Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

by **tripstobaltimore** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 7:01 am

I bought a Garmin 500 off them early this year, which was faulty. Emailed them, and they quickly replied to send it straight back for a return (which I promptly did). Item was sent back on the 28th of October (so I assume it took a week or two to reach them).

Since then I haven't heard I thing. I have sent them two emails with no response at all. I know its probably a busy time of year for them, but surely they could at least respond to my inquiries?

Has anybody else tried to return anything? How did it go?

by **BNA** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 8:35 am

by **macca33** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 8:35 am

If the email has failed, get on the ole dog n bone would be the next best step.

I purchased a 500 off them a month ago and found their service to be fairly good - the price was fantastic!

Cheers and good luck

by **AUbicycles** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 9:40 am

Might be worth giving them a call - you tend to get a solution immediately.
Skype is a good option for calling internationally - I havn't found phone cards to be very reliable (or to always give you the value they claim to offer).

by **HAKS** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 9:14 pm

Returned a few items with no issues before to PBK. Generally took between 7-10 days to get the refund to my account. During which there was no communication until the refund came through.

I also send stuff return to the UK registered post. Sure it cost a bit more but when the item is a few hundred $ its worth having proof to got to their door.

by **Aushiker** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 9:37 pm

I have documented my last attempt at a warranty claim with Probikekit here. Outing them on Twitter got a email response which was dribble and then nothing more. Cost me $12.00 to send the faulty item back. So in the end I paid for faulty product, paid to return it and there response was well short of what I would consider an ethical response.

This was the email response on November 22, 2012 the day of my blog posting:

I apologise if you have not recieved a reply. Your emails are currently in a warranty queue awaiting delivery of an item. Your item has not yet been recieved and the reason why your warranty has not yet been dealt with.

You will be contacted immediately upon its reciept. Please be aware that the returns depeartment is currently dealing with items recieved in Mondays post and there is currently a back log, I have asked to check for any parcels that may have been returned from you to process ASAP.
Kind Regards,
Your ProBikeKit Team
The Online Road Experts

Nothing more since then. That is it for me with Probikekit; they are not going to be given the option to burn me again. Better options in the marketplace.

Andrew

by **tripstobaltimore** » Fri Dec 21, 2012 5:23 pm

Sorry to hear that Andrew - I fear I may be in the same boat. Absolutely no communication whatsoever. I will try calling to see if I can get some response there. I guess Christmas period slows things down, but no communication is poor. I also didn't post registered because they specifically said not too :roll:

Next time I'm sticking with wiggle.

by **Aushiker** » Fri Dec 21, 2012 5:34 pm

tripstobaltimore wrote:Sorry to hear that Andrew - I fear I may be in the same boat. Absolutely no communication whatsoever. I will try calling to see if I can get some response there. I guess Christmas period slows things down, but no communication is poor. I also didn't post registered because they specifically said not too

I have had a much better run with Wiggle. Will be interested to see what happens if you phone.

Andrew

by **HAKS** » Fri Dec 21, 2012 7:07 pm

tripstobaltimore wrote: I also didn't post registered because they specifically said not too .

That sucks. Pretty sure they say that because they won't cover the cost to register it if they are paying for postage. Guess your stuck between a rock and a hard place there. Hopefully its just delayed with the Xmas rush. Must admit though Wiggle returns are always very quick and easy.

by **jzr** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 8:31 am

They sent me an incorrect item in an order. I emailed them and did not receive a response for 3 days. So, I jumped on Twitter and contacted them that way. I got an immediate response asking me to provide my order number etc.

From that point, I dealt exclusively with one of the people in their customer service team (presumably) who handles the Twitter account as well. They asked me to send back the incorrect item (not registered) which I did and they then refunded me the postage once they received it and shipped out the correct item at no cost. Then, unsure if this was intended, but they refunded me my initial purchase of the correct item as well - mind you, I ordered $25 of socks and they incorrectly sent me a $150 stem so maybe they were grateful I didn't decide to keep it quiet. I did receive an automated email from their end as the refund was posted but perhaps only because I paid with PayPal (they raised a 'credit memo').

In any case, if you are still having no luck I would suggest to create a Twitter account if you don't have one and give it a go. Failing that, I am happy to give you the email address of the woman I dealt with if you PM me as she was really efficient and courteous.

On a note about postage, I recently had to return something to Evans Cycles - AusPost have an option called 'Pack and Track'. It's the same cost as registered but it simply allows you to track the package from end to end and it's only about $6 more than normal airmail. Why this is not a default option for all services still amazes me but it's worth selecting this option for the convenience of knowing exactly when your return arrives.

by **tripstobaltimore** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 9:53 am

Thanks guys. Randomly enough I got an email out of the blue from them late last night. Apologised for the delay and have refunded postage. Hopefully should see the harming shortly. Andrew I'd suggest pestering them (even on their public Facebook page) even if you still haven't heard anything.

Cheers

by **AUbicycles** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 12:27 pm

Christmas time as well and while quicker resolutions would be better, many good onlines businesses are working over their capacity in the leadup so would tend to diret energy to order fulfillment and warranties and returns comes second.

by **Aushiker** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 3:03 pm

AUbicycles wrote:Christmas time as well and while quicker resolutions would be better, many good onlines businesses are working over their capacity in the leadup so would tend to diret energy to order fulfillment and warranties and returns comes second.

I didn't realise Christmas was in October :roll:

They have had every opportunity to do the right thing; they choose not to. That has zilch to do with Christmas. Furthermore the responsibility to act with integrity and within the law does not change because it is Christmas.

Also it interesting a quick Google brings up warranty complaints as far back as 2006. I guess they have a long Christmas period

Cheers
Andrew

by **tripstobaltimore** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:25 pm

Aushiker wrote:
AUbicycles wrote:. I guess they have a long Christmas period

Yeah even I thought my delay was poor form. Go the facebook/twitter route. Will put a firecracker up you know where if its out in the public.

by **AUbicycles** » Sun Dec 23, 2012 12:24 pm

Fair enough - if you really don't get anywhere, I could follow up will my contact and see if this helps.

by **AlMac** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 12:46 pm

Aushiker wrote:
tripstobaltimore wrote:Sorry to hear that Andrew - I fear I may be in the same boat. Absolutely no communication whatsoever. I will try calling to see if I can get some response there. I guess Christmas period slows things down, but no communication is poor. I also didn't post registered because they specifically said not too

I have had a much better run with Wiggle. Will be interested to see what happens if you phone.

Andrew

I've also had faultless warranty service and returns from Wiggle.