Manufacturer, Retailer, Survey and Consumer Feedback - Performance Bike paid memberships: don't do it

It isn't worth it to pay an annual fee to get points for all your purchases unless you are planning to buy a bike or some other big ticket item.

I wanted to let everyone know that it is possible to garner negative points for returning purchases (even w/ a receipt). My account currently has -600+ points. Useless to me now.

You have -600 points? What do they do now, come and take your water bottle? :D

hahaha, that's hilarious.

For better or worse, I've managed to spend enough money there to make it worth my while.

It isn't worth it to pay an annual fee to get points for all your purchases unless you are planning to buy a bike or some other big ticket item.

I wanted to let everyone know that it is possible to garner negative points for returning purchases (even w/ a receipt). My account currently has -600+ points. Useless to me now.

how is that not logical? you buy $200 of something. you get $20 of points. you spend said $20 of points. you then return $60 of stuff from original $200 purchase. you think they're so dumb as to allow that loophole and not take away points??

it's really simple. the annual fee is worth it, if you plan on spending more than 11x the fee over a year's time. if you don't, you're right, it's not worth it.

how is that not logical? you buy $200 of something. you get $20 of points. you spend said $20 of points. you then return $60 of stuff from original $200 purchase. you think they're so dumb as to allow that loophole and not take away points??

it's really simple. the annual fee is worth it, if you plan on spending more than 11x the fee over a year's time. if you don't, you're right, it's not worth it.

I agree, it's a good deal.

One tip: if you buy your membership at a brick-and-mortar store, you get 20% off any purchases you make that same day. So recently I waited until I had $125 worth of PB stuff to buy, and then went to my local store and bought it along with a membership... and I'm already out ahead. Woohoo!

I wanted to let everyone know that it is possible to garner negative points for returning purchases (even w/ a receipt). My account currently has -600+ points. Useless to me now.

Huh? Ya' get points for buying, one would assume that returning the purchase would reverse the points. If have already used the points to purchase other merchandise and then return a previously made purchase, your points would go negative.

What am I missing? Seems pretty straight forward to me.

Curious,
Geary

so what happens to the negative points? do they bill you or something? seems like it's performance that is getting screwed because you got $600 worth of free stuff

I am going to voice my concern with Performance Bike over their diminished inventory. I realize retailers need to make sure they don't hang on to too much inventory, but I found it very difficult to find things to stock up on during this recent double points weekend.

Maybe I'm not the prototypical PB member:

1) I ride Campy equipped bikes. No, not Record. I sold a Record 10 equipped bike recently, and I've moved down the line to Veloce/Centaur. Record, while nice, is simply too expensive to consider any more. That's Campy's fault though. Still, I have no Shimano or SRAM bikes, so components and wheels are a no-go. That slims down the catalog somewhat for me.

2) I have large feet. Socks were impossible to find in XL. In other sizes, a lot of the socks were really picked through.

3) I refuse to buy stuff that's backordered. This takes too long in my experience. Having a reasonable expectation as to when something can be had in hand is important to me when buying online.

4) I often buy clothes that are out of season to save a few dollars. With PB, you just won't find much out of season stuff worth grabbing. A lot of extreme sizes and badly designed apparel is all that's left.

I was ready to open my wallet to take advantage of the double points, but I had a hell of a time putting much in my cart. I was a PB member several years ago when I was low on cycling gear and apparel, but I let my membership lapse when I realized I could pick and choose elsewhere online for reasonable enough prices without the caveats and issues that come with the PB catalog of goods. I'm beginning to question why I signed up again.

I am going to voice my concern with Performance Bike over their diminished inventory. I realize retailers need to make sure they don't hang on to too much inventory, but I found it very difficult to find things to stock up on during this recent double points weekend.

Maybe I'm not the prototypical PB member:

1) I ride Campy equipped bikes. No, not Record. I sold a Record 10 equipped bike recently, and I've moved down the line to Veloce/Centaur. Record, while nice, is simply too expensive to consider any more. That's Campy's fault though. Still, I have no Shimano or SRAM bikes, so components and wheels are a no-go. That slims down the catalog somewhat for me.

