TreyWestgate

Does anyone have an idea of what bikes direct detailed return policy is?.

I mentioned in a previous post that I would be returning a bike and I can't afford to have any less of a refund than I paid.

I know if I did not have the original box that this would cause the refund to be reduced by 10%.

I have this, but one place I am afraid of failure would be the covers and wraps around the bike when I received it.

many are still there and I put bubble wrap around what I could and put tape around the rims to keep it from rubbing against anything.

took the tires off, but they are still in the box with the bike. I could not get them back on the rims no matter what.

alot of the original packaging materials cannot be used again.

I still tried to protect everything, but they could still look for things to take away from my refund, such as how much work they have to do to unpack the bike which was basically junk anyway.

but I do need all my money back because of how hard I had to work to just get that much. And it's not easy for me and I've seen some hard times

if they took a significant amount from my refund, could I possibly go through the better business Bureau to help me get it back?.

I followed every rule I could see and did it to the best that is humanly possible.

does anyone know their detailed policy?.

will they have an issue about using different wrapping and tape to protect some parts?.

if they have a problem with the tape leaving a
mess, they could get it off with something.


also it's hard to remember just how the bike came out of the box, so the way it is packed now might be slightly different.

shelbyfv

If you wrapped any parts directly with tape, the residue will have to be cleaned off. This is very labor intensive. They may charge you for labor, by the hour, as they should. It may be that the charge for labor will exceed what you paid for the bike. Perhaps they would bill you for the excess?

Paul Barnard

What is a paragraph, Alex?

Garilia

IK_biker

Why not ask BikesDirect?
Do you have any reason to expect that inmates here would know the BD rules better than the merchant?

HerrKaLeun

+1

Just go their website read their policy and if that isn't enough contact them on how they want you to send it back. I looked at their website and they have an email link right there for "quality issues". They will tell you what to do. At minimum they need to give you an RMA, don't just send it there unsolicited.

Please report back how they respond and how the process goes. I'm sure many are curious how it works online if something goes wrong.

jefnvk

You really need to talk to BD on this, not us. At the absolute best, all you will get here is some anecdotal experience that may vary wildly from you.

As far as getting money back with BBB, good luck. BBB seems more suited for small local joints with an elderly following who actually listens to what they say. Nothing but a private organization that masks themselves as a quasi-governmental agency with no real powers to anyone who doesn't care about their ratings.

In any case, while I am not a big LBS guy, your experience shows many of the pitfalls of folks not being comfortable with bike setup and repair ordering online.

MikeOK

I read their return policy, I bet you'll get a full refund. You'll probably have to pay for the return shipping. You will want to call them to get an RMA number. I wouldn't worry about it not being packed exactly as you received it, they know that's impossible and it wouldn't be reasonable. Good luck and let us know how it turns out. I just purchased a bike from them too.

Barabaika

Shipping a bicycle back can be expensive, $100 and more.
It could be easier to sell the bike on Craigslist for 50% of the original price if the bike costs $300.

You may need to watch repair videos on Youtube and adjust the bicycle yourself.

fietsbob

Your service after the sale at the LBS may be seen as a bit more valuable than a cost cutting savings over local retail .

MikeOK

This is correct, the last bike I shipped was $150 through USPS. UPS wanted over $200!

Garilia

Hopefully they provide an RMA with a return shipping label billing BikesDirect's account for the shipping. That's the way Amazon does it.

SkyDog75

It's on their web site:
Bikesdirect.com Satisfaction and Warranty

At a minimum, you'll likely be responsible to pay for return shipping. As mentioned above, that can be expensive. Using a bike shipping service like bikeflights.com can be considerably cheaper than UPS, USPS, or FedEx. (You pay BikeFlights, they give you a shipping label to use on one of those carriers, but at a lower cost than the carrier would give you directly.)

The return policy does stipulate the bike needs to be returned in its original packaging. If that's not possible, you'll need to contact BikesDirect to see what your options are. (Maybe you could score a bike box and packing materials from your local bike shop.)

I sympathize with you, but that's just not how the world works. BikesDirect doesn't owe you any more or less than they do their other customers, regardless of your financial position.

