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

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MichaelB
Posts: 993
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2008 4:31 am

by MichaelB

Audioblazer - a couple of weeks

tepextate
Posts: 288
Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2020 11:27 am

by tepextate

To those of you Americans who have experience ordering from European sites, do you think it's worth paying a small premium to order from Wiggle vs. PBK?

I've ordered a few odds and ends from Wiggle and everything came super quick. I haven't ordered anything from PBK before, but have read really mixed things. Consensus seems to be that it's generally OK, but in the event the item is defective or arrives damage, getting any sort of recompense is a nightmare.

Thinking about picking up a pair of wheels, hence the question.

by Weenie


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

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dmp
Posts: 422
Joined: Fri May 08, 2009 8:31 pm
Location: Seattle

by dmp

I've bought a lot of stuff from PBK with no problems whatsoever, but never anything as big (in size) as a wheelset.

Wormiez
Posts: 63
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2016 12:46 am

by Wormiez

Is anyone experience delays or lack of communication from R2 Bikes?

Placed an order on November 26th 2020, it was shipped the day after and has since been stuck in customs or lost. I've inquired on the status numerous of times and requested for an investigation of the item. Recently R2 has stopped providing a response.

Last Response from R2 was

"this is unfortunately not unusual, customs clearance in USA sometimes takes much longer than usual. Only when your package is through customs DHL will send a status update.

Here I can only ask for your patience."

UpFromOne
Posts: 1181
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:23 am
Location: Olympic Nat'l Park, WA

by UpFromOne

Wormiez wrote:
Sat Jan 16, 2021 1:32 am
Is anyone experience delays or lack of communication from R2 Bikes?

Placed an order on November 26th 2020, it was shipped the day after and has since been stuck in customs or lost. I've inquired on the status numerous of times and requested for an investigation of the item. Recently R2 has stopped providing a response.

Last Response from R2 was

"this is unfortunately not unusual, customs clearance in USA sometimes takes much longer than usual. Only when your package is through customs DHL will send a status update.

Here I can only ask for your patience."
r2 is my go-to dealer. I have two pending orders to the States, but these days it's taking months rather than weeks.
But I've never once in a decade had any lost orders or non-deliveries from them.

tepextate
Posts: 288
Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2020 11:27 am

by tepextate

dmp wrote:
Sat Jan 16, 2021 12:02 am
I've bought a lot of stuff from PBK with no problems whatsoever, but never anything as big (in size) as a wheelset.
Thanks! Yeah, that's the rub for me. I've read reports about receiving defective wheels and the return process (or lack thereof). If a bottle cage or tire is defective, that's one thing... for a set of expensive wheels, well... :mrgreen:

Whipit
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 7:04 pm

by Whipit

Wormiez wrote:
Sat Jan 16, 2021 1:32 am
Is anyone experience delays or lack of communication from R2 Bikes?

Placed an order on November 26th 2020, it was shipped the day after and has since been stuck in customs or lost. I've inquired on the status numerous of times and requested for an investigation of the item. Recently R2 has stopped providing a response.

Last Response from R2 was

"this is unfortunately not unusual, customs clearance in USA sometimes takes much longer than usual. Only when your package is through customs DHL will send a status update.

Here I can only ask for your patience."
I'm also having some trouble getting in contact with them. I have emailed them over a week a go regarding a faulty quarq. All my other experiences have been very good

Wormiez
Posts: 63
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2016 12:46 am

by Wormiez

R2 finally provided an update, but its just a standard answer that due to Covid there is a delay in shipment. Its been over two months now.

User avatar
MattMay
Posts: 279
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2014 3:26 pm
Contact:

by MattMay

Same here, ordered Nov 16 from R2. Order was stuck in Germany until 6 days ago. Now stuck in New York customs, I’m in California. I had R2 agree to me a duplicate order via FedEx priority on their dime, with the agreement that I am to refuse delivery of first order. With FedEx it took 4 days. Standard DHL USPS is a disaster. So...I’m an R2 fan!

L3X
Posts: 348
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:39 pm

by L3X

My experience with shopping via R2 is generally pretty OK - wide inventory, decent stock, good prices etc.

Service wise I'm a lot less positive. I'm sure they're a lot more busy than they used to be, however I generally don't appreciate if businesses turn their problems into my problem. I.e. I don't want to wait on a mail reply forever.

