jboomer

~SPONSOR~
Jan 5, 2002
1,420
1
Don't much care for doing this, but sometimes it needs to be done. They've lost my business, but if anyone has had a positive experience or two from them then by all means share it!

My wife ordered some x-mas presents for me on the first week of December (6th I think). One of the items she ordered was the Acerbis MX Light roost guards and the bike specific mounting kit. I ride an '04 CRF450, but they only listed a mounting kit for the '02-03 models. She called them up and talked to a parts guy, he immediately informed her that it would indeed fit the '04. So she placed the order. 4 items were sent (5 ordered) and made it to my home in 3 different boxes the week prior to x-mas. Great, most of it made it in time. Check the website, my account shows it was all shipped, cool, I'll get my DVD a week late, no prob. January rolls around, still no DVD.

In the meantime, I've tried on my handguards. Lo and behold, the clutch side mount won't fit properly. Not even close. I call up the parts guy, tell him what has happened and he immediately puts me on hold and calls Acerbis. Acerbis informs him that there is indeed a separate part for the '04 and I'll need it for it to work properly. Parts guy tells me he'll ship me the new part, charge my credit card, send me a return label, and credit my card back once he receives the one that doesn't fit. Hey, that's fine, I can wait another week (this is last week of December). I've called once a week since the first of January and this is what has happened:
Customer Service,
"1. DVD is on back order but should be in-stock this week so you'll have it next week (heard this two weeks in a row)
2. We don't ship parts to you until we have received your return parts. " Me: "but he said he'd charge my card and then credit it back once he received my return?" Her: "We don't do that."


Two weeks later (25th January):
"1. DVD is still on backorder and I'm not permitted to offer an estimate as to when we'll have them in stock." (She's given me bad dates twice already...don't know why she couldn't stretch the truth for me again.
2. We received your returned item on the 17th but we don't know why you returned them? They are what you ordered!"
Me:"Were you going to call me and ask?" Her:"Oh, we did and talked to your wife but she couldn't say." Wife:"NO THEY DID NOT! @#$%$#@!!"
So, I told her AGAIN why I returned them and that the Parts guy had told my wife they would fit my bike. She said that since we got what we ordered and it was our fault for ordering the wrong item in the first place she would have to charge us shipping on the item again. I reiterated that the parts guy had told her it would fit, that I talked to him a couple weeks back and he had to call Acerbis to learn that they made a separate part for my model of bike and that it was his fault we ordered the wrong one. When I couldn't give her a name, she acted like I was lying! Oh well. So, according to her, when they receive the part from Acerbis they'll send it to me so it may be 10-14 days. As far as the DVD, if I don't get it before I get my mounts they can keep it. Here we are 60 days out and I haven't received my DVD (which may not be their fault at all if the distributor hasn't released a new batch yet) nor can I use my handguards...and I'm at least 10 more days away from that!

Sometimes it's better to have more than one customer service person that way if you can't seem to communicate with one of them at least there's an alternative. But in this case, I feel like I'm getting jerked around by a snobby teenybopper that's counting the seconds until she gets off work instead of doing her job.
 

DCox

Member
Dec 29, 2003
16
0
Man, sorry that you are getting that big a hassle. I have gone through similar situations, and ultimately it does boil down to poor business. Undoubtedly you are already thinking this, but I have learned the hard way a long time ago as well--document everything. If you don't write names and dates of conversations down, they didn't even happen. :cool:

One thing that can really get their attention is to write a formal letter to the individual WHO does care about this kind of service. I have even received free stuff in return--although that was never my intention.

Good luck.
 

jboomer

~SPONSOR~
Jan 5, 2002
1,420
1
Yeah, thanks. There's a couple other stores I give most of my business (at least one of them are displayed on the left of this page) to for this very reason. My wife, thinking she was finding the best deal by saving a couple extra bucks, is all the wiser now too. Live and learn.
 

KX02

Member
Jan 19, 2004
781
0
I ordered a Bell helmet from GMO last year. I was unpleasantly surprised when I read the shipping order and it said all returns are for in store credit only! There website does a nice job of discussing how to return something but somehow they left out the fact that you can't get your money back! The Bell SCX helmets it turns out have problem with the cheek pad snaps. It seems to me the snaps they use, which are plastic not metal hardly work. So they tend to unsnap themselves. At first I thought one of the snaps was broken as soon as I took the helmet out one of the cheek pads was flopping out. I called and told them this and they said they'd call Bell and call me back. They never did. I called a couple of times more and they said they were still checking on it. In the mean time I finally got the snaps to work, but I am really not impressed with this $180 helmet that has problems right out of the box. I was at the Cycle News motorcycle show yesterday, walked over to the Bell display and picked up the same helmet. Sure enough some of the cheek pad snaps were not connected. I will never buy from GMO again. I have had great results from Dennis Kirk, Motosport Outlet, and Rocky Mountain.
 

Chili

Lifetime Sponsor - Photog Moderator
Apr 9, 2002
8,062
15
Bottom line for me when I get an uncooperative employee like that is I ask for the manager straight out. No sense beating around the bush with an employee who doesn't seem inclined to make the situation right.
 

Dave.Smith

Member
Dec 15, 2002
144
0
GMO is the reason I avoid online stores that don't have real time inventory. A little over a year ago I ordered a set of gear that was on sale for my daughter. GMO called two days after I placed the online order to tell me that none of the gear (pants, jersey, gloves) was available, but they offered some other gear at quite a bit higher pricing. Fortunately, I could cancel the order and my business went elsewhere.
 

KX02

Member
Jan 19, 2004
781
0
Smit-Dog said:
Who is GMO?

GMO stands for Global Moto Outlet if I remember correctly. When I originally spoke to them on the phone I believe they told me they are the same company as Motocross Giant? :think:
 

MXGirl230

Stupid tires and trees
~SPONSOR~
Mi. Trail Riders
Dec 19, 2002
2,358
0
This is good to know. I found a MSR kidney belt that I liked, and was going to order. Think I'll just stick with one of the other places. I've never had any problem with Bob's.
 

jboomer

~SPONSOR~
Jan 5, 2002
1,420
1
Dave: at least you got a call! I waited nearly four weeks before finally calling about my DVD and only then did I find out it was on backorder. No call, nothing posted in my account on their website other than "shipped".
 
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