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Chainlove customer service gone downhill

3K views 38 replies 20 participants last post by  jeffw-13 
#1 ·
So I used to do a lot of business with chainlove, backcountry, etc, and in the past have received really good customer service from them. I live overseas so I order stuff and come back to pick up once or twice a year. And occasionally I need to return items that don't fit, etc. Apparently for awhile now there's been a 30 day return policy. They used to take stuff back, no questions asked, but not anymore.

Recently I returned three items out of ~12 spread out over several orders. The returns were outside the 30 day order bounds, one of them barely, like a week or two, the other two items more, like a couple months. I just got off a chat with their customer service and they are sending me the goods back.

Granted, I was outside the 30 days and they aren't obligated to accept the returns--I fully get that. But given that I have done a lot of business with them over the years and had returned other items outside those bounds in the past I thought they would continue business as usual. They are not doing that however. It's their right, I understand. It's also my right to not buy from them ...

So unfortunately this ends my time as a customer of chainlove, backcountry, etc. It's been a good ride, but this one is over. I've recommended them to many people over the years always with the caveat that their CS is top notch. No longer. So keep your eyes open ... if you're buying from them watch those 30 day windows!
 
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#27 ·
So basically you titled the thread incorrectly. It should have read "I don't like Chainlove's return policy".

This has nothing to do with their customer service because their customer service is sticking to their policy. If you don't like the policy then go shop somewhere else with a better policy but don't complain about their customer service. Within the same group of companies you have Competitive Cyclist and Backcountry that often have better prices when you add their free shipping and a both have better return policies. There is a reason that you're getting some better prices at Chainlove.
 
#36 ·
Fair enough, Inertia. I'm willing to admit some emotional bias against the OP based on a current personal experience with bad reviews written from an unfair place - a family member owns a business which has been subject to deceitful (at worst), entitled (at best) reviews, and it has negatively impacted his business. People take negative reviews seriously, and OP's misleading title struck a nerve.

While my anger is misdirected, my point stands, and several people have agreed.
 
#37 ·
Impressed by the honesty in your reply kragu. Your lame-o-meter rating just improved substantially! :)

I understand what it feels like when a pet peeve gets triggered. Certainly I've had mine triggered (and with hindsight, often unjustifiably).

In this case, my perception is the OP was just close enough to your "entitled complainer" demographic to trigger some, er, rage. Its understandable, but (imho) not justified.

Now lets all hug and do a ride together . . .
 
#3 ·
<shrug> You can label it whatever you want. Bottom line is that I can't order from chainlove any longer with a return policy like that given where I live--so yeah, I'm disappointed about that. And their policy (or perhaps their enforcement of the policy) has changed, so heads up to others.</shrug>
 
#4 ·
You're free to order from wherever you want, but to spear them here for enforcing a perfectly reasonable policy which has been in place for several months is just lame.

It's a pet peeve of mine when people ***** about being owed something they're not.
 
#5 ·
You're free to order from wherever you want, but to spear them here for enforcing a perfectly reasonable policy which has been in place for several months is just lame.

It's a pet peeve of mine when people ***** about being owed something they're not.
Wow, that sounds like a personal problem. I'm not claiming I'm owed anything, so not sure where that came from.

Anyway, again, I'm not spearing anyone. I'm giving people a heads up that the behavior has changed. This is fact. I'm not ranting or raving. Just sayin. That is all.
 
#7 ·
Did you use any of the items? or were they still new in their packaging? I see some of their used products for sale, like shoes that people used for months and returned. It's people that abused their policy that made them change it. I wouldn't be that a-hole using and returning, but I'm the a-hole that keeps forgetting to make time to run up to the shipping store. They've taken 4g's of mine in the last couple of years, and took many my returned items on Chainlove. When Paypal/Chainlove checkout crapped out one time, they still gave me the pricing listed although it expired. They'll keep my business for sure.
 
#8 ·
These were unused items, tags still on ... I don't return used goods. Easy items to sell for them also ... TLD shorts, etc. Yes, I'm sure I also am out a pretty penny with them over the years (and even this year) and again, they have been good about things in the past. No longer.
 
#10 ·
It is unfortunate that so many people have taken advantage (wrongly) of a lot of very generous return policies. I am guessing this is why chainlove ended their policy and adopted an industry standard of 30 days.

