Pigin
Well-known member
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Product name: Buying a bike from Bikester UK March 2021
Price paid: £200 below RRP
Score (out of 10): 5
Review: This is not a paid promotion!
This post is about the buying and delivery of a bike from Bikester.co.uk and will no doubt morph into one more about the problems or successes others have experienced. Thats fine, share your experiences.
During the great EMTB famine of 2020-2021 I decided to buy another bike. Despite wanting to get it from my or any local bike shop I found that there was nothing in store that fitted the spec list I wanted. My LBS would be more than happy to have my bike looked after by them, so no sour grapes.
I found a bike that I wanted listed as in stock on Bikester.co.uk . Its a UK store front to the German Bikester site and this is perhaps the way to get around some of the issues other European companies are having. The cynical me thought that it might be the usual run around of ordering, paying and then being told that they had sold out or some such other rubbish. I was wrong, it was in stock and the only problem was with the credit card payment. They take a 1p amount off your credit card which, if you have a decent credit card company, will trigger an alert and stop transactions to that company. It was quickly rectified by authorising the payment.
One issue is that because you are buying a box you dont get to add or alter any of the upgrades that Orbea offer, its a take or leave situation. I did email customer services to ask about it and despite them saying the reply will take longer than usual I found the reply be quick enough on this occasion.
They say that every bike is “checked and adjusted” by their mechanics prior to dispatch and that can take 24 hours to move along the process chain. Once the bike is dispatched from the warehouse in Germany you get tracking details. In reality you get them when the order has been completed and the bike is waiting for collection by the courier, Koch International. It took a day and a half to get to this point and then another 24hrs before Koch had it tracked on their system. You also then get an email showing you how to assemble the bike and links to a video.
They are up front and tell you that it is likely to take between ten and fourteen working days to deliver it. The tracking information is a massive weak link in the information chain. There is little information, it is not that informative and does not refresh that often. After six days the tracking showed that it was “in delivery, partner terminal”. After another three days it progressed to “in delivery” but still no details of who will deliver it or when. It actually stays with that information up to and including the day of delivery. At the 12 working days point I contacted the courier who informed me that it had not cleared customs yet. It seems the term “in delivery” actually means stuck in customs. Bikester was also contacted at this point to clarify if all customs duty had been paid. They confirm that all duties (VAT and import duty) are covered and included in the price. Given that my enquiry was through the “Cancel your order” link the reply was very prompt.
At 16 working days I received a call from Ziegler Transport, a Tamworth courier and a Koch partner in the UK, saying that they expect the bike to have cleared customs in a day or two and they can deliver it in a weeks time (that taking account of the Easter Bank Holidays). So from order to delivery it was a calendar month but in reality 19 working days. Contact with Bikester to chase the delivery information was less than adequate at this point. Perhaps they were busy dealing with other such enquiries. If the tracking system and information was up to scratch and as good as their competitors then they would be less busy and more effective.
On the day of delivery it was a complete shambles with deadlines passed, me having to chase them, the driver turning up then going away without making a delivery, then a call from him asking me to go and see if he had left his scanner on a nearby wall and then around 6:30pm he returned with the bike arrived. It was well boxed and only a little bashing of the box was evident.
I’m not sure if the setup is down to Orbea or Bikester but in either case it was correctly indexed and brakes well aligned. The brakes were set as per Euro spec but that’s easily sorted.
In terms of pricing, Bikester were around £200 below full retail but it was still a lot more expensive than had I bought it last year before all the price increases. I was unable to source this bike in the UK despite it being shown as available by many and at the time of delivery nothing has changed. I therefore have to accept that it was a reasonable transaction. I would have happily paid full retail to support the UK economy and business. I think the time scales were less than ideal but their choice of courier really does need looking at.
So given the time scales Bikester get 5/10 from me. Buying a bike should be an enjoyable and exciting event, it wasn’t. Communication was slow on occasion, delivery seemed unnecessarily slow but most of all you can’t deal with people. It’s done now but they wouldn’t be my first choice for buying a new bike again.
