Old Bike Barn - Say hello to NY Attorney General

[jackcb750]

An open letter to Old Bike Barn,

I gave you a shot, not knowing of all the bad reviews (bad me), but you have stiffed the wrong buyer.  I will be contacting the Attorney General of NY State with a written complaint and follow-up like there has never been a following-up (not a good sentence, but I'm mad!).

Here is information for others that have had problems Old Bike Barn, I also encourage you to file a complaint if you have a legit beef. It's very simple, fast, BUT, you need an order number (luckily, they emailed it to me :) and supporting documentation (print out of email, when you called, who you spoke to, etc.)

This is the company:  Old Bike Barn
65 S. Peru St. Unit 4
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
1-800-616-8495
www.OldBikeBarn.com
Google map link:  http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=65+S.+Peru+St.+Unit+4+Plattsburgh,+NY+12901&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=29.358024,56.513672&ie=UTF8&ll=44.683179,-73.45356&spn=0.006423,0.013797&t=h&z=16&iwloc=A


File complaints at:

Bureau of Consumer Frauds and Protection of the New York Attorney General Consumer Helpline: 1-800-771-7755

Internet complaint form (for Internet Business) http://www.oag.state.ny.us/resource_center/complaints/pdfs/internet_complaint.pdf

General Consumer complaint form http://www.oag.state.ny.us/resource_center/complaints/pdfs/cns001web_consumer.pdf

Good luck all, I hope this posting, and the silence on their phones, will put these jerks out of business, 10 people who SHOULD be UNEMPLOYED.

[brcree]

 Yea, it took me several emails and calls over a 3 mth period to get my order filled. The part came but it took 3 mths to get here. If they had just told me in the beginning that it would take that long or they were having trouble with the supplier I would have understood. But to let it go 3 mths. and I had to find out what the heck was goen on....not good!

[jackcb750]

Thanks for the note brother, I'm hoping with enough posts like this those Old Bike Barn b(*&ds will simply be put out of business, the best and most deserved outcome of all of this. Sorry to NY for trying to increase your unemployment rate by .001% but these people deserve to be homeless.

[shadow06]

I too was having a problem getting hold of them .I had 2 e mails go unanswered and they no longer have a phone # on their web site. I finally got a answere on my last one saying they have a problem with thier supplier and are expecting my parts very soon .it has been a month so far . this time they also included phone #,s .............shadow 06

[DesignBuild]

i had problems with an order i placed with them as well, after about a month and a half of waiting for shipping confirmation and a lot of research on them i canceled the order and went to denniskirk.com and had it shipped that day.

They have terrible service, and as stated the number was removed from there own site so it makes it hard to contact them. The number can however be found at amazon.com (i don't have the link or number anymore but thats where i found it).

I won't order from them again, and the terrible service should be considered criminal.

[DesignBuild]

actually i found the link. http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/seller/returns.html?ie=UTF8&seller=A2O4X1V6BCVVGX

[Re-run]

Service like this just sucks. They either need to increase their inventory as they ALWAYS seem to be out, increase their help as it takes forever to reach them, or just shut down and save people trouble.

[shadow06]

i just checked denniskirk to see if they have the part in stock i,m waiting for from old bike barn and they have 4 of them,wish i knew of them a month ago .

[DesignBuild]

a retired mechanic i know told me about them, they are a life saver. cancel your order from OBB and order through them. they literally ship the same day and the longest i've waited is like 2 days for an order to come in. (note that i only live like 2 states away though)

[shadow06]

i live in the north  okanagan in bc canada
,won,t be running the 750 this season so will give obb another couple weeks to get them shipped .i always had good service from them before .this is the first time  i had to wait this long .i have a 1100 cc shadow sabre that i ride and only another month of riding left before the frost starts showing again.

