[SUX VR40 Rider]

Never order anything from niagra cycle works. Why? They do not communicate with customers about issues or delays with orders of products they sell.

I ordered my new rim and hub through amazon.com from niagra cycle works to save money on 09/02/2011. The parts should have shipped on 09/09/2011 and I should have received them today, 09/14/2011. I was going to take them to my local bike shop tomorrow, 09/15/2011 to have the new rear wheel hand built and pick it up on Friday 09/16/2011 so I can start riding again.

Instead the order from niagra cycle works did not ship until yesterday, 09/13/2011 and I will not receive them until Friday 09/16/2011. Which means I will not be able to take them to the bike shop until Saturday 09/17/2011 and will not be able to pick the wheel up until Monday 09/19/2011.

I know this is a delay of only 2 days with the shipping. But in terms of getting back to riding it is a delay of about 4 to 5 days.

I ordered the parts form amazon.com/niagra cycle works to save money. But now, with the delay I am thinking it is not work it and I should have spent the additional money for better customer service from my local bike shop. My local bike shop would at least communicate to me any delay's so I know what to expect.

The issue is the principle of the matter and niagra cycle works piss poor customer service of not communicating to me about the dealy or why.

I only found out about the delay after I contacted them. Had I not done so I never would have known.

My recommendation to anyone who has tp purchase bicycle parts is NEVER order from niagra cycle works, whether through amazon.com or direct. Their customer service is piss poor at best.

 

[Industry_Hack]

What's your time worth?

 

[froze]

I've ordered 4 times from Niagra and liked their service. I didn't opt for overnight and had the stuff shipped ground to save shipping costs so I was expecting a bit of delay. Every time I ordered it took from 1 to a 1 1/2 weeks tops. But no big deal since the stuff I ordered were closeout sales and no one anywhere could come close to the price so it was worth the wait. And after all, isn't that the reason you bought from them? Because you found a real good deal on the price...so wait a bit. Next time if you want it sooner have it shipped next day air and pay the cost associated with that service.

 

[Jahwarrior]

Oh please, so you have to wait a little longer... gimme a break dude, are you serious with this?

Self-Important much?

 

[Industry_Hack]

I wait two weeks for stuff shipped from China. But then I get to resell it for four times my cost. In that regard, I can afford to be patient.

 

[SUX VR40 Rider]

I think some, especially jahwarrior, missed the point. I'll try to be more clear.

It is NOT the delay, but the lack of communication from niagara as to why the delay has occurred in the first place. The lack of communication and the fact I had to contact them proves to be but one thing about niagara cycle works. They do not have good customer service and it shows they do not care and do not set the right expectations for their customers.

I also think Hack and froze missed the point a bit too. Again it is not the delay. I placed the order on 09/02/2011 and was FULLY expecting it to not ship until 09/09/2011, which is a total of 5 business days or 7 days counting weekend days. I knew this when I placed the order. This was disclosed to me when I submitted the order through amazon.com.

The problem is niagara cycle works did not contact me to let me know they ran out of the rim and have to wait for a shipment from their supplier and the order will be delayed until they get more in.

If they had emailed me and stated they were out of the rim and the order will be delayed until the receive a shipment from their supplier I would not have an issue with it. Because that to me is setting the right expectation and providing good quality customer service. It would show they are proactive with their customers, rather than reactive.

I had to contact them to ask why has my order not shipped yet. Only then did I find out why. Very piss poor customer service.

This will be my one and only time ever ordering anything from niagara cycle works. The next time I'll find someone else or pay the extra money to go through my local bike shop.

I do have a couple questions for them though. In this economy can they afford to lose even one customer? More so can they afford to piss off even one customer who will post about the bad customer experience on the internet for others to read?

This is on more than just here in this forum.

 

[froze]

We didn't miss nothing, your crying over 2 days, 2 days! get a freakin life man. You want hear a complaint about a company ask me about Geoman, or Honda, those two stories will make yours sound like you got the best service in the world. I've never would be crying over 2 freakin days.

 

[Industry_Hack]

They probably process dozens or even hundreds of orders per day. If something came up out of stock, but they knew another would be in stock in a day or two, did you really expect them to contact you? They knew you were already expecting a delay in shipping.

Perhaps they should hire someone to contact every customer that places an order. All they would have to do is raise their prices a bit...

 

[PlatyPius]

You think 2 days is bad? Think how much of a delay they'd have if they had to contact every single customer to let them know their order was shipping a day late.... People seem to forget that they aren't a business' only customer.

OP: You were on the RAGBRAI forum a few years ago and you're a Mason, aren't you?

 

[froze]

What would have happened if they shipped it on time but UPS was late with it by the 2 days, would you scream at Niagara or UPS? I bet you would have screamed at Niagara because they should have use FedX so Niagara would have lost again, and lost again if they had used Fedx and they were late thus they should have uses UPS.

