Nightmare experience trying to buy a bike on the internet!
bikingforfittnes
Posts: 2
This is a long story but I had just had a nightmare experience after placing an order with Mark Anthony Bikes direct.
I ordered a 2007 Kona Dew 56cm frame size after 2 weeks of searching I finally found one in my frame size as all the other dealers only had the 52cm frame size whch as I am 6' 1" would be too small
It was avdertised at a much lower price that most of the other dealers £249.99
So I placed my order and paid by visa card on the 10/030/2008
I recieved an email saying my order was in stock and would be despatched within 48hours.
I waited for delivery which was supposed to be 5-7 working days. On the 5 day I phoned to enquire about my order and was told by Mark Anthony the manager of bikes direct who also go by the name Activesport.co.uk.
I was told my bike would be delivered that day. It was not so I phoned again later that day and was told by Mark Anthony it would be delivered on the 6th or 7th day which was the Tuesday and Wednesday after Easter.
Again no delivery shipping company was DHL. I phoned Mark Anthony on the 7 th day Wednesday the 26th of march. I was told by him that he had tried to do a tracking of my order with DHL that morning and they had no trace of it. They had no idea where it was so he would have to do a claim against them for the loss of the bike.
He then tells me the he has been on to Kona and they did no have anymore 2007 Dew's in a 56cm frame size and did not have any 2008 Kona Dews 56cm frame size for 8 weeks.
So I asked Mark Anthony for a refund and he agreed it would not be a problem and I could have a refund. I asked if he needed my Visa card details again and he said no he could do the refund from the information he had with my order.
After 4 phone calls and 5 emails and having to take legal advice I finally got my money back today the 4th of April.
Of couse every time I phoned him to enquire why my money had not been refunded to my bank account he told me the refund had been done as long ago as Friday the 28th wa s when he first said it had been done and would hit my account Monday or Tuesday this week but both days I checked and nothing so I phoned him again Wednesday the 2nd to ask why my refund had not been done and he starts spinning me a yarn the the owner is on holiday and he has the refund card for the credit card machine.
So he trying to make me believe that he as the manager of his business does not have acces to the refund card for the c/c machine. Pull the other one it got bells on!
So I ask again when will I get my refund he just says soon! He the accuses of slaming the phone down on him on the 26th of March when he agreed a refund and I was happy with that and did not think waiting 8 weeks for a 2008 Kona Dew was a reasonable amount of time to wait for my bike.
Now my digital cordless phone is quite difficult to slam down as it would break I just press a button to end a call click!
When I told him I would post my nightmare experience on a cycling MB so scould see how he does business he then says he is doing as much as he can to blacken the name of my home address and he has already started today!
I believe that he never even had the Kona in stock and once he had my money he could make out he was doing me a huge favour and selling me a 2008 Kona Dew for the same price. Now I specifically wanted the 2007 colour and I don't like the 2008 colour and Kona grahpics logo outlined in yellow.
All the time he had my money it prevented me from buying a bike from a local dealer as the internet scam put me off ever buying a bike on the internet again. What really annoyed me about the whole experince was the fact that he lied to me several times about having done my refund.
I took advice from the consummer advice people and he is legally bound to refund my money because he verbally made a new contract with me on the 26th of March to do so.
He is legally bound to do this in a reasnable amount of time which for an electronic payment should be 2-3 days at the most. I also contacted my bank who were going to do a charge back on him and snatch the money back after 31 days have passed because he had taken my money and not provided any goods or services for it.
All through the experince he is trying to say I am acting unreanablly why because I wanted my money back I did not like being lied to that the refund had been done when it had not.
He finally admitted he did the refund Thurdays after I gave him 5 days to do the refund or I would get my bank to do the charge back on him.
I belive he is advertising 2007 bikes at knock down prices to hook the internet buyers in then when he has your money he then pretends the bike has gone missing and sells you a 2008 bike instead. Because most people don't know their legal rights he gets away with it.
If He has done nothing wrong and I am to blame for be a bad customer in wanting my money why is he threatning to blacken the name of my home address if I post my bad experince of a cycling MB so others can avoid being scammed lied to and mucked around when they ask for thier money.
Avoid dealing with Mark Anthony Biked direct or Activesport.co.uk if you want to avoid a nightmare experince with a an internet scammer who holds your hard earned cash for 25 days and thinks it good customer ralations to delay your refund because he thinks he can do what ever he wants with your money!
I ordered a 2007 Kona Dew 56cm frame size after 2 weeks of searching I finally found one in my frame size as all the other dealers only had the 52cm frame size whch as I am 6' 1" would be too small
It was avdertised at a much lower price that most of the other dealers £249.99
So I placed my order and paid by visa card on the 10/030/2008
I recieved an email saying my order was in stock and would be despatched within 48hours.
I waited for delivery which was supposed to be 5-7 working days. On the 5 day I phoned to enquire about my order and was told by Mark Anthony the manager of bikes direct who also go by the name Activesport.co.uk.
I was told my bike would be delivered that day. It was not so I phoned again later that day and was told by Mark Anthony it would be delivered on the 6th or 7th day which was the Tuesday and Wednesday after Easter.
Again no delivery shipping company was DHL. I phoned Mark Anthony on the 7 th day Wednesday the 26th of march. I was told by him that he had tried to do a tracking of my order with DHL that morning and they had no trace of it. They had no idea where it was so he would have to do a claim against them for the loss of the bike.
