bikesdirect.com beware
 

To anyone thinking of ordering from bikesdirect.com, I would recommend against it. My recent experience has been very disappointing:

6 weeks ago I ordered a Motobecane Le Champion SL, seemed too good to be true for the price and it was. The bike arrived 1 week later with box smashed and hubs poking out from all sides. There were deep scratches in the frame and the rear triangle appeared to be bent. I had UPS return the bike immediately and asked bikesdirect for a replacement.

More than a week after bikesdirect received my return they said they had sent a replacement, but two weeks after that I still hadn't received anything. Dozens of emails later (they almost never answer, refuse to provide a phone number, and refuse to call me) they finally reply saying they're sorry, something must have gone wrong in shipping, we'll refund your money. I could tell right away from their reply that they had never even shipped the replacement. Well, they didn't refund my money either, not until after I had sent them many more emails requesting a refund and letting them know that I was disputing the transaction with my credit card company.

Altogether, it took more than 6 weeks to get a refund. The worst part of the whole thing was how unresponsive the company is--they do not have a phone number listed on the web site, and despite numerous email requests from me they refused to provide a phone number or to call me. They only answer about 1 in 5 emails and they were not honest about how they were handling my order--they never sent a replacement like they said, and they didn't refund my money like they said until I threatened to file a claim with my credit card company.

Avoid UPS at all costs. Literally.

I used to know a guy who worked at UPS and the boxes marked fragile were tossed harder!! It was understood by those working on the dock that you should NEVER tell them to carry a package with care since that required more work for the same pay. Thus, these packages marked fragile were an insult and deserved to be tossed harder with the intention of breaking the contents inside. Seriously.

You're right, it was UPS that smashed the bike, but it was bikesdirect that didn't answer my emails, refused to call me or provide a phone number, lied when they said they were sending a replacement, and didn't refund my money.

UPS was actually a pleasure to deal with, despite the fact that they probably caused the problem. They answered the phone, returned my calls promptly, sent a truck to my house to pick up and return the bike, and had a damage inspector call me once they received and inspected the bike.

Except the shipping company wasn't the one that took your money and provided nonexistant customer service, in addition to lying.

It is surprising that the United States Postal Service ... USPS handles packages, boxes, etc better than
UPS !

i have heard things of that nature before. it's pretty brazen to take it upon yourself to purposely damage something that you don't know anything about. i have shipped one of a kind items before that could never be replaced. to think that some jerk off with a chip on his shoulder would do that pisses me off to no end.

Not to be a jerk but 30 seconds of searching on their site produced : phone 904-249-2453 and fax 904-249-3987. They arent prominently displayed but they are there.

PS I shipped a truck tailgate for a 2005 Chevy pickup via UPS, I packed it as per their specifications, the guy at the UPS dropoff said it was good, and the UPS driver proceeded to drop it down the stairs at this guys apartment, destroying it. THEN they denied the claim saying it wasn't packed properly!

So, is Bikesdirect.com doing better or worse almost 3 years after this thread started and then quickly went dormant?

Man, somebody must have done a three story high dive into the dumpster to find this one.

1. F UPS in their A
2. Ive learned to take disputes directly to my credit company (AMEX) in cases of dubious companies. let them handle the dirty work.

Our UPS guy kicks ass! He conceals expensive orders behind things; one time he put a new monitor into our shed (left a note of course). And just recently, he had hid new packages of computer parts behind our spare car to keep them out of sight. :thumb: awesome!

Though another time we got a UPS package with a foot print on it :eek: . Yes the box was smashed in; luckily it was just a DVD, lol.

Ummm... how to say this. BD is about cheap prices with minimal service. That is how it is. You take the risk for the good price. There is no customer service. It is not like this is some sort of secret.

And you know what, your credit card has a neat feature called a chargeback. Just use it.

I guess I'm a lucky one. You be the judge.:D

You guys DO realize that this is a three year old complaint, right.? Thanks for the phone number, Rogue Leader -- I suppose they have figured they should put it on there.

Since there is now a way to contact them, I feel that dragging this up is not necessary.

Thread closed.

Siu Blue Wind
Forum Moderator.

Just an FYI, that phone number is to a Jacksonville, Florida Bikes Direct Store, not to the main business.

Here is BD info:

Cycle Spectrum
5950 C FM 1960 West
Houston, TX 77069
281-583-5466