[sjackson]

I ordered a couple parts from them before I had heard about their service. The product I ordered said that it shipped in 3-5 days. I didn't even get an order confirmation email or anything. I waited two weeks before contacting them by email and asking what was up. They gave me the "we're waiting for stock from our supplier, it should be another week or two" line. forget it. They should have either changed their website to reflect the backorder status, or contacted me. I contacted bikebandit to see if they could ship the part. I had it in my hands a little over a week later.

Also, when I tried to cancel my order with OBB, they didn't respond. And when I tried to call them, all I got was a busy signal. So I had to dispute the charge on my card, which I hate doing. But hey, whatever. I happen to work for an online vendor, and I know that they get dinged for $25 every time somebody does that. If that's how they want to run their company, then it's their loss. It's pretty easy to just cancel an order and refund a card. I'm honestly starting to wonder if anybody is home over there with all these reports I've been hearing. This is not the way a company should act in the middle of a recession. And if all of this is just symptomatic of financial problems as a result of the economy, then they should cut their losses.

[thebear]

Hi this is Barrie Haughton, President and Founder of Old Bike Barn inc. We’re not hiding from anyone…I’m an honorable man and a decorated Veteran and it pains me to hear people say my business is a scam!  I will personally try and answer any questions in regards to delays and poor customer service. We are going through a huge transition right now and our customer service is about to greatly improve including a 24/7 customer support by phone. We promise to make sure that every individual that has waited for parts or has had trouble reaching us will be able to get one on one service in the near future.

I sincerely apologize and understand how frustrated you all are.

[Re-run]

Bear, I would like to believe that but 2 years is a long transition. Other forums readily viewable show this issue to be ongoing for quite a time. There is a forum showing this issue from back in 2006. A long time in the internet business world. Of course no one likes to be scammed and no business likes to be accused of such. I do hope the service does actually improve as poor service does nothing but harm motorcycling as a whole.

[thebear]

I completely agree that it harms motorcycling as a whole when businesses perform poorly! We have had many transitions in the last 10 years, and every few years I have to buy new systems to keep up with technology or growth, we are family run and I don't come from money so often funding these projects is very costly and implementing them even more challenging.

   There have been at least two other occasions where our phone system failed and it's always our popularity that kills us with either the website not being able to handle the loads or the phone system jamming up! I'm confident that this time we are headed in the right direction. I'm here people know who I am; for every 1 person that experienced a delay or canceled order there are hundreds of very happy people! I love vintage bike’s and have done my best to carry as many hard to find parts for older models as possible, one need only look at our coverage to know this site is run from the heart not the bottom line if that was the case I just carry jackets and helmets and the latest stuff like most of the others out there.

[GeorgeK1]

Sorry, Barrie, but I've seen over 100 complaints, beginning back in 2005, just on one well-known classic bike forum, and I have no doubt that the problems began long before that but just went undocumented.  This is not just a "temporary" problem caused by a transition to a new system.  

You've been scamming people like me for years, and you need to be put out of business.  You may be the nicest, most sincere guy on the planet in person, but that doesn't mean you should be allowed to continue taking money from people for parts you either don't have or have no intention of shipping.  

I hope that all the bad press your "business" has been getting over the past several years has been hurting your bottom line, and I hope it continues to get worse until you're forced to close your doors.  Do yourself and the entire motorcycling community a favor and shut down now.      

[thebear]

The number of complaints to people served is relative we ship thousands of items per week, that by no means takes away from an individuals case and that’s why I'm here posting. I will say this though many people jump the gun when it comes to internet sales and complain only to have the part show up after? Yet once they have their parts in their hands they don't go and repost that the back order came in or the issue was fixed. We handle thousands of orders that for the most part have had no problem. I have never scammed a person in my life its just not possible to do so and stay in biz with the systems in place at credit card companies... scammers open and close under new names every 6 months.... not stay in biz like us and solve the problems. What can I do for you do you have an outstanding order? I'm here to help. Many complaints upon further investigation will show tracking numbers or a refund. Also if you were to compare the hundreds of thousands of orders we have processed in the last couple of years the number of complaints out there is pretty slim, all big companies generate them... few respond to them as I'm doing now.

