a story of woe...

henderson_mk

starring me and bonthrone bikes.

once upon time... in a land quite close I ordered a carbon seatpost & computer from these folks at the beginning of June. next thing I knew I got an email saying it woudn't be in stock till mid July. I duly sent an email to cancel the order and got it instead from chain reaction. Sorted.

Next thing i knew... the computer turned up. I mailed them again and sent it back. No response. I phoned and got no response.... I phoned and got a guy who promised to call back... one week later no callback. Eventually got hold of someone and apparently a refund was done on the order on 12th July. Ok... sorted I thought.

Next thing its 4th Sept and the original seatpost arrives. Strange I though... so I phone back give off some stink and prepare to send it back. Then I think... was the refund really done? Apparently not. So I phone back... they say it has been done... my cc statement begs to differ and they promise to look into it and call back before 2.30pm. Yeah. So I leave it a day or two to see if they do... but no of course not. So I phone back today and apparently the refund will be done today.

I haven't yet sent the seatpost back and I think i might hold onto it till I see if the refund actually gets done.

Can i just encourage folks not to use this crowd of muppets? I dunno... the hands don't seem to know what the a*se is doing... but they're wiping it everywhere...

Its beyond ridiculous.

Pagem

hold onto it.

next time you speak to someone ask to talk to a director or manager and threaten to contact trading standards. this, i have found, tends to make such companies take interest in their so called valued customers.

hope it works out.

Monty Dog

Get in touch with your credit card company - they have far more influence over a trader than any individual will. If you do send the post back, make sure you get proof of delivery because it's likely to be your word against their. Regardless of all their slick advertising and websites, it often comes down to some 17 year-old who doesn't give a damn. IME use small family firms like Parker who provide genuine customer service.

beckenham

Tell your CC company what's happended and get them to follow it up. Usually they will credit your account for you. At the same time write to the supplier giving them 14 days to come and collect the seatpost after which you will start charging them for storage of it That usually seems to work

henderson_mk

i like that last one.
charging them for storage of it... with the hassles involved in this there's definitely no way i'm going out of my way to help them out!

McBain_v1

CC company can probably bring to bear a lot more pressure. Your CC provider will want you to be happy using your card, and so will go out of its way to ensure that you keep getting into debt

beckenham

I've got an Amex card and whilst a lot of suppliers don't want to use them because thay charge the supplier more than other cards they are excellent in this type of situation. In the past all its taken is one phone call, they refund they monies straight away and I leave them to deal with the idiot supplier. I'm sure other CC companies are just as good. As mentioned previously they want your business so tell them to deal with it or your off elsewhere.

star_rover

Aren't Bonthrone bikes called SBR Sports now? If you're in London you could go into their store in Fulham and vent in person.

Monty Dog

Bonthrone Bikes went bust last year and SBR bought what was left - sounds like they've inherited the same bunch of muppets that made them go bust last time.

daniel_b

Ah yes I remember Bonthrone Bikes.

Although fondly.

I ordered a 05 Marin Palisades Trail off them last year, and as it was last years model (At the time) there was a whopping 33% discount.

It arrived, and I thought to myself, I don't remember the 05 model having hydraulic brakes, I thought that was just the 06 model....

Dan