User avatar
ReactoScultura
Posts: 22
Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:27 pm

by ReactoScultura

Bought my Fulcrum Speed 40T DB tubular wheelset from www.gambacicli.com Italy.

Their website is showing prices without VAT, but they will add the VAT once you type in your zipcode when finishing your payment.
They will also add another extra costs when you use PayPal.

But in 2 days during those covid days I received the package/my expensive wheelset in good condition by courier UPS.
I live in Holland.

THAT IS FAST!!! ImageImageImageImageImageImage
Last edited by ReactoScultura on Tue Jan 19, 2021 10:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Whipit
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 7:04 pm

by Whipit

Whipit wrote:
Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:48 pm
Wormiez wrote:
Sat Jan 16, 2021 1:32 am
Is anyone experience delays or lack of communication from R2 Bikes?

Placed an order on November 26th 2020, it was shipped the day after and has since been stuck in customs or lost. I've inquired on the status numerous of times and requested for an investigation of the item. Recently R2 has stopped providing a response.

Last Response from R2 was

"this is unfortunately not unusual, customs clearance in USA sometimes takes much longer than usual. Only when your package is through customs DHL will send a status update.

Here I can only ask for your patience."
I'm also having some trouble getting in contact with them. I have emailed them over a week a go regarding a faulty quarq. All my other experiences have been very good
R2 got in touch with me later this week with a retur label and appogisied if their earlier mail might have gone to spam. Anyway, things are moving again :-)

User avatar
LiKuid
Posts: 73
Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2013 1:09 pm

by LiKuid

A question for the EU located folks...
I bought a set of Vectors during the 1st week of 2021 from CRC. Opted for express shipping as i wanted to get them asap. The item was with the local courier 2 days later. However, CRC ships from the UK and following Brexit, all items from the UK go through customs. Buyers don't need to pay customs, but they need to pay EU VAT while the seller should have sold the item without UK VAT. I am pretty sure I 've paid full UK VAT in CRC but don't have anything to prove that. The courier told me not to expect my item in January as a lot of things from the UK have flooded the customs office. They also implied that i am gonna be charged with custom clearence fees and stocking fees for the days they had to keep the items at their warehouse. What a mess... I definitely prefer not to accept receipt and have it sent back to crc for a fulll refund. Not sure if that's possible though... Anybody else facing this kind of problems? Αny ideas?

Omiar
Posts: 385
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2011 8:20 pm

by Omiar

LiKuid wrote:
Sat Jan 23, 2021 7:10 pm
A question for the EU located folks...
I bought a set of Vectors during the 1st week of 2021 from CRC. Opted for express shipping as i wanted to get them asap. The item was with the local courier 2 days later. However, CRC ships from the UK and following Brexit, all items from the UK go through customs. Buyers don't need to pay customs, but they need to pay EU VAT while the seller should have sold the item without UK VAT. I am pretty sure I 've paid full UK VAT in CRC but don't have anything to prove that. The courier told me not to expect my item in January as a lot of things from the UK have flooded the customs office. They also implied that i am gonna be charged with custom clearence fees and stocking fees for the days they had to keep the items at their warehouse. What a mess... I definitely prefer not to accept receipt and have it sent back to crc for a fulll refund. Not sure if that's possible though... Anybody else facing this kind of problems? Αny ideas?
It seems to me that pricing for outside UK/EU are without VAT at CRC site.
I looked at a random bike price with my location set to Canada, Hongkong and my real location in EU and the pricing is 1499, 1499 and 2010 respectively. So CA and HK price is much cheaper.
There is no mention of that in the website though.

Strange that you have to pay 'stocking' fee. It should be their problem if they can't process goods fast enough.
Cannondale SystemSix R8170
Trek Checkpoint SL5 MY2022

claus
Posts: 399
Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2008 10:04 pm

by claus

My pkg from CRC is still stuck "somewhere":

Date/Time Activity Event Code Location
3rd Jan 2021 ARRIVED IN COUNTRY / 204 ESMADB
14:33:00 NON EU PRESENTED TO CUSTOMS

29th Dec 2020 ROUTED TO DESTINATION 299
02:54:31

28th Dec 2020 FEDEX CROSS BORDER 198 BASILDON, SS15 6TR, GB
23:07:55 PROCESS CENTRE

28th Dec 2020 DEPARTED Chain Reaction 218
06:32:09 Cycles

by Weenie


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

www.starbike.com



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