Ribble - Customer Service? You Judge

Guinea Pig

I ordered a Ribble Gran Fondo via Ribble's website and I thought that readers may be interested in my experience...So Far.
The bike was ordered in the middle of May - I although I ordered it over the internet I rang the following day to check sizing etc with their sales dept. They answered the phone promptly and gave excellent friendly advice resulting in me going for a smaller size frame. They warned me that there may be a bit of a wait and said that my bike would arrive around the middle of June...So far so good.

On Wed 9 June my bike arrived. It arrived by Parcel Force which I tracked following an e-mail from Ribble saying it had been sent. When the bike arrived it was the wrong bike - I had been sent another customer's bike wrong size colours etc. I informed Ribble and they said that they would arrange collection of the bike, build me a new bike the following day and despatch it on the Friday to arrive on the Following Monday... With me so far

Phoned Friday to check that bike had been despatched. Salesman stated that they had missed the collection time and it would be despatched Monday to arrive the following Wednesday ... I waited in all Wednesday. No Bike and no collection of the wrongly delivered one. I have tried to call and their answerphone states that they are not taking calls this Week! I have sent 2 e-mails as they asked...they have failed to respond.
I think that Ribble have a strong product line and I really want the bike but I have never experienced anything like this.
I'd be interested to know if any other users have had similar experiences... Am I likely to ever get this sorted? and How much more disruption - I have had a massive bike box in my hall for over a week now!

RedJohn

For an alternative, see below ...

softlad

Guinea Pig wrote:

When the bike arrived it was the wrong bike - I had been sent another customer's bike wrong size colours etc. I informed Ribble and they said that they would arrange collection of the bike, build me a new bike the following day and despatch it on the Friday to arrive on the Following Monday...

if you had someone else's bike - presumably someone else had yours, so putting two and two together should not be that difficult. Why would they build another..?

I would send them another email requesting a full refund and an immediate response, followed by a call to their local trading standards office to see if they can help...

Guinea Pig

They said they'd build me a new bike as there was a danger that the bike could have been damaged in transit as the other customer would have unpacked and repacked it

Garry H

Guinea Pig wrote:

They said they'd build me a new bike as there was a danger that the bike could have been damaged in transit as the other customer would have unpacked and repacked it

Hmmmm...

Guinea Pig

Garry H wrote:

Guinea Pig wrote:

They said they'd build me a new bike as there was a danger that the bike could have been damaged in transit as the other customer would have unpacked and repacked it

Hmmmm...

Hmmmm?

bompington

Guinea Pig wrote:

Garry H wrote:

Guinea Pig wrote:

They said they'd build me a new bike as there was a danger that the bike could have been damaged in transit as the other customer would have unpacked and repacked it

Hmmmm...

Hmmmm?

Hmmmmm!

the_prophet

indeed.....

kenpot

RedJohn,

Get some photos on there!!!

RedJohn

Yeah, working on it!!
Thanks.

RedJohn

... well there's some ...

I need a break though, that's 2 hours of nothing but uploading pictures!

edit: Oops, only one hour - well it feels like 2!

Chris75018

I've read a few bad reviews of Ribble, and was starting to regret ordering with them after reading some experiences, but to be fair to them I've had nothing to complain about:

My experience was pretty flawless - I asked them before I ordered (a Veloce-equipped Sportive) how long I'd be waiting and they told me 4-5 weeks. (this was mid July - apparently peak time for them) It was actually delivered early - after about 3 and a half weeks. As the sportive has slightly different frame dimensions to most bikes I also asked them to confirm the right size as I was falling between a 52 and 54 - they advised a 52, and got it bang on.

The bike is flawless and exactly as I specced. I contacted them twice during the build - once because I changed my mind on the pedals I wanted - and once to check delivery because they emailed to say it was on its way before the website was updated to say it had gone which confused me slightly. They responded both times inside 24hrs both times

I'm pleased as punch with them, to be honest. The only slight quibble is that the rear quick release was sticking out through the packaging by the time it arrived - but nothing scratched or broken, so no harm done! (and I took the bike for it's maiden spin around ichmond Park on sunday it certainly drew attention - pity my riding probably wasn't doing it justice!)

dbjockey

"We are not taking any phone calls today"

Someone ought to tell Ribble that most companies simply would not be in business with this attitude. Its an appalling attitude to customer service.

