Buying on the net

I've been happily buying stuff on the net for years. Only once did anything
ever go wrong and that was easily rectified thanks to a responsive vendor.

Until this year, that is. This year I've bought heaps of bike stuff on the
net - or tried to, in some cases - and it's been one frustration after
another. Well, I had one purchase go right, so credit to Rick Shapiro of
Gear-To-Go Tandems(http://www.gtgtandems.com/) where credit is due, but the
rest have been nightmares. What is it about bike shops that they can't do
business on the net properly? I mean, in one case I had to get the local
BBB involved, and I've never had to resort to them before.

If they don't want to do business with people outside the US or Canada then
fine. Just be up front and say so. But they should not say they take
international orders and then stuff their customers around.

My current nightmare is with Performance. A while back I wanted to buy some
stuff from Nashbar but didn't because they don't use USPS and that's a deal
killer because of the outrageous courier costs of UPS and FedEx. I read
somewhere that Nashbar and Performance were owned by the same people or
organisation or whatever, so I asked Performance if they used USPS for
international orders and they said yes. No worries. I ordered some stuff.
But the order confirmation email said ground shipping, which wasn't right
according to my understanding, so I went to Performance's web site to try to
track my order status before checking with them, only the system couldn't
find my order. I duly fired off an email to customer service saying there
was a problem with the system not finding my order and would they please
check its shipping method.

After much delay it turns out the *******s cancelled my order. Only they
didn't have the decency to tell me. If I hadn't queried them I'd still be
blissfully waiting for my package and that's just not right.

It turns out they can't automatically verify my credit card billing address
with my bank. They didn't alert me to this problem. They didn't offer to
work with me to resolve it. No, they just cancelled the order and left me
hanging. The *******s.

Now they say if I want I can order again but I have to pay with an
international money order drawn in US funds. That costs me more and I'm not
ordering from them for the privilege of paying more. It's not the only
option either. There is an alternative, one I've had to use once before,
which is to fax a photocopy of my credit card to them. It's an unduly
paranoid pain in the arse but it's doable. I will not use a money order.
Stuff them. I have a perfectly good credit card issued by the second
biggest bank in Australia and apart from anything else I'm not giving up the
protection it offers me. When it comes to security it's not all about them.

Why do they have to make it so hard? What is it about bike shops that they
are so clueless about doing business? I'm absolutely serious, I have never
had any problems like this with any vendor in any other market segment on
the net. It's only bike stuff. I won't bore you with the details of how
other vendors of bike stuff have stuffed me around in ways great and small
but I am absolutely fed up with their stupidity. Unfortunately
organisations like Performance get away with being bureaucratic and
unresponsive because they're on the other side of the world from their
international customers. It's a shame.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

The only US on-line shops I deal with these days are Vechios (Peter
Chisholm), Harris (Sheldon Brown) and Business Cycles (John Darcy).
These three shops are really good people, and will work hard to get the
obscure stuff that my addiction calls for, but aren't discounters.

For discounted mass-market stuff (Campy toys and tyres), I find the UK
shops are great. My current faves are Parkers, Total Cycling (now that
they use parcel force rather than DHL), and Deeside.

Cheers,

Suzy


--
suzyj

"suzyj" wrote in message

The only US on-line shops I deal with these days are Vechios (Peter
Chisholm), Harris (Sheldon Brown) and Business Cycles (John Darcy).
These three shops are really good people, and will work hard to get
the obscure stuff that my addiction calls for, but aren't discounters.

The time I contacted Sheldon he didn't have what I wanted in stock so he
tried to sell me something else. I eventually found someone who wanted to
sell me what I wanted to buy.

For discounted mass-market stuff (Campy toys and tyres), I find the UK
shops are great. My current faves are Parkers, Total Cycling (now
that they use parcel force rather than DHL), and Deeside.

Don't you find postage from the UK to be a killer?

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

"DRS" wrote:

The time I contacted Sheldon he didn't have what I wanted in stock so he
tried to sell me something else. I eventually found someone who wanted to
sell me what I wanted to buy.

