Vinokurtov

Bummer. I eneded up with the '07, which has different chainstays, and hopefully a new batch of clear coat.

Hey, if Ming replaces it...

jwc3

JayC,

Their store in Cary is open 7 days a week...

fholt

I doubt that the Cary store would be the best place to work out a billing issue concerning an order placed on the internet. Of course I also think the OP would have been better off to talk to Performance cs BEFORE posting here that he got hosed - so what do I know.

JayC

Ming is not going to replace it. She emailed me and basically told me that it could be rocks, grime or lubricants that caused the clear to come off and that if I wanted to disassemble the bike and send them the frame, they would inspect it and if they determined it was their fault, they would reclear it.

It's pretty obvious to me that the initial clear was not applied correctly but I'm not going to disassemble the bike and send the frame back for who knows how long on the chance that they might decide to cover it under warranty. As I'm sure they don't do the initial clearcoating there, it would either be done by a 3rd party or have to be sent back to where it was made, which would take even longer.

I guess I'm just going to put something on there to try to keep the rest of the clear from coming off. The clear came off of the fork on my other bike and it was replaced, no questions asked. If the stuff is that fragile on TI, they should just have have not cleared it to begin with instead of giving a bunch of reasons why TI is so tough to clear and dancing around the issue of warrantying it.

Dubbayoo

I had the opposite luck. I used the coupon to buy Ultra Bib Shorts ($49.98) and added 6 gel shots ($6.99) to activate the $20 discount. I ended up returning the shorts to the local store for size reasons and they gave me back $60-62, can't recall. I was essentially credited the non discount price for the shorts, but then you have to consider I essentially paid $6.99 + $8.25 shipping + tax for the gel shots.

JayC

LOL.. all these people getting over on Performance, I guess they had to find someone to get that $20.00 back from.

I'm a little concerned they have absolutely no record of this charge tho and cant tell me what it is.

dtrain

I'd dispute the charges through your credit card company. One call and it'll be Performance on the hook to prove the charge is legit rather then you trying to prove to Performance that it's not.

StupidlyBrave 

IIRC, the coupon was $20 off a $50 order. You satisfied that. Should be end of story.

I would dispute the charge if I were you.

JayC

Its a debit card.. I dont think you can do that. I guess I need to investigate that but I was always under the impression with a debit card, you're on your own.

dtrain

I'd guess it has most of the same protections. Check with your bank.

Good luck!

twahl

Same protections if it's a Visa debit card, but I'd have given them a chance to make it right before I aired their name out in public. True they didn't contact you for a substitution, and I think they should have, but your order ended up being under the $50 threshhold. On the other hand, you've already said that even with the $20 charge, you still got a better deal than you could have at the LBS.

In other words, I'd have given them a chance to correct it before I'd claim in a public forum that they hosed me. Bad form.

rooftest

I joined that "Team Performance" for the coupons they said I'd get for spending there. I think it was $10 per $100 spent. Anyway, I've spent about 3-$400 there since and haven't seen squat. (only energy bars and tires lately - they are dropping every decent vendor they had.)

Crank It Up

With TP, you get 10pts. for every $1 spent so 595pts. ($59.50 spent) equals $5.95 you can redeem for future purchases.

Last Sept. Performance had a 20% off coupon, I ordered a 2006 CFR LE DA10 bike but forgot my TP was inadvertently cancelled the month before. I contacted Perf. and they let me renew my membership AFTER my purchase and still gave me the 10% in TP points which I used to get additional stuff. Some items were backordered but no additional shipping charges AND no charge backs.

I still buy stuff from LBS like some DA cables (cheaper than Perf.) but when the stars are aligned (20% off coupon code, TP points, free 2nd day shipping,5% cc rewards points), IT'S ALL GOOD!

twahl

They're making a change to the system, I don't know if it's been fully implemented yet. You don't actually get coupons in the mail any more, like you used to. Instead, your point accumulate in their system. I believe that they are integrating the points earned through online purchases and in store purchases so that you can use them either way. There is probably a training problem (gee, what are the odds) in that you aren't being told what points you have or that you can use them. I doubt the points have vanished though.

EricDJ

They could have offered a substitute box of power bars to avoid all of this.

munkyv22

If you use a debit on-line, I believe it runs as a credit card, and you have the same ability to dispute.

roadwarrior

Well, that would have required providing service. Since they are cheap, they can't afford to call you to provide service.

roadwarrior

See my post above^^^^^^

Coyote2

I've bought tons of stuff and never had a problem with Performance, either online or at the store -- great sale prices, performance points, and always very quick shipping. I've gotten many items from performance for far less than any competitors' prices. In fact, I recently ordered some components for a price lower than my LBS' wholesale cost -- my LBS told me to order 'em and have him install 'em.

roadwarrior

It's not that fragile on Ti...I've sold dozens of Serotta Ti bikes and we have never ever had an issue with this.
I also saw on their website that they only warranty for five years. It's a pain to have to ship a frame for potential warranty issues...versus having a company rep look at the frame at a bike shop and handling it all right there.
If it was me, I'd check and see if someone can redo it for you.

They should take the frame back, without question. To have an irritated customer on the net like this is far worse than the cost of redoing your frame and having you singing their praises. It stuns me how short sighted companies are about this.

Like Cannondale did for many of us with clearcoat issues on Six/13's...some had this more than once. Replaced them without question.

banerjek

I once called to ask them about that. I was told that the online ordering system does not communicate with their inventory so that information is synchronized in a nightly batch process.

It's a PITA, but it's hard to change key systems without really screwing things up. I'm done with Performance for other reasons though. I find their shipping to be the worst of any company I deal with. Every time, it's the same schtick -- they send the package out almost immediately after I order it and it arrives to a "Sortation Facility" in Washington in a reasonable amount of time. Then the package sits for days and days in the facility before it eventually gets sent out for the last leg of the journey.

Except for their super closeouts, their prices are nonremarkable. Even for the super closeouts, it's not worth it to me. They frequently didn't have what I wanted anyway, and my LBS has always been able to come through. I use them for almost everything now except recumbent specific gear.

melanotaenia

one more reason I stay away from Perfomance; they suck

KinjaBoy

As most of the other posters have stated, you can dispute the charge with your bank. However, most bank cards have different rules for disputes; puh-leaze use a credit card next time!! But, since the charge is not extravagant (most companies will not research charge backs for small amounts), and PB told you they have no record of the transaction, you will more than likely get that money back.

Good luck!

JayC

Truthfully, that's what I expected to happen. Unfortunately, that's not what happened

It's a bit discouraging that a $1000 frame is losing it's clearcoat after less than 3 months of use. I guess in the grand scheme of things, $1000.00 is nowhere close to a high end bike frame but $1000 is still $1000.00.

I like the bike and for the most part, Pedal Force has been great to deal with. The build was missing several pieces when it was initially shipped and they shipped the wrong size FD with the bike but after a week of going back and forth, we got all the parts straight.

JayC

An update for anyone interested.

I once again called Performance about the charge and sure enough, they charged me back for the $20.00 coupon. Try as I might, I could not get them to refund me the $20.00 even tho it was their mistake with the item being backordered. I ended up having to order something else to get the order over $50.00 again so they would refund me the $20.00.