RIBBLE CYCLES - DREADFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE

Adam_G

Ordered some items from Ribble on Tuesday this week as I'm participating in a coast to coast cycle ride tomorrow morning to raise money for Cancer Research.

Stlll no sign of items in this morning's post (despite being charged for postage) so give them a ring.
Spoke to the rudest, most dismissive a-hole who told me that althought the items were in stock, they still hadn't left the warehouse!

Told him to cancel the order and refund my credit card, which he refused to do! I muttered something about incompetent self-satisfiers as I hung up, only for him to ring me back on my mobile and shout a tirade of verbal abuse down the phone at me!

Never, will I use Ribble Cycles again!

Muckypup

Hmm. That's concerning. I've just posted a question about the Shimano RS clincher wheels, and Ribble is where I was looking at getting them from!

Adam_G

Be prepared for a load of verbal abuse is your order doesn't run smoothly Muckypup!

Alarm bells should have rung - when you google them, the third result is someone complaining about their customer service! As is the fifth!

redddraggon

Ribble say they will deliver within 2-4 (working) days, 2 and 3 days is generally optimistic, but the stuff normally arrives bang on the 4th day. So you order on a Tuesday expect the stuff to arrive on the following monday.

Ribble sell stuff the cheapest, but they are pretty slow, and their CS is often poor.

I've had issues with them concerning warranties - e.g brand new Veloce shifters that broke after a few weeks use, they insisted on sending them away to get repaired, which took months, out of the first six months of their owner ship most of the time they weren't even my possession. IMO they should have swapped them.

I still use ribble because they are by far the cheapest, and problems rarely happen - Ribble are probably getting 10,000s of orders a week because of their prices, and probably the vast majority go smoothly.

No excuse for them ringing back just to be rude though.

Adam_G

I ordered first thing Tuesday morning. So Friday delivery is within the 2-4 days quoted. Accordng to the abusive little gobshite I spoke to, they haven't even left the warehouse, despite being in stock when I ordered!

Shocking customer service from Ribble Cycles.

Gazzaputt

Ordered once but never again. Cheap yes but customer service is non existent.

redddraggon

Adam_G wrote:

I ordered first thing Tuesday morning. So Friday delivery is within the 2-4 days quoted.

Wednesday is 1 day, Thursday is 2 days, Friday is 3 days, and Monday is 4 days. If what you order is cheaper they will send it RM 1st Class which could come on the Saturday.

As I said, Ribble are pretty consistent when it comes to delivery, and it's the 4th day 90% of the time, which is Saturday/Monday depending on whether they use PF or RM.

I've found over the years, that if you want something "by the weekend" it's not safe to order from Ribble - plenty of internet stores do next day delivery pretty reliably though- like CRC, Wiggle, Merlin, PBK, etc. But Ribble tend to have what I want at the cheapest prices so I'm willing to wait.

But yeah there's no need for the Rudeness.

bendertherobot

Seriously, if you want next day why not pay for next day?

cougie

Ribble are great for prices - not for customer service though - you get what you pay for.
Sounds to me as if you may have been a bit angry on the phone with them in the first place ?

If you leave it til the last minute to order things - what do you expect ?

Adam_G

I expect to be able to cancel my order and get a refund if it's not even been dispatched 4 days later. I don't expect an employee of Ribble Cycles accessing my account information to retrieve my mobile number solely for the purpose of ringing me up to abuse me!

grimpeur

I've never had any problems with Ribble and have dealt with their CS dept several times.

Gypsum_Fantastic

Adam_G wrote:

I expect to be able to cancel my order and get a refund if it's not even been dispatched 4 days later

Can you not contact your card company to cancel it if the goods have not been recieved?

Adam_G wrote:

I don't expect an employee of Ribble Cycles accessing my account information to retrieve my mobile number solely for the purpose of ringing me up to abuse me!

If that's the case then isn't that a breach of the DPA? If you're wanting to stir up some sh1t then that's the angle I'd take

nochekmate

I have bought from Ribble on a number of occasions and never had any problems with them. Goods usually arrive within 2-3 days.

I may have got lucky but I would use them again without hesitation.

cougie

So you abused him over the phone and then get arsey when he rang you back on the mobile number you left on the order ? Wheres the breach of DPA there ? YOU gave them your number ?

