fthomas

I could not have had more problems or a worse experience than what I have had with Performance Bike over the past two months. I am a "Team Performance Member" and have points to use, but cannot seem to get an order placed online that actually works.

Round 1 - Large order with funds sitting in PayPal so I attempted to pay using PayPal, which they accept with a large bold button. It locked up the shopping cart in my online account and required four emails and six phone calls to get the shopping cart restored.

Round 2 - Place an order for a very small part. A $1.99 4x22mm B Screw. They cancel my order because: "Your order was to small so it is captured by our fraud detection and automatically canceled." I was told that twice and then confirmed by their VP of Operations. The order was re-placed over the phone and finally received.

Round 3 - Place an order for about $ 55.00 for leg warmers, arm warmers and a pair of gloves. Immediately received an "Order Confirmation Email". The order shows in my account under "Order History". I call to check the status of shipping and am told that the "Order Number is Invalid". So this order just vanishes from their system and it shows up in my "Order History" and I received a Order Confirmation Email.

How do online retailers expect to be able to compete in a very competitive market if they continually screw up this badly?

There has to be a better supplier. Suggestions?

CrankyOne

Round 1 - That happens occasionally to all online retailers. Not unusual.

Round 2 - Minimum online order amount is standard with most retailers. Not unusual here.

Round 3 - Most likely your order is just fine and you'll get a ship email shortly. That's not unusual either.

fthomas

Round 1 - I agree. But it should not take six phone calls and four emails to Customer Service to get the problem resolved.
Round 2 - There is no stated order minimum on the Performance website that I can find. It was flagged as "Fraud" because it was such a low amount. I was paying $4.99 shipping
Round 3 - Two different people at Performance Customer Service could not find the order in their system.

fthomas

As a Disabled Veteran I don't drive and getting to a Performance store is not easily accomplished for me. Even when I do go their stock of accessories and small repair parts is non-existent and to order delivered to a store is one to two weeks, but since I don't drive online shopping is extremely convenient. I do not have the same problems with Backcountry, Amazon, etc. Performance needs to work on their online presence and their Online Customer Service when it comes to execution. They have extremely pleasant Customer Service people, but they are not the problem nor can they fix it. Management can, but will they?

freedomrider1

I never have had a problem, but i check online for delivery info. never have call a person to see where the order was. I like to shop online, its kinda weird to go to a store now.Maybe because i can take my time and look something over in more detail and get reviews on the product.

dbg

Amazon has a pretty good selection of bike parts and accessories. They are very good at everything. And I like Amazon Prime.

Gerryattrick

I've always been lucky with Internet bike parts purchases. Only this week I bought two Continental tyres from Wiggle and they were delivered, free postage, within 48 hours and at a lower price than anywhere else. Also had good results with Chain Reaction, Evans and Rose Bikes.

This is in the UK of course and, although they sell to the US, I don't suppose the service is quite as good.

OldsCOOL

I would have found another and local source for a B screw. There are 3 sources I use for parts, Nashbar, Niagara Cycle Works and Loose Screws. That isnt to say it hasnt been snag-free shopping but never have I been disappointed.

StanSeven

I think the issue isn't about minimum order amount. Trying a low dollar amount is common practice to test stolen credit card info.

redtires

I have to agree with those who shop comparatively on Amazon. I personally have never had an issue with Perf, but being a former manager at one of their stores (years ago), I'm not totally surprised. Both Performance and Nashbar have issues with their PayPal processing and this is no secret, even coming from their own people. More and more, I am "shopping" on different websites and then looking for the same or comparable products on Amazon and getting items in no time with Prime shipping.

TriDanny47

I've had technical problems with the Performance shopping cart/checkout using Paypal as well. I just don't do that anymore - it all comes out of the same account anyway, takes less time in the end to just enter the credit/debit card information than it does to try to get Customer Service to fix it.

That being said, Performance is my 2nd favorite place to buy anything bike, after the LBS that has been so good to me. The local Performance is on my direct route home from work (I only have to go about a mile out of the way to hit the LBS, too), so they know me well.

