Some of you long time Guitar Ted Blog readers might remember this late July '05 blurb having to do with a slight of hand pulled by Trek on those planning on attending their dealer only show in Madison, Wisconsin. Well, it looks as though that the same monetary shenanigans are being employed once again.
Look, if you own a company that relies heavily upon an independant retail outlet model for sales and you would like them to be informed, supportive, and enthusiastic about selling your products, you probably shouldn't have a prohibitive entry fee to come and see the product at your own expo. Just a thought, guys. I mean, $200.00 a head to just come up and gaze upon your bikes? Last year, we practically had to pull someones teeth to even get our questions answered, because the Trek work force was sooo tired after four days of expo madness. I'm sorry, but the customers at our bike shop expect the same level of service whether we've been at the job for ten hours a day for a whole week. I'm not interested in shelling out my hard earned dough just to get ignored, and wander around a fancy convention center filled with shiny bikes when I can sit home and catch it all on the net for free.
Then there is this whole hierarchy thing with Trek where the best dealers in the country, ( the top 100 or so) get to look first, then the rest of the schmucks get in later to be coddled or ignored based upon how big they are or are not. Nice! Thanks for tossing us some crumbs dudes. We may be a small shop, but we sell Trek bikes that wouldn't get sold if we were not here. The decision to charge this rediculous fee to come and see their bikes isn't very encouraging, by the way.
Well, it all really doesn't matter since I scheduled the Guitar Ted Death March Invitational on the same weekend as the Trek Show in Madison.
Let it be known that I'd rather be riding a bike than getting charged $200.00 to look at some bikes.
Rant over.
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