[Re-run]

I am going to try to say this in a diplomatic way.
The issues have been long term and revolve GREATLY around service and not stocking parts reliably. IF all the parts on the site were stocked, it would be great. I have seen the site and it would appear to be really good given the range of parts available. Many people though end up not getting the parts for months if at all. I know occasionally parts do go to backorder, this is something that should be noted. It is possible to use software to track all this and update the site automatically. Instead many people end up not getting anything at all, no parts and no contact from the company, not even an email. Many end up having to do charge backs to at least get their money back.

Another source of contention is the bbb tag on the main page. yet when a person checks the bbb, here is the result.
http://www.bbb.org/upstate-new-york/business-reviews/motorcycles-supplies-and-parts/old-bike-barn-in-plattsburgh-ny-194627609/
Now if you put yourself in the customers shoes and found this about a company you were or going to buy from, what would be your thoughts?
now I am not trying to bust balls here. You seem to want to get back on track. I can also understand a little defensiveness, it is your company, it is not like you are some joe working for someone else.

I would have to offer 3 suggestions.
1: get rid of the bbb tag until you are actually accredited with them.
2: Order extra parts or get new suppliers. NO ONE wants to wait for a part and it is lame to wait to order from a supplier till you have enough of an order built up. Yes I know this might cost money but a happy customer makes more than an unhappy one. You need a surplus of the common parts and at least a couple of everything else really. This will require initial outlay of funds but after that will not really cost any more then.
3: The customer service MUST improve. Software solutions do not need to be very expensive. In some cases, you can even find free software to do what you need for some things but people should be able to see if a part is in stock or not. Yes I know that might prevent a sale but it will also prevent people getting pissed off and posting about it for how many others to see.
The people aspect must also get better. Phone support is paramount as people want an answer when they call, some hold time is ok but an answering machine that no one checks on does not. Most people are ok with waiting a day for a response to email.

I think if these things can be addressed, especially 2 and 3, you could do very well.

Again, not busting balls here. These are just my suggestions.

[thebear]

Ok first thanks for all the energy you put into you response most of what you suggest is being done. I'm impressed by your taking the time to say so much. Here is some of what's happening with reference to your points

1. Inventory; we track everything we sell so we know what to put on the shelf’s, inventory is costly your right but it’s the best way to serve your customers and our inventory levels are at the highest in a decade.

2. BBB we had been members for years and this issue is generated by our move, I'll remove the logo for now and consider setting up with them again. Those guys are a private company and basically legal extortion; the fees are unreasonable and you can literally pay them to have a clean track record, which makes their legitimacy questionable.

3. As for software and free ware I'm not sure you follow the scope of the project we carry 8.1 million part numbers and highly specialized, functional, advanced websites, and management systems don't come cheap.

Now being curt on here is hardly the direction I want to take… I genuinely appreciate your advice but everything you mentioned is currently being done and then some. We have launched the new site and back end management system. Also a new phone system and soon we will offer 24/7 phone coverage (with all American reps not out sourced to India like many other companies)

I agree completely there have been some issues but I work 60-80 hours a week on them and I’ll not give up Old Bike Barn has a following with many happy customers and I'm committed to solving the problems of the ones that are not happy.

I’m a vet and a fighter when times gets tough I get tougher. The ironic part is all the things we were doing before economy tanked, were to solve problems going further back as you mentioned we need more up-to-date systems but then with sales tanking I was left with several very costly moves in the works that took much longer to come to term than expected and with much less dollars in the coffers to push them forward:  New back-end , new site, increased inventory and a new phone system these should all combine to help us get start to get our loyal customers the kind of support they deserve, and solve problems for anyone that had one in the past!

Keep it between the ditches and the shinny side up!

[Re-run]

I will leave it at this then. I hope everything does work out. The site offers a wide array of parts and accessories and it would be great if it became a model online supplier.

[thebear]

Thanks, We will do our best... Again I thank you for the dialogue.

Bear