A Cycling & bikes forum. CycleBanter.com

Go Back   Home » CycleBanter.com forum » Regional Cycling » Australia
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Buying on the net



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old September 17th 04, 01:22 AM
DRS
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default 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?


Ads
  #2  
Old September 17th 04, 02:17 AM
suzyj
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Buying on the net


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

  #3  
Old September 17th 04, 02:31 AM
DRS
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Buying on the net

"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?


  #4  
Old September 17th 04, 02:55 AM
sinus
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Buying on the net


excuse my ignorance, what's a BBB?

I assume you're not referring to the brand of bike parts.


--
sinus

  #5  
Old September 17th 04, 03:07 AM
Dominic Sansom
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Buying on the net


I had similar problems with BikeSomeWhere. They said they'd shipped m
new shoes (left the other pair on the car roof and drove off) an
blamed FedEx when they didn't turn up. They were a nightmare to dea
with by email. I emailed them 12 times and they replied 2. I finall
contacted Amazon (who I placed the order with) and they told me tha
BikeSomeWhere didn't have the items in stock and they would credit m
account (but not the foreign currency transaction fee or loss on th
exchange rate).

I HAVE to shop online 'cos I don't have a LBS within 5000km and I'v
had mostly good service. I try and stick to a few trusted vendors lik
Excelsports, REI, PricePoint (very helpful when they sent the wron
colour jersey - let me keep it and sent me the correct one for shippin
cost only).

I have to say that I've only had problems this year too. And shippin
is getting prohibitively expensive

--
Dominic Sansom

  #6  
Old September 17th 04, 03:57 AM
Brad Hubbard
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Buying on the net

sinus wrote:


excuse my ignorance, what's a BBB?

I assume you're not referring to the brand of bike parts.



Better Business Bureau?

Cheers,
Brad
  #7  
Old September 17th 04, 09:55 AM
Sasha Nackovski
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Buying on the net



You don't have a bike shop within 5000km?? Where do you live, Siberia?

I assume that was a typo?

Sasha

I HAVE to shop online 'cos I don't have a LBS within 5000km and I've
had mostly good service. I try and stick to a few trusted vendors like
Excelsports, REI, PricePoint (very helpful when they sent the wrong
colour jersey - let me keep it and sent me the correct one for shipping
cost only).

I have to say that I've only had problems this year too. And shipping
is getting prohibitively expensive.


--
Dominic Sansom



  #8  
Old September 17th 04, 11:59 AM
DRS
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Buying on the net

"Brad Hubbard" wrote in message

sinus wrote:

excuse my ignorance, what's a BBB?

I assume you're not referring to the brand of bike parts.


Better Business Bureau?


Yes. Unfortunately, some vendors think answering legitimate customer
queries is an optional extra. Siccing the BBB onto them can be a salutary
reminder that they can't treat me like **** just because I'm halfway around
the world.

--

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


  #9  
Old September 17th 04, 06:59 PM
Sheldon Brown
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Buying on the net

"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
  #10  
Old September 17th 04, 11:47 PM
Andrew Reddaway
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Buying on the net

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.
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Buying a bike unseen Dukester General 26 July 27th 05 01:20 PM
Bike buying suggestion OklahomaDave General 11 January 7th 05 05:23 AM
general buying advice please David UK 9 June 25th 04 09:57 PM
Buying in Germany GreyFx2 Recumbent Biking 2 March 22nd 04 09:51 AM
Buying mail order from Italy Me UK 15 December 7th 03 08:41 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 12:09 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 CycleBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.