Site sponsor issues. Taken care of now very well by the owner.

[Onewheelsqueel]

So I had been looking for a wide 26" igh wheel set. Ordered a black set from 3G and they gladly took my money. Only to inform me the next day they were out of stock. They quickly refunded my $ and I probably wouldn't have thought to much of it even though I think it's poor buisness practice to not keep your site up to date.

So I decide to order wheels from Hbbc. After several emails with customer service (forget trying to call they won't answer) about shipping being $45 for 3spd instead of the $15 for single speed they finally changed that. Went to order and added a shifter mount and it put it right back at $45 for shipping. So never mind I said screw it and didn't ord the mount.

Nearly a weak later after charging me they contact me to let me know the wheels I ordered are out of stock! So I took a day to think of how to get wheels ASAP and asked what was in stock. We agreed on a single speed set and they would credit me the $100 difference. Nearly a week ( last wed ) and no credit back go the difference and no response to my email.


Wanted to share my frustrations as these are site sponsors. And just as important as it is to pick good friends, it's even more so important to pick who you align your self with from a business aspect.

Also, buyer beware.

 

[Bicycle808]

Buyer beware/caveat emptor always applies to any purchase, especially online. That being said, it's shameful that these retailers are ball-dropping to such a large degree.

My experiences with RRB sponsors are limited to 2 vendors. The first, Porkchop BMX, is an awesome online store. I've placed a lot of orders there; i kinda budget for a monthly purchase from Porkchop, kind of like it's a running expense, like the electric bill. I am 1001% satisfied with Porkchop. Ordered last Tuesday at like midnight; stuff was here on Friday. Everything i ordered was there, in good shape, well-packed, good prices, 2 day shipping free on orders over $50.... Beautiful. The only thing that bothers me about Porkchop is, I always forget to order something, and end up doing yet another order.... but that's my fault.

The other was a former sponsor called Johnny True Torch. I bought a frameset from them; took forever (excusable, if they'd just told me "this is going to take forever" from the onset; getting a "it'll ship next week!" every 2 weeks for 4 months is frustrating.) When i got the frameset w/ bars, there were multiple issues--basically, it was a lemon-- and the dude from JTTorch basically told me to GFY when i brought it up to him.

I told Steve about the experience, and he told me that others had similar experiences. JTTorch is no longer a sponsor here, and I'm not sure if Steve ditched him, or vice versa, but it doesn't really matter, to me. As I see it, RRB is an awesome site, and it needs sponsors to stay afloat. I hope Steve is getting rich from this, but I suspect he's not. I also know he's busy, being a minister or whatever, a pt blogger, a ft Dad/Husband, and the man at the helm of RRB, which is probably a difficult beast to steer. I'm sure he'd love to vet every potential sponsor, but i don't see that being efficient timewise, nor business-savvy, considering that RRB needs income. I look at it this way: I like RRB, so I'm grateful to the sponsors for keeping it alive. That being said, I'm not going to buy from them unless I feel confident in their ability to deliver good bits at good prices with good customer service. If they can't do that, I don't blame RRB or Steve for it. It's pretty much just the vendors' fault, if they suck.

Now, maybe we need a sticky with RRB members' experience with site sponsors? Or, with online vendors in general? I know there's been threads like that, but none of been stickie'd/become official....

 

[Rat Rod]

Sorry to hear about folks having issues with site sponsors. This is always kind of a tough deal because I have no control over how companies serve their customers. Many times I'm offering up the advertising package to companies that appear to have a decent business model that fall in line with the target audience. I usually have to see how they work out based on forum member feedback. There aren't many bike related companies out there who care about promoting their businesses on forums anymore so you end up focusing on smaller companies and sometimes they may not have the online service end of the deal 100% ironed out.

I do know that 3G Bikes is in business to serve their bike dealers. The main reason that they order extra parts like wheels, tires, grips, etc. is to supply their dealers with replacement parts. That doesn't mean that they don't take customer service seriously with the individual buyer, but as a bike manufacturer, they have to focus on selling bikes and lots of them.

One issue that 3G has faced recently with the wheel sets is certain dealers buying them out of stock. They got those new 2 speed wheel sets in and one of their dealers decided that they were going to convert their entire line of rental bikes over to the 2 speed sets and that pretty much wiped them out of inventory in one day. That results in them putting in another order which usually takes a few months to receive from China. Being a reseller of their parts, I have witnessed how they handle returns and refunds and so far all of those experiences have been top notch. Gary (the owner) doesn't mess around if the customer isn't happy. He always gives me the go ahead to make the customer happy.

I'm not trying to make any excuses for any of these guys, but I do know that there are other circumstances that come up from time to time that can cause problems with inventory. As far as their communication or timely resolution of problems go, there really isn't any excuse for long delays. That's something that they will have to answer to.

There is definitely a difference when someone is 100% focused on running an online parts business as opposed to a company offering parts for sale as sort of a sideline. Justin at Porkchop approaches his business from a completely different perspective than most of the bike manufacturing companies. He and his team are totally dedicated to serving an online market while many of these other companies sell mostly to dealers and don't have the same kind of infrastructure set up to provide the online service that they should. Again, no excuses, but it's just an observation that I've had over the years with these guys.

I will definitely pass the info along so that they are aware of the situation. I don't think any of these guys set out to rip people off or provide poor service. Sometimes it's just a case of miscommunication, poor management or not enough resources to provide the best online customer service that they should.

 

[Onewheelsqueel]

Rat rod, I don't at all hold you responsible. I thought it was in yours and others best interest to be aware. And yes I needed to vent. And 3G had been the quickest to respond to issues. Hbbc on the other hand has me very frustrated. I will not order from them. No matter how well you plan problems will arise. It's how those problems are handled that make the difference. So far I'm not impressed by Hbbc.

 

[Onewheelsqueel]

I did get a response from customer service today that my refund was submitted last week and he wasn't sure what was taking so long (not really a answer). It did take him one working day to get back to me I'll give him that. So anyway I asked if he could connected with who I need to speak with and that the whole experience has been frustrating and that it was my first and probably last order with them.

 

[Onewheelsqueel]

Received a phone call from the owner of Hbbc and he is sending me a set of 3spd wheels off his personal build and said to keep the single spd set. And a shirt as well. I told him thank you and it was very much appreciated and above and beyond what was expected.

 

[Rat Rod]

I'm glad to hear that it all worked out.

Sounds like he did go above and beyond the call of duty. I had a feeling it was just a case of miscommunication.

All of these guys that advertise on this site are working hard to keep their businesses afloat.