# Bad Experience: Windsor Royal Triathlon & BikesDirect



## bbrownrigg (Apr 11, 2011)

:mad2:

For my first Ironman race last year (Coeur d' Alene, ID), I decided to purchase a new bike. Not being a serious cyclist, I decided to go cheap and went to BikesDirect.com. I purchased an $800 Windsor Royal Triathlon bike and was happy with the purchase. Not a fantastic bike, but good for the money (you get what you pay for).

The bike shipped quickly and was in good operating condition.

In a warm-up ride, my derailleur hangar shattered, which is, of course, a design feature of many bikes. I took my bike to two bike shops in CDA, but the hangar was so proprietary, no one had a close fit. I had to spend $250 and a nerve-wracking afternoon to have an Ironman mechanic fashion a hangar so that I could ride. The proprietary nature of this piece is understandable, but you should keep this in mind when purchasing an off-brand. I learned my lesson to keep several hangars around in case of emergency.

The real problem is with after-sales. I have spent the last seven months trying to get a replacement part from BikesDirect.com and from Windsor. Service from both companies has been awful: surly representatives with no desire to roll up their sleeves to help.

First, Windsor told me they don't carry parts and referred me to BD.com. Fine. However, BD.com was out of stock for this piece. Really???? I was patient, because a rep from BD.com told me they were on back order. When the part finally appeared available on the website, I ordered, only to receive the wrong hangar. When I contacted BD.com, they were non-responsive. When I finally got their attention, they asked me to send them a picture of the hangar and the frame. Again, REALLY?????? Look at the model number of the bike and get me the right part. Apparently, they have no way to match a part with the model number (which i provided).

After two more wrong hangars had been shipped, i contacted BD.com again to get some personal help and asked for a phone call. They emailed me and wanted me to send them a picture of the frame and old hangar. Not once during this experience did anyone try to communicate with me to dig in to the problem. Email responses were one line or less, and usually something to the affect of, 'please send a picture of the hangar', and 'no, we need a picture of the hangar'. When a customer (and later my local mechanic) takes a lot of effort to compose an email pleading for help and provides background and specifics, a one-line email response with a complete lack of empathy or support does not sit well with me. Remember, they wouldn't get on the phone with me.

The odd thing is that I had a nearly identical exchange of communications with Windsor. They never tried to ship me parts, but email exchanges with them were just as surly and non-helpful as BD.com.

Sorry for the long post, but I want to spread the word that both of these operations have a complete lack of understanding for customer service, no empathy, seemingly no business logistic capabilities when it comes to servicing parts, and just an outright lack of caring.

I recommend finding another source for your bicycle needs. If anyone has a suggestion how to find the right hangar or how to deal with these complacent imbeciles, please let me know.


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

It make take some searching through pictures on your part but this company stocks most

http://derailleurhanger.com

And for what is worth, Windsor is BD...they are owned by the same guy


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## bbrownrigg (Apr 11, 2011)

That explains the similar levels of support. 

Thanks for the link.


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

bbrownrigg said:


> That explains the similar levels of support.
> 
> Thanks for the link.



You can narrow your search but looking at Fuji hangers... A lot of BD bikes are rebadged Fujis.


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## bbrownrigg (Apr 11, 2011)

Dave Hickey said:


> You can narrow your search but looking at Fuji hangers... A lot of BD bikes are rebadged Fujis.


Thank you!


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## tonkabaydog (Jul 22, 2010)

bbrownrigg said:


> :mad2:
> I recommend finding another source for your bicycle needs. If anyone has a suggestion how to find the right hangar or how to deal with these complacent imbeciles, please let me know.


I recommend otherwise. I am a completely happy BD customer of 5 years and mutiple bikes. If you had done some home work here in our forum, maybe you would have learned to contact Mike direclty with a PM.

My money says he would have sent you a new frame and done whatever it takes to help you. He has for me and many others here in this forum. 

He is fair, honest and runs a lean operation. I abhor posts like these that trash BD.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

tonkabaydog said:


> If you had done some home work here in our forum, maybe you would have learned to contact Mike direclty with a PM.
> 
> I abhor posts like these that trash BD.


Utter nonsense. Emails to a company that provides no phone number should not result in months of run around and no results. The onus is on BD to provide customer support once contacted, no matter the method.

I abhor biased posts that defend the indefensible.


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## medimond (Apr 26, 2009)

Sorry to hear your struggles, you went cheap, what did you expect Nordstrom's service? BD isn't in the business of selling replacement parts, they sell re-badged bikes with legacy names.


