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Chain Reaction Cycles shipping to Canada

164K views 576 replies 150 participants last post by  smashysmashy 
#1 ·
A week or two ago I was looking for information about chainreactioncycles.com shipping to Canada and didn't find anything here. I went ahead and made a purchase anyways and thought I'd report back my experience for the next person.

I ordered a 2012 Bell Sweep helmet. I know bike parts typically don't have customs charges but I wasn't sure where a helmet falls in here. My helmet cost just over $100 at CRC with free shipping. On top of the purchase price Canada Customs charged me the HST and an additional $8.50 in 'Handling Fees', and that's it. I was prepared for worse so I was quite pleased. The helmet arrived about 8 days after the order was made but the Easter weekend was in there so that may have caused a day or two delay over the usual.

And before anybody gives me grief about buying online, I was perfectly prepared to buy locally but couldn't find the size/colour combination I wanted nearby. If I was going to have to wait a week for it to be ordered in at the shop I may as well save myself $60 and the return trip and order it myself.

So anyways, overall thumbs up to CRC and I will be ordering again.
 
#101 ·
I ordered from CRC last thursday and got my package yesterday. That was crazy fast. The new thing (for me) is that they used DHL which in my experience has very bad service. Unfortunatly they lived up to their reputation again.

First you cannot change the delivery address unless you pay beforehand the duty and taxes. I like to know what I'm paying for but in this case, you don't get to know before you receive your package... Canada post never has that issue as they just redirect the package to the nearest post office.

The other thing is that they made a mistake when they declared the value of my package. Instead of declaring the value of the items(about 250$) they declared some random weight information(320). So I ended up paying too much taxes. I'm trying to get them to fix this situation but their CS is pretty useless.

Anyway, I'm not gonna order from CRC again unless I get the confirmation that the shipment will be handled by Royal mail/Canada post.
 
#102 ·
I ordered a set of XT brakes and rotors.... over 2 weeks ago.
not a sign of them, even worse now reading this. I realise this "free shipping" to Canada thing is going to be a load of crap.

2 weeks.

I needed A sram discrete bracket. only 10$ at chain reaction. 30$+ most places here.
I can not wait 2 more weeks for a bracket. Nor can I rist whatever brokerage fees are going to be involved.

PS I did use my cc, now you all have me scared.
 
#103 ·
I ordered a set of XT brakes and rotors.... over 2 weeks ago.
not a sign of them, even worse now reading this. I realise this "free shipping" to Canada thing is going to be a load of crap.

2 weeks.

I needed A sram discrete bracket. only 10$ at chain reaction. 30$+ most places here.
I can not wait 2 more weeks for a bracket. Nor can I rist whatever brokerage fees are going to be involved.

PS I did use my cc, now you all have me scared.
Did you email them and inquired?

I never had any issues. Whatsoever. And I used them many times. I find their CS excellent.
 
#104 ·
Haven't had any problems with them and communication was really good when I screwed up on a spec and they held the order and fixed before shipping,
Out of 5 orders in the last couple of years I have only paid a Can Post fee once and Hst once on an order. You may want to call. Also have never waited more than 5 business days for del. usually only 3-4
 
#488 ·
The website just geo-locks those brands based on your location. If you change the location to uk at the top of the crc site you can view their sram and shimano stock. Still won't be able to order in north america though.

@sillymonkey, interesting article. The size of wiggle-crc (with bike24) gives it an immense buying power, which allows it to sell cheaper than traditional retailers. In many cases, the price they've sold products at is below the minimum resale price set by manufacturers. Pretty hard for traditional retailers to compete when they're bound by mrp restrictions and for whatever reason their competition (wiggle-crc) is not. There's probably more to the story why sram and shimano 'chose' to enforce regional distribution restrictions for north america.

Here's an interesting article on retailers and minimum resale price. Not related to the whole shimano/crc thing, but gives a perspective on how pricing works in the manufacturer/retailer chain...

https://gbr.pepperdine.edu/2010/08/...price-restrictions-are-two-different-animals/
 
#2 ·
it's kind of hit or miss as far as the charges go. i had a string where i was charged nothing but recently i've had significant charges on my last 3 or 4 orders. they have excellent customer service, though.
 
#3 ·
yep chain reaction is the best by far. As mentioned charges are hit or miss with customs. I've got an order coming in this week so we'll see if I get dinged. The $8.50 fee used to be $5 but still reasonable.

Don't feel bad about your LBS as I always offer first crack to mine. If they are within reasonable pricing they get the sale, but they understand that if they can't compete and their hands are tied, then I will go online. Besides they get all my business when it comes to bikes and service and accessories.
 
#6 ·
I don't think so, but I assume they do, and just use PayPal.

Regarding shipping, I made two orders over the winter.

First some Shimano shoes. Paid tax + handling fee.

Second, an XT derailleur. They left the package, and did not collect any fees.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I also wont use anything but Paypal at CRC. Already got compromised once. I've done a fair bit of ordering online from Europe in the last few months.

As mentioned, taxes are usually hit and miss (and depends more on the customs here more than the store itself I'm sure)

Here is my recent track record:

Shinybikes (UK) — Handling fee (8.50) + HST
Probikekit (UK) — no charge
ChainReaction (UK) — Handling fee (8.50) + HST
Ribble (UK) — no charge (updated)
XXCycle (FRA) - no charge, second package on the way (interestingly enough, packages from France have been clearing customs in Quebec instead of Ontario)
 
#8 ·
I just paced an order with them and paid Visa. Its an experiment. Five years ago, my CC was compromised. Again, 2 years ago. Three strikes and their out....

