ravenmore

Hmmm - I used to order a lot from PBK and never had any issues. Maybe they've gone downhill since then. I just ordered some tires a couple days ago so I guess we'll see.

FLvector

I just ordered tires about a month ago. I got what I ordered with no additional charges in about 10-14 days.

StanSeven

Yeah, I used to like PriBikeKit a lot. Over the years their prices went up snd customer service dropped. It's almost like their staff to handle inquires is the same size as it was when business volume was a fraction of the present.

Nachoman

Golden rule applies . . . until it's violated.

Looigi

It's not USPS, it's getting through the US port of entry that's slow and variable. In my experience, USPS has been uniformly and reliably fast, especially when shipping across the country.

TheManShow

For over 20 years I had a small business that provided service to Newspapers, Magazines, Corportations, PR Agencies, and I worked with 3 or 4 picture agencies who representated & sindicated my work over seas.

Most of the time when I got a call say from Time, Newsweek, or. There was no time to draw up a formal contrac for the assignmet or job. I work on something I called a verbal contract. About 99.9999% of the time I was paid per verbal agreement within 30 day of my invoice.

I remember buying cars when I need anew one for business as the old one was getting close to 130,000 mile or more. The guy I delt with would give me a price, give me a number for my trade off. Then we cwould haggle a little, and I would say deal. He would write the number down on paper, and in 6-10 weeks my new Tempo or Mustang would come in. A formal bill of sale was drawn, money would change hands, and nothing we agree upon and shook on ever changed.

Those were better days than today.

JamesInSJ

Just had two PBK orders. 1st order was over $1k, shipped through PostNL, took about 2 weeks and no customs/duties impact (PostNL uses USPS Express Mail for US domestic transport). Other order was under $200, no tracking, delivered by USPS, no customs/duties impact. Given all my issues with PBK and customs in the past, these two orders have made me feel quite good about continuing to do business with them after a couple snafu's at the beginning of this year that almost put me off them for good (mainly, ordering larger quantities of things and having it charged against my CC while taking 2 months for them to get it in stock and ship).

ravenmore

Just a quick update - I received my tires a couple days ago. I'd need to look at a calendar to figure it out exactly but 10 days sounds about right. No additional charges.

Alias530

I ordered from Merlin a week or two ago and got my stuff in freaking THREE DAYS. But the UPS guy said I needed to pay some $23 payment or something for expedited customs processing and had me write a check on the spot. Weird.

WhyFi

I've received stuff from Merlin freaky fast, too.

blsplyr

Received my Campy Zondas today from PBK. Took 6 days to my door.

jsocks

Ordering with ProBikeKit is a risk unlike any other I've had to work with. While we all want to save money we sure question whether it was worth it after trying to work with their customer service. If you run into any problems you should immediately request a charge back from your credit card company. ProBikeKit and Air City Post, their international shipper, together have failed after more than a year to deliver a $542 order. These two companies in conjunction with US Customs have made my package conveniently disappear. ProBikeKit assumes no responsibility despite not providing any details of the extent of US Customs duty fees (minor) and the added Air City Post fees (extreme). Nor have they helped in getting Air City Post to return the package. Air City Post acknowledged that they originally had the package as they sent an email requesting payment of all of the fees or they’d return the package. I requested that the package be returned as their fees were unexpected and thus weren’t considered when making the order. I’m still waiting for the package to be returned. My biggest mistake was in trusting these two companies to provide a minimal level of customer service. Instead I got caught in their lengthy process of returns which exceeded the window of protest allowed by credit card companies.
ProBikeKit and Air City Post both gain financially by not acknowledging the whereabouts of my package. ProBikeKit doesn’t have to refund the order and Air City Post doesn’t incur any shipping costs for its return. Win-Win.

Wileyone 

How much were the "unexpected" fees?

jsocks

The US Custom fee was $1-2 and the Air City Post fees were $20-25. In fact the Air City Post fees are standard and ProBikeKit could post them to give customers ordering from the US an upfront disclosure on what they are.