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Too Good to be True?
I'm picking up a Specialized Tarmac Comp later this week and as I was doing some more research/comparisons on it, I stumbled across this site:
http://www.idmasterbikes.com/index.p...road-bike.html I test rode a Madone 3.1, BMC RoadRacer SL01, Spesh Roubaix base, and a BMC Gran Fondo last week, so I'm familiar with some of the prices and it just seems like the prices on the website are really good. Are they too good to be true? Has anybody had any experience with these guys? |
I would not buy from a company in Indonesia that won't give you a phone number.
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Originally Posted by Don in Austin
(Post 15427435)
I would not buy from a company in Indonesia that won't give you a phone number.
The domain was registered Sept. '12 and set to expire Sept. '13. Could not obtain much more info than that, as my go to site for looking that stuff up is apparently down for a bit. Also, I can't speak for the other brands, but I do know that neither Trek nor Specialized allow mail orders of their bikes- especially current models. |
Most bike companies provide a list of authorized dealers by country. So I visited the sites for Specialized, Pinarello, Cannondale and Cervelo. Although they claim to carry all those brands - couldn't find them listed on any of those corporate sites as authorized dealers.
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For shins and grins, I decided to put a Cannondale CAAX6 w/Tiagra in the cart and started to check out. After figuring shipping, I was prompted to either log in to my account or proceed as a guest. The information that they request of a guest is not done on a secure page at all...
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Originally Posted by Don in Austin
(Post 15427435)
I would not buy from a company in Indonesia that won't give you a phone number.
"Note: With all respect to the number of calls from abroad that resulted in our international rooming costs increase, then we can not provide a phone number to prospective customers but after you become a regular customer at our store you can call us from anywhere or do not hesitate to contact us: sales at idmasterbikes.com" |
I'd stay away from that one.
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Thanks for starting this thread Trekman.
I have fretted for a month over buying from re-sporting.com also in Indonesia. My gut feeling is these fellas have a common warehouse of suspect bikes and just work from a home computers. At best it's dicey with odds not in our favor. A BMC GF02 Disc @ < $1200 sure was tempting. :p |
Originally Posted by pursuance
(Post 15476478)
A BMC GF02 Disc @ < $1200 sure was tempting. :p
My wife said that I could get one at $1200-1300 right away. Didn't even think that they'd ever be that cheap anywhere. |
These people change their company name every few weeks, and then keep scamming, non-stop!
They give Indonesia a bad name. If this keeps up, their going to ruin the business image of their country! |
Originally Posted by Cfiber
(Post 15622131)
These people change their company name every few weeks, and then keep scamming, non-stop!
They give Indonesia a bad name. If this keeps up, their going to ruin the business image of their country! Shame on those bad guys for pointing a finger at poor Indonesia! But I guess it makes a good smokescreen. |
Whoa! That sounds like trying to follow the banking trail of some drug cartel.
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Originally Posted by Burton
(Post 15623011)
But that site is hosted on a server in Dallas Texas and indications are that the 'owner' is actually in Austrailia :eek:
Also, both the HQ address and the warehouse address on the web site appear to be fake. They are superficially correct, but there's no Jalan Patimura or Jalan Angsa Patimura either in Banten or in Bogor. There's no zip code 16501 in Indonesia. Also, "Jalan Angsa Patimura" is a nonsensical combination of words roughly equivalent to "Maple Lincoln Avenue" (there are many streets in Indonesia called "Jalan Angsa" - "Swan Street", and there are many streets called "Jalan Pattimura" after a national hero, but the only hits for "Angsa Patimura" in Google lead straight back to idmasterbikes.com.) |
Originally Posted by hamster
(Post 15623140)
The server is owned by a Dallas-based hosting company, which has nothing more to do with the actual people running the "shop". The domain name was registered through an Indonesian domain name reseller. Beyond that, the trail goes cold.
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The easiest way to tell if a internet bike shop is a scam is to look at what they are selling.
Bike brands such as Specialized, Trek, Giant & Cannondale don't allow their bikes to be sold on the internet. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=indonesian+bike+shop+scams If you check the prices in a legitimate Indonesian bike shop like Rodalink and you'll see that they are comparable to prices in other shops around the world. This was posted on another forum about Indonesian scam bike shops. i run a bike shop in indonesia and have to tell you the truth the price in indonesia is not actually cheaper than overseas because of high import duty. we have lots of european or overseas walk in who say our price is high but that is a fact, i understand lots of people got scammed but before buying from bike shop in indonesia its better to check with the manufacturer on the status of the shop. we have identified a few shops especially those selling Eddy Merckx in Medan area, all of them are fraud. short to say when the price is too good to be true usually its SCAMMED thus beware. i know there is only 1 bike shop in medan that sell premium brand but no more than that. the rest is just a normal mom n pop bike shop. it will have more in jakarta. please check with the brand owner on the shop ask them to verify with their local distributor if the shop is real. its better right |
Originally Posted by justinleger
(Post 15671191)
At that time my son's birthday and asked for my bicycle gifts bike website on google search I found the re-sporting.com and they have a warehouse in singapore at that time I had a friend in singapore and I tell friends to see whether they shed in singapore and it turns out the warehouse was completely real and I immediately bought the company in order goods after 5 days I got home and I am very happy with this.
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