Its very simple Ribble - You EMPLOY someone to anwser the phone, if there is too many calls you EMPLOY another person.
There are of course other options such as call centres etc, I suspect the company is just not managed correctly or at least not managed by someone with a grasp of customer service. They simply need better communication skills/systems. If you tell a customer upfront that the delivery is anywhere between 2 to 6 weeks and that there is no phone line to call and that you cant be bothered to answer emails either then fair enough.

If the went on Elance they could outsource their emails for pitence and at least customers would get a reply, its just really bad management.

Oh I should say that my bike isn't that overdue yet being only two weeks, but with it being October you'd expect them not to shut down their phone lines and maybe reply to emails and at least give me a date.
I am presuming that they had a very successful cycle show event and are struggling with the volume of orders. As their prices are so good we give them a little leeway and I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt thus far, but really these guys should learn how to communicate with their customers.

carrock

dbjockey wrote:

"We are not taking any phone calls today"

Someone ought to tell Ribble that most companies simply would not be in business with this attitude. Its an appalling attitude to customer service.

Its very simple Ribble - You EMPLOY someone to anwser the phone, if there is too many calls you EMPLOY another person.
There are of course other options such as call centres etc, I suspect the company is just not managed correctly or at least not managed by someone with a grasp of customer service. They simply need better communication skills/systems. If you tell a customer upfront that the delivery is anywhere between 2 to 6 weeks and that there is no phone line to call and that you cant be bothered to answer emails either then fair enough.

If the went on Elance they could outsource their emails for pitence and at least customers would get a reply, its just really bad management.

Oh I should say that my bike isn't that overdue yet being only two weeks, but with it being October you'd expect them not to shut down their phone lines and maybe reply to emails and at least give me a date.
I am presuming that they had a very successful cycle show event and are struggling with the volume of orders. As their prices are so good we give them a little leeway and I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt thus far, but really these guys should learn how to communicate with their customers.

When you go to their warehouse and you see the Bentley or Aston outside with the personalised plate, and you discover through companies house that they turned over £10 million last year, with a net profit of over £1.2 million, you conclude they just might be able to pay someone £14k a year to actually answer the bloody phone.....

I suspect that most of their turnover is business to business, as they are the importer of many of the brands they stcok such as Giordana etc., and the retail side is a small part of their business, and an annoyance and irritation to them, which is why they don't take it seriously....

demorider87

Well for my input, my family and I have been Ribble customers for years now, any road bike we have ever ridden has been a Ribble, and we have never had any problems with their service, even when we have had to return items, either due to a fault, or simply through buying the wrong thing.

dbjockey, yes it is very simple to just employ another person to answer the phone, but what does that person do when the company is quiet? get made redundant? become another unemployment statistic?

carrock, if their business to business sector was so successful that their retail sector was an 'irritation' and they were getting all this flack for it on here, don't you think they'd just scrap it? And with regard to the Aston, are you trying to tell me you wouldn't indulge in such luxuries if you had a business with that kind of turnover...?

Just thought I'd give my thoughts, the thread does say 'you decide'.

giant_man

demorider87 wrote:

Well for my input, my family and I have been Ribble customers for years now, any road bike we have ever ridden has been a Ribble, and we have never had any problems with their service, even when we have had to return items, either due to a fault, or simply through buying the wrong thing.

dbjockey, yes it is very simple to just employ another person to answer the phone, but what does that person do when the company is quiet? get made redundant? become another unemployment statistic?

carrock, if their business to business sector was so successful that their retail sector was an 'irritation' and they were getting all this flack for it on here, don't you think they'd just scrap it? And with regard to the Aston, are you trying to tell me you wouldn't indulge in such luxuries if you had a business with that kind of turnover...?

Just thought I'd give my thoughts, the thread does say 'you decide'.

Ribble are never going to be quiet believe me, their lower prices and guaranteed interest, helped in part by the upsurge in cycling, will keep punters coming.

rolf_f

I picked up my Gran Fondo a couple of weeks ago. Bike was built on schedule, phones answered reasonably promptly and questions responded to helpfully.

