DVC45

I bought a BD Mercier Aluminum roady 2 years ago, bike is still working great with no issues. And no, I didn't use the LBS for out of the box tune up, I did it all myself. Park Tool, Youtube and most of all, Bike Forums helped a lot on learning the basics.
They did screwed up my order though, but they compensated for it by offering free goodies or shipping it back for free. I took the goodies since I find the shipped bike satisfactory enough.
That's my experience with BD.

HandsomeRyan

I have a BD fixed gear that I'm quite happy with and I'm considering a 2nd BD purchase in the near future. Service was on acceptable and shipping was faster than expected.

DavidLee

I'll add my 2¢. 3 of my 4 bikes were purchased from BD. 1 mountain, 1 entry level road & a single-speed. Prompt shipping on all bikes with no damages incurred during transit. I was well aware that I would have to do the wrench work myself which I did or have a shop do it for me. If the price, components & labor are to your liking then BD is a great option for people. YMMV.

ted_major

I was right to be suspicious--even though Traci (bikesdirectbikes@aol.com) sent an email confirming that they had received the bike, and even though UPS confirmed delivery of the package, tracking number, 1Z A54 87F 03 9641 951 4 , they now claim to my credit card that they never received the returned goods and want the charge reinstated.

They delivered a damaged and unrideable bike, they took it back, and now they still want to be paid.

Perhaps they are OK to deal with if everything goes right, but my experience has been that if the bike is damaged somewhere between Asia and your house, Bikesdirect will take your money and run.

I'll never deal with them again.

bikesdirect_com

This is False
I do not know the details of your transaction
PM your name and info - I will look it up and find out why it happened
{I will PM you now with info request}

But I can tell you; none of my employees has any reason to hold someone's money
It is not their money, they are not paid out of profit or on sales commision.
Therefore, they follow standard operating procedure
Which is: if a bike is damaged in transit; we pick it up and either replace it or refund the buyer in full.

I do not know the details of this story: but I can guess there is a lot more to it than posted here.

Thousands of transactions go smoothly without me hearing about them
And all my employees know the rules on returns; which are simple and fair


If you read every post on BF, MTBR, or RBR that involves bikesdirect; I do not think there has every been one like this. We do not refuse to refund money on bikes returned as shipped. That would be flat silly. So something odd is going on here.

ted_major

Mike has sent a PM asking to help resolve the issue.

Note the disclaimer above: "My experience has been . . ." Obviously they don't treat everyone the way I've been treated. Mike's right that something odd is going on; I am hopeful that we can get this worked out.

The facts are pretty much as I stated above--the bike arrived damaged, I emailed immediately, and after a week, when they hadn't agreed to pick up the bike, I filed a dispute with my credit card. That afternoon, they agreed to pick up the bike. After they received the return, they emailed and said they couldn't issue a refund until I cancelled my dispute, which my credit card company advised me not to do.

Yesterday, I received a letter from my credit card stating that Bikesdirect claimed not to have received the return package. Both their own email and UPS confirm that it was delivered on November 13. The burden is now on me to prove that it was delivered, or my credit card will be charged for the purchase price of the bike, which arrived damaged and was returned to bikesdirect over a month ago.

bikesdirect_com

It is Saturday; but I have found most details on this transaction. I will know the rest when warehouse and office staff come in Monday. One issue is filing disputes with credit card companies while returns are in process. The credit card server has already ruled on this case and sided with us that the charge should stand. OF COURSE, we do not even control that once a dispute is filed -- they base it on shipping records out {which are in the processors files}

So we can not refund until the dispute is removed thru the system. Therefore, once the charge is back to normal; the refund can be processed by us. Monday, I or someone in our office can call the credit card processor and see if they can do a manual over ride.

Problem is the dispute puts the whole process in ORBIT and can slow it down several weeks or a month. If there was no dispute filed; a credit would be processed within 24 to 48 hours of the bike being received back and inspected.

I think I need to get the girls more detailed info to send to those who want to return bikes; so customers understand that a credit card dispute will slow down the process. Most people understand a company our size and age does not refuse to process proper returns/refunds. However, not everyone knows our size or age - so some people panic; Which is understandable.

I await feedback from warehouse and office and credit card processor; but I think it is mainly a mis-understanding and an administrative CC issue.

Big M

I posted on the first page that I bought a bike recently and am satisfied with it. I figure I'll expand on that and say that I'm also very pleased with the customer service after the sale. I had an issue with the front 105 shifter being damaged due to a kinked cable housing which I had to replace. Without hesitation, BD sent me a new shifter and even offered to credit me for the cost of new cable housing. I've had several emails back and forth, and everything was very easy and accomodating. All post-sale questions have been answered promptly, and the tech department seems genuinely interested to know what's up and what they can do.

Sure, it's not "LBS service." They can't fine tune your bike over the Internet like a bike shop. But their customer service blows away any other transactions I've had from online vendors.

mijome07