Jipped on Internet?

[ice ice baby]

I'm thinking of buying some gear of the internet, specifically pricepoint.com. Is there any reason I shouldn't? The exact same suspension seatpost available a Penn Cycle is on sale online fro 50% less. Have any of you been jipped before?:crazy2:

[nicnac]

I've bought a few things off the net. A pda off of Yahoo Overstock, and a couple of paintings off of Ebay. I had no hassles and I guess I wouldn't expect a hassle through a large company. I get leary if it's an auction site but established companies seem pretty failsafe to me.

[The Bull]

I have bought many items from Price Point and never had any problems. I just recently purchased a new helmet from them that REI sold for $125 and Price Point sold for $69.99.

[noise_is_life]

I shop on the net frequently, bike stuff and otherwise.

My only bad expierience so far has been when I tried to cancel an order with Airbomb which they still ended up charging me for and wouldn't remove the charge from my credit card after multiple calls (even though they said they would). I ended up having to take care of it through my credit card company.

It's just like anything, Caveat emptor.

[manual63]

Everyone seems to be afraid of the Internet. I've been jipped from retailers too. If someone is going to jip you, they don't need the Internet to do it.

[Daddy X]

I have bought many many things from Price Point, Jenson USA and Supergo without any problems. I prefer Jenson USA, they are great to work with, fair shipping prices and fast delivery. As a matter of fact I should have a pair of Panaracer Trail Blasters sitting on my doorstep when I get home today!! Woo Hoo

[jzipfel]

I have ordered from Jenson, Performance, Frankford and PricePoint. I like Jenson and Frankford the best since they give you what was advertized.

PricePoint I have major issues with. Ordered a Giro Havoc and it must have been a second since it had a fixed visor instead of the POV. Also, they had a great price on XT chains, when I got them, no original packaging. They were in a plastic bag and only a small pre-fixed pin. I know Shimano gives you two pins and they are in a box. I also found their customer service severely lacking.

Just my experience.

[Trevize1138]

The only problem I have with the Internet is the instant gratification thing. I wanted that seat post NOW, not next-day-air! ;)

Aside from that, I believe there's no safer place in the world to perform a credit card transaction than established sales sites.

Just think about it: when you give your card to the server at a restaurant, you're trusting that human not to take down your card number and expiration date for later use. When you go through the net, you're dealing with a computer that has no desire for money, it's just performing a task.

As for fear of getting your card number stolen via the net, the best place to snag credit card numbers continues to be your local public trash recepticle. ;)

[SPR]

I used PricePoint this last Spring to buy some Avid Brakes and Levers. Their ad on the website said they didn't come with cables or housing. No big deal as I have extra cables and housing. But low and behold when they arrived a week later they were packed with housing and cables at no extra cost.
I was pretty happy and can't complain. I've also used Cambria Bikes with no problems.

[PWAXON]

I’ve been buying online using primarily Performance and Nashbar for years now with absolutely no problems. You can get great deals especially on closeout stuff. I’ve had good luck with returns and exchanges also.

[Dr. Guitar]

Watch out for Ebay. I have yet to buy anything used from online, however, where I work I see all sorts of ebay rip offs. It is very easy to misslead, and conceal things in online auctions.

As for new items, you just have to keep looking for the best deal.

[Krejci]

Ice, you know that i would give the thumbs up for price point. Yeah i mean if you go to E-bay make sure the item is like brand new and its a good brand name. You never know how many lil ocmpanies are out there trying to sell stuff on the net. I mean if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guarantee i will, i have spare time, but for your companies sake, for your daughters sake you might think about buying a quality product from me. :banana: :banana:

[Rockhoppa]

Ice i like price point also and jenson is good!!!
Go online and order some free catalogs, that is what I did!!!!!

[jaybird]

Where's John's sermon on Performance? :laugh:

[gopherhockey]

Originally posted by jaybird
Where's John's sermon on Performance? :laugh:

I was about too... but... ;)

Lets just say Performance has good selection, good prices, but their customer service and their order processing is still stuck back in the 90s.. (like first year Internet sales style)

Hows that.. just one paragraph!

:p

[Trevize1138]

Originally posted by Dr. Guitar
Watch out for Ebay. I have yet to buy anything used from online, however, where I work I see all sorts of ebay rip offs. It is very easy to misslead, and conceal things in online auctions.

As for new items, you just have to keep looking for the best deal.

I only use eBay for obscure, hard-to-find collectible type stuff.

