.
I've also thrown the idea around about starting a Bike Collective Distribution Company... When I started to research it, I found that getting supplies would take relationships in China, or relationships with people who have relationships in China.
I don't currently know the right people. But I've been keeping my ears open for opportunities. If anyone on this list knows the right people, please feel free to contact me.
-momoko
On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 7:48 AM, Joshua Muir muirjoshua@gmail.com wrote:
I forwarded a summary of the thread to a Bicycle Collective board member and QBP employee that is part of a team responsible for community engagement. I'll check in with him and see where it is at.
On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 9:17 AM, momoko saunders analyst@bikefarm.orgwrote:
participants (15)
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Bobby Brown -
breathingplanet . -
David Eyer Davis -
David Oliver -
Doug Cutter -
Froilan Eliseo Landeros -
james bledsoe -
Joshua Muir -
Kevin Dwyer -
Leslie Peteya -
Luke Box -
momoko saunders -
Tom Bulten -
Wm Dakota Callaschai -
wormsign＠gmail.com