So I decided to give Nashbar Online bicycle store a try back in June. I am in the process of building up a frame and decided to buy a Cane Creek headset and some disc brakes from them. I placed the order for this on June 25th. I got the standard automated confirmation email from them a few moments later. So far seemed like a pretty normal transaction.
A few days later I hadn’t gotten any email saying they had shipped the merchandise so I was curious as to it’s status. I logged into the nashbar.com website and there was no record of my order.
This was on June 30th, so I promptly emailed the Nashbar customer service address asking what was the status of the order since there was no record of it under my account……… no answer…….
So on July 2nd I decided to email them once again as there was still no record of the order under my account when I logged onto the nashbar.com website. So I emailed the customer service address once more asking if my order had been recieved…….. and nothing…. no response…… for 5 days.
On July 7th second I got this email from Nashbar customer service.
“I do apologize. We had some problems and are unable to release your order. Please resubmit the order online or call us at 1-877-688-8600. We will honor the original prices. Again, I do apologize.”
So I think to most people this would mean that something happened and if you wish to purchase something from us you will need to go to the website and RESUBMIT you order.
So at this point it had been 2 weeks since my initial try at buying something from Nashbar and I couldn’t wait any longer so I bought the brakes and headset locally. I was moving forward and enjoying the summer when on August 3rd I get an email from Nashbar telling me they had just shipped my order. Remember this was 39 days from when an order was placed and 27 days after THEY told me if I wanted the goods I would have to resubmit my order.
So I immediately called Nashbar and spoke with someone there who said it was too late to retrieve the shipment , but I could send it back once it arrived. So more work for me… great. I then noticed they had immediately charged my credit card. I only wish they were so prompt on responding to customer emails.
So the package arrives here in Canada and there is duty owed on the product. I then call Nashbar customer Service and they tell me that, “They don’t live in Canada, so they don’t know how to handle the duty charges.” All I really wanted to know is if I put a receipt in for the duty would I be reimbursed for that charge. After all this was THEIR mistake.
Thankfully I didn’t resubmit the order on July 7th. I am sure I would have gotten two packages then.
You know one would think Nashbar would feel that having a customer have to email several times to find out the stats of an order and then tell them to resubmit their order and then make them pay duty for something they never resubmitted an order for, they would tell the customer to please submit the receipt your duty charges, along with a receipt for the shipping charges (They were gracious enough to offer to pay for shipping).
We all have busy lives and one of the reasons I enjoy ordering products online is so they get delivered to my door, in a hassle free manner….. not all online retailers get this….. Amazon understands this. Nashbar.com most certainly does not. I am the sort of customer retailers want. I am a person who talks to everyone and if I have a positive experience I tell everyone. So if the service is great I recommend them to everyone and if the experience is frustrating, costing me time and money, well then I share that experience with everyone as well.