My experience thus far
I placed a small order with them two days ago and yesterday received from them this suspicious sounding email, which I am posting in its entirety, with just an editing out of the promo code (in the off chance that they are legit) and their domain names (because this is my first post and am not allowed to submit links.)
We have had a very challenging 2 weeks.**Our IT systems all but stopped working!
To all who have placed orders during this time, we thank you.**To all who have experienced any tracking or communication issues, We extend our sincere apologies and hope you will continue using ManitouBikes for all your bicycle needs.
Here is a coupon code for 10% off your next purchase.**This is a small token of our appreciation to you as a customer
PROMO CODE:" *********** "
Thank you for your understanding
Manitou Bikes
_____________________________________________
For those of you wanting more details........
First you must know, we are true cyclists to the core.**We ride in the freezing winters and the blazing summers.**We ride in congested traffic in the morning and secluded trails in the evening. We also take care of all the bike shop "stuff", phone calls, emails, repairs, retail customers, marketing etc.**We are not IT specialists.**For these tasks we have to hire the computer experts.**This is the gist of what happened.
Our technical issues started with our main domain (manitoubikes) not directing properly which lead us to using our backup domain, ManitouBikeShop. This caused confusion for many of our long time customers. Within 24 hours the PayPal synchronization failed & our order tracking system stopped updating.**Not to be out done the live inventory feeds, stopped "feeding". It was truly "The Perfect Storm".**
All of these are minor in comparison to the frustration many of our customers experienced.**As you can imagine our phones rang off the hook and our small phone system quickly overloaded and we started taking calls on our cell phones. We still have many customers to get back with as there are hundreds of voicemails and emails. We are a small staff that has worked late into each night in an effort to fix this.**We are not completely out of the woods for about 48 more hours. At that time all inquires will have been handled, all systems should be back to fully functioning and we will be running seamless again.**
StatusUpdate:
PayPal: 100%
Tracking # and shipping updates: 90% accurate - 100% completion expected within 48 hours.
Inventory updates: 80% accurate - 100% accuracy expected within 48 hours
Response times: same day response times are expected to resume within the next 48 hours
Sleep?: Not yet
Please let us know if you have additional questions.
Thank you for sticking with us during this weird turn of events!! It has been challenging for all of us.**We hope you will accept our gift of 10% off your next order. Please use promo code " ******* " during your next check out.
Thank you,
Team Manitou Bikes
Will post back if I ever receive the merchandise. In the meantime, am going to have a little chat with the good people who issued my credit card.
-andychrist