Ribble Cycles - Appalling Service

Molloy

I've been trying to buy a bike from Ribble for the last 4 weeks, and have now finally given up - here's what happened.

Ordered Ribble Sportive Racing on 28th June using Bike Builder on Ribble website. Got an order confirmation email the next day with summary of order - very exciting! I phoned a couple of days later and was told that all bike orders were being turned round in 15 working days, which seemed fine.

A few days later I got an email to say that the pedals and handlebars I'd selected were not actually available. A bit annoying, but they suggested alternatives which were in stock, and I agreed to go along with those.

Then on 18th July, when I was hoping that bike would be delivered soon, got an email to say that they had oversold on the frame I had selected. Also, that frame is now discontinued, so I would have to choose a different frame - again they offered alternatives. However, I would have thought it wouldnt be that hard to know how many frames you've got and how many orders you've had for those frames and plan accordingly. Anyway, I opted for the New Sportive 2011 frame which is supposed to be better than the old one. I phoned and was told that these are definitely in stock and my order will be sent to be built ASAP, should be done that week.

After a another few of days, hearing nothing. I emailed to ask if they could provide a delivery date, and got a reply just saying "At this stage i can not provide this info.". So, basically they have no idea what's happening with my order. Pretty rubbish really.

Decided to be extra patient and just wait and bear with them. Another week with no contact from Ribble at all, so on 27th July at around 10am I phoned them again to see how the build was going. This time I was told that there was a problem with my order and that it had not been sent to the workshop to be built yet, but they couldn't understand why. In order to find out they would need to contact the IT company that run their ordering system, which could take a few hours. WHAT?!?!?! I gave them my mobile number and asked them to find out and phone me back ASAP. Didn't hear anything back so around 4pm I phoned again and was told that they were still waiting to hear back from the IT Department. THIS SOUNDS LIKE THE WORST ORDERING/STOCK CONTROL SYSTEM IN THE WORLD!!! Also, the lack of courtesy and basic principles of customer service in terms of just keeping customers informed of problems/issues is quite unbelievable.

So, I phoned again this morning - I'm pretty p*ssed off now. This time they said, surprise surprise - they have now oversold on the New Sportive. They said I could have a Sportive Bianco which is due in next week. So after waiting one month I'm no nearer owning a Ribble bike than before I ordered. (my patience was stretched further by having sold my old road bike in anticipation of receiving the Ribble within 2 weeks, so I've been without a bike all this time now)

So, that was the last straw, I told them to cancel the order - they hadn't collected any funds from my card details, so easy to do. I'm going to my LBS to get a Planet X and will never deal with Ribble again. I'm just hoping they DO actually cancel the order and I don't end up receiving and being charged for an unwanted Ribble sometime in September. It wouldnt surprise me if that happened - I'll let you know if it does!

So, overall, I'm sure their bikes are great and the prices are very competitive, but they really need to get their act together, as I'm sure I'm not the first person to cancel their order.

Herbsman

...and the moral of the story is: use your LBS.

P_Tucker

Meh. Theres a reason Ribble are cheap; if you want premium service then pay premium prices.

sampras38

I must admit, I seem to hear more bad stories about them than any other supplier, and over a few years now. Just glad I ride a Cube..;-)

JAGGY

I've had suspect service in the past when i ordered my Ribble sportive racing frame a couple of years ago. This was only a frame to send to me. No build just a frame. The chew was getting them to fit the headset and cut the steerer. Nearly 7 weeks.

Just to say i've never had a problem when buying parts and accessories via there website. Only with the bike side.

So when one of my best mates wives gets in touch last week to find the a good bike for about a grand and order it for his surprise present. I said to her you might get let down by Ribble. I ordered her a Focus cayo LTD 2011 from wiggle last friday. Guess what turned up on Monday. My order. Cracking service from wiggle.

Just hope he likes it as i think he had his heart set on a Ribble.

Molloy

P_Tucker - fair enough, I wasnt expecting premium service, but I think there's a basic minimum level of service which a business should offer, which Ribble do not meet.

Herbsman - wish I'd done that in the first place now.

Sorry for the very long whinge, I just wanted to forewarn anyone else who's thinking of using Ribble.

sampras38

I think this "you get what you pay for" attitude is a load of ole tosh. Whatever business you are running, large or small, you should try to provide the best service possible.

And ths victim of their own success stuff is also tosh.

shane r

This story is identical to mine. I ordered the 'old' Racing Sportive back in May. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Managed to speak to Ribble's owner (not manager). Had a long chat, he openly admitted their customer service was rubbish. But I hung in there.

I adore my bike, but it was a long road to getting it.

Incidentally, I went to pick the bike up from their warehouse. The 'IT Dept/Customer Helpline is two blokes sat in a room on computers with phone headsets. To check stock would take them 30 seconds to go and look.

P_Tucker

sampras38 wrote:

I think this "you get what you pay for" attitude is a load of ole tosh. Whatever business you are running, large or small, you should try to provide the best service possible.

And ths victim of their own success stuff is also tosh.

No, thats really not how business works. Ribble compete on price, and as such must make compromises to their service - if they didn't, someone else would and undercut them.

If you disagree, try creating a store with TK Maxx prices and John Lewis service. Youll be a billionare in two years.

sampras38

P_Tucker wrote:

sampras38 wrote:

I think this "you get what you pay for" attitude is a load of ole tosh. Whatever business you are running, large or small, you should try to provide the best service possible.

