My thoughts on Bike Nashbar



RichM76

New Member
Jul 8, 2011
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.... And their not good.

Here is my recent experience with Bike Nashbar.
I am not sure when they were founded but I know I bought cycling stuff from Bike Nashbar and Performance Bike about 20 years ago without a single problem, that is until recently when I created a new account to buy some new cycling related items. The problems begin when I received a subscription to Outside Magazine. For the life of me I did not know who would have done this until I thought of recently signing up at BN.

So I call BN and talk to their customer service rep. and she said they did it. Well I went ballistic, what gives them the right to do these kinds of things without my authorization. So I kindly ask the CSR to cancel my account at BN and she says she will forward it to the right person. I then go to the Outside Magazine website to cancel my subscription and stop auto renewal.

A week goes past and I’m still able to log in to my account at BN, so this time I email them. And I get same script from BN, we will will pass it on to the right person. After waiting a few weeks I receive another copy of Outside Magazine in the mail. Here we go again. Back to Outside Magazine’s website to cancel my subscription again and now I find even thou the magazine is in my name I am not authorized to change my auto renewal settings. I email a CSR from Outside Magazine, this time telling them that BN had no authorization from me to send me the magazine and I also ask to have my auto renewal changed. I also emailed BN again this time threatening to report them to the BBB and FTC.

I think that I would like to give a person or company a little leeway sometimes, but this time, three strikes and your out. If they can’t figure it out the first time you ask then there is something very very wrong. They seem very incompetent to me.

Customer Service Dept. or Company???? In this case I don’t know. It would be nice if there was a opt out when you sign up for an account , but there is none.

As far as I’m concerned I’m done with them. I just hope Outside Magazine isn’t as hard to deal with.

If others have asked BN to delete their account. My advice make sure they have, chances are they haven’t because they seem too inept.

The customer service at BN is very very bad so I sure hope others heed the warning here.

So as it stands now I have called my credit card company to report my card lost so BN can’t charge me for a auto renewal to Outside Magazine (I get a new number that is not in the BN system), waiting on a CSR from Outside Magazine to contact me. And I have given BN till September 16 to delete my account or they get reported and this story goes viral.

So this morning I decided enough is enough. I have given them more than enough time to delete my account.
So I reported Bike Nashbar to the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission.
 
I have been dealing with BN for quite some time no problem what so ever. Orders over 75 bucks are offered free outside mag sub. You wont get it if you dont take the steps required. I have never been charged or back charged for outside mag. I enjoy the mag and place it in the mag rack at work for others to read.
 
Well it would have been nice if they asked me if I wanted it. Just the thought of sending it to me without my permission is what I'm mad about.
And after asking them 3 times to delete my account and they won't is even worse. I asked another online bike store yesterday to delete my account
because I no longer buy from them and it was done within 8 hours.
I like Outside Magazine too, there are a lot of great stories, I really didn't want to bring them in the picture, but their was no choice.
I've been dealing with trying to get my account deleted for almost a month now.
 
Did you try this: http://www.nashbar.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentView?storeId=10053&catalogId=10052&dynamicSpotName=OutsideOfferSpot&cm_re=Homepage-_-Right-_-Outside_Magazine

Nothing comes for free - heavily discounted prcing requires creative marketing, espeically in the highly competitive, low-margin online game. Most likely this is a joint program that benefits both companies in some way. The drive to the bottom forces retailers to become ever more creative in finding ways to run a profitable business. Based on the way advertising works, the larger the subscriber base and the more targeted the reader, the more ad space costs.

One possible way for this promotion to work is that Outside Mag is compensating NB in some way for the subscriptions being maintained/grown through the purchase program. Either NB gets a discounted advertising rate with Outside (and affiliated publications), or may get some form of direct "finders fee" for signing up subscribers. The more subscribers Outside has with a given profile, the more Outside Mag can charge for advertising from the companies that place ads in the magazine. ... more revenue for Outside ... more revenue or lower cost of doing business for NB.

Clink the link, submit the form and be done with it.
 