It's a no win situation. From now on you need not to try to save money but buying only at your local LBS and then only if it's in stock.

 

[bikebum1975]

I ordered a couple things from them got it faster than when they told me. I guess part due to the fact they are somewhat local to me to. But seriously ya what it faster go to your LBS but then you'll pay more joys of Brick and Mortar VS the internet. Couple extra days really isn't an issue hell heard stories of peoples stuff getting hung up for a couple weeks due to storms last winter.

 

[Industry_Hack]

What would have happened if they shipped it on time but UPS was late with it by the 2 days, would you scream at Niagara or UPS? I bet you would have screamed at Niagara because they should have use FedX so Niagara would have lost again, and lost again if they had used Fedx and they were late thus they should have uses UPS.

B&H is a giant photo/video/audio place in New York. When UPS went on strike, they took ALL their business to FedEx. Millions of dollars. And I hate FedEx.

 

[SUX VR40 Rider]

What would have happened if they shipped it on time but UPS was late with it by the 2 days, would you scream at Niagara or UPS? I bet you would have screamed at Niagara because they should have use FedX so Niagara would have lost again, and lost again if they had used Fedx and they were late thus they should have uses UPS.

It's a no win situation. From now on you need not to try to save money but buying only at your local LBS and then only if it's in stock.

No, I would be frustrated with UPS. But the next time I order something from niagara cycle works I would contact them before I submit the order and ask about another shipping company other than UPS. The same would go for any thing I order online that is shipped by which ever shipping company.

 

[SUX VR40 Rider]

I work for a consumer electronics company. Our sales model is mostly set up as retail. Meaning we sell to our authroized retailers and they sell to the end users. I work in a call center in customer service and tech support. I mainly handle tech. issues. If an issue cannot be resolved over the phone and if the device is under warranty I set up a repair or replacement.

One of the most important parts of my job is correctly disclosing all of the information and setting the correct expectations with the customers I help on a daily basis.

For example if I tell a customer " I have set up the order for your warranty replacement on your device. You will be sent an email within 2 BUSINESS days with the tracking information and should receive the device within 7 to 10 BUSINESS days." This is what the customer can expect to happen

This is similar to what I EXPECTED to happen when I was told my order from niagara would ship on 09/09/2011.

But lets say on one of my cases where I have set up a warranty replacement for a customer I am informed there will be a delay for their replacement because we are out of inventory. It is then my responsibility and my job to contact the customer to inform them of this. This happens on an almost weekly basis. My company has resolutions set in place that the customer can choose from. If they wish they can wait or they can choose a substitute model which is comparable to the original.

I believe Hack mentioned something along the lines of if niagara contacted all of their customers they would have to raise their prices. I don't buy that for an instant. My company has had our practices, policies and procedures in place for some time now and we are growing at a fast rate and are hiring more and more people and we have yet to raise the prices on our products. We could, but if we did then our authorized retailers would raise their prices in turn.

The bottom line is there is no excuse for poor customer service. I am on the front lines of providing good customer service every day and I know what good customer service is and what it should be. One of the biggest keys to it is good communication between a consumer and the retailer. niagara cycle works dropped the ball on that.

 

[Charles R]

With all due respect is it possible you are being anal? I mean you are complaining about two days? Come on. I mean if you were stiffed people could understand.

 

[froze]

I think this guy is making up stories. Now suddenly out of the blue he works for someplace and he does things such a such way thus so should others. BS!

If your experience was as bad as mine was with Geoman and a Magicshine light that failed, or Planet Bike with a Super Flash that failed, or Honda with a lawnmower lemon then I could understand, but 2 days longer to get something? My god man grow up.

Niagara is a small retail and online outlet store, 2 days isn't worth the breath your taking to try to destroy their reputation, and no one here is foolish enough to go along with your idiotic crap. In fact this whole idiotic post has taken too much of my time and I will no longer respond to this nonsense. Go find yourself another forum and spew your tears over there maybe you'll get luckier there then here...but I doubt it!

 

[Industry_Hack]

Let's not try to relate our jobs to customer service in the bicycle industry. I'm in management at a Fortune 500 company whose biggest clients include the US Government, Harvard Medical, The Cleveland Clinic, NYU, and just about every other major hospital and medical school in the US. The level of service we provide is different than for someone buying a bicycle wheel.

 

[froze]

let's not try to relate our jobs to customer service in the bicycle industry. I'm in management at a fortune 500 company whose biggest clients include the us government, harvard medical, the cleveland clinic, nyu, and just about every other major hospital and medical school in the us. The level of service we provide is different than for someone buying a bicycle wheel.

amen!!

 

[SUX VR40 Rider]

amen!!

I thought you said you were not going to respond to this thread any more.

 

[froze]

I thought you said you were not going to respond to this thread any more.

I lied!

Wait, I was cheering, like applauding, therefore it's technically not responding verbally, although now you gone and ruined it.

Going back to not responding.