If you bought the items before the return policy was in place, then I think you should be able to return them. I also agree they should provide added benefits to long time high $$ customers. That is just good business practice, regardless of the company.
 
#23 ·
It is unfortunate that so many people have taken advantage (wrongly) of a lot of very generous return policies. I am guessing this is why chainlove ended their policy and adopted an industry standard of 30 days.

If you bought the items before the return policy was in place, then I think you should be able to return them. I also agree they should provide added benefits to long time high $$ customers. That is just good business practice, regardless of the company.
^^^This^^^
OP, a company doesn't go "downhill" when they start enforcing their written return policy. I often use Chainlove and will continue doing so because of their liberal return policy. Your choice of places to live isn't their problem.
 
#16 ·
For chainlove anyway (not as sure about backcountry) I can't ship to where I live--see link below. Even if I were to forward the goods immediately from the US the turn around would almost surely be more than 30 days end to end. So instead what I've been doing is shipping to a relative's place in the US and then dealing with any needed returns when I get back there. I've tried to make it so that my returns are as close as possible to the order date but w/ Chainlove's business model that is difficult. As a result I just can't order from them anymore because I can almost guarantee that I won't be able to return anything within 30 days.

http://www.chainlove.com/chainlove/help/211/We-Cannot-Ship-to-Certain-Countries.html
 
#17 ·
Yeah, I wish I could. Unfortunately the modern bike industry doesn't really exist where I live. Obviously this isn't the end of the world ... I just can't use their service anymore based on their change in behavior with regard to the policy.
 
#18 ·
Sorry......but from the looks of things here...you are not gonna get the sympathetic ear that you were searching for from anyone.



Whereas for me.....they are great. Order my items, click on the cheapest shipping option, and still get them in 2 days. :thumbsup: That's great customer service.
 
#24 ·
Sorry......but from the looks of things here...you are not gonna get the sympathetic ear that you were searching for from anyone.
Well, apology accepted I guess but I don't know where you got the idea I was looking for a sympathetic ear or an apology. :) I'm not looking for sympathy or saying what they did was unfair. I'm not claiming I'm owed anything either as I've stated before. As I said they are within their rights to do whatever they want as a business.

To be clear what I am saying is that there has been a degradation in service, i.e., they offered a certain level of service in the past and now no longer offer the same level of service. As other posters have pointed out similar things have happened at REI and Costco.

If some don't like the word 'downhill' in this context that's fine ... I mean everyone is entitled to their own opinion of my verbiage and everything--it's a free country. The fact however remains that the service has degraded.
 
#20 ·
I don't understand the hate for the OP. His post seemed like a reasonable tone to me, basically "in the past they bent the rules for me, now they don't." Didn't come across to me as crying for something he wasn't owed.

If I were in the same situation (intermittent US visits), it would probably stop me from using Chainlove and Departmentofgoods, since they both have hard-stop 30 day return policies, but it certainly wouldn't stop me from continuing to use backcountry or competitivecyclist, since their return policies are still very generous. Literally no deadline for returns of new/unused items.

My frustration with this family of sites is all the cross-branding, semi-mixed inventories and subtle differences in policies can get confusing. For example, both compcyc and bc have "100% guaranteed return" policies, which read almost verbatim the same, with one important exception: after 90 days on used gear, bc will issue a credit for a failed product forever, no questions asked; but compcyc in those cases will only "welcome you to contact them to facilitate warranty evaluation by the manufacturer."

At least they had the sense to take realcyclist and hucknroll out of the mix.
 
#22 ·
Why is this in the Best Deals forum? Should be in Passion.

You acknowledge their current return policy and admit not making the 30 day window yet feel some sort of entitlement? I spent over $30,000 at one mailorder company last year yet they do not cut me any slack if I try returning an item outside their written policy. And I sure as heck don't go crying about it online.

As for companies like Comp Cyclist, et al, I don't spend that much money but they usually give an extra 5 or 10 percent off great deals just by asking. I'm sure that courtesy is extended to someone who spends ten times more than I do. There is good business relations and there is going out of business by trying to be friends with everyone.

I don't quite see the reason for your purging in this or any other forum.

So I used to do a lot of business with chainlove, backcountry, etc, and in the past have received really good customer service from them. I live overseas so I order stuff and come back to pick up once or twice a year. And occasionally I need to return items that don't fit, etc. Apparently for awhile now there's been a 30 day return policy. They used to take stuff back, no questions asked, but not anymore.