I got some SWEET '60s slot car sets off there this winter. Once the weather gets colder I'm gonna spend some time in my basement building a 2nd 4'X8' table, laying down the astrotruf and racin'! None of that HO 1/56 scale stuff (although I do have some '80s Tyco track), I'm talking the real deal: 1/32 and 1/24 scale. If you feather the throttle just right you can get the rear end of the cars to drag around the outside of the corners. ;)

Even got a 4-lane setup!

http://dbforum.milson.net/lounge/messages/370/1188.jpg

[zerpy]

If you look in john's "performance bike" thread you can see my diatribe about pricepoint. I got screwed by them because of a technicality in their ad which should have "told" me that they were selling a cheap knock off of the tire they were advertising.

But I only paid like 20 bucks for a set of tires, knock offs or not I am at least getting my 20 bucks worth. I tried to talk to their customer service about it and yes, it is worthless customer service which is true of most online retailers. Lets face it, cust serv is expensive and we wouldn't do business with online retailers if we were willing to pay for the cust serv because it wouldn't be much cheaper than the LBS and then we get instant gratification. You want service, go support your LBS.

I'll do business with pricepoint again, but I'll just be very attentive of what I'm buying. If it looks like an unreal deal, it probably isn't exactly what you'd be getting at your LBS. There is a lot of OEM liquidation that these internet places get deals on. You aren't going to get the same retail packaging as your LBS.

You can get screwed anywhere, I did by Erics in burnsville. I could have made a bigger issue out of it, but I didn't feel like going through the hassle and it didn't seem likeTHAT big of a deal, now hindsight being 20-20 I should have put up a fuss. Chock it up to lessons learned. I still go there too because of sales guys like Ronnie that are willing to spend some time with you. But I'm also learning about other places as well that do real well to their customers, for example I've heard some good things about St. Paul Cycles. I haven't been there yet, but I'll add them to my list of places to check out.

Moral of the story is someone on here is going to come up with some kind of horror story for just about every place there is. Mistakes happen, misunderstandings happen, ads get printed wrong, etc... But I've learned to be very suspect of the internet now. Again, the service sucks because you aren't paying for it and there is a serious buyer-be-ware thing going on there.

[manual63]

Originally posted by zerpy
If you look in john's "performance bike" thread you can see my diatribe about pricepoint.

Ugh!!!! Sometimes you just have to look words up in the dictionary.

Main Entry: di·a·tribe
Pronunciation: 'dI-&-"trIb
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin diatriba, from Greek diatribE pastime, discourse, from diatribein to spend (time), wear away, from dia- + tribein to rub -- more at THROW
Date: 1581
1 archaic : a prolonged discourse
2 : a bitter and abusive speech or writing
3 : ironical or satirical criticism

[zerpy]

Ohh great, so now I'm archaic. I admit my grammer use is horrible when my typing isn't in sync with my thinking, but ARCHAIC!?!?!?!?

Next you going to say I'm some big, bald, gorilla looking... oh wait, nevermind...:)

[manual63]

Don't worry, my wife is going to law school, I am used to it.....:)

[Rocky Mountain]

Before you buy anything check out these sites for the best deals:

Bike Parts in General:
Q-Bike (http://www.qbike.com)

All New Shimano Parts & New Bike Forks
Comparison Pricing (http://www.comparisonpricing.com)

As far as the best service... I have had good luck with most to all the internet sites. As usual know exactly what you are buying ie. 60 tpi vs 120 tpi tires.

[Trevize1138]

Originally posted by manual63
Don't worry, my wife is going to law school, I am used to it.....:)

This from a man who often confuses their/there and affect/effect

;)

Don't mess with me, I'm armed with an English major.

[Rocky Mountain]

I do the same thing involving their and there so don't feel bad. My high school english teacher was a hippy and did not teach me of anything dealing with grammar. He actually had us read Pink Floyd lyrics for poetry.

:shocked:

I am not going to start anything or finish anything today since it is too hot outside. :banana: :banana:

[manual63]

Originally posted by Trevize1138
This from a man who often confuses their/there and affect/effect

;)

Don't mess with me, I'm armed with an English major.

The effect of you criticizing my grammar might make me hit you right about there......

[Trevize1138]

Lemme tell ya something about English teachers who think grammar is overrated:

They're s%&*y writers!

Any "artist" who thinks true art has no basis in form or convention is generally a bad artist. The key to greatness is to learn and know convention, form, basic style and only then can you take a step out into the unknown and create something unique and original.

Before you can "think outside the box" you gotta first become firmly planted INSIDE it.

;)

[manual63]

Originally posted by Trevize1138
Before you can "think outside the box" you gotta first become firmly planted INSIDE it.

I wish I had used this quote on all the mountain bike companies that were trying to make BMX bikes in the late 90's. Geeez, did they have some awful designs. Specialized had the Fat Boy with no seat tube and Trek made this awful Y thing, again with no seat tube. If they had gotten inside the box, they would have realized these BMX bike designs would fail. If you look at their current BMX bikes, they look like all the other double diamond hardtails out there now.