2) I have large feet. Socks were impossible to find in XL. In other sizes, a lot of the socks were really picked through.

3) I refuse to buy stuff that's backordered. This takes too long in my experience. Having a reasonable expectation as to when something can be had in hand is important to me when buying online.

4) I often buy clothes that are out of season to save a few dollars. With PB, you just won't find much out of season stuff worth grabbing. A lot of extreme sizes and badly designed apparel is all that's left.

I was ready to open my wallet to take advantage of the double points, but I had a hell of a time putting much in my cart. I was a PB member several years ago when I was low on cycling gear and apparel, but I let my membership lapse when I realized I could pick and choose elsewhere online for reasonable enough prices without the caveats and issues that come with the PB catalog of goods. I'm beginning to question why I signed up again.

I agree their inventory is kind of slack. 2 tubular tires, no tire glue - what is the world coming to? They did let me exchange one of my wheels because it cracked at the seam though.

600 points is Six dollars.

It works out OK if you live near a store. Their inventory selections are getting pretty weak though. Hard to find just basic parts on their website.

The Team Performance thing works OK if you know how to massage the pricing. They will match any listed price, anywhere other than Ebay. So I just find the lowest published price, they match, I get 10% cash back. About 3-4 years ago you could stack coupon codes on top of pricematching. That was super awesome.

It works out OK if you live near a store. Their inventory selections are getting pretty weak though. Hard to find just basic parts on their website.

The Team Performance thing works OK if you know how to massage the pricing. They will match any listed price, anywhere other than Ebay. So I just find the lowest published price, they match, I get 10% cash back. About 3-4 years ago you could stack coupon codes on top of pricematching. That was super awesome.

if you find it cheaper elsewhere they will beat that price by 10% ?

i got my whole sram rival group and performance and with my points only spent 520 out of pocket.

I had a membership there several years back and it worked out fine.

I just cancelled mine. The only thing I ever consider buying there anymore is tubes, and the store is too out of the way for me. Besides, the employees at the store nearest me, save for one, are all jerk faces. What really bothered me the most is that they signed me up for automatic renewal of the points card membership without my knowledge.

I bought my membership when I bought my bike. It helps when you get 17000 points in one shot. The only drawback was that the points don't register until midnight that same evening so I had to go back to buy my shoes, a light and a few other things. I did however end up in negative points because 4 weeks later I noticed the cost of the bike was $100.00 lower than when I bought it. They immediately gave me $109.00 and took away 1090 points that night. Still worth the cost of the membership, but I don't see it be beneficial after this year.

I bought my membership when I bought my bike. It helps when you get 17000 points in one shot. The only drawback was that the points don't register until midnight that same evening so I had to go back to buy my shoes, a light and a few other things. I did however end up in negative points because 4 weeks later I noticed the cost of the bike was $100.00 lower than when I bought it. They immediately gave me $109.00 and took away 1090 points that night. Still worth the cost of the membership, but I don't see it be beneficial after this year.

werd... i ended up getting a couple of bills back when i got my bikes... but yeah, i had to go back too... that paid for pedals, shoes, helmet, tires and extra misc stuff i needed...

Isn't it simply as long as you spend 200+ it becomes worth it? Not to mention you get free upgrade to 2 day shipping.

Isn't it simply as long as you spend 200+ it becomes worth it? Not to mention you get free upgrade to 2 day shipping.

yep.

if you find it cheaper elsewhere they will beat that price by 10% ?

No, they match it - but if you are a member, then you get 10% back in points.

You also get a subscription to bicycling magazine so you can read how to "train like Lance" ...

You also get a subscription to bicycling magazine so you can read how to "train like Lance" ...

Not for renewals, only new members.

Its unreal how many times their upgraded 2nd day shipping has saved my ass from poor late ordering.

I recently bought one of those Schwinn Tailwinds. The MSRP is $3200... obviously not selling and they were put on clearance to 1000 bucks. I used a 15% off coupon for members and that took the price down to 850. Next day was 85 dollars worth of points in my account.

I always use the points for less than 20 dollars worth of items in a single transaction and don't use them on transactions over 20. It really is a good deal - especially if you are just starting out.