gc3

Snow day

rideBjj

Well, wheels were here (West coast) waiting for me when I got home. Perfectly packed, perfect condition. 4 days from order to delivery, including a Sunday. So far, so good with merlin.

I'm thinking of also buying about $700 worth of campy gear to convert my bike to 11 speed. Unless I find some amazing eBay deals, it'll be merlin for that too. Thumbs up!

george_hancock

Another PBK horror story here... Ordered an Ultegra gruppo on Dec 1st, tracking shows that it arrived at customs on Dec 8th, silence ever since. Will initiate the dispute process.

Edit: AND I was in UK over Christmas...

cale

You're alot more patient than I.

george_hancock

For the wife

kbarch

If they mean to fill out roadie wardrobes and supply DIY bike mechanics, they do a terrible job of it. Local bike shops rarely carry anything but the necessities - enough shoes and helmets so first-time buyers can get something satisfactory, some gloves, and a handful of jerseys, bibs and jackets, maybe a rain cape.... Sure they have tubes, tires, chain lube, etc., but the crank set you want, or a shop stand? Not likely.

As for having them order kit, it seems ridiculous to expect them to order something they don't present or help me select, e.g., as a showroom type sample or a brochure. If it's a part they've advised me on that I'm going to ask them to install, of course I'll have them order it.

Torker

Ordered a repair stand and a couple tools from CRC on the 30th of January, tracking says the stand arrived in New York yesterday. I had high hopes I would have everything by this weekend but now I'm doubtful reading some of these stories. At least it's winter...

Edit: Just received the stand today, not bad for free shipping from the UK.

BoSoxYacht

Yesterday I received the package sent December 29th arrived, and today I got the one they sent January 23rd(to replace the one that hadn't arrived).

kbarch

Maybe tomo-o-o-o-o-row
Maybe Some Da-y-y-y-y
(apologies to The Pretenders)

cale

Package arrived today. 34 days to the Left Side. Shipped January 4th.

GuitarBob

I'm glad to see things arriving. Mine shipped 4 January too, still waiting... perhaps a bit more optimistically now.

GuitarBob

Thought I'd follow up. As I mentioned above, still waiting for an order from PBK -- about 40 days now -- right, it's not coming. I've been in touch with them and they have been pretty reasonable. They asked if I wanted a refund or replacement, and just for entertainments sake, I asked them to try again. Heard a few days later that some of the bits were no longer available (tires), so today I asked them to send what they still had (more tires and a jersey) and to refund the rest. It doesn't get any more exciting than this.

c_bake

Ordered chains, cassettes, cables and tires from PBK 4 weeks ago. ET for delivery was on or before February 6th. Still waiting. I've never had a problem with anything coming from the UK. It usually takes 2-3 weeks and that's okay but this shipment has me concerned.

BoSoxYacht

Contact PBK, but things have been a little slower from the UK lately.

BoSoxYacht

After getting the second shipment of the same order, I contacted them about it again and was told to just keep the second shipment.

Score!

blarnie

Maybe it upshifted while coming in to port.

Looigi

Definitely happens to me at times with stuff from the UK. I usually get stuff in 4-7 business days but on occasion it's taken 2-4+ weeks. It gets hung up at the US port of entry. Blame US customs.

Fly2High

I had an order from chain reaction now a month out. They allowed me to file a lost parcel and has resent order.

Meanwhile I placed order with The Clymb and Nashbar and they took less than a week.

Go figure.

Frank

FBinNY 

The delays on overseas packages might be seasonal. Many large overseas mailers use mail consolidators. This gets them around their domestic mail service and sends packages in bulk to the destination POE where the consolidation is broken up and the packages put into the mail. It's possible that with lower winter volume, that the mailers are taking longer to get shipments large enough to save.

Slackerprince

I've ordered from PBK many times, but it's been over 5 years since my last purchase from them.
It was always 7-10 days to Florida.
I only use US companies, now. If I need to do a return or exchange, I don't want to pay International shipping.
I mostly use Nashbar, Performance, Jenson, Western Bike Works, Bike Tires Direct and Excel Sports, to name a few.
I use Trail This, BikeSmiths, and some other Amazon/e-bay sellers with good reputations.

S

ClarkinHawaii

I've ordered 27 wheelsets from Europe over the past 4 months. They all have had limited tracking. That means the package disappears off the tracking radar until it hits the USPS. Then it shows going through customs, etc. Never yet have I had a parcel held up in customs for more than a couple of hours. However lately it has taken a hell of a lot longer getting to the USPS than it did just 3 months ago--A month or more seems to be the norm now. I'm wondering if they (mainly Merlin) are shipping by ship rather than air??

GuitarBob

To close this out. PBK refunded me for the stuff they no longer had in stock (the impetus for my order, of course) and shipped replacements for the rest of the stuff that never made it here. That package arrived in about 10 days.

So a pain in the ass, but PBK made good in the end, so I wouldn't have any hesitation dealing with them in the future.

kbarch

Well, that's your stuff... The order from Wiggle with winter jacket and bib tights finally arrived, so that's in rotation now, but not before a replacement order was dispatched (which is running late now). The order from Chain Reaction with the chain catcher has still not arrived, but I could have used it today

yankeefan

I ordered a Garmin raceware mount from a UK seller on ebay couple weeks ago and it hasn't arrived. Ebay sent me a message apologizing for the delay and gave me a $5 coupon with a 72 hour expiration date. I'm almost disgusted by this marketing gimmick.

GuitarBob

Odd that eBay would give you a coupon as you not getting your goods isn't their fault. Perhaps it's how they show their sympathy

Good luck.