He then tells me the he has been on to Kona and they did no have anymore 2007 Dew's in a 56cm frame size and did not have any 2008 Kona Dews 56cm frame size for 8 weeks.
So I asked Mark Anthony for a refund and he agreed it would not be a problem and I could have a refund. I asked if he needed my Visa card details again and he said no he could do the refund from the information he had with my order.
After 4 phone calls and 5 emails and having to take legal advice I finally got my money back today the 4th of April.
Of couse every time I phoned him to enquire why my money had not been refunded to my bank account he told me the refund had been done as long ago as Friday the 28th wa s when he first said it had been done and would hit my account Monday or Tuesday this week but both days I checked and nothing so I phoned him again Wednesday the 2nd to ask why my refund had not been done and he starts spinning me a yarn the the owner is on holiday and he has the refund card for the credit card machine.
So he trying to make me believe that he as the manager of his business does not have acces to the refund card for the c/c machine. Pull the other one it got bells on!
So I ask again when will I get my refund he just says soon! He the accuses of slaming the phone down on him on the 26th of March when he agreed a refund and I was happy with that and did not think waiting 8 weeks for a 2008 Kona Dew was a reasonable amount of time to wait for my bike.
Now my digital cordless phone is quite difficult to slam down as it would break I just press a button to end a call click!
When I told him I would post my nightmare experience on a cycling MB so scould see how he does business he then says he is doing as much as he can to blacken the name of my home address and he has already started today!
I believe that he never even had the Kona in stock and once he had my money he could make out he was doing me a huge favour and selling me a 2008 Kona Dew for the same price. Now I specifically wanted the 2007 colour and I don't like the 2008 colour and Kona grahpics logo outlined in yellow.
All the time he had my money it prevented me from buying a bike from a local dealer as the internet scam put me off ever buying a bike on the internet again. What really annoyed me about the whole experince was the fact that he lied to me several times about having done my refund.
I took advice from the consummer advice people and he is legally bound to refund my money because he verbally made a new contract with me on the 26th of March to do so.
He is legally bound to do this in a reasnable amount of time which for an electronic payment should be 2-3 days at the most. I also contacted my bank who were going to do a charge back on him and snatch the money back after 31 days have passed because he had taken my money and not provided any goods or services for it.
All through the experince he is trying to say I am acting unreanablly why because I wanted my money back I did not like being lied to that the refund had been done when it had not.
He finally admitted he did the refund Thurdays after I gave him 5 days to do the refund or I would get my bank to do the charge back on him.
I belive he is advertising 2007 bikes at knock down prices to hook the internet buyers in then when he has your money he then pretends the bike has gone missing and sells you a 2008 bike instead. Because most people don't know their legal rights he gets away with it.
If He has done nothing wrong and I am to blame for be a bad customer in wanting my money why is he threatning to blacken the name of my home address if I post my bad experince of a cycling MB so others can avoid being scammed lied to and mucked around when they ask for thier money.
Avoid dealing with Mark Anthony Biked direct or Activesport.co.uk if you want to avoid a nightmare experince with a an internet scammer who holds your hard earned cash for 25 days and thinks it good customer ralations to delay your refund because he thinks he can do what ever he wants with your money!
0
Comments
-
Oh. I've bought quite a few things (tho' I don't think a complete bike, but it's possible!) from them with no problems.
What's the ebay feedback like?
Had a look - 99.1% positive out of 20,235. Ain't that bad!d.j.
"Cancel my subscription to the resurrection."0 -
do you reckon that you could get a cheap 2008 bike by pretending to want a 2007 model of the same bike?Your'e never alone with schizophrenia.0
-
Hi
I have some sympathy beacuse I am having some issues over website accuracy (see my Wilier website thread). In my case, I took advice from Consumer Direct and the ASA, but the bottom line is that nothing seems to be resolved quickly.
I would personally back away from getting too personal, although you could consider something a bit more public like contacting the BBC Watchdog programme or ITV equivalent etc. It might be worth talking to your local CAB, re the 'name blackening', or contact the credit agencies if credit is involved.
Personally, I always try to pay for larger purchases using my credit card as I get some extra protection from my credit card company and also the Consumer Credit Act.
Good luck regardless
HMHSM0 -
Following a little bit of research it seems you're right:
http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews147132.html
One to be avoided at all costs I think.0 -
Argh! Wish I'd read this before I bought a bike from this joker.
I've never spoken to someone so rude in my life. I wouldn't lend too much creedence to his eBay feedback. People on eBay are easily pleased. Look at the negative feedback and it's pretty much the same as the OP's experience.0 -
I was going to buy some components from activesport.co.uk but maybe I won't bother now.'Hello to Jason Isaacs'0
-
I guess that in future nor will I. Shame really, I've had some pretty good service in the past but there is no call for rudeness to a customer.d.j.
"Cancel my subscription to the resurrection."0 -
schlepcycling wrote:I was going to buy some components from activesport.co.uk but maybe I won't bother now.
If you can I'd try and get someone to pricematch. Even if you can't I'd still buy somewhere else unless it's a lot cheaper! I buy lots of stuff online (mostly computer stuff) and I've always had good service and this is a bit of a shock to me!0 -
Don't touch with a brge pole. Lying, rude and totally uncooperative0
