GeoKrpan

Niagara is slow but it is a GREAT store, they have everything and great prices too. Their cables and housings and related parts is unrivaled. Stuff from ChainReaction or Merlin gets here in 3-5 business days but Niagara can take two weeks to reach the West Coast. Cut Niagara some slack!

Sy Reene

Per the OP, perhaps better to say that they "list everything and have great prices too.." Not sure about the "have" if the OP is waiting for 2 weeks for the package to show as dispatched (ie. left Niagara) in the UPS system.

WA472P

Dishonest business. Take your money elsewhere. Don't believe whatever they say.

1) Niagara Cycle Works posts items for sale, and in stock, that they don't have in stock.

2) Niagara Cycle Works accepted my purchase of an item and listed it as preparing for shipping. This was a falsehood as one cannot prepare an item for shipping when it does not have the item in hand.

3) After three days of preparing for shipping Niagara Cycle Works management says that the item sold out on Christmas Day. Yet another fabrication. Nobody sells out on Christmas Day - the slowest business day of the year according to VISA. How did they sell out of an item that they've been preparing for shipping for three days? And if this was the case why didn't they offer to substitute the same item in another color that they also listed as in stock? The answer is clear: because they never did have any in stock.

4) By their own admission the distributor for LEZYNNE has stopped transacting business with Niagara Cycle Works. Perhaps others as well. The reasons remain unknown.

5) Niagara Cycle Works entered into a contract to provide an item to me under false pretences. Niagara Cycle Works placed a hold on my credit card. I required the item by a specific date but Niagara Cycle Works deceived me regarding the product's availability and delivery date. Now a week later I don't have the item and I don't have my money back.

I have been in polite communication with the management and staff of Niagara Cycle Works. But they have continued to be dishonest and perpetrate mistruths about the mythical items that they falsely claim to have in stock and preparing for shipping. These are deceptive and improper business practices according to the New York State Attorney General's Office.

I have been transacting business on line since 1999. I have almost 10 years of trouble-free transactions with Amazon and its Marketplace partners. This transaction with Niagara Cycle Works has without a doubt been the worse. Quite frankly, people don't normally lie like the folks at Niagara Cycle Works.

10 Wheels

I like Them......

10 Wheels

Moved it..

WA472P

I did too. Until I caught them in their lie and then they just kept on lying to cover their other lies.

bobdenver1961

I avoid Niagara unless they are the only one's who I can get the item from. They are super super slow. It doesn't matter if your order through Amazon or directly from their website. Just be prepared for a long delay.

shelbyfv

Join a forum just to trash a retailer? That's kind of obsessive, IMO.

plonz 

I order my wheel building supplies from Niagara. I placed an order mid November that took 14 days to arrive. I placed another 8 days before Christmas and figured it would be January before I saw it. Showed up in 5 days!

I agree their delivery timing can be unreliable but I will continue to use them for things I don't need right away. Price is right and convenient through Amazon.

WA472P

To start your own thread - maybe.

To add an opinion to an existing and active thread - not really.

My intent is to add my warning to the others already posted here.

My post is factual. It is not trash.

I am a cyclist - and always have been. I've owned a Sekine 10 and a Sekine 12. I currently have a Giant Prodigy and a Giant Revive. I've looked seriously at Santana tandems - and would have bought if my wife was a better stoker.

Just because a bad experience with Niagara Cycle Works is what brought me to first post on bikeforums doesn't mean that I haven't been lurking for years or that my contributions now and in the future are unworthy of your consideration.

radsmd

Never had a problem with them, but have only order small items.

kingston 

@WA472P, I'm not sure I understand. You're upset because Niagara has stuff on their website that they don't have sitting on a shelf ready to send you immediately after you place the order?

Niagara has by far largest number of items for sale of any online retailer in the US. I always just assumed that they don't carry all that inventory and have to special order low-demand items from the manufacturer or distributor before they can fill those orders just like your LBS would have to do.

Do you have a similar reaction when you order something from the LBS and it takes them a while to get it or maybe they find out the the manufacturer is out-of-stock and they can't get it at all?

Out of curiosity, what did you order that they were not able to supply?

FBinNY 

I see the OP's point, though don't get the degree of upset. The analogy between the internet seller and a local shop isn't on target because the issue is expectations more than reality.

If someone lists stuff as IN STOCK, that implies that it's sitting on a shelf, available for immediate shipment. In the event that it isn't a seller has a right to expect a PROMPT email with an expected ship date and the option to cancel.

That's how it works at a bike shop, it's either in stock or they offer to order it for you.

Words have meaning and IN STOCK means just that, not that the seller will order it after you order it from him.

