saba

I like to practice what I preach so I wanted to share the worst customer service I have received in years. Received an email this afternoon from Velorware sales Unable to Authorize Card

Thank you for your recent order # W00529730000.

We have not shipped your order, because we were unable to obtain
credit card authorization. If you would like to expedite your order,
please contact our Customer Service Department at 1-800-599-7264
with a new Credit Card number.

We will hold your order until we hear from you. We apologize for
any inconvenience this delay may have caused you.


Sincerely,

VeloWear
Customer Service Department

I was in a meeting and not able to attend to this right away but did ask my wife to look into it because if there was trouble with our cards I needed to know before completing a large purchase this evening with my LBS over a bike that I am purchasing. What she was told was 2 different things. One they needed to confirm the address and second that the gloves were not shipping due to backorder. Please note neither of these was the problem the subject line from their email reads. As this was my purchase I took it upon myself to get some clarification of why the order is not completed and what I needed to do to resolve this issue. I got some male on the line who asked if I just called, I said no but my wife did, he breathed out and said that this was a problem with my credit card company and they would not process the order until I spoke with my CC. My retort was simple I said I just ordered OUCH arm warmers less than 2 days ago with the same info, same credit card, same address how was that possible that went through with zero issues yet I now need to call my cc. His response was that someone at Veloware "pushed my OUCH armwarmer order through" but they could not complete this transaction. In this past week alone I explained I have order a SIR9 frame ROL Race SL wheels and some smaller stuff and not one vendor has had a problem. I went on to further state that I was currently looking at my bank acct online and low and behold Veloware has a pending transaction for $22.45 so why was I getting this email.......I asked for a supervisor, his response was 12:30, while asking for his name supervisors name, and ext for that person click.....hung up on.

I did call my bank and as you guessed it not one problem on their end, woman saw the pending no ability to reverse, no indication if it will be claimed until the 21st. Below is my email to have this order cancelled. Just wanted to be consistent something Veloware has yet to grasp. I still have no answer to wether this glove order is going forward or will be caneled.



I would like this order to be cancelled and a confirmation of that cancellation sent to me via this email. I have never been treated so poorly by customer service in my life I was attempting to get clarification on why an order for Ouch arm warmers went ahead ok but I was rudely hung up on by someone in your sales department who said and I quote"I don't seem to be getting this" I guess those 4 years spent in $*$^% school were for not then and my wife should throw away that Masters of Arts then

I will never order from your company again due to how I was treated. When I attempted to ask your sales person speak to supervisor or to ascertain a name or extension the conversation was terminated by someone at Veloware. Please be aware that I will be posting this on our team website and the forums I frequently visit. Veloware will certainly not be supplying out team kits

PLEASE CANCEL THIS ORDER

James-Sebastian Byers

urbanknight

Sorry to see you got such terrible service, although you should count yourself lucky if that's the "worst" you've ever been treated. It sounds like the company has trouble keeping notes on snags, meaning communication among employees is lacking (as is the case with many companies).

However, I always proof read and check for comprehensiveness before sending complaint letters out. I can barely understand your story as well as your email to them, and a well read recipient might question those degrees you claim to have.

Assuming I got the gist of your story, though, check up on it in a few days and if the charge is still pending or went through, dispute the charge and have it reversed. You might have to promise to return-to-sender any package you get from them, but that carries no financial obligation to you.

border reiver

As a counterpoint to the OP, I just placed my first order with Velowear and had a hassle-free experience. Would recommend.

mridan

+1

umd

+1

Sorry you had a bad experience OP but I had to read it several times to understand what you were trying to say.

SSP

Shakespeare once said that "Brevity is the soul of wit".

dsellinger

Man, you sound kinda grumpy... who cares if you or your wife have some degree? Maybe you should get a degree in "chilling out over some dumb gloves"..

umd

Here I fixed it for you so that it is not such a trainwreck. Vent if you want but if that is how you regularly communicate professionally you should ask for your money back from "those 4 years spent in $*$^% school" too.

Edit: I'll add that suddenly ordering a whole bunch of stuff looks like suspicious activity to a credit card company and they may put an account on hold until it can be resolved whether the purchases are legitimate. Since they are on the hook for any fraud, they tend to "shoot first and ask questions later". Just because you ordered a whole bunch of stuff recently, and perhaps even because of it, does not mean that you card should of course be free and clear to use. Whether or not that turns out to be the case, does not affect that they cannot know that just because the card worked yesterday that it must be ok now.

