Adventure Bike Rider Forum

It's illegal to charge a "re-stocking fee" Ralph, so if an online shop tries to do that, they're in breach of Distance Selling Regs.

Margins on specialist clothing (ie bike kit) are not high at all when you have manufacturer, shipping, (usually) import duty and import vat, distributor, shipping, retailer, shipping, hence it's tough to make money on clothing. Just because something is a high value item for example does not mean the retailer is making a lot of money on it, usually it's far from the case.

Re couriers, to get a good value service both outbound and inbound from pick up relies on very high volumes (ie Next etc). A bike shop is never going to have those volumes so can't really ever get into a situation where they can economically offer it. They can get "reasonable" rates, but when big firms are paying what's effectively pence for courier services there is no way a bike shop can even get close so that makes it tough.

From a consumers point of view, when buying a "technical" item (ie a bike jacket, helmet etc), I'd always get it from a site which has a bricks and mortar presence as well. If there is a warranty issue it's far easier to deal with (in my experience) than a faceless online site. Bricks and mortar presence means higher prices for obvious reasons, but many people just see the headline figure and don't think that a product might need some support where you can take it to a shop and discuss the issue and have them deal with it for you. If that happens, the marginally higher price can be more than worth it.

Mike54 wrote:It's illegal to charge a "re-stocking fee" Ralph, so if an online shop tries to do that, they're in breach of Distance Selling Regs.

Interesting...

http://www.riderz.co.uk/returns.html

Used these guys a few times and they've been brilliant, including with returns. One set of panniers I returned the reason was I'd found my old ones, which I thought I'd lost hence ordering new ones.

http://www.2wheeljunkie.co.uk/

Hot off the press I'm afraid guys:

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/mcn/news/ ... istration/

I feel sorry for people who got gift vouchers for christmas and to the staff who haven't been paid for the last two months. Sad times .

Drive down prices & businesses go to the wall

Happens all the time in the motorcycle industry - we all want cheap & then wonder why there is no dealer to buy stuff from

I do feel for the HG staff, what a crappy time of year to lose your job

I worked for HG ten years ago in the "good" times, but for me it was anything but....i had to be self employed but was still at the beck and call of the management, some of whom were best described as chancers. Ultimately my face didn't fit with them and one Monday morning a couple of management heavyweights appeared and gave me 5 minutes to get my stuff gathered up - and i didn't get paid either.
As with a great many things in life it turned out to be a blessing in disguise and i can look back on the whole experience without too much bitterness.

My Tuareg suit and gore-tex gloves are still going strong all these years later (thumbs)

Ralph, it's not on for a firm to charge a "re-stocking fee". It would be deemed to be a liquidated damages clause which is not acceptable under the DSRs and would certainly not be enforceable in law even if it was in their T&Cs. As a consumer you need to be put back in the position you were in before the purchase (less the postage back to the firm as long as they have said that on their site, if they don't mention it, they have to pay it). I would suggest that you avoid any online retailer who mentions "re-stocking charge"

I'm sad to see them go, but not really surprised if their UK shops are anything to go by. In a shrinking market where the only growth areas have been adventure bikes and scooters Hein Gericke seemed to have little in their stores to offer either, instead plugging away with the same old sports bike gear in the stores and vague promises of things in their catalogue arriving in-store "soon".

It's now nearly a decade since a couple of actors went round the world on BMWs and sales of GSes went through the roof and yet HG just didn't seem to see it. My local store has never had more than a couple of off-road type boots nor a helmet with a peak nor a decent luggage system. It's been bum-freezer jackets in Rossi-rep colours with anything vaguely touring related poked in a corner.

I fear they were a victim of their own apathy.

HG finished for me years ago, when their prices started going up and the quality started going down.

Finished for me when their largest sizes were still only suitable for an anorexic midget.