No customer service response from biktrix about delays and shipping method

[Weylay2032]

Mid June is an estimate. All bikes that we promised mid June are very likely to ship in June. Unfortunately, no one can give accurate estimates on delivery times. Google was off 8 weeks with their estimate when I ordered their phone. We are no way close to being as big as Google. Please be patient, it's only a few days delayed. To make up for the delay, we've upgraded all customers to air shipping - which means you get your bike in 3-4 days once we ship instead of the typical 10-15 days.

Im

I am afraid that this is the only correct answer.

Biktrix should not rely on the fine print when discussing customer service... never a winning strategy.

A wise man once said, “If you are not taking care of your customer, your competitor will.”

I'm going to push back on that. Not trying to cause any problems. Just a example! You go to a fast food restaurant order your burger. Now it's being made. There's different ingredients to make that burger. Now yeah! Making a burger isn't the same as making a ebike. But the concept of the work involved. Means the person putting the bike together should get compensated. When you place a order knowing that there's a potential hold. You should be prepared and patient enough to the hard work that's being put into filling these orders. I don't understand why people are acting like they don't understand that this pandemic has slowed things down. You have a BOSS of a company that's reaching out to answer questions and find solutions to problems. You RARELY find that in companies.

 

[laurahall159]

Im

I'm going to push back on that. Not trying to cause any problems. Just a example! You go to a fast food restaurant order your burger. Now it's being made. There's different ingredients to make that burger. Now yeah! Making a burger isn't the same as making a ebike. But the concept of the work involved. Means the person putting the bike together should get compensated. When you place a order knowing that there's a potential hold. You should be prepared and patient enough to the hard work that's being put into filling these orders. I don't understand why people are acting like they don't understand that this pandemic has slowed things down. You have a BOSS of a company that's reaching out to answer questions and find solutions to problems. You RARELY find that in companies.

That isn't a right analogy. First of all the burger that they make, they can't sell to others. but e-bike can be sold to others. Second if we want to use same analogy of restaurant and burger. You go to a restaurant and order a burger which supposed to come in 20 minutes. And after 20 minutes they tell you that they don't have some ingredients and ask you to wait another 30 minutes. And you want to cancel your burger as you may have other things to do. And restaurant accept you to cancel the order but ask you to pay 10-15% of the order. WIll you accept it ?

 

[TMH]

And remember folks, we may be talking about the post-COVID 'new normal' here, at least for a little while but maybe longer term as well. And not just for Biktrix, but for many, many companies.

1) If a company used to have, say, 8 people working in a Sales and Customer Service area, what is the current safe (and legal) staff loading for that same office space? Maybe 3-4?
2) I think that I recall @roshan talking about training personnel to work their job remotely, but that doesn't happen immediately.
3) Can an employee who now has to work remotely be as effective as they were when working in the same room with the group? Now they can no longer immediately bounce a question off a more experienced or Supervisor type employee since they are working remotely at home, and not together in the same room. Customer questions may take longer to answer than before.
4) This situation will be even worse when dealing with a bigger company who used to have, say, 25-30 sales and customer service personnel in an office.

We have all gotten used to a certain level of customer service, and even in the 'old days' some companies were better at this than others. I have gone through several instances recently with companies (e-bike and others) where it has taken 30-60 minutes or more to speak with someone when I have phoned in, where it used to take maybe 5-10 minutes at the most. This is something we have no control over at the moment as companies are trying to adapt to new safety requirements, and may have employees unavailable due to illness. And until an effective vaccine is developed and widely implemented, it is what we are all faced with and must accept.

Do I like the 'new normal'? Not one bit. But one has to accept reality whether they like it or not.

 

[FlatSix911]

I have to agree with this. It's ridiculous to charge a restocking fee for something that never shipped. That's what you call a cancellation of order which should result in a full refund.

It's a bit immature and a shortsighted strategy to play who blinks first on a public forum with a customer.

Whatever the ridiculous restocking fee is Bitrix is "losing" is not worth the bad publicity, and if that fee will make or break the company, that's another reason consumers should look elsewhere.

Honestly, if the demand is so high where orders are backed up, why can't they just sell this bike to another customer? This makes no sense to me.

This is the truth about the new market realities... the Pandemic will not be kind to businesses that do not learn to provide great customer service.