I'm probably more on his side than yours to be honest...

What bits are you after anyway ?

BBH

Hmmmmmmm........

Was just about to order a workstand, am thinking twice now!

Adam_G, If I were you I would contact ribble in writing regarding the verbal abuse you received. Document the name of the person, date and time that you were contacted and the details of the event. You may well have been angry about your products not being dispatched (fair enough I guess!) but IMO that is NO excuse for them to recontact you on your personal number to insult you. That should not happen from any retailer!! The letter should also go to the sales manager directly, asking for a reply.

Next time go to evans, they will price match, delivery and customer service brilliant IME.

Hope you get your bits and good luck on your ride mate

cougie

Is it fair enough for Adam to abuse the guy at Ribble though ?
Adam was peed off enough to call the guy a w*nker. I dont think thats called for. And then he decides he needs to let the whole world know about his 'perceived poor service' ?

BBH

TBH I didn't register the bit about the w*nker comment and I agree that is not acceptable and sales staff should not tolerate abuse like that either, so I am with the majority on that one, and in hindsight the letter is not required, so apologies on that front. However, IMO, to ring someone back as a retailer, and hurl abuse down the phone is unprofessional whatever line of work you are in!

Edit: I have just ordered from ribble, so I can make up my own mind about their service, but the prices are great

Veronica Bottoms

Just to add my two pence.

I had a problem with some handlebar tape on a bike I ordered from them. I spoke to the guy on the phone and they sent out some new stuff the next day first class at no cost. It arrived next day.

I've found their customer service top notch. The guys on the phone are friendly and never hesitate in answering your queries.

I don't blame the guy for being annoyed if you were rude to him. Their only human at the end of the day and I would've done the same thing. Treat people how you would like to be treated springs to mind.

You'd be very naive if you're doubting wether to order from ribble because one person comes on a forum every once in a while and slags them off.

They must shift tens of thousands of stock each month and the fact that the odd person comes on here to complain when they don't even have grounds to complain(2-4 days service) speaks volumes about the success rate.

The problem is most people are prone to post their bad experiences opposed to the good ones.

bendertherobot

I never ring. I email. And Dan responds. And he's always been brilliant.

floosy

Ive had no problems with Ribble at all....

If i take the free postage option (over £50 order) then it can take up a week to arrive.

If I pay for next day delivey.... it arrives next day....

Dave.

bazbadger

Polite customer service does not cost anything. By the OP's account, if the person from Ribble had handled it differently in the first place then I doubt this thread would be here.

I'd rather pay a little more with good customer service than risk bad service, which will cost me more in my own time sorting it out.

sturmey

Apparently they have a new slogan:

Ribble Cycles:
**** For prices that are inc-R-ed-IBBLE .For customer service that is ter-RIBBLE(sometimes).****


In my experience they are pretty damn good at despatching orders-certainly no worse than W*ggle and some others.And they are invariably cheaper on most parts.
But people seem to get messed around a lot more with their bike builds-these can be a bit of a lottery.(I should know)

schofie

I have been ordering from Ribble consistently now for over a year.

Firstly, as many people have stated, their prices are excellent. They don't beat the competition on everything but I'd say 80% of the time they are the best.

Secondly, in the last two weeks they have become inundated with orders and have had to go to the extremes of not answering the phone for a whole week because they have had a backlog of orders. Now I can imagine people right now reading this and thinking that they should therefore resource their company to deal with any peaks in demand. However if they did that their overheads would increase and their prices may not be as keen. So what do we want from them?

If I wanted something quickly, within a week, I would always pay for the extra postage. Only a fool takes a chance on postage when it's not just the supplier that can slow things down but also the postal system, so sorry Adam, you should have paid for the extra postage. However that does not excuse being abused by a member of staff. The customer is always right, especially when they are, and you should have been offered a refund. I'm not sure why you weren't because I've got refunds from them before no problem.

My latest experience with Ribble that tested their customer service was with two pro-lite bottle cages that I bought. On fast descents I lost my upright bottle twice because of the poor design of the cage. I took them back and even though it was outside the two weeks return deadline that they have, more like a month, they instantly swapped them for another brand for me. They didn't have to but they did.

