ProBikeKit.com - Are they legit?

Questions about bike hire abroad and everything light bike related. No off-topic chat please

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bilwit
Posts: 1526
Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2016 5:49 am
Location: Seattle, WA

by bilwit

robertbb wrote:
Fri Oct 05, 2018 10:59 pm
But there is a flow on affect to your credit card. The "hold" placed by your card provider is for the full amount of the original transaction and sits in a "pending" state. PBK has to actually cancel the order for that to be released and your "funds available" to adjust back up. That in itself is not PBK's fault, but I've had to get in touch every time to ask them to actually cancel an order they already new they couldn't fulfil (supplier out of stock, etc) and which was sitting in limbo indefinitely along with the hold on funds.
I found that in most cases you can use the built-in cancel feature on the website and it will axe it on the spot. Only time I had to contact them directly to cancel was for a special case where I ordered something with two quantities and they were only able to ship one. The built-in cancel process can only select per-item so there was no option to cancel just the one that didn't ship for the same item. Very nuanced place to deal with indeed.

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TonyM
Posts: 3376
Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:11 pm

by TonyM

I never received any replies to my email concerning inquiries etc....but I however bought some wheels with a good discount and everythimg went fine.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



bikeboy1tr
Posts: 1394
Joined: Thu Mar 21, 2013 3:19 am
Location: Southern Ontario Canada

by bikeboy1tr

I have mainly used PBK for a number of years and have had no real issues to stop me from using them in the future. I was at one time using my PayPal but I always got an extra charge for using them, thats coming from PayPal not PBK so no fault of theirs. I now use CC and no extra charges. I have had no problems cancelling orders and I have only had to cancel maybe a couple. One was taking to long to get the part and the other was I got another part for free with frameset purchase so cancelled the PBK order. Yes it takes forever to get your items but then again I am not in a huge hurry. Most times the items are sent right to my post box with no extra border charges, yay me. I also use Merlin who normally take even longer to get parts to Canada and Wiggle and CRC but only as a last resort. Ribbles was also another I used on regular basis but they dont seem to carry much of what I want any longer and they charge for shipping no matter what amount you spend. In fact most of my shopping is online because I work 6 days a week and live in BFNW which has no cycliing shops. The closest real LBS is an hours drive away. I would rather ride my bike instead of driving all over to purchase parts.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=154188
2018 Colnago V2R Rim Brake
2019 Colnago V2R Disc Brake
2014 Norco Threshold Disc Brake
2006 Ridley Crosswind Rim Brake

flying
Posts: 2861
Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2005 9:16 am

by flying

As I posted earlier I have ordered probably 3-4 times during 2017-2018 always fine
This black Friday sale not too great...Their fault or others not sure but

Ordered another Campy Zonda wheelset Nov 20th dispatched with intent/claim to deliver today Nov 30th
But FedEx US has them now & claim they will deliver December 15th!

Reason is FedEx SmartPost & UPS SurePost are those companies cheap options.
They driver them around then sell the job to US Postal for their cheapest rate

When you live in Hawaii that means when your package reaches the West Coast of the USA
it goes by ship...Sheesh in 2018 they still float a parcel when air is pennies more

I have had this problem with other companies though & I never know who to blame.
Companies for using the cheapest ship ( SmartPost/SurePost)
Or the delivery services for tricking the companies into thinking this service is a
viable option then selling the job to cheapest shipper

Fortunately I am riding on vacation in Asia so it ultimately does not matter.....
But if I were home waiting 25+ days is too much for a delivery in this day & age.
Prices are good but.... :wink:

bikeboy1tr
Posts: 1394
Joined: Thu Mar 21, 2013 3:19 am
Location: Southern Ontario Canada

by bikeboy1tr

Ordered a set of Northwave Extreme MTB boots from PBK and got nailed by duty big time (18%) which normally its not that much but I noticed the item came out of Madrid Spain for some reason maybe cause that warehouse has the only boots or most direct line to Canada-not likely. I know at this time of year the Gov really cracks down for online shopping and I normally try to avoid ordering online at this time of year but win some loose some. I dont mind paying taxes and handling and duty but this time it was bigger than the norm. I have been very fortunate in the past with this stuff so I wont whine to much.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=154188
2018 Colnago V2R Rim Brake
2019 Colnago V2R Disc Brake
2014 Norco Threshold Disc Brake
2006 Ridley Crosswind Rim Brake

flying
Posts: 2861
Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2005 9:16 am

by flying

flying wrote:
Thu Nov 29, 2018 11:52 pm

Ordered another Campy Zonda wheelset Nov 20th dispatched with intent/claim to deliver today Nov 30th
But FedEx US has them now & claim they will deliver December 15th!
Still no wheels I think I am going to give up on this one
& cancel payment :noidea:
************
EDIT: Wheels did finally show on December 26th... :noidea:
Ordered Nov 18th
Shipped Nov 20th
Only reason I got them is I called long distance from Asia where I am riding. I called home to USA
Postal to fix delivery & proved correct address