 

[byunbee]

I'm going to push back on that. Not trying to cause any problems. Just a example! You go to a fast food restaurant order your burger. Now it's being made. There's different ingredients to make that burger. Now yeah! Making a burger isn't the same as making a ebike. But the concept of the work involved.

I have to disagree with you there. ebike is not a perishable product and unlike a burger, any optioned components (battery, fork, etc) can easily be swapped out.

When you place a order knowing that there's a potential hold. You should be prepared and patient enough to the hard work that's being put into filling these orders. I don't understand why people are acting like they don't understand that this pandemic has slowed things down.

These bikes are mass produced and assembled by numerous factories in China which are then sold to multiple online vendors. The frames, motors, and most of the components used by Bitrix are very common components used by vast majority of Chinese ebike manufacturers that offer HT and FS ebikes. If you want proof go check out Alibaba and chat with some manufacturers. The only differentiator is their decals which the Chinese ebike manufacturers will create and apply to your order when you order in volume. I suspect Bitrix does not put majority of their bikes together. They likely receive the mostly assembled bikes from China in a container in their individual boxes as ordered and then they ship it out to their customers in the same box untouched. They may swap out components that cannot be sourced from their manufacturer before shipping it out, but I would assume, most bikes sold are the default options which can all be sourced by the ebike manufacturer in China.

So yes, I still think charging a restocking fee for something that's on its way in a shipping container is ridiculous.

You have a BOSS of a company that's reaching out to answer questions and find solutions to problems. You RARELY find that in companies.

Bixtrix is an online retailer. They have 3 primary functions - order processing, inventory management, and customer service. Responding to customer questions and concerns should be their bread and butter, not something that makes them a BOSS of a company. If such things are RARELY found in companies, you are dealing with the wrong company.

But the point that many of us are trying to make here is that regardless of who's right, a smart vendor would realize that the 10% restocking fee is not worth all this bad PR. Because at the end of the day, many potential customers that read this thread will walk away with some bad taste in their mouth which can slowly create a stigma around Bitrix.

 

[BlackHand]

And remember folks, we may be talking about the post-COVID 'new normal' here, at least for a little while but maybe longer term as well. And not just for Biktrix, but for many, many companies.

1) If a company used to have, say, 8 people working in a Sales and Customer Service area, what is the current safe (and legal) staff loading for that same office space? Maybe 3-4?
2) I think that I recall @roshan talking about training personnel to work their job remotely, but that doesn't happen immediately.
3) Can an employee who now has to work remotely be as effective as they were when working in the same room with the group? Now they can no longer immediately bounce a question off a more experienced or Supervisor type employee since they are working remotely at home, and not together in the same room. Customer questions may take longer to answer than before.
4) This situation will be even worse when dealing with a bigger company who used to have, say, 25-30 sales and customer service personnel in an office.

We have all gotten used to a certain level of customer service, and even in the 'old days' some companies were better at this than others. I have gone through several instances recently with companies (e-bike and others) where it has taken 30-60 minutes or more to speak with someone when I have phoned in, where it used to take maybe 5-10 minutes at the most. This is something we have no control over at the moment as companies are trying to adapt to new safety requirements, and may have employees unavailable due to illness. And until an effective vaccine is developed and widely implemented, it is what we are all faced with and must accept.

Do I like the 'new normal'? Not one bit. But one has to accept reality whether they like it or not.

Yep, I work for a Fortune 500 company and our call centers (both in the US and overseas) are working at greatly reduced staffing levels at the same time that demand for services and call volumes are up significantly. Pretty much a recipe for poor customer experiences. 30-60 minutes and then maybe getting disconnected are not unusual at all right now.

How a company reacts and responds is what's important. Frankly, Biktrix should have jumped at the chance to cancel the customer's order regardless of policy. It doesn't really matter that the customer is trying to find reasons to be upset at this point or that cancellation fees are common in the DTC side of the industry or that Biktrix isn't even late on it's delivery window yet. 1 angry customer is worth 10 or 100 happy customers.

 

[FlatSix911]

I hope the OP did not order from this site... Caveat emptor!

Is this too good to be true?

