Niagara Cycle Works, what have I gotten myself into?
 

I ordered an 8 speed nexus on amazon through niagara cycle works before I had read any reviews (it's amazon, I've never had a problem.) The IGH was supposed to be at my house yesterday. It never showed up. I checked the actual UPS tracking number and it says it hasn't even been shipped yet, only that the "label" has been created. Amazon say's it's "shipped." I then looked up reviews, seeing tons of reviews about how their (Niagara Cycle Works) service is terrible and they take forever to ship.

Should I wait it out? It is the holiday season. Should I just cancel the order? The only problem is that this was literally the only place I could find the hub. It's out of stock everywhere else. I'm afraid it's out of stock for them too and they just don't reflect that on their site (or amazon.)

EDIT: I placed the order on amazon on 11/27.

Bad service? Not my experience.
 

I've never ordered anything from Niagara Cycle through Amazon but use their own website Bike Parts | Road Bicycle Parts | Bicycle Repair Parts - Niagara Cycle as my primary source for tires, tubes, wheels, and small bike parts for perhaps a decade. I can't recall a negative experience with the company. They generally ship within 2 business days using surface transit (UPS?) which takes 5-7 days to reach where I live in the west. One nice thing about the website is they list how many of an item they have in stock at the time of order. I don't bother ordering an item if I know they have enough to fulfill my order. If you order directly you will have instant access to your account on their website to see what is the actual status of the order. They have an "order status" button in the upper right hand corner of the webpage. I often recommend them as a source for bike parts and have never had anyone say they had a bad experience. I rarely can find a place that charges less and they have a really large selection to choose from.

I ordered something from them through Amazon, and they screwed me over. Never again.

I just resign myself to expecting an extra 2-5 days wait whenever I order from Niagara. I've never had a problem with the orders though, they just take longer to ship than you'd expect.

On you Amazon account, go to My Orders and find the order in question. On the right side of the screen you will have options to Contact the Seller or File/View Claim. Shipping glitches, especially during the busy holiday season, are not uncommon. If this is the only place you could find the hub you wanted, I'd work with them. Contact the seller and ask them to follow up on the order. It may have been their error or UPS's but most companies will do everything they can to make it right.

Generally, I don't get too concerned unless an order is at least a few days late.

I suspect (only a gut hunch) that Niagara doesn't have all the stock they list as available for sale. Garden variety stuff is probably stocked, but less popular goods special ordered after the sale.

So, they got your order, prepared to ship (label generated), and ordered the hub and are now awaiting it's arrival.

BTW- the practice of order after sale is almost undetectable since delivery of most items from their core vendors is only 1-3 days. The problem happens when they have supply issues, and I wouldn't be surprised if 2-3 days from now you get an apology and a refund. Or it might finally arrive to their shop and be on it's way.

Your call whether to cancel, but I'd see if I could find an alternate source with it in stock before cancelling.

i've bought a number of items from them over the years. never had a problem, although as mentioned, it seems to take a couple of extra days once shipped. really shipped, not just a 'label' created indication.

here's there number why don't you give them a call. (716) 205-1125

I've already contacted them asking about the product. (This morning.) I work for a bike shop, so usually I would have ordered this through our sources, but it's since been discontinued. Because of this I gobbled it up when I saw it pop up on amazon a few days later. I DID immediately look on amazon when I saw it had been discontinued, it wasn't there (unless I was willing to pay more than 2x it's price.) Then, literally two days later it popped up in my "recommended items" list. So it was listed to amazon AFTER it had been discontinued from our sources. I'm worried that their supplier is the same as ours and that they won't be able to get it.

I'm willing to wait. I actually ordered the 7 speed through the shop before I saw the 8 speed on amazon, so I have a hub, I just wanted the 8 speed (mainly for the 1:1 direct drive gear that is missing in the 7 speed.)

I used to order from them, but had the same issue--they're really, really slow, and the delivery estimates often seemed more like guesses than actual facts.

They are one of the few online vendors I use, and I have never had a problem. A colleague just asked me (like 15 minutes ago) for the name of a good online bike part retailer and Niagara was the first one on the list. I have never bothered going through Amazon to order from them, though.

I have purchased from Niagara several times in the past, however, it was directly from them, not via Amazon. Never an issue, in fact their customer service was outstanding as I had ordered the wrong part and they got me set up with the right one rather quickly.

That's been my experience too. They're pretty open about it, you can track your order's progress on line to see when it gets picked.

Relax and wait for it to come.

Never had a problem with them.

Thanks guys, I'll give it some more days. If it's not shipped by next week, I'll call them and see what's going on.

EDIT: It DOES say it's in stock on their website. (2 of them)

Why wait....call them right Now.

Good prices and selection, actual human beings you can call and email, slow but dependable. Another satisfied customer of many years here. It does suck that the amazon deal with them doesn't show up on time.. never tried that but that is not right. They need to fix that.

I have placed many orders through Niagara. They have lots of stuff that other online retailers don't have. I once placed an order for an item that went out of stock before they were able to ship the product. They kept the order open for 60 days and cancelled the order when they didn't get new stock in that time. I don't consider that to be Niagara's problem. Your case is even less Niagara's fault IMO. You're trying to source a part that you know is discontinued. Good luck. I hope you get it, but I wouldn't be surprised if you don't.

I would not be surprised if they are a smaller shop and got swamped with Black Friday orders and are backed up or have to wait for a supply drop. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for the vendor to provide an honest estimated delivery date. I ordered a fridge from Lowes that said one month delivery (sucks to have old house with small space and have to order smaller fridge not in stock that cost more than the next size up). I was happy when two weeks later I got a call that the fridge had arrived.

Shipping delays happen, especially at this time of year. A lot of folks I know have been grumbling about delays from UPS. I had an Amazon UPS delivery two nights ago at 8:30 PM!

Just did a quick search and I've ordered from them 6 times since 2014...I usually waited 4 days for the items to ship

I just had an Amazon order (not from Niagara) miss the delivery date. It's probably going around, right now.

Well, I recieved an e-mail back from them this afternoon.

I really should have waited an extra day before worrying. They said that the shipment was lost and that they shipped out another package the next day and gave me an updated shipping number.

That, honestly, would have been nice to know in the first place, but it seems that it's still coming my way after all.

All in all, I'd say OK customer service. Bad for not telling me in the first place, good for getting back to me so quickly.

The new tracking number says the package will be here today, but I'll give it till tomorrow before I start worrying. :)

When ordering from Niagara you just cant check the tracking status every hour. Seriously, they have about a half bazillion stops and transfers before an order leaves on the brown truck.

Glad your shipment issue has been resolved. In future, remember that many online companies drop ship from big distributors and their Amazon ad may not always represent current stock status at those warehouses. If something is out of stock everywhere else, it's a good idea to call the company and verify that they actually have the part in hand before ordering.

Now with any luck both packages will arrive at your door and they will tell you to just keep them because return/restocking/revising records would be too much hassle.

That would certainly be interesting. Honestly though I think the shipping "label" was lost, not the actual box.