Overall I'd say there's no excuse for being insulted by a member of staff. They should be fired because they do not want someone like that representing the brand. However I'd say your experience of the company has been tarnished by the person rather than the company culture itself as I believe them to be very good.

softlad

Schofie wrote:

Now I can imagine people right now reading this and thinking that they should therefore resource their company to deal with any peaks in demand. However if they did that their overheads would increase and their prices may not be as keen. So what do we want from them?

their overheads would only increase in line with their revenue....if they really are that busy them I'm sure they could probably fund another member of staff out of cashflow.....

cougie

Schofie wrote:

I have been ordering from Ribble consistently now for over a year.

Firstly, as many people have stated, their prices are excellent. They don't beat the competition on everything but I'd say 80% of the time they are the best.

Secondly, in the last two weeks they have become inundated with orders and have had to go to the extremes of not answering the phone for a whole week because they have had a backlog of orders. Now I can imagine people right now reading this and thinking that they should therefore resource their company to deal with any peaks in demand. However if they did that their overheads would increase and their prices may not be as keen. So what do we want from them?

If I wanted something quickly, within a week, I would always pay for the extra postage. Only a fool takes a chance on postage when it's not just the supplier that can slow things down but also the postal system, so sorry Adam, you should have paid for the extra postage. However that does not excuse being abused by a member of staff. The customer is always right, especially when they are, and you should have been offered a refund. I'm not sure why you weren't because I've got refunds from them before no problem.

My latest experience with Ribble that tested their customer service was with two pro-lite bottle cages that I bought. On fast descents I lost my upright bottle twice because of the poor design of the cage. I took them back and even though it was outside the two weeks return deadline that they have, more like a month, they instantly swapped them for another brand for me. They didn't have to but they did.

Overall I'd say there's no excuse for being insulted by a member of staff. They should be fired because they do not want someone like that representing the brand. However I'd say your experience of the company has been tarnished by the person rather than the company culture itself as I believe them to be very good.

Hang on - Adam STARTED the abuse by calling the Ribble guy a wanker ? So I think fair is fair ? No need for anyone tyo get the sack.

rokkala

Yea, but the Ribble guy was apparently denying him a refund. So he was only stating a fact really.

ridley2010

I'd love to know the facts from both sides :evil:

It doesn't add up. :x

Jaguar.

Well, I've ordered loads of stuff from them, they are generally very good value... but this week, I orderd a couple of items from them which I wanted for the weekend. Paid the extra for next day at about 2:30pm then realised the cut off was 2pm ffs!

Rang them up to check a) if they would be next day or b) if I could change the delivery address.

"Sorry, we are not operating a phone service today!"

Emailed them but I still don't have a reply.

So nothing turned up which answers the question about next day and as I'm not in the office I asked for them to be delivered to today, nothing for the weekend.

This is arguably all my fault for not reading the small print so I won't be calling them names but if I need something urgently again, I'll pay a bit more and use somebody else who actually communicate with me!

They might have done better to ring me back, even if just to explain what was going on and I should have (as I accept) read the small print, rather than ringing the OP back to retaliate with abuse, which, lets face it, isn't going to do them, the OP or anybody else any good!

galatzo

If prices are cheaper does that give the supplier the right to offer a lower standard of service ?

What do you expect from Ryanair ? Same end result as BA just not so polished and a whole lot cheaper (unless you want to sit down, take a bag, take a leak..... )

kenny79

i live on the gold coast in s/e queensland oz
have been using ribble over probike kit for 9months now been riding since 73!
no free postage ribble aud 27.00 something per order
but the prices are so much more competetive its worth it packaging excellent
get this 7900 crank in bubble wrap then cardboard around crank then bubblewrap and cellotaped/gaffer taped secure in a cadboard box as big as a slab of corona beer nice and safe and worth 27 bucks to me .
and order thu night here rocks up tuesday morning with an email telling me delivery tracking ... good enough for this black duck ..7 completed orders now no problems thanks boys and credit where its due
kenny79

doyler78

Galatzo wrote:

If prices are cheaper does that give the supplier the right to offer a lower standard of service ?

What do you expect from Ryanair ? Same end result as BA just not so polished and a whole lot cheaper (unless you want to sit down, take a bag, take a leak..... )

At least your bag will get there