Don't order from Nashbar!!

All mailorder is overrated; I prefer buying from an LBS. I like to see what I'm getting, pay my money, and take it home with me. Old-fashioned and simple.

Lot's of the good stuff I buy is retail priced anyway from the "Performance family of online sellers", (eg, GP 3000 tires, PC-99 chains) and with my club discount at the LBS, price is often same or better.

I'd rather support and deal with a real person I know locally, and be able to ask questions, try the item on, or test-fit it to my bike. The three LBS have been there to help me over the years, so I want to help them stay in business.

Actually I tried to buy one locally, but none of the three LBSs had a saddle I liked, or could afford. Thats the only reason I ordered it from Nashbar.

Robbie

RWillieK said:

Actually I tried to buy one locally, but none of the three LBSs had a saddle I liked, or could afford. Thats the only reason I ordered it from Nashbar.

Robbie

Funny you mentioned saddle. I bought a Fizik Arione here last year for retail, $125, from the "expensive" LBS. This is a high-quality saddle, in demand, and I've never seen it at a discount in any of the Performance family online catelogs.

The LBS I bought it from did a great job rebuilding my wheels the year before, so I was happy to give him some more business. I appreciate being recognized when I walk into an LBS; to the online giants, I'm just another number to process.

RWillieK said:

Well yet again, Nashbar has screwed me again.

I ordered a couple of things, a new saddle being one. They sent me the wrong one (what a surprise). When I spoke with Customer Service rep, she told me my return would be handled the day they received it.....should be shipped out the same day.

So I called today to see if it was shipped yesterday. Of course it wasn't - apparently now returns take 4-5 days....I need that saddle for Saturday.....not going to happen.

So then I also find out, they ship the corrected item via ground shipping (aka USPS lowest priority). USPS likes to loose our packages.....thats another story. I paid for 2 day shipping both ways (when ordering, and when returning).

The first rep was rude, and had no sugguestions.....acted as if I was taking them away from something important......tv watching perhaps.

The second rep helped out some.

The other story - my previous order was lost by USPS. I called to make a lost package claim with Nashbar. After talking to about ten different people, I was told to wait for the package to show up. I asked how long.......their basic answer - indefinatly. I finally got a number out of someone......12 days after the original deliver day. So I called back....they told me to wait long......18 days. Then they told me to wait 5 weeks (!!!!!!) after the delivery date before they would send out a replacement package.

What a load of [censored]! Apparently Nashbar has no commitment to customer service, and doesn't care about return customers.

I will not give Nashbar, or their sister companies another dime of my money. I'm tired of being screwed over by big companies.

I urge others to do the same......

Robbie

I've had exactly the opposite experience with them. I build my bikes from components and a LOT of those have come from Nashbar. They have never made a mistake (I'd estimate close to 50 orders) and on the two occasions that I goofed they were very helpful and the exchanges took place with no problems. It's very possible that the reason you had to wait for 18 days is because they went out of stock. It happens. One of the biggest losses of money in business comes from keeping large inventories on hand and to expect ANY company to have every item in stock, all the time, is ridiculous. Sometimes you roll sevens and sometimes you don't. I will happily continue to give them my business.

And, the USPS is losing your packages? That's pretty amazing, in my opinion. You seem to be a magnet for problems. You might want to move into a bomb shelter.

RWillieK said:

Have some cheeze with that whine,then deal with and pay more at LBS if you are too big a wuss to handle mail order. Never Had an issue with Nashbar,Performance or Supergo.

Well..I've purchased lots of parts from them to build one of my bike..and lately a few miscelanneous items and have NOT had any problems at all.

So I can't say anything bad about them...they've worked for me.

I like to suppot my LBS too but a lot of times their prices are wayyyy too high. I would only buy it from them if it's something that would require some technical expertise or if their prices are not too expensive.

RWillieK said:

Well yet again, Nashbar has screwed me again.

I ordered a couple of things, a new saddle being one. They sent me the wrong one (what a surprise). When I spoke with Customer Service rep, she told me my return would be handled the day they received it.....should be shipped out the same day.

So I called today to see if it was shipped yesterday. Of course it wasn't - apparently now returns take 4-5 days....I need that saddle for Saturday.....not going to happen.

So then I also find out, they ship the corrected item via ground shipping (aka USPS lowest priority). USPS likes to loose our packages.....thats another story. I paid for 2 day shipping both ways (when ordering, and when returning).

The first rep was rude, and had no sugguestions.....acted as if I was taking them away from something important......tv watching perhaps.

The second rep helped out some.