Product name: Buying a bike from Bikester UK March 2021
Price paid: £200 below RRP
Score (out of 10): 5
Review: This is not a paid promotion!
This post is about the buying and delivery of a bike from Bikester.co.uk and will no doubt morph into one more about the problems or successes others have experienced. Thats fine, share your experiences.
During the great EMTB famine of 2020-2021 I decided to buy another bike. Despite wanting to get it from my or any local bike shop I found that there was nothing in store that fitted the spec list I wanted. My LBS would be more than happy to have my bike looked after by them, so no sour grapes.
I found a bike that I wanted listed as in stock on Bikester.co.uk . Its a UK store front to the German Bikester site and this is perhaps the way to get around some of the issues other European companies are having. The cynical me thought that it might be the usual run around of ordering, paying and then being told that they had sold out or some such other rubbish. I was wrong, it was in stock and the only problem was with the credit card payment. They take a 1p amount off your credit card which, if you have a decent credit card company, will trigger an alert and stop transactions to that company. It was quickly rectified by authorising the payment.
One issue is that because you are buying a box you dont get to add or alter any of the upgrades that Orbea offer, its a take or leave situation. I did email customer services to ask about it and despite them saying the reply will take longer than usual I found the reply be quick enough on this occasion.
They say that every bike is “checked and adjusted” by their mechanics prior to dispatch and that can take 24 hours to move along the process chain. Once the bike is dispatched from the warehouse in Germany you get tracking details. In reality you get them when the order has been completed and the bike is waiting for collection by the courier, Koch International. It took a day and a half to get to this point and then another 24hrs before Koch had it tracked on their system. You also then get an email showing you how to assemble the bike and links to a video.
They are up front and tell you that it is likely to take between ten and fourteen working days to deliver it. The tracking information is a massive weak link in the information chain. There is little information, it is not that informative and does not refresh that often. After six days the tracking showed that it was “in delivery, partner terminal”. After another three days it progressed to “in delivery” but still no details of who will deliver it or when. It actually stays with that information up to and including the day of delivery. At the 12 working days point I contacted the courier who informed me that it had not cleared customs yet. It seems the term “in delivery” actually means stuck in customs. Bikester was also contacted at this point to clarify if all customs duty had been paid. They confirm that all duties (VAT and import duty) are covered and included in the price. Given that my enquiry was through the “Cancel your order” link the reply was very prompt.
At 16 working days I received a call from Ziegler Transport, a Tamworth courier and a Koch partner in the UK, saying that they expect the bike to have cleared customs in a day or two and they can deliver it in a weeks time (that taking account of the Easter Bank Holidays). So from order to delivery it was a calendar month but in reality 19 working days. Contact with Bikester to chase the delivery information was less than adequate at this point. Perhaps they were busy dealing with other such enquiries. If the tracking system and information was up to scratch and as good as their competitors then they would be less busy and more effective.
On the day of delivery it was a complete shambles with deadlines passed, me having to chase them, the driver turning up then going away without making a delivery, then a call from him asking me to go and see if he had left his scanner on a nearby wall and then around 6:30pm he returned with the bike arrived. It was well boxed and only a little bashing of the box was evident.
I’m not sure if the setup is down to Orbea or Bikester but in either case it was correctly indexed and brakes well aligned. The brakes were set as per Euro spec but that’s easily sorted.
In terms of pricing, Bikester were around £200 below full retail but it was still a lot more expensive than had I bought it last year before all the price increases. I was unable to source this bike in the UK despite it being shown as available by many and at the time of delivery nothing has changed. I therefore have to accept that it was a reasonable transaction. I would have happily paid full retail to support the UK economy and business. I think the time scales were less than ideal but their choice of courier really does need looking at.
So given the time scales Bikester get 5/10 from me. Buying a bike should be an enjoyable and exciting event, it wasn’t. Communication was slow on occasion, delivery seemed unnecessarily slow but most of all you can’t deal with people. It’s done now but they wouldn’t be my first choice for buying a new bike again.
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