I typically use Paypal with them, but was too lazy this time...
 
#11 ·
Just got an order in myself and there were no additional charges. A new helmet liner, some gloves, tools and a few small accessories. Used my CC with them this time and before with no issues, so far!

Jenson is also a place I like to use, pay one price and never have any charges but they're pricing isn't always as competitive.
 
#13 ·
I got lucky and didn't have to pay any duty,I was only charged HST and $8.50 handling fee.
No luck involved - there's no duty on bike parts! (other than fully assembled wheels)

Luck would be if Canada Post decided to leave it or hand it off to you without charging the HST + $8.50 flat handling charge,
 
#15 ·
I got charged duty on my last CRC order.

$8.50 handling fee
HST
6 ~ 8 % duty.

My $90 order had $30 worth of taxes and fees on it. I wasn't too impressed.

Then again, it's always hit & miss whether you get hit with taxes with online orders. I try to keep them small so some come through without any fees.
 
#17 ·
I got charged duty (in addition to HST) one time on something misidentified as something else.... I think they said a blinky was "maritime signalling equipment" or something.

It was a difference of 8 bucks or something, so I wasn't too motivated, but I filled out the appeal form and sent it in just to see what would happen. They ignored it, and I did not follow up.

On a related story, this week UPS tried to charge me $45 brokerage on a $15 HRM band that was being replaced under warranty for free. I told the UPS guy I didn't want it that bad. Man was that guy pissed... they must be getting shot down a lot these days on their fraud scheme.
 
#18 ·
On a related story, this week UPS tried to charge me $45 brokerage on a $15 HRM band that was being replaced under warranty for free. I told the UPS guy I didn't want it that bad. Man was that guy pissed... they must be getting shot down a lot these days on their fraud scheme.
UPS is a non-starter for me. If a company only ships UPS then we don't do business. I would imagine that would apply to many people here.
 
#19 ·
The brokerage fees are retarded. However I haven't wrote off the entire service. As long as you avoid UPS ground and go for the faster worldwide express services, you avoid brokerage fees all together. Usually the cost difference is fairly minimal in a lot of cases. I refuse to order UPS ground. When do you get the right service, their delivery dates and services are far more reliable than Canada Post.
 
#29 ·
Since we're on the topic I'll throw out a factoid of minimal value but it might help someone, who knows. If you know you're getting stuck with UPS ground shipping, make sure you insist on paying all the fake fees up front. Technically, UPS bills a number of cross-border fees at the moment the shipment clears. If you haven't paid upfront, then UPS 'loans' you the money and then at your door charges a disbursement fee for this loan service. If you pay in advance, you save the disbursement fee. Is that a better than useless fact, or what? I wish I could have that moment of my life when I learned of this back again.
 
#31 ·
Since this has turned into a shopping thread, I've had good luck with Niagara Cycle Works. Prices are pretty good, very good on some things. 29er tires are a bargain. You can do internet orders for in-store pickup. So no shipping fees and no New York state taxes.
I usually time an order when the wife and daughter have a shopping trip planned.
Needed some stuff this week so ordered last week and picked up yesterday, was looking forward to seeing the store. Disappointed, what a crappy little store, big warehouse.
Was surprised at my mileage, 175 km from Hamilton and back, didn't realize it was that far.

We get ripped off so bad here in Canada - I wanted a XT bottom bracket, LBS was $48 and out of stock, got it at Mountain Co-op for $40, $26 at Niagara Cycle Works.
 
#32 ·
nspace is right. You can "clear" your own shipments, but you require information on the shipment that UPS is NOT always willing to offer and it takes time to process (after all you're taking money away from them). Being we have a CBSA at the airport here in Hamilton, a friend of mine tried this for some motorcycle parts.

It took him 3 days to get the unique identifier number from them (a wrong one initially, then 24 hours to find it and then on the third day, deliver it) followed by a "we'll have to get back to you" because you also need to know the warehouse the shipment is stored at - where for some strange reason UPS sent the shipment (from Hamilton's BONDED warehouse also at the airport) back to the "port of entry" at Fort Erie claiming they couldn't confirm that's where it was, because it was "in transit." So after a week of chasing his tail, he was able to clear his shipment with the CBSA. Then he had to fax the receipt to UPS' customs division wait another 24 hours for confirmation and for them to get back to him in order to schedule a delivery which took another day or two. The whole process took pretty much two weeks on top of the time it took the shipment to arrive in Canada.

A better option, if you're close to the Border, is getting an American PO box in a border city. Many people I know have one. Apparently it only costs a few bucks a month and they'll notify you when you receive your package and then you just need to travel to the US, collect their shipment, claim it at the Border (or not), pay the fees and taxes and get your stuff WAY faster.

Edit: For full disclosure, I have a shipped package sitting at the CBSA for a week now (my wheelset) waiting to process, meanwhile a prior shipment only 3 weeks ago spent all of 3 hours to 'process through'
 
#34 ·
Yeah that sucks about the hassle they create to get all that information. I have never done it myself because I do a good job at avoiding using UPS ground, but I've read about doing it.

I usually do the same thing as you suggested. Ship to US border city and go pickup. You should try using Kinek.com. They have an iOS and Android app that allow you to log all your packages and you receive notifications when they arrive. Fees are minimal and only paid upon pickup. Free storage for 30 days. Website, app, clear listing of hours from all the locations, and fees for package size are all very clearly identified. Just makes for an all around no hassle experience.
 
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