No. The Better Business Bureau is a private organization and has no authority to order anyone to pay anything. Their only leverage is their ratings that they provide to the public. (Something like Yelp reviews, but pre-Internet.)

Your recourse, if you can't work out something with BikesDirect, would be to take them to court.

Ask them, not us.

But if you do use tape, put something like heavy paper or bubble wrap under it. It'll provide more padding and it'll prevent tape residue from sticking to the bike.

Cleaning the bike would cost them money in wages paid to the employee who has to clean up the mess you made. Or, if they elect not to clean it, it means they'd probably have to sell the bike at a markdown. Either way, it costs them money and I wouldn't be surprised if they passed that along to you in the form of a reduced refund.

Bottom Line: Contact them. Find out what your options are -- for the refund, for return shipping, for everything. Weigh those options and make a choice. You almost certainly will be out some money, at least for return shipping.

Trakhak

If this is all still about the frame having one bent (steel) dropout, any shop can straighten and align the dropout in about five minutes. Might cost the OP five or ten bucks.

Can't think of any other way this will play out without costing him much, much more.

Elvo

Have your LBS pack it up and ship it. They will ship it business to business so you will probably end up paying $100 for them to pack it and another $60 to ship.

TreyWestgate

My bike shop discourages bending steel.

If it got into that shape once it can work it's way back to the wrong shape again

TreyWestgate

Well they sent me a sticker yesterday and I think it is prepaid.

SkyDog75

If they sent you a shipping label, it's paid for.

If an item arrives damaged, the vendor will typically pay for return shipping. (You didn't mention above, in this thread, that the bike arrived with damage.)

jefnvk

I'd find a new bike shop who knows what they are talking about. Yes, it can always get rebent into that position. So can any steel part on any bike with an impact. Once steel is reset, it doesn't magically return to its bent position.

I've bent a dropout in far worse shape than that back into position, with no ill effects.

Not necessarily, I've dealt with online retailers who provide you a return label, which then deducts from your refund. Mountain Steals (Moosejaw's super closeout site) was the latest. Again, it is important for the OP to communicate with BD to know exactly what is happening.

mstateglfr 

A suggestion if either of you ship a bike again- use bikeflights.com and itll be way cheaper.
I have shipped frames for $15-30. I have shipped bikes for $35-65. These have been medium and XL size frame bikes and the distances have been 500-900mi.

mstateglfr 

Get a 2nd opinion, make the 2nd opinion your new bike shop, and then go back to the 1st bike shop holding your bike under one arm Pretty Woman style and tell them "Big Mistake. Big. Huge!" then walk out.

indyfabz

As an aside, you should check out Bikeflights.com. It's basically a discount bike shipping broker for FedEx. This week I will be shipping my large LHT, racks, camp stove and fuel bottle from Philly to Missoula, MT in a Crateworks Pro-XCL box, which is on the large side. Overestimated weight of 70 lbs. Four day shipping for something like $77 dollars, which includes $2K in insurance. Without the insurance it would have been around $52. I have used them for three round trips so far with excellent results.


When you purchase through them, they email you a pre-paid FedEx label. You can drop off the boxed bike at any FedEx shipping location, including FedEx/Kinko's locations. Or you can have it picked up for extra $. The last time I did that it was $5. The LBS that boxes my bike is around the corner from a FedEx/Kinko's, so they walk it over for me.


I have played with the rate quote process on their web site. I have gotten for the same box at 70 lbs., 60 lbs. and 50 lbs. They were all the same. It's the size of the box that really drives the price, not the weight. That's likely because size takes up truck space that could accommodate other packages.

corrado33

This is one of the dumbest statements I've ever heard someone said came out of a bike shop.

Steel isn't a MEMORY metal. It's not going to magically go back to its BENT state unless you physically BEND it back into shape.

Go ahead, try it. Bend a paperclip open. Sit it on your desk for a year, I bet it'll still be open in a year...

shelbyfv

Consider the source....

jefnvk

Dropout Alignment | Park Tool
FFG-2 Frame and Fork Dropout Alignment Gauge Set | Park Tool