I have no issue, nor special love of Niagara. It's good that they offer so many items for sale, and you're right that it's not likely that they can stock all of that stuf.f. The simple remedy is to be honest and list items as either in stock, or available within a few days.

kingston 

The reality is that IN STOCK at Niagara means that they will probably be able to get it to you in some reasonable amount of time. Could be a few days, could be a few weeks, and you might not get it at all if they can't source the part. I'm not saying that's right. That's just the way it is. If you have that expectation when you place the order you won't be disappointed.

I also have no special love for Niagara, but because Niagara sells a lot of stuff that you can't get from any other online retailer the only other option is to place an order with your LBS, and if Niagara can't get the part, chances are your LBS can't either.

WA472P

@FBinNY has done an excellent job of responding but allow me to add some clarity.

Not only did Niagara Cycle Works list my item as in stock - when it was not (this is a violation of Amazon Marketplace policy and a predetive marketing practice as it effectively stole a sale from someone else who actually had the time in stock). They told me for three days that they were preparing it for shipping.

You can't prepare something for shipping if you don't have it in hand.

What Niagara appears to do is list everything as in stock when it is not. Suck you in to buy and then rush around to find one somewhere.

In my case it was a LEZYNNE pump. A very specific one. They listed them in three colors all in stock. After I waited for three days I got an email from an order picker saying that LEZYNNE had placed Niagara Cycle Works on a restricted list and that they could no longer get LEZYNNE products. Because of that they could no longer fill my order (remember that order that they had in stock and spent three days preparing for shipping?) She also explained that because of this restriction from LEZYNNE Niagara Cycle Works was having to go into Amazon marketplace and manually zero out all of its listings of LEZYNNE.

But then the customer service manager for Niagara Cycle Works sends me an email claiming that they suddenly ran out of stock on my item - to cover the lie that they were perpetrating.

I lost time, my credit card is still tied up, and I still don't have a pump. But more important I discovered that Niagara Cycle Works was using dishonest business practices.

kingston 

I agree that's a crappy situation. Again out of curiosity, is that specific pump available at the same price from any other online retailer?

FBinNY 

As I said ---- WORDS HAVE MEANINGS. In stock means just what it implies, someplace in a warehouse, on the shelf or floor that the seller controls. There are other phrases to describe "we'll get it for you as soon as possible".

Now if Niagara chooses to redefine "in stock" to mean in our catalog, then they have an obligation to make that clear. OTOH if everyone decides that they can redefine words willy nilly, then business communication will become meaningless words strung together.

WA472P

Well, here's the thing. It is listed with other Amazon Marketplace sellers - but I didn't want to risk running into the same shell game again. So I ordered it directly from Amazon.com themselves (and paid more for the item) but they since listed the item as out of their stock. They went out of stock while I was being jerked around by Niagara Cycle Works.

So I don't have the item: LEZYNNE Overdrive Pump. It comes in black or silver, or a digital option.

Yes it's specific and unique. But no more so than pretty much anything else in the cycling world. And after investing some time researching the matter I believe that it is the one that will be simple enough for my wife to use while durable enough to survive her Leo ways.

kingston 

Okey dokey. You guys getting all upset about it doesn't change that fact that IN STOCK at Niagara means what it means. I don't think it's that big of a deal. Marketers make stuff up that's not true to get you to buy their products all the time. In fact, I would argue that business communication IS meaningless words strung together.

WA472P

Well said. Just like the phrase "preparing for shipping" has a specific meaning.

Sadly Niagara Cycle Works lacks this grasp of reality. They should probably close up shop and run for congress or something.

kingston 

My hypothesis is that nobody has your pump in stock. That's why Niagara isn't able to fill the order.

WA472P

I'll buy that you buy that Clintonian interpretation of what "in stock" is. But that doesn't mean that anyone else does. And more importantly that's not how Amazon defines it for its marketplace sellers. Their policy is clear: a seller cannot list an item for sale on the marketplace that it does not have in stock.

WA472P

This may very well be - and has occurred to me that I may have to look to the secondary market (eBay) or find another pump.

FBinNY 

Only because people like are so accepting of it and defend it as a fair practice.

You sound like Bill Clinton saying that it dep[ends on what you mean by sex.

Maybe "in stock" meaning "in the catalog" is acceptable to those regular customers who are in the know and accept it. But it's a blatant lie to everyone else. It also distorts the market because it handicaps sellers who actually have the inventory, and the carrying costs associated with that, and deceives the customer into moving his business that can fill his needs to one who simply lies.

As I said, I have neither animus nor love for Niagara. I also understand their business model, and it's OK by me, as long as they're up front with customers and inform them that shipment will take between 3-5 days, and also immediately inform if they cannot fill an order.

kingston 

I totally agree with you on this point. It doesn't seem like Niagara is in compliance with the Amazon marketplace policy.

My experience with Niagara has only been through their own website where I figure they are free to set their own policies and I'm free to not buy anything from them if I don't like it.