[Sanchofula]

I ordered a rim over two weeks ago, received order confirmation right away, but it’s been crickets ever since

Tried to call, no answer, no voicemail.

Sent two emails, received automated replied saying “we’re busy”.

Now I’m trying to cancel the order, may have to cancel it through VISA.

This was my first experience with Bikebling, it’s probably my last.

Oh well.

 

[OttaCee]

If you are in no rush to get the parts and the price is good then I wouldnt shy away from buying there.

But I bought a Fox fork needed for a build and waited 3 weeks for a response on status after I didnt hear anything after 2 weeks. Called my CC company and told them to put hold on the charge. BikeBling emailed me 10 day after I put on the hold and request the contact me to allow the credit card to process. Had them on the phone to verify they had the product and gave me tracking number before releasing. Ended up being 7 weeks before I got the product. The $100 saved was not worth my time and should of bought from Jenson, Competitive Cyclist, etc. and had it 3-5 days.

Have bought clothing, handlebars, shoes there and I wasnt in any rush to get. Eventually got everything in 3-5 weeks but after my first bad experience, it what to expect now.

 

[Loll]

Nurse Ben, there is a thread dedicated to bike bling’s behaving badly on the where are the beat deals forum. It wont change the situation but might make you feel better.

Do not order from Bike-Bling

I contacted Bike Bling in mid May and asked if they had Sidi Dominators in my size. They said they would ship the next day and I would receive tracking info. I placed my order on May 19. Nothing was sent and I repeatedly called and sent emails. I didn't think they were going to send the shoes...

www.mtbr.com

 

[ocnLogan]

Nurse Ben, there is a thread dedicated to bike bling’s behaving badly on the where are the beat deals forum. It wont change the situation but might make you feel better.

Do not order from Bike-Bling

I contacted Bike Bling in mid May and asked if they had Sidi Dominators in my size. They said they would ship the next day and I would receive tracking info. I placed my order on May 19. Nothing was sent and I repeatedly called and sent emails. I didn't think they were going to send the shoes...

www.mtbr.com

That link is literally the only place I’ve ever heard of bike bling before this. So I guess the outcome here while unfortunate, fits with the other thread.

Hope you get your stuff Ben, but sounds like a shop I’ll stay away from then.

 

[r-rocket]

I ordered a rim over two weeks ago, received order confirmation right away, but it’s been crickets ever since

Tried to call, no answer, no voicemail.

Sent two emails, received automated replied saying “we’re busy”.

Now I’m trying to cancel the order, may have to cancel it through VISA.

This was my first experience with Bikebling, it’s probably my last.

Oh well.

They are are basically just a big LBS that also tries to also do internet. Their website is still set up as if it was before there were bike part shortages. Like it is still back when if their supplier showed the part as available, then they did to. That used to be the standard of the industry, but it doesn't work so well lately. And they aren't staffed to hand-hold people when there are delays. They literally are busy, and I don't think they have their back-order/supply-chain computer system tied to their webpage front end/customer order system to send automatic emails with order status. I think it is all manual like standing at the counter at your LBS while they call their supplier.

The other thing is that their website allows you to order stuff that is listed as

"Taking pre orders* "

If you miss reading that right above the "add to cart" button, you can end up ordering something that is not in stock. I think lots of folks assume that if it the webpage lets you order it, that it is in stock and they don't read the "taking pre-orders" part. Other webpages won't let you pre-order parts, they just won't let you order at all. I personally like to be able to pre-order parts, but other folks expect stuff to ship immediately if the website allows the order.

What was the exact part? Does it say "Taking pre-orders" after you select whatever options there are for the part? I randomly sampled 5 rims, and all of them were marked "Taking pre-orders". Most their complete bikes are marked as pre-orders too. It is hard to find stuff not marked as a pre-order.

My wild guess is that they are swamped with people who ordered without reading it is a pre-order, and can't respond to everyone fast enough.

For what it is worth, I did a pre-order on a shock and they delivered it fine late last summer. But I knew it was a pre-order and that it wasn't going to ship immediately. If I had thought it was supposed to ship immediately, I probably would have been pissed.

 

[Darth Lefty]

My recent experience is that they aren’t making it very clear they are out of stock. I ordered a tire back in summer and traded email about it, then lately got a notice it was in stock but card permission had expired. Didn’t need it any more so ignored it.

edit: yeah, just like above.