With PBK if things go bad? Which is why I went ahead with sorting it
Wait 30 days for them to "start" checking even though I told them after 4 days
there was a problem as shipped to city was obviously wrong
Sorry have to wait 30 days for us to do anything???
Yet they alone could contact their shipper & correct problem
Even after FedEx said failed delivery they said they need to wait for their wheels to return
even though their wrong addressing was cause of delivery failure

Lastly customer service sux
You send message thru your account after selecting item you purchased & have problem with fine but......
EVERY TIME I got a new service rep so you need to re-explain whole problem even though they could
go read back previous messages

I am done with ProBike Kit for anything over 4lbs ship weight
Anything less they are ok 2-3 weeks because they just use mail system
But anything more goes thru their TrakPak, Then FedEx, Then USPS
If like this any glitch in addressing etc forget it goes into slow death
Last edited by flying on Fri Jan 18, 2019 12:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

robertbb
Posts: 2179
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2009 3:35 am

by robertbb

Well, as per my post in the "best groupset" thread, I have a Campagnolo chorus cassette from ProBikeKit that has a clear production issue and should be a straight forward warranty.

Initially PBK asked me to email photos, which I did two days ago and they have since been ignoring me.

We'll see how this goes!

Orbital
Posts: 392
Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2018 12:52 am
Location: Pitt Meadows, BC

by Orbital

robertbb wrote:Well, as per my post in the "best groupset" thread, I have a Campagnolo chorus cassette from ProBikeKit that has a clear production issue and should be a straight forward warranty.

Initially PBK asked me to email photos, which I did two days ago and they have since been ignoring me.

We'll see how this goes!
What’s the issue? I just installed a chorus cassette I received from PBK. I’ve so far only used it on my trainer while setting things up.

robertbb
Posts: 2179
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2009 3:35 am

by robertbb

Orbital wrote:
Thu Jan 17, 2019 6:46 am
robertbb wrote:Well, as per my post in the "best groupset" thread, I have a Campagnolo chorus cassette from ProBikeKit that has a clear production issue and should be a straight forward warranty.

Initially PBK asked me to email photos, which I did two days ago and they have since been ignoring me.

We'll see how this goes!
What’s the issue? I just installed a chorus cassette I received from PBK. I’ve so far only used it on my trainer while setting things up.
Photos in the best groupset thread, last page. Campy QC issue with the cassette.

ALS
Posts: 76
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2015 6:34 pm

by ALS

Bought a stages PM black friday, recieved week before Christmas. They did respond to my two enquiries in a dayor 2

robertbb
Posts: 2179
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2009 3:35 am

by robertbb

Finally got it sorted. Took 3 emails, 2 messages through their site and then use of their "chat" feature, but now they're apparently sending me a replacement. Waiting for shipping confirmation.

robertbb
Posts: 2179
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2009 3:35 am

by robertbb

Shipping confirmation received, new cassette on the way.

flying
Posts: 2861
Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2005 9:16 am

by flying

robertbb wrote:
Sat Jan 19, 2019 8:55 pm
Shipping confirmation received, new cassette on the way.
Glad to hear it all resolved.

In my case after I fixed the problems myself they gave me a 10% off next purchase coupon heheh :D

Not even close to what I spent on calls from Asia to US but all is well that ends well eh?

robertbb
Posts: 2179
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2009 3:35 am

by robertbb

flying wrote:
Sun Jan 20, 2019 12:27 am
robertbb wrote:
Sat Jan 19, 2019 8:55 pm
Shipping confirmation received, new cassette on the way.
Glad to hear it all resolved.

In my case after I fixed the problems myself they gave me a 10% off next purchase coupon heheh :D

Not even close to what I spent on calls from Asia to US but all is well that ends well eh?
Cheers!

As the shipping back from Oz to UK was likely to be close to their own cost for the cassette, they're letting me hold on to the faulty one. Will take a file to it as Calnago suggested and see if I can make use of it complete. If not, the 8 bottom cogs are otherwise fine and these are the ones that are used and wear the most so it's essentially a 2 for 1 purchase :beerchug:

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



flying
Posts: 2861
Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2005 9:16 am

by flying

robertbb wrote:
Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:01 am
Cheers!

As the shipping back from Oz to UK was likely to be close to their own cost for the cassette, they're letting me hold on to the faulty one. Will take a file to it as Calnago suggested and see if I can make use of it complete. If not, the 8 bottom cogs are otherwise fine and these are the ones that are used and wear the most so it's essentially a 2 for 1 purchase :beerchug:
Good Deal ...Spare part spare always nice to have :thumbup:

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