And ths victim of their own success stuff is also tosh.

No, thats really not how business works. Ribble compete on price, and as such must make compromises to their service - if they didn't, someone else would and undercut them.

If you disagree, try creating a store with TK Maxx prices and John Lewis service. Youll be a billionare in two years.

I do take your point but if the owner is telling a customer the service is poor, that's pretty bad you have to admit?

martylaa

I have a Ribble Gran Fondo, bought second hand and it's a amazing bike, can't talk about the Ribble customer service but I do hear a lot of those stories, but I stand by my comment their bikes are amazing and top value.

sloppyschleckonds

Sounds normal for Ribble TBH

carrock

shane r wrote:

This story is identical to mine. I ordered the 'old' Racing Sportive back in May. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Managed to speak to Ribble's owner (not manager). Had a long chat, he openly admitted their customer service was rubbish.

That'll be the guy with the Bentley parked outside. If their customer service was good, he would have a BMW 320

If it was excellent, he'd have a mondeo......

tigerben

It took me 5 months to get my trek Madone project one ....so a month does not seem so bad

mouth

Unfortunately a custom built carbon framed ride for a 1k price point is a niche market. not loads of other places to go so they can treat their 'customers' how they please. The bike may well be worth the hassle, but what for aftercare if you have further problems?

It's just a shame that their products seem to be so great (never touched one TBH). Otherwise they'd just go down the pan quite quickly.

davem399

One of the biggest books in the universe? The Ribble Cycles Book of Excuses!

P_Tucker

sampras38 wrote:

P_Tucker wrote:

sampras38 wrote:

I think this "you get what you pay for" attitude is a load of ole tosh. Whatever business you are running, large or small, you should try to provide the best service possible.

And ths victim of their own success stuff is also tosh.

No, thats really not how business works. Ribble compete on price, and as such must make compromises to their service - if they didn't, someone else would and undercut them.

If you disagree, try creating a store with TK Maxx prices and John Lewis service. Youll be a billionare in two years.

I do take your point but if the owner is telling a customer the service is poor, that's pretty bad you have to admit?

I really don't see why, other than if he's doing a Ratner.

smithaay

i got some tacx rollers from ribble cycles and they came on time and everything
sounds like im the only one

smithaay

i got some tacx rollers from ribble cycles and they came on time and everything
sounds like im the only one

JRooke

Ordered a base layer with High on Bikes from their ebay site a week ago, item yet to arrive, messaged them letting them know, asked me to check my local depot, i did, no sign of it, they said usually would just send another, but the top was out of stock, so the best they can do for me is send me a £60 Santini base layer for free to apologise for the error. The original base layer i ordered was only £18.95....

Why can't everyone be as incredible as High on Bikes, absolutely amazing guys, wasn't their fault royal mail stuffed it, wasn't mine, yet they took full responsibility losing 3 times as much money but keeping customer happy and forever loyal.

petemadoc

JRooke wrote:

Ordered a base layer with High on Bikes from their ebay site a week ago, item yet to arrive, messaged them letting them know, asked me to check my local depot, i did, no sign of it, they said usually would just send another, but the top was out of stock, so the best they can do for me is send me a £60 Santini base layer for free to apologise for the error. The original base layer i ordered was only £18.95....

Why can't everyone be as incredible as High on Bikes, absolutely amazing guys, wasn't their fault royal mail stuffed it, wasn't mine, yet they took full responsibility losing 3 times as much money but keeping customer happy and forever loyal.

That's good customer service right there!

godders1

smithaay wrote:

i got some tacx rollers from ribble cycles and they came on time and everything
sounds like im the only one

Yeah I've ordered "stuff" from them and the service has been fine. Most gripes seem to be when you order a bike from them.

Velonutter

I've ordered many times from Ribble and always had reasonable service, not as good as CRC or Wiggle, but still good enough.

Last week they had an offer on Giordana Vintage shorts, wanted some for my son, arrived within 2 days.

northpole

Have to say that I have found their delivery of parts and accessories so far to be excellent.

I haven't ordered a bike from them but a few colleagues in work have and none of them encountered problems.

Not sure if there is a time in the year when the product cycle is switching from 201X to 201Y and frames become rarer than hen's teeth? May apply to several manufacturers/ suppliers.

Peter

noiseboyfeetman

PeteMadoc wrote:

JRooke wrote:

Ordered a base layer with High on Bikes from their ebay site a week ago, item yet to arrive, messaged them letting them know, asked me to check my local depot, i did, no sign of it, they said usually would just send another, but the top was out of stock, so the best they can do for me is send me a £60 Santini base layer for free to apologise for the error. The original base layer i ordered was only £18.95....

Why can't everyone be as incredible as High on Bikes, absolutely amazing guys, wasn't their fault royal mail stuffed it, wasn't mine, yet they took full responsibility losing 3 times as much money but keeping customer happy and forever loyal.

That's good customer service right there!

I've always found High On Bikes customer service to be excellent as well, they tend to be one of my first ports of call when looking for items.

As for Ribble i've ordered clothing and various bike bits from them and found the delivery time to be very good.

mroli

Bits, clothing from Ribble - always been excellent. Will be one of my first ports of call every time I need something. Also had cause to return something to them once, they sent back to manufacturer and sorted it asap.

blert123

Never had a problem with Ribble and my bike came in 2 half weeks last year, maybe the large range of options on the bikes causes them problems