E-mail to Cambriabike.com

[Erci]

Just thought I'd share this with you all. If this'll stop even one person from ordering from them, then it was worth posting:

"You guys are unbelievable!
You refunded me the cost of the scratched up OEM fork which Ryan assured me was brand new, before I placed the order, but you didn’t refund me the cost of return shipping?! Bill said shipping cost would definitely be refunded when I called for return authorization number!
I don’t know what I was thinking placing another order with you after I purchased a 05 Fox Vanilla fork about a year ago, which came shipped in a home-made cardboard box and had brake bosses (only OEM 05’s came with brake bosses). You admitted that the fork was OEM when I confronted you and told me that you just wanted to pass on the best deals to your customers (yeah right!!) and I let it go. OEM is absolutely fine, if you’re upfront about it, but you NEVER tell customers what they’re getting, in advance!
I also don’t know what I was thinking when I placed another order with you after I purchased a Ventana Pantera frame from you, which had a misaligned rear end and you wanted to charge me 15% restocking fee when I returned it! Luckily my credit card company stood by me and I was able to get my money back.
I really should have learned my lesson much sooner… oh well.
Needless to say, I will never order anything from you ever again. I’ve ordered thousands of dollars worth of bike parts from you in the past, but you don’t seem to care whatsoever about your loyal customers. Not one of your employees apologized to me even once, when I had to call and request return authorization numbers for YOUR screw-ups. That’s just sad.
I sincerely hope that I somehow just had very bad luck dealing with you and that the rest of your customers will enjoy better service and honest business practices. As for me, I’m not willing to take another chance."

[MtnbikeMike]

Yet another reason to go to your LBS.

[narlus]

damn erci, that blows. i've definitely gotten some OEM stuff from them before (stuff like cassettes, shifters, levers in a plastic bag w/ no manuals) but the only return i've had to do (sending back 36h rims for my requested 32h) went pretty smoothly.

[stinkyboy]

Yet another reason to go to your LBS.

:stupid:

[binary visions]

That definitely sucks.

Frankly, I'd be pretty irritated too if I received an OEM product that I didn't know, up front, was OEM. I order small parts from Pricepoint a lot, but I anticipate getting brown-boxed OEM stuff from them.

Trying to charge a restocking fee or shipping fees on damaged products, though, is inexcusable.

[brungeman]

that pretty much sucks!!! I feel bad for you! are there any local bike shops that you can establish a rapport with? I know the low prices in the ads seam appealing, but the support if something goes wrong isn't there like it is at a LBS.

the other thing is... the old fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I think if you are now even with them (money wise) then you can move on, and call it a lesson learned.

I thank you for posting your situation, it only supports the case for LBS':cool:

good luck with everything and let us know if they respond!

[ThePriceSeliger]

I havn't ever had any problem with them. I mean, I don't order alot of things from them, but never anything wrong. Once they said they said they had a part in stock, and I ordered it, but it wasn't in stock, so I had to wait, but that really it.

[sapdesigns]

That's just an ugly email, not saying that it wasn't warranted, but still...ugly. I'd love to know if you even got a response back on that one.

[Erci]

Got a response. Ryan replied, in fact.. finally got an appology and he said he'd credit the shipping fee back to my CC right away.
At the same time, he called me "Erik" in 2 emails, back to back, when I signed both of MY emails as "Eric".. that's just how Cambria employees seem to be.. they don't pay attention to little details.
Believe me, lesson learned! There are plenty of good mail order places and LBS's out there!

[binary visions]

At the same time, he called me "Erik" in 2 emails, back to back, when I signed both of MY emails as "Eric"..

I f**king HATE that. That's a serious pet peeve of mine. How hard is it to look at the signature in the email, or even usually the name of the sender right in the mail header?

My name is "Stephan", pronounced "Stefan". I sign every email I send, "Stephan", and my name is right in the email header. Yet some customer service people decide to call me "Stephen", "Steven", or worse, "Steve".

First of all, it's not my name. Second of all, you spelled it wrong. Third of all, with "Steve", you have no idea what I like to be called or what my nicknames may be, so address someone the way they address themselves.

If you're in customer service, you need to be aware of details like this, because it leaves a sour taste in people's mouthes when you can't even spell their name correctly, even though it's spelled out right in the email.

Glad to hear you got the charges sorted out. I'll probably avoid Cambria as well now. Haven't had a reason to deal with them in the past, guess I sure as heck don't have a reason to deal with them now that I've heard several bad things about them (not just from you).

[downhilldemon]

so STEVE what type of childhood did you have? :)

[Crazy Dan]

Pricepoint sold me an OEM Fox Vanilla fork. I didn't find out it OEM until it arrived and it had brake bosses. Only reason I keep it was because it was a screaming deal. I'm alot more wary ordering for what appears to a legit company. It goes for anybody selling stuff online, be upfront.

[computergeek8]

hmmmm... not really IMHO, just a more reputable online dealer. i shop almost exclusively at jensonusa and blueskycycling, and have never had a problem (although others im sure have) but i have nightmare stories from going to my LBS.

Yet another reason to go to your LBS.