 

[92gli]

If you're about to order from BB, check stock on Universal Cycles site first. If they don't have it, BB probably doesn't either. If the price is close, please order from Universal anyway. They actually answer the phone and ship in stock items same day in most cases.

 

[kapusta]

I ordered something from them many years ago. I don’t remember the specifics, but it involved something not in stock and not telling me, and the guy I talked to about the issue sounded like I caught him between bong hits.

Whatever the specifics were I made a mental note not to order from them again.

 

[huckleberry hound]

I had forgotten about the other thread and ordered some Stamp pedals from them because they had the best price. I got the confirmation email for the order but after a few days I never saw the shipping email with tracking info. I had somehow used my wife's email for the order and it gets flooded with emails. I finally looked again a little closer and found it and it was from "Sales" instead of Bike Bling. I ended up getting them within a week. If I ever order from them again I will make sure that it is in stock before ordering.

 

[Sanchofula]

Yup, I get it, they don't have the products, they take the order then when it arrives they ship it out.

Fortunately they did answer the phone this morning, so I asked them to refund to PayPal.

I think their website needs to be a touch more transparent.

Thanks for above links, I hadn't seen those before.

 

[Alias530]

Bummer, I just ordered from them last week. Only place I could find Sidi's in size 49.

 

[jacksonlui]

They are local to me and they have a nice store with lots of stuff and decent prices. Staff is ok, but most seems like they are dont want to be there and that their time is more important than yours. Don't go there for customer service. Go there if you know what you want and want to see things in person.

As far as online shopping, their system is antiquated and they never answer their phones unless you want to let it ring for 30 minutes. I've ordered from them twice before covid and they were equally as slow and non responsive but I did get my things delivered when they actually have stock. They just dont have a good system for providing customers status on their orders.

The store isnt a scam, they just need to work on their customer service and update their process and business model. They've been in business for a long time and have moved to a bigger corner storefront so I guess its working for them and don't expect a change anytime soon.

Is you're ordering online jenson, competitive cyclist, backcountry, worldwidecyclery. Amazon, performancebike are great. Forget their coupon bullshit, thats a scam because everything is excluded. Just need to pay full price if you want service I guess.

Speaking of stores, I've ordered a lot from universal cycles before they started charging tax and before their coupons had so many exclusions and they provided a good experience as long as you dont have to return stuff. Their store is pretty nice as well if you're ever in the oregon area. Its big with lots of inventory and nice staff.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[Sparticus]

If you're about to order from BB, check stock on Universal Cycles site first. If they don't have it, BB probably doesn't either. If the price is close, please order from Universal anyway. They actually answer the phone and ship in stock items same day in most cases.

As for online bike stores, Universal Cycles is mine.
Accurate website, fair prices, as well stocked as any online shop AFAIK.
Perhaps best of all, they've been excellent communicators and communication is important to me.
=sParty

 

[Bikeventures]

Ironic that Universal's site is the one that looks antiquated and BikeBling' site looks modern.

 

[Curveball]

If you're about to order from BB, check stock on Universal Cycles site first. If they don't have it, BB probably doesn't either. If the price is close, please order from Universal anyway. They actually answer the phone and ship in stock items same day in most cases.

I've had all great experiences with Universal Cycles. They seem to have better stock than most places.

 

[Curveball]

Ironic that Universal's site is the one that looks antiquated and BikeBling' site looks modern.

Yeah UC's site could be updated., but they are very good with stock and shipping.

 

[kapusta]

Ironic that Universal's site is the one that looks antiquated and BikeBling' site looks modern.

Flash vs substance.

 

[ocnLogan]

Yeah UC's site could be updated., but they are very good with stock and shipping.

I've recently been ordering from them more often. I also highly recommend them.

But... seriously, their website sucks. So much that I sometimes use search engines to search it, rather than trying to find it via their own site. You know, like typing "Universal Cycles Raceface Affect R 165mm", and then clicking the link that comes up... because when I tried to find it manually, I literally couldn't find it.

And their shipping times/notifications all seem on point.

Jenson and WWC have had less in stock than Universal lately it seems. Plus Jensons shipping hasn't been great.

 

[jacksonlui]

yeah I agree that UC's search engine sucks ass. You can't find anything with their search engine.

 

[BansheeRune]

Ironic that Universal's site is the one that looks antiquated and BikeBling' site looks modern.

Flashy site doesn't focus on the core business, just the eye candy, c'est la vie.