The other story - my previous order was lost by USPS. I called to make a lost package claim with Nashbar. After talking to about ten different people, I was told to wait for the package to show up. I asked how long.......their basic answer - indefinatly. I finally got a number out of someone......12 days after the original deliver day. So I called back....they told me to wait long......18 days. Then they told me to wait 5 weeks (!!!!!!) after the delivery date before they would send out a replacement package.

What a load of [censored]! Apparently Nashbar has no commitment to customer service, and doesn't care about return customers.

I will not give Nashbar, or their sister companies another dime of my money. I'm tired of being screwed over by big companies.

I urge others to do the same......

Robbie

Robbie,

pardon me for going off the subject but how's the riding in Lexington? I may possibly be moving there for my post-doc and because my wife is into horses but was wondering about the racing and riding scene. Thanks. You can e-mail me privately at [email hidden]

JS

I buy from Nashbar a lot and I've never had a problem. Their prices are great as is their service.
I also shop at my LBS, but for some stuff, mail order is way better.

When I was single and had lots of spending money, I bought from Nashbar, Performance, Supergo and Colorado Cyclist a LOT. I can remember only a couple of problems with anybody and all resolved problems immediatly. I still call Nashbar and CC tech support and they're just awsome.

boudreaux said:

Have some cheeze with that whine,then deal with and pay more at LBS if you are too big a wuss to handle mail order. Never Had an issue with Nashbar,Performance or Supergo.

What he said. I have been ordering from those three guys (same people, same CS) for about 4 years on average every couple of months. Never had a problem. I have returned a bunch of stuff, no probs. Sounds like you have more beef with USPS (what did they do with all that money they saved from sponsoring Lance?) That being said, you may have run into a bad apple in their CS department. You don't mention if you have ordered with them previously, but they seem to have their act together most of the time. Performance even overnighted me some replacement spokes (no charge) for one of their wheels that I got off eBay.

For lost items, I don't know what to say. I have never had a parcel lost with any carrier, and I do a lot of mail order, and eBay and mailing of parcels. and other assorted shpments for the 30 years or so of my adult life.

However, I wonder if anyone else has noticed what I have, and that is that a vendor will say that an item was shipped, and will be there in 7 to 10 days (awaiting a package from Nashbar now) and when you get it the post mark is 3 or 4 days after it was "shipped". I have discovered the same with other carriers. The vendor says it is shipped, and I see no evidence of it on the tracking site for a couple of days...

It is almost as if some vendors call the item shipped as soon as the item goes to shipping & receiving which may be a couple of days before it actually ships. And of course, most people don't look, so the blame goes to the carrier.

I know I can mail a parcel from PA and have it arive in WA more quickly than the most optimistic estimate from Nashbar that they said was mailed on Thursday, and I am only a 4 hour drive from their mailing address. I suspect that about half of what you pay for expedited shipping goes to faster processing in the warehouse in many cases. 🙂

I've purchased a lot of stuff from Nashbar, Performance, Supergo, Pricepoint, and others over the years. I've had to return items on a couple of occasions but I've never had any real problems with any of them. I'd say if you need something in a short time frame, maybe you'd be better off going to the LBS. But a lot of times if I order stuff on clearance from one of the big mail order houses I'll literally pay about half of what the exact same item would cost me at my LBS even with my club discount. I'll pass on paying double and take my chances with mail order thanks.

You're right about saving money! I HATE feeling like I have to buy mail order, but I have a limited budget. Especially since I have friends that own bike shops and I know what the market is like. I would love to be able to afford to buy from an LBS, but I struggle to balance family time, ride time and the hours the military squeezes out of me, much less trying to throw a second job in the mix to be able to increasee my budget! Until I can afford it, I guess I'll just keep spending my money mail order. Incidently, I've been buying from Performance and Nashbar for nearly 20 years. Damn I feel old...

Mail order can be a tough biz and you're at the mercy of the various shipping carriers. I sent out Porsche-upgrade products daily all over the world and have had fairly even losses with USPS, FedEx, DHL, UPS, etc. It doesn't matter, things will get dropped broken, fall off the truck, etc; I won't ship to Mexico though... just right up to the border and they can come get it themselves... 🙁

Robbie, file a complaint with Nashbar management, it won't make one bit of a difference for you in this case, but the data will eventually add up on their side and they'll take actions when it becomes more profitable for them to do so...

Never had a problem with shipments from either Nashbar or
CC. I've dealt with both since the mid 90's. No shpping probs. either...
maybe between the USPS and Canada Post I'm fortunate.😉
I agree though, I try to deal with my LBS as much as I can and budget permits.