Recently I returned three items out of ~12 spread out over several orders. The returns were outside the 30 day order bounds, one of them barely, like a week or two, the other two items more, like a couple months. I just got off a chat with their customer service and they are sending me the goods back.

Granted, I was outside the 30 days and they aren't obligated to accept the returns--I fully get that. But given that I have done a lot of business with them over the years and had returned other items outside those bounds in the past I thought they would continue business as usual. They are not doing that however. It's their right, I understand. It's also my right to not buy from them ...

So unfortunately this ends my time as a customer of chainlove, backcountry, etc. It's been a good ride, but this one is over. I've recommended them to many people over the years always with the caveat that their CS is top notch. No longer. So keep your eyes open ... if you're buying from them watch those 30 day windows!
 
#25 ·
Why is this in the Best Deals forum? Should be in Passion.

You acknowledge their current return policy and admit not making the 30 day window yet feel some sort of entitlement?
Wow, there must be a lot of folks who have encountered people with entitlement issues b/c several have claimed I feel I am entitled to or owed something. Not me though. I tried to be as clear about that as I could in the original post. If I felt entitled I would be saying it is my right to return the items. I am not saying that at all. I do not feel "wronged" in any way.

Cliffnotes version of my orig post: I tried to return items beyond 30 days. CL/BC refused to accept them. This is not the same behavior as before as similar returns have been accepted in the past. So the service has degraded.

I spent over $30,000 at one mailorder company last year yet they do not cut me any slack if I try returning an item outside their written policy. And I sure as heck don't go crying about it online.
There's no crying. Simple statement of facts.
 
#26 ·
Your post is reasonable. Your thread title is completely misleading.

I am in a similar situation- have used CL and Backcountry for years from another country. Sometimes I pick up in the US, sometimes I arrange third party shipping.

I use them because they are cheap and reliable. I would venture to guess you also use them because they are cheap.

It would never even occur to me try to return stuff outside their time limits and I would not go online to complain about them for finally getting around to enforcing their policies.

Chainlove is American. I don't live in America. Shipping, returns, and the risk of being stuck with the wrong item is my problem, not Chainlove's.

If anything, they should be commened for going above and beyond for so many years to people who wanted to return stuff outside the time limit.

Cheap. Fast. Ass-kissing customer service. Pick two (or sometimes just one).
 
#28 ·
I have noticed lately with backcountry it depends on who you talk/chat with. I got denied a price match on an item because it was not an authorized dealer although the dealer was 100% legit. Got a hold of them later to question the call and had no problem.
As far as Chainlove's return policy goes, I think the 30 day policy is totally acceptable. These are often times closeout items that they are blowing out at great prices. They don't want to get stuck with straggler items they have to deal with later down the line and just because you purchased many times before shouldn't make you an exception. You're warning people about a company who sells stuff and awesome prices and to be aware of their 30 day policy on returning goods new or used for full refund.....sounds like said company has a pretty great policy and better than most.
Seems like they may be better off with one less habitual returner.
 
#34 ·
Now it is up to us to ignore it or learn by it
Apparently there is a third option: b!tch, complain and attack the OP, some with a level of vitriol I normally see reserved for politics and religion.

I thought the OP was pretty benign and factual. I read it and dismissed it as not relevant for me. The drama (and interest to me) only began with the responses to the OP.

On the other hand, I found the level of contempt expressed by kragu toward the OP to be anything but benign. I found it scary and disturbing. And also highly ironic that someone so opposed to b!tching has actually far out-b!tched the OP in this thread.

What's more inappropriate for this forum: a weak but factual post of fantastic customer treatment that has gone "downhill" to merely excellent? or the subsequent personal attacks on the OP?

I know which one ranks higher on my lame-o-meter.
 
#38 ·
I buy from the group of companies mentioned on occasion. I have nothing particularly for or against, but my personal experiences have been nothing but positive.

I thought the original post was misleading. Frankly, I found it hard to believe an adult would post something like that. Seems like a non-issue to me. The company has begun enforcing a policy that it previously didn't. (shrug) OK, if that's a problem then I move on to another retailer. Problem solved. Didn't need to post on the Internet about it.
 
#39 ·
I was just reading on another forum where a poster felt that he was the victim of some misleading advertising and posted about it.

He opened the thread with "I am butthurt and trying to spread negative publicity on..."

I'd love to see more of that on this site.
 
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