I too wanted to sell you what you wanted to buy. Unfortunately,
Avocet had been unable to fill our long-standing order for those
tyres. We had been waiting for quite a few weeks for them, and had no
idea when they would arrive from Korea.

Avocet doesn't go through distributors, they are the only wholesale
source for their products. When they are out of stock, there is no
alternative source.

I wanted to solve your problem, so I suggested an alternative tyre
that I like a lot, and use myself.

This tyre is US$5.00 _less_ expensive than the Avocet model you were
asking for.

I didn't do this because I'm a greedy bait-and-switch artist, but
because I'm a cyclist like you and wanted to help you with your
problem.

Sheldon "Bald Is Good" Brown
Newtonville, Massachusetts, USA
+---------------------------------------------+
| If your bike has drop handlebars, but you |
| rarely or never ride on the drops, it's a |
| sure sign that your bike is not properly |
| fitted or is not properly adjusted! |
| See: http://sheldonbrown.com/handsup |
+---------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

suzyj wrote:


The only US on-line shops I deal with these days are Vechios (Peter
Chisholm), Harris (Sheldon Brown) and Business Cycles (John Darcy).
These three shops are really good people, and will work hard to get
the obscure stuff that my addiction calls for, but aren't discounters.

I've had very good service from aebike.com and lumicycle.co.uk.

"Andrew Reddaway" wrote in message


[...]

I've had very good service from aebike.com and lumicycle.co.uk.

Right now I've got my hopes pinned on AEBike. They've got what I wanted
except obviously the Performance-brand item but that's OK, it's the least
important. I ordered online on Saturday and just checked my credit card
balance. Oh-oh, it hadn't changed. Eek! So, back I went to the AEBike
site to see how to contact them and it's a good thing I did too. Their shop
"...is closed on Mondays during the off-season of September through
February." IOW, nobody will process my order for at least another two
hours.

Geez, this business is making me paranoid.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

DRS wrote:

Right now I've got my hopes pinned on AEBike. They've got what I wanted

I had good experience. Fantastic range - lots I couldn't get here.
The only thing was that the postmark showed it took them a week to
actually post the order. So be a little patient.
From Kalamazoo to Aus, its a long way down the track :-)

"Mike" wrote in message

DRS wrote:

Right now I've got my hopes pinned on AEBike. They've got what I
wanted

I had good experience. Fantastic range - lots I couldn't get here.
The only thing was that the postmark showed it took them a week to
actually post the order. So be a little patient.
From Kalamazoo to Aus, its a long way down the track :-)

Woo-hoo! Go Alfred E. Bike! My order has shipped!

And bloody Performance is still arguing over how they want to contact my
bank to verify my details.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

I've just been onto AEBikes website. I notice with regard to Shimano
products that they have the following statement "This manufacturer
currently prefers that we not sell this item via the internet". I dont
remeber this from the last time I visited. I assume it's something to do
with the Shimano Authorised Internet Retailer policy. Anyone had
problems ordering shimano products? I was tossing up between a Shimano
and Sram cassette. The decision may have been made for me.

Andrew Reddaway wrote:
I've had very good service from aebike.com

Evan wrote:

I've just been onto AEBikes website. I notice with regard to Shimano
products that they have the following statement "This manufacturer
currently prefers that we not sell this item via the internet". I
dont remeber this from the last time I visited. I assume it's
something to do with the Shimano Authorised Internet Retailer policy.
Anyone had problems ordering shimano products? I was tossing up
between a Shimano and Sram cassette. The decision may have been made
for me.

Andrew Reddaway wrote:
I've had very good service from aebike.com

Sorry for the late reply Evan - only just noticed your post. (changed
newsreaders etc grr) I discussed this with AEbike, and yes it IS due
to the Shimano policy. However, it is possible (at least it was early
this year) to get Shimano parts onto the order via the "back door" of
emailling or calling them! Might be worth a try...