Not the best online shopping experience

[Bud]

So I ordered some tires from an online place (that shall remain nameless, at this point) on August 30. Think smaller store- not nashbar, etc. I paid via PayPal and received an order confirmation email from the seller.

I hadn't heard (or received) anything for 10 days, so I emailed to inquire. No response. I emailed yet again. No response. I called on September 15th and talked to someone who said that tire was no longer available (and hadn't been for some time) and that they would refund my $ the following Monday. Oh- and they had gotten my emails and said they responded, but I'm sure they didn't (I checked all the spam folders, etc). You guessed it- Monday came and went, as did Tuesday. I had time Wednesday and called again, this time talking to the owner, who said he'd been busy and he would get to it that night. Next day- no refund. Same for last Friday. I tried to call Friday and no answer.

Last night I sent a very polite but forthright email saying that if we couldn't resolve this between each other that I would invoke the PayPal resolution center. This morning (25 days after the original order) I got my refund.

So the point of this long story is that some places don't practice decent customer service, and I read this as them not giving a crap about me (the customer). I'm sure they're not losing sleep over losing my business, but it sours me nonetheless. It also reinforces my belief in dealing more with people I know and trust. Yea, I could've saved some money going through these crackpots, but it's obviously not worth the headache. I think I'll stick to dealing with my bros.

thanks for reading...

[swoop]

i want to make sweet love to competitivecyclist.com every transaction has been a glistening pool of perfection. they rock.

i've had some excellent albeit less sexy times with excelsports.com.. but only when i'm cheating on cometitivecyclist.com


there.. i said it.

[cadence90]

I love shopping for tires online.

I go to worldclasscycles.com; I select Veloflex Black free + tubes; I go about my life; I mount them when they arrive, perfect every time, 2 days later.
Done. :beer:

[oldfatslow]

I am a regular user of ebay and have bought and sold a lot of items there. If you use common sense, read feedback, and do your research you can do well there buying from smaller shops and "trading" with other collectors. I recently let bike lust over take me and ended up in a fraudulent transaction and what I found was eBay and PayPal do very little to help (in my case nothing). The moral of the story is to do the work up front and if your inner monologue tells you to move on you should do so!

[regularguy412]

My only bad experience with online ordering came last year with an online vitamin supplement source. I ordered about $50 worth of a supplement, got the confirming email, even,,, but two weeks later, still no product. I tried to call more than once, but got the usual runaround with the automatic-phone-operator-thingy, every time. I emailed three different times during the third week, but no response. I finally resorted to the Visa Card grievance policy in order to gain a remedy. I eventually received my Card refund, but it took about another two weeks. Moral: ALWAYS use a credit card ( and not a debit card ) even though the two look the same. There are different laws governing their use (and abuse).

In defense of online purchasing, that's the only negative (monetary) experience I've had in over 10 years.

Mike in AR

[Climb01742]

i want to make sweet love to competitivecyclist.com every transaction has been a glistening pool of perfection. they rock.

+1
brendan at cc.com stands behind every transaction. everyone there tries their best to get everything exactly right. you feel valued as a customer. they aren't the cheapest but for the products and service they deliver, they are totally worth it, IMO.

[Bruce K]

I so very little online shopping as my LBS with our club discount is close enough in price that I want to give them the business.

Tires is one item they can't seem to come close on and those I have gotten from biketiresdirect with great success and service.

The only other online purchases are special sale items or odd stuff that the LBS can't get quickly that might be in stock at the online retailer.

My experiences with Excel have been good except for one many years ago with an item that never arrived. In the end, it turned out a lazy delivery driver left the package at the bottom of the driveway and SURPRISE, it dissappeared.

BK

[soulspinner]

Every reputable online will send you a confirmation of your order nearly immediately-never wait to respond if there is no confirmation within a day or two.

[Bud]

I should clarify a few things in case they weren't clear in the OP: I did receive a confirmation email right after placing the order, I did use PayPal so if something like this did happen I had a mechanism for dispute resolution, I did do some legwork up front to see if these folks are legit (it appears that they still are), and I'm sure I'll continue to shop online for cycling and other stuff. A couple of the places that I do trust were mentioned by you folks: worldclasscycles.com, excel, etc. It's just that this time, they didn't have what I wanted.

I just needed to get it out/have a bit of a catharsis. Thanks for indulging me.

Oh- and I ended up with some tires that work well for the application anyway...

[J.Greene]

Many online companies will sell items without inventory with the assumption that they can get it quick or have it drop shipped. It's just part of the business model these days for so many smaller companies. In general atmo the sometimes poor service is the true cost of cheap prices and ordering ease.

JG

[Dave B]

I hate to say it, but ebay while there are + and - to it has been more successful then on line shops. I have not had much experience with loads of different shops, but there are a few.

Mostly I shop for mtb stuff.

I get road stuff here.

also for campy or shimano grouppos, I contact Dom at Eurobikeparts.

His prices kick major booty.

[BumpyintheBurgh]

Bud,

Why not name the guilty party? It seems that we are quick to name & recommend companies that give us good service but reluctant to divulge the names of those who provide bad service. If I get screwed or have a bad experience, I want my friends to know who it is so they can avoid them. People and companies crave good publicity but they should also be willing to accept bad publicity if it is warranted. Maybe a few justified negative comments will prompt the guilty party to get their act together.

[Bud]

Bud,

Why not name the guilty party? It seems that we are quick to name & recommend companies that give us good service but reluctant to divulge the names of those who provide bad service. If I get screwed or have a bad experience, I want my friends to know who it is so they can avoid them. People and companies crave good publicity but they should also be willing to accept bad publicity if it is warranted. Maybe a few justified negative comments will prompt the guilty party to get their act together.

bikesandgear.com, which is also called "Lakeside Sports" of Del Rio TX.

I didn't want to name them off the bat because I didn't want to feel like I was being vindictive in calling them out. Your point is well taken, though. I'd hate for one of my bros to go through the same frustrating crap. So, with that in mind, you might want to avoid this vendor.