flip front helmets

[moilami]

What's wrong in white helmet? It is good colour especially in the dusk etc. You need to be seen on the road.

[barnone]

I also have the LS2 FF369. However what I did is, try it in a shop to find out the right size and order it online so I can choose the exact color/pattern I like!

I think that is a chicken sh*t way to do business. If I try it on in a shop then I buy it there.

[Barry]

I think that is a chicken sh*t way to do business. If I try it on in a shop then I buy it there.

Well the place I tried has like 15 helmets (inluding stock) so they maybe had like only 2 different colours but a different size of this model. If I remember correctly it was a white one that fitted, and I definitely didn't want a white one. If I ask for another color in my size and they don't even suggest they can get it for me, then screw them!

[slabo]

I think that is a chicken sh*t way to do business. If I try it on in a shop then I buy it there.

If you're getting ripped off by 400quai, maybe, maybe you'd think about it. I too want to be a 'helmet buddy' I'll take the white one. But I live in Kunming, the shops around here don't stock much that many brands. I'll try my luck once I get the bike back.

[Gardo]

I think that is a chicken sh*t way to do business. If I try it on in a shop then I buy it there.

i see it this way, I went to go check out a few lids and al they were interested in was sticking me in an Aria or Shoe, not what i wanted and the sales guys turned off. So i left and ordered my helmets online with the info i had gotten at the shop

If you are a service oriented shop focus on service and you may get a sale or better yet return business. The other aspect is if they dont have what you want you can find it elsewhere ie the internet

[barnone]

OK just buy the helmet online but don't go into the store to try on the helmet. Of course the online shop will be less expensive.

[euphonius]

I think that is a chicken sh*t way to do business. If I try it on in a shop then I buy it there.

Barnone, In principle I agree with your position. But here in China it works better in principle than it does in reality. Retail is a vicious cycle here, with customers giving no value to service and selection, and retailers responding by giving no service or selection. In the case of the shop I mentioned, Chemichen, it actually IS a nationwide online shop and its online prices are the same as its in-store prices. But the selection is spotty at best. They have no sophisticated approach to stocking. Some helmets they'll have just one piece, take it or leave it. Others they'll have more, but not in a full range of colors, sizes, etc. The main reason for this is that there is no sophisticated wholesale dealer network, with sales people who check in to see what's moving, what's needed, what's failing in the market.

On the day I was in the shop, there were no other customers, but the three or four employees paid me zero heed. It seemed they were packing up some helmets for shipping, so the online side of things was important to them. I went around trying to figure out their selection, and finally went and stood in front of the girl at the main desk and waited. She did nothing. Another guy saw me, walked around a bit, ignored me. Perhaps they were afraid I'd not speak Chinese, but whatever was going on their minds it was NOT customer service.

This is the state of play in China today. Service is not a well-established concept. Though I did eventually get some help with some helmets in that shop, I did not get a sense that they cared a whit that I find what I wanted. They wanted a transaction and that's about it.

So much as I respect your point of view, and as much as I want to "vote with my pocketbook" and support dealers that are worthy, China is not like America where service is a huge part of life and is expected by customers. (Whether they actually get service in America is another question in these days of vast find-it-yourself box stores that put service-minded players like Jamestown Computer under intense stress.)

I do plan to buy an HJC helmet at the Chemichen shop, but only because they have the specific item, color and size that I want. I'm happy about that, and will thank them, and will tell them I've promoted their shop in MCM precisely because of their large selection and good prices.

cheers

[barnone]

Don't get me wrong, I buy my helmets off the internet because they cost less but I don't go into a local shop and try on helmets and then buy that helmet off the internet.

[Lao Jia Hou]

One of the unique things about China is foreigner-pricing ... walk into a shop, and the price escalates dramatically! A fact of life in China. It is extremely rare to see any displayed prices on goods in the shops.

Often (and I emphasize "often"), I have been in a shop, been quoted a price, then subsequently discovered it at one third the price online. To say it is frustrating (always being given the foreigner price) is an understatement.

Back in the day when I was a professor in China, my students would INSIST that I never buy anything on my own. In fact, they would never let me come into the shops with them - I would have to wait on the sidewalk down the block. They'd get the Chinese price. Of course, since they were Finance students, I always suspected there was a buyers' commission, which is fine.

Now, I do my research online - head to the shops - negotiate by quoting the online price, and then let them get reasonably close to it (yes, i realize overhead for bricks & mortar ... yes, they are providing a service ... yes, I will pay a reasonable premium). Still, if the shop does not have my color, size, whatever ... I'm off to a competitor, which may be another bricks & mortar, but also might be an online shop.

[felix]

Euphonious, interesting that you had spotty service at chemizhen; when i was there on saturday they were all lovely to me, particularly the young guy with light brown died hair who seemed to know what he was talking about (well i am a dashingly handsome fellow). I suspect your voice is not as euphonious as mine. I felt a bit bad because i spent an hour in there and i didn't buy the helmet off them, they didn't have the colour i wanted in my size. I did howevere buy a (very nice) pair of gloves from them for 350 kuai which did ease my guilt.

Ultimately i bought it from one of the shitty small shops in the jiaojilu bike city. I'm pretty sure it's a chinese made helmet because it's 'the high end model' that a lot of the smaller shops have amongst all the LS2 and Yohe lids. I do still prefer buying from a real shop rather than online if the price is comparable; it'll be a great loss if online shops one day eradicate local stores. Having said that, i'm with laojiahuo on the laowai price issue here. I rarely buy something without having checked the price on taobao first. When i was trying on the helmet i heard the wife say "给他八百多" at which point all of a sudden i could speak chinese and calmly explained that the going price was 616 kuai and that was what i intended to pay. They gave it to me for 615, even though i normally accept 10% over taobao price for the laowai tax.

Euphonious a white helmet is perfectly acceptable, i would even go as far as saying that it is preferable to hot pink. I wore a white helmet last year and i dare say i looked ravishing in it.