Originally Posted by sitzmark .

Did you try this: http://www.nashbar.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentView?storeId=10053&catalogId=10052&dynamicSpotName=OutsideOfferSpot&cm_re=Homepage-_-Right-_-Outside_Magazine

Nothing comes for free - heavily discounted prcing requires creative marketing, espeically in the highly competitive, low-margin online game. Most likely this is a joint program that benefits both companies in some way. The drive to the bottom forces retailers to become ever more creative in finding ways to run a profitable business. Based on the way advertising works, the larger the subscriber base and the more targeted the reader, the more ad space costs.

One possible way for this promotion to work is that Outside Mag is compensating NB in some way for the subscriptions being maintained/grown through the purchase program. Either NB gets a discounted advertising rate with Outside (and affiliated publications), or may get some form of direct "finders fee" for signing up subscribers. The more subscribers Outside has with a given profile, the more Outside Mag can charge for advertising from the companies that place ads in the magazine. ... more revenue for Outside ... more revenue or lower cost of doing business for NB.

Clink the link, submit the form and be done with it.


That's the easy part. But I still have to deal with them trying to delete my account. Witch it doesn't seem like they want to do. The customer service is terrible.
 
I've been ordering from Nashbar and Performance Bike for years too. I've never had them send that magazine, but I don't actually log in...I just place my order as a guest each time.

I do get their sale catalogues pretty often in the mail, but that doesn't bother me. I look through them and if there isn't anything I want, I throw them out.
 
For the OP, Bike Nashbar was founded in Youngstown, OH. They weren't very far from an ice cream stand that had cantaloupe ice cream. As with Supergo, Bike Nashbar (to its detriment, as with Supergo) was bought by Performance Bike. Now they seem to be pretty much Performance Bike's leftovers store.
 
Originally Posted by alienator .

For the OP, Bike Nashbar was founded in Youngstown, OH. They weren't very far from an ice cream stand that had cantaloupe ice cream. As with Supergo, Bike Nashbar (to its detriment, as with Supergo) was bought by Performance Bike. Now they seem to be pretty much Performance Bike's leftovers store.

Yes I know were they originated. And that their both the same company.
 
OK. Yes alienator I know they were founded in Youngstown and that their both the same company.
 
Originally Posted by RichM76 .

Actually Bike Nashbar has more in stock than Performance Bike does.

Assumption on your part.

Controlling inventory is very important when it comes to profits. BN and PB combined have enough clout to put the pressure on their suppliers to deliver forcasted sales items on demand giving both entities evening footing in supplying their customers.
 
Originally Posted by davereo .





Assumption on your part.

Controlling inventory is very important when it comes to profits. BN and PB combined have enough clout to put the pressure on their suppliers to deliver forcasted sales items on demand giving both entities evening footing in supplying their customers.

...and Peformance Bike is intended to sell the stuff that has more "perceived value", i.e. pricier, perhaps "name brand", and etc. Nashbar is not intended to have that cachet and intended to have more affordable stuff, thus the "leftovers" comment.
 
I have used BN too with no issues (pun intended). I had to return an item and it was promptly refunded.

I now use Bike Tires Direct a lot. I quite using Performance, when I ordered an item off the net, and when I tried to return it to the store, they told me they would send it back, but could not issue me credit at the store. I was going to get a more expensive item and I finally told them that if they could not give credit towards the item, I would just return the item. I told them I called customer service and sent them email. Both said I could return to any store. The manager finally agreed to give me credit towards the new item. I have a friend who has had the same issues.
 
I have used BN too with no issues (pun intended). I had to return an item and it was promptly refunded.

I now use Bike Tires Direct a lot. I quite using Performance, when I ordered an item off the net, and when I tried to return it to the store, they told me they would send it back, but could not issue me credit at the store. I was going to get a more expensive item and I finally told them that if they could not give credit towards the item, I would just return the item. I told them I called customer service and sent them email. Both said I could return to any store. The manager finally agreed to give me credit towards the new item. I have a friend who has had the same issues.