What bike?

When I ordered my bike from Tchibo (the coffee shop people) on 14th April I got an email confirming they had my order and telling me I would be contacted by a transport company to arrange a time to deliver the bike. On 16th April after waiting for two days for the transport people to call I got another another email from Tchibo saying 'sorry, the bikes have sold out'!

I would have thought that a slick company like Tchibo would have stock management systems that refused orders (or at least didn't confirm them) once stock had sold. Hmmm. My formerly warm feelings towards Tchibo have cooled considerably. I am wondering just how many Holland-Fahrrad were actually for sale?

I bought a bike!

(Photo from Tchibo website.)
Yesterday I spent ages looking for the university second hand bike shop but I discovered when found it that it was a repair workshop and the second hand bikes they had were expensive. Then I saw a Bikes For Sale sign in the Tchibo coffee shop, celebrating Tchibo's 60th birthday. The bikes are simple but robust and I bought one (online) as soon as I got home. Now I am waiting for a call from the delivery company. The sale sign is gone both from the shops and from the website as the bikes have sold out, even though the sale lasts until end of May. Tchibo is one of the companies that continues to do very well despite the downturn - they have clever marketing.