raria

Hi,

I've bought 3 bikes through BD and all experiences have been good. So I recommended it to someone and you guessed it, it was not a good experience. The experience is descrbed below and we'd appreciated suggestions. He lives in NV and I believe BD is based on TX.

a) Ordered this bike Save Up to 60% Off NEW SRAM Apex 1x11, High Grade Reynolds Steel Flat Bar Road Bikes On Sale + FREE SHIP 48 Super Road, Wide Tires, Reynolds High Grade Steel Flat Bar Bikes with Lugged Crown CrMo Forks Motobecane Cafe 11, Advanced SRAM Apex 1x11Spd which has a steel fork and it comes in all chrome. Not my cup of tea, it looks like a bike a pimp would ride (should come with a hat with a feather) but to each his own!
b) Bike arrives fine but one leg of steel fork is bent about 10mm so front wheel doesn't fit in. (note BD bikes are shipped with the front wheel not in place).
c) Contacts BD and the reply was: Because its steel you can bend it back or we can send you an uncut fork which won't match the chrome finish of the bike.

I've not seen the bike (I'm overseas now) but the guy knows a bent fork so the problem is diagnosed correctly.

He and I think that the BD offers to fix the problem are insufficient: i) Bending the fork will require a cold set and may or may not work and the effect on the chrome finishing is not known, ii) Shipping an uncut unmatched fork is below par.

Given he lives in NV and BD is in TX what are his recourses options. Unfortunately he signed for the package but only discovered the damage *after* he opened the box.

I think the core of the issue is under what grounds can you just return the BD box and say, give me back my money. You didn't ship the product you described.

Thanks.

f4rrest

Complain to the credit card company, damaged goods received, and they'll initiate the chargeback process against the seller.

Then the seller has to rectify it to the bank's satisfaction. These often go in favor of the buyer.

raria

I've never done that with a CC before.

Do you provide proof of the problem (i.e. photos) or the email from BD.com? BD.com seem like honest guys but what they are offering is a bit weird: almost like you own the bike now and lets work out a mutually beneficial solution.

f4rrest

The issuers are all a bit different. It's best just to call and ask.

Even the word chargeback often gets merchants to see things your way.

raria

If it's not perfect you can demand your money back?

Can't BD claim it's a delivery problem and it's not their fault.

WhyFi

They have a 30-day return. Use it. He'll be out the shipping cost, but that might be as good as it gets.

2manybikes

It probably is damage from shipping. I have not personally claimed shipping damage on anything, it sounds like a lot of time and effort. If he likes the bike a lot Try the replacement fork. Unfortunately you need to put the fork in a bike and try it before cutting it down. They need to ship an uncut fork if you want a fork. Have him look for a bike shop and see if he can get an estimate for cutting and installing a new fork. I think it would be hard to convince anyone that BD shipped a bike with a bent fork. Use the bike shop estimate for a value if he decides to get reimbursed from the carrier.

exime

You live in America with a million LBS's and you buy some piece of junk online. You could get a last year Trek/Cannondale for a couple bucks more with life time free adjustments.

TrojanHorse

Who cares - they arranged for the carrier, not you, so they are responsible. And if they didn't put a block in the fork to prevent this exact occurrence then they are doubly stupid.

For a company that makes their money online, this is really poor. Cue the BD jokes now, I guess.

tagaproject6

They sent you damaged goods and BD will not rectify to your satisfaction. Leave the assumptions out of the conversation. Take that information to the credit card company and see what can be done from there. You will not know until you ask. BD arranged for the shipping and packing. Inadequate packing resulted in damaged goods or maybe, goods damaged prior to shipping, you do not know. Call the CC and have them do a charge back as few suggested.

raria

So I took all your advice and recommended:

a) Tell BD he is making a charge-back claim with CC.
b) If that doesn't work then file CC claim.

No jokes or other stuff from me on BD. I like them a lot and so must a lot of other people given by their popularity. We shouldn't judge BD by one incident, just like we wouldn't judge Cannondale/Trek/Giant/Specialezed based on one person's negative warranty claim experience.

raria

I keep on hearing about these great LBS that give lifetime free adjustments and great advise so I'm sure they exist. But just not where I or he lives!

I'm envious of all of you who have these LBSs near by but I'm glad that BD, Nashbar, Performance etc. exist for those of us who aren't so lucky.

CliffordK

I think this is a fault of an industry that basically warehouses products that are fully fabricated and assembled overseas.

I think the bike would look BAD with a painted fork and the rest of the bike all chrome.

Chrome forks are a dime a dozen on E-Bay, but I suppose fewer if one looks for 1 1/8" threadless steer tube and a lugged crown.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Chrome-Soma...O/153019738478

That Soma fork probably would take the larger tire sizes. Hard to say for sure.

I'd probably ask for either BD to pull a good chrome fork off of a new bike (then deal with the rest of the bike later), or to give you a $100 refund to acquire your own replacement fork. More?

Does BD do garage sale clearance sales where they could dispose of the bike they partly strip?

Wheever

CliffordK

As expected.

So there is no reason they can't pull a good fork off a bike in inventory, and either strip the rest of the bike, or simply sell it with a mismatched fork, and probably still turn a profit.

gettingold

How the heck else would you find the damage?

garciawork

Just echoing the CC company call. Shipping damage or not, they are the best bet. What a lot of people don't realize is the person who pays the shipping company (as in, the money comes from their account, ie, the seller, even if they charge you for it) is the customer of the shipping company. Bark up the CC tree, BD certainly doesn't want to be charged back, and let them take it up with the shipping co on their time and make you whole now.