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## tonkabaydog (Jul 22, 2010)

PJ352 said:


> Utter nonsense. Emails to a company that provides no phone number should not result in months of run around and no results. The onus is on BD to provide customer support once contacted, no matter the method.
> 
> I abhor biased posts that defend the indefensible.


Well PJ352, with +7000 posts on this forum, you know best! 

Mike is active in this forum and a simple email to him would have resolved the problem.

I will defend BD not so much for this incident, but for +10 years of pretty darn good business practice. Anomolies occur, one need not use this forum to point them out or tarnish a good company's reputation.


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## My Own Private Idaho (Aug 14, 2007)

BD's business practices are not "pretty darn good." Mike's business practices are why many of us refuse to do business with BD. 

The local BD store will be at Bike Swap day after tomorrow, and once again I will walk past their booth without looking or stopping. I have talked a number of people out of buying BD bikes, and will continue to do so.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

tonkabaydog said:


> Well PJ352, with +7000 posts on this forum, you know best!
> 
> Mike is active in this forum and *a simple email to him would have resolved the problem*.
> 
> I will defend BD not so much for this incident, but for +10 years of pretty darn good business practice. Anomolies occur, one need not use this forum to point them out or tarnish a good company's reputation.


Re: the bolded statement, conjecture on your part.

This being a forum, you have every right to defend BD, just as other members have a right to share their experiences as the OP has - without reprimands.

I'm glad you had positive experiences with BD, but a companies customer support isn't tested when things go right, it's tested when they don't. In this case things didn't go quite right, and (by the OP's accounts) BD failed the customer. 

Withholding judgement until more is known would be perfectly reasonable, but to fault the OP because he didn't PM Mike _is_ utter nonsense.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

medimond said:


> Sorry to hear your struggles, you went cheap, what did you expect Nordstrom's service? *BD isn't in the business of selling replacement parts*, they sell re-badged bikes with legacy names.


Replaceable RD hangers are called that for a reason. It's perfectly reasonable for a customer to expect BD to be a source for such parts if they sell (and warranty) the bikes they're bolted to.


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## PlatyPius (Feb 1, 2009)

bbrownrigg said:


> :mad2:
> 
> For my first Ironman race last year (Coeur d' Alene, ID), I decided to purchase a new bike. Not being a serious cyclist, I decided to go cheap and went to BikesDirect.com. I purchased an $800 Windsor Royal Triathlon bike and was happy with the purchase. Not a fantastic bike, but good for the money (you get what you pay for).
> 
> ...


I don't even know where to begin with this one....

1. Many of the BD bikes are rebadged Fujis. I'd check a Fuji dealer for a derailleur hanger if you don't have any luck otherwise.

2. If you paid someone $250 to make something work, you got ripped off. $250 would have bought that entire frame. Twice.

3. You are seriously going to do an Ironman on a 'sorta-but-not-quite' tri bike? A full Ironman? Not a 70.3? On a discount online bike?


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## chas0039 (Jun 26, 2007)

My guess is that these frames vary based on what the manufacturer decides to send which can be a problem with BD. This would explain why they kept sending the wrong part. As they are not a real bike shop, they don't stock parts like they should. I would also guess Mike would have replaced the frame, as that is the level of service he seems to provide, at least with my contacts and what I have seen here.

Parts can break on any bike. When we buy from other than a LBS, we need to be ready for delays and problems that the LBS could handle more quickly. I just bought a brand new Pinarello frame and guess what? They forgot to ream out the seat post and, consequently, no seat post of any type would fit. My outstanding LBS ordered 3 different adapters and seat posts to try and get things right, and finally ordered a reamer in order to fix Pinarello's mistake. I had had bought a Ridley from them but this frame was not theirs, and yet I was lucky enough to get their help, otherwise I would have had to ship the frame back to Oregon. Given the number of weird problems we can run into in this field, I am always amazed at how patient and helpful the people are, especially those who sell and service. It almost seems to be a point of pride that they will just not let a problem go until they have done their best.

These thing happen, and the further away we are from the seller, the more patient we need to be. That is just the way it is.


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## cyclesport45 (Dec 10, 2007)

My bottom bracket shell on my Immortal Ice came unbonded. After several emails to Matt at BD, a new frame and fork were on their way to me. Brand new. Free. My 12K miles frame is on its way back to BD so they can send off to the factory in Taiwan, no doubt. 

Thanks, Matt, and Mike, for honoring your warranty. I'm thrilled.

Ordering online is not for everyone. But I'm a HAPPY repeat customer.


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