KG505

Here is the email i just sent bikes direct:



Today was going decent enough, got out of work early and noticed a piece of paper stuck to my screen door saying UPS had tried to deliver a bike but I wasnt home to sign for it. Oh well, maybe I'll be here tomorrow when he tries again. Then, as i was heading in the house i heard a diesel truck comin down the road about to exit our neighborhood. It was the UPS guy! I flagged his middle to late middle age ass down and he pulls over. I hand him the piece of paper and he rummages through the truck and eventually produces a large flat box that reads "Motobecane" on the side. I signed my initials on his scanner thingermabob and thanked the man for stopping. I put the box in the garage and went inside to change out of my uniform. Once changed, I grabbed some water and headed to the garage. I carefully opened the box taking care not to tear into it. I folded open the box and immediately notice white seatstays. hmmm.... on the website the bike I ordered was Red. At this point Im starting to think you shipped the wrong bike. At first I felt pretty ****ty about it. Then out of nowhere I started to get excited thinking that maybe you sent me a higher end bike than the one i had ordered. Sadly, these things never turn out that way. I removed the seat and the seat tube to get a better look at the bike. I pulled back some foam that was on the top tube to display the word "record." $#!& Wrong bike. I pulled the bike out of the box and immediately looked at the rear derailleur. Its a tiagra. The bike I ordered comes with 105. **** again. Its a good looking bike that you sent me, just lower end components.

So here is the dilemma. I paid you 600 dollars for a certain bike. That bike did not show up. A lower end bike did show up. Obviously, I'm not happy about this. I doubt you are pleased either. So, I propose a solution. I doubt it is cheap for you to ship 1 bike 1 time. Its much less cheap to ship 2 bikes a total of 3 times. (The incorrect bike to me. The incorrect bike from me back to you. The correct bike from you to me.) So lets make a deal and avoid all the waiting and headaches that shipping a bike around the US can cause.

Instead of you buying/sending me a shipping label to send this bike back and then paying to ship the correct bike to me, why not just refund me a portion of what i paid you?

Paypal me $200.00 and you can forget all about paying for this bike to get back to you and then paying once again to ship the correct bike out. You've already payed once to ship me a bike, why pay shipping two more times? You will save the man hours that it will take to open the incorrect bike up and inspect it. It will save you money on the materials to re-pack the incorrect bike as well. And just imagine all the negative publicity you will save yourselves! There is enough negative press about you guys out there as it is, you dont want someone with a lot of free time on their hands and an internet connection adding to the pile.

So, to sum it all up. I gave you 600 dollars. You sent me the wrong bike. I became unhappy. I proposed a mutually beneficial solution to the problem that you caused. The last step is for you to accept my offer and Paypal me $200.00 Let me know what you think about this.

Kevin



Predictions anyone?

Ygduf

I predict few people will read that all the way through. I did, and recommend you refresh your business writing.

Please refund the difference between X and Y is all you needed to write.

Good luck.

KG505

Business writing? This wasn't meant to be professional. Just an offer to the seller. And on their site its only a 41 dollar difference between bikes. I'm interested to see what they will write back.

Flatballer

That was about 6x longer than it needed to be.

Why say in 1000 words what you could say in 150?

And you kind of already put some bad publicity out there, despite that being part of your offer to them. Whatever, this whole thread is just weird.

YOJiMBO20

If it's a $41 difference, why are you asking for $200?

Flatballer

Because that's not the bike he ordered. Sounds fair to me.

coasting 

this thread is just an attempt to put pressure on BD to agree to OP's offer. Even if it is attractive to accept, the fact that you publicised a private business offer which should be no one's business other than you and BD, I hope BD rejects it.

They'll pay for shipping back and forth to rectify their mistake as a responsible retailer should, but why pay it to you for this shabby tactic? I say pay it to UPS.