I just bought a Biktrix Juggernaut Ultra 1000 for 1/2 price. I found this place online and they are having a 50% of sale only today (4/11/2020). I hoped I just didn't get scammed. (Link Removed - No Longer Exists)

electricbikereview.com

 

[Weylay2032]

That isn't a right analogy. First of all the burger that they make, they can't sell to others. but e-bike can be sold to others. Second if we want to use same analogy of restaurant and burger. You go to a restaurant and order a burger which supposed to come in 20 minutes. And after 20 minutes they tell you that they don't have some ingredients and ask you to wait another 30 minutes. And you want to cancel your burger as you may have other things to do. And restaurant accept you to cancel the order but ask you to pay 10-15% of the order. WIll you accept it ?

I like that. Good response.

 

[TMH]

That isn't a right analogy. First of all the burger that they make, they can't sell to others. but e-bike can be sold to others. Second if we want to use same analogy of restaurant and burger. You go to a restaurant and order a burger which supposed to come in 20 minutes. And after 20 minutes they tell you that they don't have some ingredients and ask you to wait another 30 minutes. And you want to cancel your burger as you may have other things to do. And restaurant accept you to cancel the order but ask you to pay 10-15% of the order. WIll you accept it ?

And... that isn't apparently a correct analogy either. More like the restaurant said the burger would be ready in 20 minutes to an hour, the customer agreed, and then became upset when it didn't come in 20 minutes.

We haven't even reached the "one hour" point in the contract yet ("mid-June +/- 3 weeks" according to what Roshan points to in the purchase contract.)

 

[roshan]

I have to disagree with you there. ebike is not a perishable product and unlike a burger, any optioned components (battery, fork, etc) can easily be swapped out.


These bikes are mass produced and assembled by numerous factories in China which are then sold to multiple online vendors. The frames, motors, and most of the components used by Bitrix are very common components used by vast majority of Chinese ebike manufacturers that offer HT and FS ebikes. If you want proof go check out Alibaba and chat with some manufacturers. The only differentiator is their decals which the Chinese ebike manufacturers will create and apply to your order when you order in volume. I suspect Bitrix does not put majority of their bikes together. They likely receive the mostly assembled bikes from China in a container in their individual boxes as ordered and then they ship it out to their customers in the same box untouched. They may swap out components that cannot be sourced from their manufacturer before shipping it out, but I would assume, most bikes sold are the default options which can all be sourced by the ebike manufacturer in China.

So yes, I still think charging a restocking fee for something that's on its way in a shipping container is ridiculous.


Bixtrix is an online retailer. They have 3 primary functions - order processing, inventory management, and customer service. Responding to customer questions and concerns should be their bread and butter, not something that makes them a BOSS of a company. If such things are RARELY found in companies, you are dealing with the wrong company.

But the point that many of us are trying to make here is that regardless of who's right, a smart vendor would realize that the 10% restocking fee is not worth all this bad PR. Because at the end of the day, many potential customers that read this thread will walk away with some bad taste in their mouth which can slowly create a stigma around Bitrix.

Clarification: We are not JUST ANOTHER ONLINE RETAILER. Leave that to our competitors. We build a vast majority of bikes in-house in Canada. This is why we're able to let customers pick and choose every component they want on the bike.
You have your opinion and that's fine. 10% service fee is normal in the ebike world (check all major online ebike merchants). Heck, that is what even "just another online retailers" do. Out of the 10%, about 3-3.5% goes as non-refundable merchant fees to Shopify/Stripe/Paypal. How come no one complains about that?

 

[TMH]

@Spatzi,

I think that regardless of what anyone has posted on this thread, we all wish you the best in ultimately getting the e-bike of your dreams, in the quickest possible time frame.

Unfortunately with the resurgence of COVID cases, we haven't even reached the "post-pandemic 'new normal'" period, and all manufacturers/sellers are still dealing with earlier (and current) supply chain disruptions, reduced staffing, huge demand (some estimates 500-600% or more of normal) and other factors many of us outside the industry will never know. None of this is beneficial to new e-bike buyers who just want to get outside and ride for the physical and mental health benefits cycling provides.

I hope in the end you can work out your differences with Biktrix and either go in another direction, or get to enjoy one of the excellent bikes they produce and sell.

 

[jaizon]

It's a bit immature and a shortsighted strategy to play who blinks first on a public forum with a customer. Whatever the ridiculous restocking fee is Bitrix is "losing" is not worth the bad publicity, and if that fee will make or break the company, that's another reason consumers should look elsewhere. Honestly, if the demand is so high where orders are backed up, why can't they just sell this bike to another customer? This make no sense to me.