You know you're getting chummy with the staff at a bike shop when they let you help them make a sale I actually did that just the other night, a guy was iffy about buying a fat bike they had on sale, I talked to him about 20 minutes, telling him about my experiences winter riding on my Surly, and the salesman was also talking about his fat bike, between us I'm pretty sure "we" made the sale, I had to get home to feed the dog ... but the customer seemed pretty psyched when I left. Showed him about a dozen pictures of my bike and things I had seen riding it prior winters... told him a fat bike in a Northern winter makes for a memorable experience, and makes you a bad***!

Biker395 

I'm just curious why you wanted to purchase a B-screw, and that Performance had one. I thought I was the only one that ordered little stuff like that.

tsl

I'm just curious why you want to tar all online retailers with your Performance experience brush.

Just stop using Performance and use someone else.

I use Ribble for as much as I can since their prices--even including trans-Atlantic air freight--are considerably less than US prices. Never a problem or even a glitch in the eight years and hundreds of dollars a year in business.

For speciality commuter gear, I use bike24.de. Again, for the gear I buy there, even after trans-Atlantic air fright, they're 30% cheaper than the US distributors prices before their shipping charges. Bike24.de has even handled warranty replacements for me without quibble. Sent an e-mail (in English), and within hours they sent one back (in English) saying they credited my card. No problem. I then re-ordered.

For parts and small stuff, I use eBikeStop in Colorado. They have lots of the little fiddly bits nobody else has, and things like smaller 10 meter coils of cable housing. Cheaper than "cable sets", and I don't need the 100 meter full shop-size coils.

EDIT: As for a 4mm B screw, find yourself an old-school hardware store (not a DIY home center). Mine (an ACE) comes complete with a squeaking wood plank floor. Inside they carry a full stock of metric fasteners, including 4mm cap screws in stainless. There's nothing special about a B screw that requires purchase from a bicycle speciality store.

fthomas

tsl I did not paint a broad brush with regards to the exceptionally poor customer service by Performance and all online retailers. The marketplace is highly competitive and if any retailer is going to compete their order handling (shopping cart) and customer service is competing at a very high level.

You provided some sources that I had never heard of and will certainly look them up and possibly use them.

fthomas

I just got off the phone with Performance.

The reason I was told that the order number was invalid is because they could not fill it. The items are backordered. Nowhere in the process was notification provided that any of the items were backordered. Not when I added an item to the shopping cart or at the time of check out.

We are all consumers and have expectations of what our online shopping experience or LBS should be. Those expectations are in part set by the retailers themselves. "Team Performance" and other marketing concepts abound. Pricing and Quality are very important, but ultimately if the retailer cannot deliver without an undue Irritation and Aggravation Factor then they are going to lose business and possibly lose a customer who has spent hundreds of dollars with them over the past six months in the case of myself and Performance!

Calling to check on delivery status and being told the order number is invalid even though it is showing online and in the order confirmation email. That does not generate any goodwill!

Performance offered and I accepted to substitute items that they have in stock. That is greatly appreciated.

So this saga of dealing with Performance has been resolved. I am not so sure that I care to repeat the process in the future.

Wheever

Personally, I've never had anything but good experiences with Performance. I *did* have the disappearing order problem once, but a quick phone call solved it. (Something I bought that apparently went out of stock between the time I placed it in my cart and the time my order was processed. I assume there were only 1 or 2 in stock and someone completed their order before I did.)

I find Performance usually ships quickly, and their return policy can't really be beat.

In general, I've had good experiences with online shopping for bike things--actually, much better than some of my LBS experiences.

fthomas

In the past my experience with Performance has been super! Only since November have I experienced any problems. I have spent a few hundred dollars with Performance since July and would not have done so had I been experiencing what I have the past two orders. It is symptomatic of a failure somewhere in their systems. I do not believe it is the results that Performance wants to see either.

Done! Now on to dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs! Performance is nothing compared to that black hole!

Tony Marley

I have always enjoyed successful online shopping experiences with the Adventure Cycling shop as well as Hostel Shoppe. I also never had any problems (although it has been years since I last used them) from Bike Nashbar.

Wileyrat

I recently had similar problems with PF, and I doubt I'll be doing much online business with them anymore.

You can only be told so many stories before you cancel your order and shop someplace else.

cb400bill

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