Nashbar : Mostly Junk For Sale ??

[Olivers]

JP wrote:
> [email protected] (Donald Gillies) wrote in message
> news:<[email protected]>...
>
>>I just got the latest Bike Nashbar catalogue. Not only are
>>the prices uniformly _worse_ than performance bicycle
>>shop, but if you look at the catalogue, its basically
>>filled with lots of ****.
>
For the record, Performance owns Bike Nashbar. They bought
it a few years ago, but continue to operate it as a separate
organization.

--
Cheers! OliverS When replying personally, remove
"_removespam_"

"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the
future of the human race." Attributed to HG Wells

 

[Martin TöRnsten]

Captain's log. On StarDate 4 May 2004 17:00:18 -0700 received comm from
[email protected] (JP) on channel rec.bicycles.tech:

: [email protected] (Donald Gillies) wrote in message
: news:<[email protected]>...
: > I just got the latest Bike Nashbar catalogue. Not only
: > are the prices uniformly _worse_ than performance
: > bicycle shop, but if you look at the catalogue, its
: > basically filled with lots of ****.
:
: Strange, it seemed to me that Nashbar had better prices
: than Performance and a wider selection of components
: within a particular category. Not a scientific study, just
: an impression.

I have never ordered anything from Nashbar, but this thread
got me interested so last week I ordered some stuff (polar
720 watch, finish line brushes, etc) for a very good price
(with some extra rebate they added to that).

Currently I have a little bit of problem with their customer
support (they don't answer any of my email). Hopefully they
will be able to solve it.

I will report back how it works (both good or bad)!

Best regards,

martin törnsten

--
http://82.182.73.126/

 

[Rick Onanian]

On Tue, 18 May 2004 20:38:38 +0200, Martin Törnsten
<[email protected]> wrote:
>I have never ordered anything from Nashbar, but this thread
>got me interested so last week I ordered some stuff (polar
>720 watch, finish line brushes, etc) for a very good price
>(with some extra rebate they added to that).
>
>Currently I have a little bit of problem with their
>customer support (they don't answer any of my email).
>Hopefully they will be able to solve it.

I didn't even know they offer email support. I've always
dealt with them on the phone, and they've resolved all
issues quickly and always the way I want. I just call, tell
them what's wrong and how I want it fixed, re-state once or
twice; the phone-person asks his/her manager and comes back
with a "yes" answer.
--
Rick Onanian

 

[Martin TöRnsten]

Captain's log. On StarDate Tue, 18 May 2004 21:00:15 -0400 received comm from
Rick Onanian <[email protected]> on channel rec.bicycles.tech:

: On Tue, 18 May 2004 20:38:38 +0200, Martin Törnsten
: <[email protected]> wrote:
: >I have never ordered anything from Nashbar, but this
: >thread got me interested so last week I ordered some
: >stuff (polar 720 watch, finish line brushes, etc) for
: >a very good price (with some extra rebate they added
: >to that).
: >
: >Currently I have a little bit of problem with their
: >customer support (they don't answer any of my email).
: >Hopefully they will be able to solve it.
:
: I didn't even know they offer email support. I've always
: dealt with them on the phone, and they've resolved all
: issues quickly and always the way I want. I just call,
: tell them what's wrong and how I want it fixed, re-state
: once or twice; the phone-person asks his/her manager and
: comes back with a "yes" answer.

They list [email protected] on their contact info, but I
will test your advice and try to call them instead!

Best regards,

martin törnsten

--
http://82.182.73.126/

 

[Tony Scilipoti]

Rick Onanian <[email protected]> wrote

> I didn't even know they offer email support. I've always
> dealt with them on the phone, and they've resolved all
> issues quickly and always the way I want.

I've experienced this with several businesses,
including Nashbar. Great service if you phone, not so
great via the net.

Attitudes toward the Internet as a medium for doing
business are frequently way outdated when you're talking
about employees who work in Customer Service, unless
you're talking to a newish business with the web at its
roots and no paper-catalogue- or brick-and-mortar-based
baggage. This is often true of Management, too. Meanwhile
in some other building in some other state, the folks in
IT and some some small subset of Management are scrambling
around to represent the business on the net with a level
of sophistication that rivals that of their more Internet-
savvy competitors. So there's a huge disconnect between
the company as seen by the customer via the web and the
company as seen by the Customer Service rep in her beige
cube, for whom life hasn't really changed much in 20
years. The fact that there was a long era when Internet
presence was considered to be suitable - maybe - for
advertising, but certainly not for actually carrying out a
transaction, does not help.

IMHO Customer Service employees should be trained to respond
to ANY kind of communication, notably email, with exactly
the same degree of promptness and professionalism that they
would use when responding to a phone call. But they seldom
are, it seems. How many times have you called a business to
follow-up on an email communication to which no one
responded, and had the person on the other end respond to
your reference to email with a fuzzy, groping sort of "Oh.
Right! Yes! Our website! Ahem. Well, you probably should
call in if you really need something." Clearly.

- Tony