This whole interaction has caused me to drop Biktrix from consideration as the next company I buy an e-bike from. Too bad as they have some nice bikes. Some very very bad management decisions.

 

[Spatzi]

Clarification: We are not JUST ANOTHER ONLINE RETAILER. Leave that to our competitors. We build a vast majority of bikes in-house in Canada. This is why we're able to let customers pick and choose every component they want on the bike.
You have your opinion and that's fine. 10% service fee is normal in the ebike world (check all major online ebike merchants). Heck, that is what even "just another online retailers" do. Out of the 10%, about 3-3.5% goes as non-refundable merchant fees to Shopify/Stripe/Paypal. How come no one complains about that?

I would’ve figured at this point you would want this thread to die but you insist on being argumentative over $150 and stretching this out to god knows how long, and for what benefit?

 

[roshan]

This whole interaction has caused me to drop Biktrix from consideration as the next company I buy an e-bike from. Too bad as they have some nice bikes. Some very very bad management decisions.

No problem Jaizon. I know that we can't make everyone happy all the time. We don't try to. Good luck!

 

[jaizon]

Clarification: We are not JUST ANOTHER ONLINE RETAILER. Leave that to our competitors. We build a vast majority of bikes in-house in Canada. This is why we're able to let customers pick and choose every component they want on the bike.
You have your opinion and that's fine. 10% service fee is normal in the ebike world (check all major online ebike merchants). Heck, that is what even "just another online retailers" do. Out of the 10%, about 3-3.5% goes as non-refundable merchant fees to Shopify/Stripe/Paypal. How come no one complains about that?

That "non-refundable" merchant fee is just that...a fee to the merchant, not the consumer, which you are trying to pass on to the consumer. That is low rent stuff, sir, and can be reported to the appropriate companies. A practice they strongly frown upon. I don't want to fight with you brother, but you have taken a wrong turn here. It's sad, really.

 

[roshan]

That "non-refundable" merchant fee is just that...a fee to the merchant, not the consumer, which you are trying to pass on to the consumer. That is low rent stuff, sir, and can be reported to the appropriate companies. A practice they strongly frown upon. I don't want to fight with you brother, but you have taken a wrong turn here. It's sad, really.

Google "Service fee".

 

[FlatSix911]

Sir, you did, when you checked this checkbox which is mandatory before proceeding with payment:
View attachment 56372

This checkbox actually defines a 10% restocking fee. We've waived that to 3%.

I would never do business with this vendor... his actions speak volumes in continuing to argue with a customer over a bike that was not delivered.

He is insisting on charging the customer a restocking fee (his Google service fee) and sacrifice his reputation over $106... a bad business decision for sure.

Many prospective buyers will read this forum to see how vendors handle customer issues... reading this entire thread does not bode well for Biktrix service.

 

[FlatSix911]

When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.

 

[roshan]

I would never do business with this vendor... his actions speak volumes in continuing to argue with a customer over a bike that was not delivered.

He is insisting on charging the customer a restocking fee (his Google service fee) and sacrifice his reputation over $106... a bad business decision for sure.

Many prospective buyers will read this forum to see how vendors handle customer issues... reading this entire thread does not bode well for Biktrix service.

I did let my ego get the better part of me. Apologies for that.

I just did refund the entire amount. The reason it hurts is that this customer had several email/chat/phone conversations with my team. We replied to all of his questions and concerns. I even sent him screenshots of all our interactions. The fact of the matter is that he just wanted to get a full refund and get something else - which is fine but I should have caught that earlier and nipped it in the bud. And the crazy thing about this whole thing: we just started shipping the bikes, just as promised, in June!

 

[FlatSix911]

I did let my ego get the better part of me. Apologies for that.

I just did refund the entire amount. The reason it hurts is that this customer had several email/chat/phone conversations with my team. We replied to all of his questions and concerns.

I even sent him screenshots of all our interactions. The fact of the matter is that he just wanted to get a full refund and get something else - which is fine but I should have caught that earlier and nipped it in the bud.

Roshan, I know it was difficult, but you did the right thing. This is a good outcome for both parties.

People will now have a positive response to your company, your products, and your good customer service.