Wheelbase - shocking experience

kamil1891

So, I bought a bike for my girlfriend. Together with pedals and a Giro Sonnet helmet...

We have been quickly told that the helmet is not available at the moment, so we asked just for the bike and pedals to arrive and they did so (without the front wheel skewer though).

Few weeks later we still haven't heard anything about the helmet. We thought 2 weeks of waiting was within reason, but decided to give them a call and ask about the delivery. We've been told that the helmet is still not available and will be available in 3 weeks. We've been also offered a cheaper helmet + refund or a lot more expensive one with a little discount. However, we did not like both options and decided we will wait for the one we wanted.

After the day the helmet was meant to be available, we gave them another call. At this point it was around 6 weeks since the purchase. The colleague of the salesman our purchase was dealt with, told us that the helmet is still not in... and will never be due to the problems suppliers were facing. We decided we want a refund straight away, but it couldn't have been done at the time. We were meant to receive a call back to proceed with the refund.

I made a call three more times and have always been told that the message will be left for the guy we initially dealt with. I haven't received a single response!! After more than 2 months, finally, we got our refund back - 59.99... and a quick ''sorry''.

After so much arguing over the phone and so much time wasted we've been left very disappointed. You cannot make an excuse that you're busy for more than 2 months. If we did not push so many times, they would totally ignore the fact they've collected the cash and did not supply the purchase.

It was the first time we've used them for any cycling-related shopping and certainly the last.

SoSimple

Mate you need to get a grip.

You have shopped online to get the best price and the downside of online retailers is that from time to time they may run out of stock and not be able to fulfil supply of every item on their website. They seem to have told you this and after a fairly lengthy wait have offered you a solution - either a refund or alternative helmet.

It's not as though the item you're buying is a one off and you could have bought it or and equivalent at any number of places.

On the basis of your experience, do you not think that slagging them off on a forum seems a little OTT?

kangarouge

He/she is not slagging them off but just stating what happened during their buying experience. It does seem this forum is a little twitchy about negative comments relating to online retailers. Perhaps they're valid - perhaps not.

charlie_potatoes

Kangarouge wrote:

It does seem this forum is a little twitchy about negative comments relating to online retailers.

This has more to do with someone joining the forum just to have a pop at a retailer/manufacturer. You see it week in, week out on here. They usually have nothing else to contribute and leave as soon as they have achieved their objective.

Not the case here though

curto80

Hardly a "shocking experience" though is it? Cancel the order go and buy the helmet elsewhere and get on with your life. Jeez.

rgasuk

Been in wheelbase shop before, bought some clothing of them,thought they we average .

Booked there sportive over 4 weeks ago, never had any correspondence from them at all and the sportive is tomorrow, not good customer service, compared to other sportives I've entered . I've had no response to an email I sent them last week, was engaged when tried to ring and just thought meh ! .

Won't be using them again, shops shouldn't advertise saying they have in stock items and sell an item unless they have it, I guess a lot of retailers are like this, when searching for my caadx lots advertised in stock till I tried to buy it..

kajjal

I ordered some shorts on line. Found out they were not in stock due to an error, cancelled order and got them from somewhere else. Plenty of retailers to use no need to wait normally.

TerryCTR

New member or not its worth letting others know so they know what to expect should they order from them.

Fair enough on the initial wait but it took far too long to come clean and admit they were not going to get more stock in and at that point they should have issued the refund there and then. Multiple phone calls after this chasing for a refund the OP should not have to chase for is poor and there is no excuse for it.

Philly8mt

Cancer is shocking ....

Wheelbase are just a retailer whose service you find to be a little below par.

kamil1891

The thing is I did pay a retail price for the helmet. I did not bother looking further for any discounts etc and I could possibly find some. Also, I couldn't cancel the order as it was already processed - bike and pedals were delivered.

I'm just sharing the experience with the main emphasis on the absolute lack of customer service. For me, in the age of extraordinary competitiveness within any markets there should be no place for such things. In my opinion is worth sharing and hopefully, retailers with such attitude will be out of the business.

maddog 2

On delay, you were offered two different helmet options but you chose to wait. Check.

Then the wait turned into 'not available' so you were offered a refund. Check.

Then the refund took a while to happen. Not ideal but these things happen. Check.

If this is shocking to you then life will get the better of you sooner rather than later.

kangarouge

I think the point is that his/her life is about to improve, as they're not going to shop there any more.

ic.

I bought a bike from them a few weeks back. Called ahead, they had it ready when I got there to test ride despite roof work being done. They happily swapped some parts for me with nice rates and couldn't have been more helpful. That's my experience.

kamil1891

maddog 2 wrote:

On delay, you were offered two different helmet options but you chose to wait. Check.

Then the wait turned into 'not available' so you were offered a refund. Check.

Then the refund took a while to happen. Not ideal but these things happen. Check.

If this is shocking to you then life will get the better of you sooner rather than later.

If that took a week or two, then yes, I would have lived with it. But come on, sorting one helmet out shouldn't be taking more than 2 months. Also, if they had sent a single e-mail or gave a call with an apology for causing such inconvienience and their further stock unavailability, but that was also too much to ask for.

I understand people have different experiences, but for me wheelbase is a definite no.

curto80

The way you entitled the thread was massively over the top though. Should have said "Wheelbase - mildly inconvenient experience" and then it wouldn't have come across as being quite so silly

giant_man

Curto80 wrote:

The way you entitled the thread was massively over the top though. Should have said "Wheelbase - mildly inconvenient experience" and then it wouldn't have come across as being quite so silly

+1 - yup, you obviously haven't bought much cycling kit yet OP, and come on, it is only a helmet.

kamil1891

I must have spent a total of a cost of a nice new car on cycling kit and was never treated as badly.

It's not just the helmet. It's the time - 2months+ of hassle.

I have been working till late and every f**king day I was just wondering if I'm gonna get on their line, which closes at 5.30pm, and sort anything out, again and again. Obviously, they did not care to sort it out in their time!

You are not adding much to the topic by telling me how "exactly" it should be called.

Thank you.