The bike wasn't quite as specc'd but I got them to make the changes whilst I went off on an errand elsewhere.

So, a bit ramshackle in terms of them actually writing things down correctly but I found the staff always polite and helpful. For me, being able to pick the bike up in person makes a difference.

smithy147

When I login on the Ribble website and track the order for my new bike it now says 'status: complete', which is surprising given that I only ordered it last Saturday and was expecting it to take a couple of weeks not 3 days!. I thought that I should ring to check before going to collect (nearly 2 hours each way), but they haven't been answering the phone for a couple of days.

I believe that they never answer the phone on Saturday, so the question is: do I trust the website and risk a 4 hour wasted journey tomorrow morning? I'm as excited as a 7 year-old at Christmas about picking my new bike up, but don't want to waste Saturday morning and a few gallons of diesel unnecessarily. :?

Tyke1912

smithy147 wrote:

When I login on the Ribble website and track the order for my new bike it now says 'status: complete', which is surprising given that I only ordered it last Saturday and was expecting it to take a couple of weeks not 3 days!. I thought that I should ring to check before going to collect (nearly 2 hours each way), but they haven't been answering the phone for a couple of days.

I believe that they never answer the phone on Saturday, so the question is: do I trust the website and risk a 4 hour wasted journey tomorrow morning? I'm as excited as a 7 year-old at Christmas about picking my new bike up, but don't want to waste Saturday morning and a few gallons of diesel unnecessarily. :?

I wouldn't bother, just this minute been reading Cycling weekly and on their 2 page ad it says Warehouse shop closed this Saturday due to stock taking. Hope this helps

smithy147

Tyke1912 wrote:

smithy147 wrote:

When I login on the Ribble website and track the order for my new bike it now says 'status: complete', which is surprising given that I only ordered it last Saturday and was expecting it to take a couple of weeks not 3 days!. I thought that I should ring to check before going to collect (nearly 2 hours each way), but they haven't been answering the phone for a couple of days.

I believe that they never answer the phone on Saturday, so the question is: do I trust the website and risk a 4 hour wasted journey tomorrow morning? I'm as excited as a 7 year-old at Christmas about picking my new bike up, but don't want to waste Saturday morning and a few gallons of diesel unnecessarily. :?

I wouldn't bother, just this minute been reading Cycling weekly and on their 2 page ad it says Warehouse shop closed this Saturday due to stock taking. Hope this helps

Thanks for letting me know! - I'm now sure that it must be ready because I've just checked online and they billed my credit card today. No mention of stock take on website.

ADIHEAD

I love em and accept that you're not gonna get the best service as the prices are so great.

Like this - 6700 Chainset last year for little more than the cost of 2 new chainrings
Set of Pro-Lite Bracciano wheels at 1484g for the retail cost of a set of basement wheels.
Their bikes are fantastically priced and people get problems even with premium brand bikes.

If you want the service, pay Wiggle's only slightly discounted prices for an immediate despatch and great customer service, communication etc (via email only). If you want a bargain then buy from Ribble.

rolf_f

I was adjusting the seat post of my brand new and ridden once only Gran Fondo (using my nice new BBB torque wrench) and before it reached the required torque, a hideous loud crack nearly caused me a heart attack. Fortunately, it was the seat clamp that had fractured and not my nice new frame.

Following day, I rang Ribble up, explained that either the seat clamp or my torque wrench was faulty but either way my seat clamp was dead and, with no argument, they put a new clamp in the post which arrived next day.

Can't fault that......

teamcrane

After reading other peoples' reviews of Ribble I thought I would give my experience in dealing with the company. On the 25 Oct 2010 I ordered on-line a pair of Pro-Lite Bracciano wheels at £186.96 with a delivery charge of £9.50; giving a total of £196.46. Other on-line prices were e-bay £250 and Chain Reaction Cycles £287.99.
On the 3 Nov 2010 e-mail arrived to say goods despatched and on the 4 Nov 2010 goods delivered,well packed and in first-class condition. The bonus was that I was not expecting the wheels to have rim tape fitted and a set of Pro-Lite skewers. So, thank you Pro-Lite and Ribble.