Whats the deal with C-4?

[eBAUMANN]

My roommate (on my recommendation) ordered a rim and some spokes from C4 (http://c-4shop.com/) close to 3 weeks ago now and STILL has not received his parts.

Not only that, but apparently there is NO CUSTOMER SERVICE PHONE NUMBER and whoever is in charge of email customer service is woefully unresponsive and unhelpful.

They still haven't given him any sort of tracking number for his order, which is just unacceptable IMO.

Do you guys have any experience ordering from these guys? I feel bad having suggested he give money to such a poorly managed operation.

[gospastic]

Ouch, that's unfortunate. C-4 has pretty terrible customer service. I'm not even sure they still really exist.

[cp43]

My roommate (on my recommendation) ordered a rim and some spokes from C4 (http://c-4shop.com/) close to 3 weeks ago now and STILL has not received his parts.

Not only that, but apparently there is NO CUSTOMER SERVICE PHONE NUMBER and whoever is in charge of email customer service is woefully unresponsive and unhelpful.

They still haven't given him any sort of tracking number for his order, which is just unacceptable IMO.

Do you guys have any experience ordering from these guys? I feel bad having suggested he give money to such a poorly managed operation.

I don't have any experience with them.

One question though, has he been billed? If not, maybe something is out of stock, and they're waiting on it? Still poor service, but less of a foul in my mind. If he has been billed, that's a different story, they should at the very least notify him of a delay.

Good luck,

Chris

[vqdriver]

spotty record in various forums. some have had no problems, whereas others have hit brick walls. sounds like your roommate has fallen into the latter category. i'd just cancel the order and move one. if billed already, dispute the charge with the credit card company.
enjoy shopping around elsewhere and let the cc bank deal with it.

[rice rocket]

Order from bikehubstore.com. The guy's name is Brandon, and he's great to deal with. He imports and stocks his stuff in North Carolina, everything is to my door in 2 days or so. Can't recommend him enough.

[mandasol]

Sorry, you and your friend didn't hear about Mark and his reputation as it goes way back. I believe he's had many different operations and even different names/aliases but its the same guy. A few years ago, he did a reboot and started C-4 and even had short lived relationships with some reputable wheel builders. They had a new crew with good intentions and pretty good customer service at the beginning. Unfortunately, they had some (a lot) of quality problems start to creep up and then it leaked out in the forums that C-4 was Mark and then things went downhill fast. Whatever good intentions the company may have had at the begining I believe were all lost when there was a "run on the bank" and everyone wanted a refund or wanted their order cancelled. I'm guessing anyone with good intentions at C-4 jumped ship and thus the new ugly website and no customer service.



http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=106172&start=0

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/wheels-tires/please-avoid-cherry-valley-wheel-works-136686.html

[eBAUMANN]

crap, i had a feeling.

i have just seen a number of reputable builders using their hubs and the stuff all looks nice enough, at great prices...guess there is always a catch.

supposedly the parts "went out" last week and i do believe he has been billed.

still no response, tracking, or delivery.

really disappointing, will never order from there again.

thanks for the 2c guys, very good to know.

[echappist]

crap, i had a feeling.

i have just seen a number of reputable builders using their hubs and the stuff all looks nice enough, at great prices...guess there is always a catch.

supposedly the parts "went out" last week and i do believe he has been billed.

still no response, tracking, or delivery.

really disappointing, will never order from there again.

thanks for the 2c guys, very good to know.
damn, sorry that this happened. i was considering ordering a wheelset worth of part from them last year but decided against it after there were some QC problems. instead, i ordered the spokes instead (thought they were cheap enough). It took a long time to get the order sorted out, though it did ship about 10 days later.
Order from bikehubstore.com. The guy's name is Brandon, and he's great to deal with. He imports and stocks his stuff in North Carolina, everything is to my door in 2 days or so. Can't recommend him enough.
+1

[eddief]

even if half of it isn't true, the other half is at least 60%.

[jds108]

c4 - Mark Hoskin - been causing trouble (taking people's money and delivering no product) since about '95 back on the VeloNews forums

[oldpotatoe]

My roommate (on my recommendation) ordered a rim and some spokes from C4 (http://c-4shop.com/) close to 3 weeks ago now and STILL has not received his parts.

Not only that, but apparently there is NO CUSTOMER SERVICE PHONE NUMBER and whoever is in charge of email customer service is woefully unresponsive and unhelpful.

They still haven't given him any sort of tracking number for his order, which is just unacceptable IMO.

Do you guys have any experience ordering from these guys? I feel bad having suggested he give money to such a poorly managed operation.

wow, not cheap are they.

[Flying Pigeon]

Sorry to hear of people's losses. I was also ripped off by Mark at C-4, for about a grand (via paypal's 40 day limit for claims).

Probably more would recall being scammed on the old Serotta forum if they realized that Mark Hoskin has used Eric Prima, Marcus Colliboletti and other aliases.

Amazing that it can go on to this day.

[cmg]

buy stuff from the bikehubstore.com never a problem.

[teleguy57]

I agree that dealing w/C-4 is an issue, and I wouldn't do it again.

Having said that, the hubs I got for a very good price several seasons ago are smooth and continue to perform well.