Ed in GA

Both my wife and I have purchased from velowear and have had nothing but positive experience. When I first ordered from them I had little idea that their sizes ran a bit to the small side. I returned 3 bibs and 3 jerseys for exchange and it was handled by them promptly.

My wife had a problem with her credit card being declined by Velowear. When she called her CC co., it was because she had not activated her current card. So, no fault of Velowear. I heartily recommend buying their products. In my opinion, their Customer Service is excellent.

SSP

+1. I've been ordering from them for several years, with no problems at all. Excellent products, decent prices, and quick shipping.

re: "their sizes ran a bit to the small side".

True with respect to jerseys and bibs. Not true with gloves - I just had to return a pair of Large (ordered based on sizing chart on the web page), for a pair of Mediums.

Erzulis Boat 

Naught, not not.

intence

I'll also add that they provided me with great customer service even though we had credit card issues when I returned an item and purchased another using a one-time use number. They were great over the phone and took care of everything.

I have other issues with them though, they no longer have any cheaper shorts/bibs with the Ion pad
Last year they had a few other options (velo branded instead of Hammer). Looks like i'll have to spring for their higher end stuff now for the Ion pad. For me anyway it fits great

urbanknight

+1 When I worked retail, I would frequently get a code asking me to call in, and the CC company would just be doing a random ID check or want to speak with the customer because of some questionable activity. They did that to me when I had a fun filled week of a day in Long Beach, 2 days in Vegas, and 2 days in Willow Springs.

I_Like_Bike

I purchased without an issue. Also, they have a great return/exchange policy that I will be taking advantage of soon.

umd

Yeah, I would get that a lot when I would go on road trips. Suddenly spreading a bunch of purchases across an entire state over a few days raises some flags

Usually it is just an annoyance when the card stops working and you have to call in and verify the purchases... but once I called in and it turned out the purchases weren't mine! so it works after all...

I_Like_Bike

I agree with you about always trying to use correct grammar and spelling but try as I might I always seem to get something wrong.

SSP

I was disappointed with the new Ion pad (if that's the one I have).

I have an older pair of their bibs that has a grey pad that's nice and soft and absorbant.

The bibs I recently ordered have a pad that is dark colored (nearly black) and feels kind of "plastic", and does not absorb moisture well at all. On hot days, I sometimes feel like I'm wearing a wet diaper, or sitting on vinyl. The new pad is OK with respect to padding...just not with respect to moisture management.

SSP

A few years ago, my credit card was declined at a gas pump in Green River, Utah. I had used it to gas up a few hours before in Grand Junction, Colorado, so it seemed strange that the card was declined.

Until I realized why...

On the drive from Grand Junction to Green River, I had averaged around 100 mph. Apparently, the credit card company fraud alert software must have decided it wasn't possible to get from point A to point B so quickly and assumed it was fraudulent use.

GP

OP: have you ever had your identity stolen? I think your cards are watched closer after that.

My experience is that it also raises a flag if you make multiple purchases from one store in the same day, like buying some materials at Home Depot and then going back to the garden section to buy some plants or your arm warmers and gloves order.

Situations like this would disappear if companies would use my slush fund idea. Every customer service rep should have $100 in small bills at their workstation. When you get a small dollar complaint ($23 gloves, that $5 service charge, whatever), you put some bills in an envelope, mail it to the complaintant and move on.

Can you tell that I'm not an accountant?

FLvector

+1 Another very satisfied customer. I rarely have problems with an order and the few time I have, I've been dealt with in a very professional and friendly manner.

It sounds to me like some confusion led to frustration, and it went downhill from there. Don't take your CC being declined personally.

Glidedon

Good service from Veloware here.

With all the CC theft and ID theft going on this type of thing is happening more often. It's a feature not a bug.

umd

love how the OP has vanished....

DrPete 

This really seems like a tempest in a teapot.

Markj61

I had a great customer service with them.

I had to run out of work to catch a train in the middle of an online order, I called back while on my way to ask a question about bib-fit, the rep gave me good friendly advice on a a bib model and reco on sizing and handled the phone order swiftly while also offering a 1st time order discount.

OP: Agree with above that if this is the worst you've been treated it's still not something to go rally 'round the forums with. And how is this practicing what you preach?

rc32

Exactly!

FWIW, I've ordered from VeloWEAR (not VeloWARE as the OP put it so many,many times) several times and our team's uniforms are made by them as well. Every single one of my experiences with them has been positive.