Mountain Biking - Ibex Bikes....Lesson Learned

I recently decided to replace my 12 year old Parkpre so I started looking around at what I could afford. I was torn between the Ibex Trophy 770 and the Trek 4900.I figured I would try the Ibex since Ibex offers the 30 day satisfaction guarantee. I ordered the 770 and it arrived within a couple days. It wasnt exactly what I was looking for but still a good bike for the money. After unpacking it and riding it once, I decided it wasn't exactly what I was looking for, so I immediatly repacked it as it came from the factory using the factory packing materials. I called Ibex to get the RA# and shipped it back at a cost of $35 shipping (wich I knew up front would be my responsibility).
When I recieved my credit back to my card I noticed that not only was it less the shipping (again wich I expected, it was $20 less than I had paid so I called to see why. Jack claimed it had been scratched up in shipping so he had to take an extra $20. I was worried they might try to pull some stuff like this so I had my cousin who works at the Fed Ex Store help me package it up nice and tight. I advised him I had packed it with the exact materials they had shipped it to me he claimed the front wheel was loose and it "beat up the front fork real good." I'm not saying you should't buy from an online dealer but if your hopeing to use the 30 day satisfaction guarantee to try out the bike, be prepaired to get credited whatever they see fit when you return it. Factor in the $35 to ship it to you and the $35 to ship it back plus whatever they see fit to keep (in my case $20 extra ) you have $90 to test ride a bike.
Lesson Learned! and I hope it helps a few others that might have been considering doing the same.

jeeze that sucks...

i remember when i was building computers. i ordered a motherboard... it had a dead bios.. so i rma'ed it... it took them 30 days to refund my money... as well as charging 25% restocking fee's...

alot of these online stores can really chap my bawls

I'm sorry to hear about your experience.

I had nothing but great luck with my on-line buys. My current bike (Ironhorse Rogue) was bought from Supergo, shipped to my door, and assembled by a pro at the LBS and has been great.

That does suck. I currently own two Ibex bikes. a road and the Ignition 2. Very happy with the bike. Its a shame to hear stories like this. what didn't you like about the bike, if you don't mind me asking.

Well, the bike obviously wasn't scratched when you received it or you would have contacted the seller and told him. So it either got scratched while in your posession of the shipper's. Either way, it isn't the seller's fault. You hired the shipper to ship it. If it was clean when they took posession, then you have an issue with your shipper.

Why are you blaming the seller if the shipper scratched the bike? I think you guys need to get the shipper to pay the $20. Regardless, I think the seller is getting the worst end of the stick here. He made a bad decision, because he should have just eaten it, or contacted the shipper. Why? I can assure you that threads like this, which will be indexed by search engines will cost him way more than $20 in the years to come.

I am glad you posted this because I was about to order a Ibex, been going back and forth with this decision for two weeks....O' well back to the drawing board. I will not buy from a company that would charge for a damage that they never contacted customer about before deducting money from someones account, what proof do they have? What if they decided your scratch was a $100 or more? Shady practice...Thanks for this post.

Take photos of property when received and before shipping for your proof.

So true, they just lost another $749.

Why are you blaming the seller if the shipper scratched the bike?How do we know the bike was really scratched? The only person claiming that the bike was scratched is the person who stands to gain from it being scratched - the seller. I think the OP may be implying that the Ibex rep is lying about the bike being scratched at all.

I bought an Ibex 3300 classic road bike in 2005. I think the entire transaction, purchase and shipping, cost me $425. The assembly was simple and in under an hour I was riding around town getting used to shifters on the down tube. I have around 3,000 miles on the bike now and I have nothing but good praises for the machine.
I have used this bike for commuting. I have front and rear panniers that I put on it from time to time.
I contacted Ibex by e-mail once. I want to know just how big a tire I could fit on the bike before I would run into clearance problems. Within an hour I had an answer from a tech.
I really enjoy my Ibex and have encouraged others to consider one when making a purchase.
That sucks that they shorted you like the did. If you weren't happy with the bike, you weren't happy with it, fairly simple. I really hope your experience is not standard procedure at Ibex. Once I wear this machine out I would like to pick up another one.

you must be a really slow typer

you must be a really slow typist

fixed :p

They should have contacted you before taking the deduction so that you could obtain pics then go after FedEx for the difference. Yeah that's really shady.

Even though some people are happy with mail ordering it is still kind of shady and not to be trusted.
But to cover my butt when ordering major purchases I always take pictures.
Before, during and after....pictures don't lie.

you must be a really slow typer

Lool.

Well, the bike obviously wasn't scratched when you received it or you would have contacted the seller and told him. So it either got scratched while in your posession of the shipper's. Either way, it isn't the seller's fault. You hired the shipper to ship it. If it was clean when they took posession, then you have an issue with your shipper.

Why are you blaming the seller if the shipper scratched the bike? I think you guys need to get the shipper to pay the $20. Regardless, I think the seller is getting the worst end of the stick here. He made a bad decision, because he should have just eaten it, or contacted the shipper. Why? I can assure you that threads like this, which will be indexed by search engines will cost him way more than $20 in the years to come.

I agree. In the long run, that $20.00 will surely cost quite a lot. Shame on them