Ribble customer service.

[Kestevan]

I'm in the process of trying to speak to someone at Ribble about the return of some faulty goods.

They don't respond to emails, and the phone line is answered by a machine that tells me they are open between 9 and 5 Monday to Friday.....and has been giving the same message between 9 and 5 every day since Tuesday.

Compare this with Wiggle, where when I emailed them about a faulty Mars 4.00 light they responded within 24h, I shipped the light back and had a new unit 2 days later (and credit for the shipping charges).

I'll be honest, this isn't the first "experience" of Ribbles service levels I've had, but it will be the last....... next time I want anything it's definately going to be Wiggle or CRC for me.

 

[Globalti]

I've never had a problem with Ribble but then I've always gone along and collected from the warehouse. My only complaint would be that the warehouse is difficult to find.

Hmmmm.... that reminds me; the last time I was there a very tall slim girl with model looks and figure-hugging dress strolled in and started looking around at the goodies. I waltzed up and engaged her in conversation, asking her where she went riding and so on, she replied that she didn't ride much, so I told her she should as she had the physique of a cyclist.... at which point she informed me that it was actually her boyfriend who was the cyclist, pointing to a very fit muscular bloke who was trying out a carbon bike for size. If he hadn't been so engrossed in the bike I reckon he'd have been glowering at me by then..... walked out and found his car parked outside, only a brand new Ferrari F430.... feck.... I drove off in my Volkswagen. Ho hum.

 

[GaryA]

serves you right for oggling plastic stick insects

 

[Monsieur Remings]

[QUOTE 1347004"]
I have a Ribble bike. The bike is fantastic, great price, great quality, great big trauma getting hold of the thing!

Their customer service phone people told me tale after tale about why my bike wasn't ready. Shipping problems, customs issues, Campag running out of parts, no large frames, then they had a large frame but it wasn't a large, no-one to build it, built but lacking 'some components', shipped to someone else by mistake, the frames were stuck at Felixstowe, it was a list of useless excuses

Eventually, I spoke to a chap, Alan I think, who was the manager. All sorted in 48 hours. It took me nearly 3 months to get through to him though. That was with 2-3 emails every day, calls and messages. They took my money instantly though
[/quote]

Just bought one, and near you mate. I'm a bit concerned about the delivery TBH. Not ready yet but would be interested in who they used as a courier?

 

[jonrwg]

Damn, now i'm having this problem. Ordered mine from their warehouse after a long train journey from Birmingham last Wednesday. Reached home and I'm thinking of changing a few parts so emailed them and this guy Alan respond to my email asking my to list down what parts I wanted to change and he'll try his best or whatsoever. After sending him the list on Thursday afternoon and till now there is no reply from him whether they willing to change the parts for me or not, or else I wanted to cancel the order and get a Planet X instead. Called from this morning and went into voice machine like what OP said. Call again in the evening and the voice machine said "We'll not be answering any phone today so please call back on Monday" , I was like ..

Such a pain in the a*se to deal with them. I'm not going to have another 6 hours train journey again !!

 

[Aspull Velo]

I've been taking a look at threads on the (lack of) customer service at Ribble and my god, what a choice!

A company that manages to make Ryanair look paragons of virtue.

Seriously, I suspect that many customers are just one time purchasers from Rabble. The worlds worst bike supplier, bar none who have single-handedly given internet bike shopping a bad name.

 

[Archie_tect]

....I suspect that many customers are just one time purchasers from Rabble. The worlds worst bike supplier, bar none who have single-handedly given internet bike shopping a bad name.

Ha! I've only bought from them once... brand new Shimano long reach dual pull brakes to replace my Dawes bike's original single pulls... they arrived unboxed by post in a bit of rolled up cardboard with sticky tape across both open ends, one was in an old plastic bag the other unprotected, with instructions in German and no return address.

I decided not to drill the frame out so have still got them!

Will never use Ribble again.

 

[Peteaud]

They are nice bikes, the ads in all the mags look great, but stories like this would put me off.

 

[Aspull Velo]

I did my research and was naive enough to believe nobody could be as bad as some of the stories read suggest. I was very wrong as they are far worse than that. Funnily enough I was in contact with a fellow bike enthusiast recently who is an ex Ribble employee who told me that if you were a bike lover you would cry at some of the practices that go on during packing. If my new bike ever gets built/delivered/arrives I guess I will find out for myself.

 

[Hacienda71]

I have never had an issue with Ribble and have bought from them multiple times. Their bikes are also gvfm in comparison to most of the big name brands. You may not get perfect customer service every time but you read similar stories with a lot of online bike retailers. Some are far worse than Ribble.

 

[jonny jeez]

Does make you wonder how much they could increase their bottom line if they just woke up the the problem. they have everything they need.

-Good name
-Good bikes
-Good route to market (sort of)

if only threads like this didn't exist, I would have considered them myself when I picked up the allez.

Perhaps they just dont "need" the mail order business so much and cant justify the cost in making it more efficient.

 

[ColinJ]

Perhaps they just dont "need" the mail order business so much and cant justify the cost in making it more efficient.

They "are" a mail order business - I bet less than 10% of their business is 'over the counter'!

 

[jonny jeez]

They "are" a mail order business - I bet less than 10% of their business is 'over the counter'!

That's kind of my point, perhaps that 10% is enough for them. Anyone with a balance sheet would see immediately where their best route to market is and would naturally do all they could to exploit that. So perhaps they make too much from the warehouse to justify giving a damn.

I mean, how much would a few more call handlers cost? peanuts...clearly they don't see a justification.

 

[PpPete]

Ha! I've only bought from them once... brand new Shimano long reach dual pull brakes to replace my Dawes bike's original single pulls... they arrived unboxed by post in a bit of rolled up cardboard with sticky tape across both open ends, one was in an old plastic bag the other unprotected, with instructions in German and no return address.

I decided not to drill the frame out so have still got them!

If only I'd known.... I just bought some of those from them, could have taken them off your hands. Packing was as you describe, but no instructions. So what ? easily downloaded off Shimano's website, and with the price siginificantly cheaper than elsewhere I can put up with doing that.

Have used Ribble many times for componentry & tools, never, ever, had a problem. Frankly I prefer their minimalist packing to CRC's hugely oversized cardboard boxes.
Would I buy a complete bike from them? Probably not, as there are too many horror stories of delay for various excuses, but I'm happier assembling my own anyway.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I got a work colleague to get one () , they seemed the best about at the time but he had a hell of a job getting hold of the thing. I'd used a few times for mail-order and never had a problem. Try Dave Hinde if you want really excellent service!*



* NOT!