Falco Frustration

[Snug]

After a good deal of research, I decided to order a Falco 750W 48V rear hub motor kit. I plan on installing it on my Kona Ute. I placed the order at the end of July and Rakesh at Falco thought it would be completed by August 21. Of course, I was not excited about a three week wait but I thought the Falco system was worth waiting for. On Friday August 22 I called to check on the status of my system and it had not yet been built. I was disappointed but Rakesh thought it wold get built and go out in by the middle of this week. I called today and the new projection is that it will go out Tuesday September the 2nd. It seems that they had to rebuild my wheel because a 500W motor had been mistakenly installed on it.

Rakesh from Falco has been willing to answer all of my questions and has been super nice, which I greatly appreciate. My excitement over a new electric bike has been replaced by frustration. I did not cancel my order, but I hope the system is worth the wait and frustration.

 

[Rakesh Dhawan]

Hi Snug:

We are running slightly behind on our order filling especially on the 750W motor with the 48V, 11.6Ah (556Wh) batteries. Your order was for 26" wheel and it was accidentally built into a 700c wheel. Unfortunately, all of our last shipment is completely sold out as soon as it arrived. That caused a delay in rebuilding the hub and consequently more delay on our part.

Everything is ready and it will ship out on Tuesday. Please do accept my apologies for the delay.

Best,
Rakesh

 

[Susan]

I'm in a similar boat.

Like Snug, after a good deal of research I placed my order for a 500W / 700c Falco kit on August 18th from http://ebikesofne.com.

First gripe: No where on this site does it say there was a lead time on Falco orders, so I was a little suprised when I followed up to try and get a tracking number and learned there was a 2 week lead time. It's understandable, but it would have been nice to know upfront. For comparison, I don't see the note about lead time on other site's selling Falco motors either (http://electriccyclery.com) so I don't know if the fault here is on the stores or Falco.

Also, I'm not sure how it works in other states, but when I ran an online store in California, you had to abide by a "charge on ship" policy, which dictates that you don't actually charge the customer until their order ships. I can't speak for other customers, but my credit card was charged when the order was placed. Whether this is the fault of the store, Falco, or the arrangement between both, I'm not sure...but I digress...

When I contacted ebikesofne.com and told about the 2 week lead time, they said my order should ship on September 5th and arrrive on September 10th. I was also told I'd get a tracking number when it ships. It's now September 10th and I haven't received a tracking number so I'm assuming it hasn't shipped, and I'm looking at over three weeks out since the time of order (23 days), with no clue as to when it will actually ship. I've hesitated contacting ebikesofne.com again, not wanting to be a pest, but seeing this thread made me think twice...

Like Snug, I'm frustrated. The decision to go electric wasn't just recreational for me- it's how I intend to commute.

Knowing more about this lead time before laying out over a thousand dollars would have been really useful.

Mostly though, just more communication would go a long way to assuage my frustrations. I've run online stores before, I know sometimes it's tough to keep up with demands and deal with frustrated customers like myself : ) I have found, though, that customers are a lot more understanding if you at least keep them in the loop as much as possible as to what's going on. This is especially important on a high-dollar item. Once again, I don't know if this is in the arena of Falco or the store, but it's something both could work on.

Anyway, if you have any updates on my order, Rakesh, I'd really appreciate it. Regardless of these frustrations, I am looking forward to trying out the product!

 

[Rakesh Dhawan]

Dear Susan:

Thank you for sharing this with me. I apologize for this inconvenience. Your order is scheduled to ship this Friday. We will send you the tracking info as it ships.

We are in the process of overhauling a number of policies and procedures. Our standard lead time from Falco is 2 to 4 weeks. We are encouraging our dealers to build stock so these orders can be shipped faster.

Thank you once again for bringing this to my notice.

Warm Regards,
Rakesh

 

[Susan]

Hi Rakesh - Appreciate the follow-up. Looking forward to receiving the tracking info. I'm assuming you have my email on file, but if not, let me know.