RacerOne

Kind of sounds like you already breached part of the contract you proposed. That and how does BD know you didn't get the right bike and now claim you got a cheaper and are trying to scam them? I say BD will want their bike back and send you the correct one.

growl

Just a word of advice.
Most of the time, you don't get what you want by writing a drawn-out and condescending letter with random curse words thrown in. You get it by being polite and courteous, ESPECIALLY when it's someone else's fault, because that will make them WANT to help you out.

Flatballer

Yep. That was my first thought.

bmw5nkj

sounds like a (really long) ransom note.

Flatballer

Can you imagine trying to find all those letters in a magazine to cut them out and glue in? It would take you all day.

KG505

lol, im not trying to hold anyone at ransom. And i honestly dont see how i was rude in email. Its simply an offer to the seller to rectify a situation. I dont expect them to pay me anything, but whats the worst that could happen? They'll say no, and we'll resolve it in the traditional manner. Either way I had to email them to tell them they sent me the wrong bike, why not make it interesting?

MONGO!

Good job no-one from BD reads this forum.

TromboneAl

I'd have tried something like this:

Dear BD:

Thanks for the prompt shipment of my bicycle (Order 3554). Unfortunately, I discovered that I have received the wrong bike (a Model xxx instead of a Model yyy). Although I'd prefer model yyy, I'm really eager to start riding; perhaps I could be happy with xxx if you offered me a significant discount. That way I'd be on the road right away, I could avoid the annoyance of shipping it back to you, and you could avoid two more shipping charges (my return and the correct bike).

I'd like to suggest a discount of $159 off the price of model yyyy.

Feel free to call me at 555-555-1212.

Your loyal customer,

Kevin

P.S. &^% You! <--- Optional

agarose2000

Let me guess - you're under 21?

KG505

27 in December.

I really dont see what the big deal is. Its not like I have a gun to the guys head. If they would rather have me return this bike for the correct one they will tell me when they reply. I figured it would be amusing to see what they say in return.

coasting 

i have no experience of BD but plenty of experience buying from online bike shops. On a couple of occasions the same retailer sent me the wrong thing, which is easy to do if the multiple options are so similar and their sales volume is high. both times i wrote and politely explained what the problem was and both times they resolved it quickly and without any fuss or querying whether or not a mistake had really been made. on one of those occasions they didn't even bother asking me to return the mistaken item and just sent out another correct one. obviously that won't happen for a whole bike, but polite complaint always works out best because they want to keep a customer.

As with all businesses, "if you are happy with our service, tell a friend. If you are unhappy, tell us". I have no problem "shilling" for these retailers. Chainreaction cycles and Wiggle. See? happy customer will willingly broadcast.

Jynx

what a horrible letter.

estabro

Summarizing...

We wonder what the uniform was...

KG505

what an awesome post.

Siu Blue Wind

I'm wondering if you have ever worked retail.

They probably won't do it because of a couple of things. Okay, more than a couple....

1. If you ordered the higher line bike, the dollar amount of what you paid for it went toward that inventory, not the less expensive bike. They will have to go through the process of 'returning' the money by removing out of that inventory and into the inventory of the bike you have received. In order to do so, they would have to go by the serial numbers. If they sent you the wrong bike, it's possible that serial number was not logged.

2. The amount of money you are asking back is 1/3 the price you originally paid. If the 200 is more than the difference of value between the two bikes, then you are asking too much, possibly pushing the bike below cost.

3. To repeat what someone else had said earlier, they don't know what you had actually received and will probably want it back,not only to be fair but to find out where the problem originated and why (packaging records, time stamp and employee sign off).

4. They have insurance for these things and getting the bike back and adding shipment into their 'shrink' is all part of the game.

rooftest

Geez. You're 27 years old, and that's a "professional letter?" +1 to whoever said that you need to work on your writing.

DrPete 

I'm quite anti-BD but somehow it strikes me as wrong to post this (really poorly written) letter documenting a (fairly unreasonable) request before Mike et al have a chance to respond or fix the problem.

But just so we're all on the same page, what bike did you order and what bike did you get?

Siu Blue Wind

And yes, he does come on here quite often.....