I'VE BEEN BLACKLISTED!

[SloBlue]

I posted on this forum a couple of months ago about poor experience I had with Motorcyclecloseouts.com. Basically, I tried to be fair with my complaint pertaining to a 10% restocking fee on my purchase + my original shipping + return shipping. It would have ended up costing me $30 or $40 to try on a pair of pants. I kept the pants. Usually, I deal with super on-line sellers like Sierra Trading Post or Backcountry.com that don't hit you with a fee to return something you aren't happy with. As some of you responded on my original post, I find that a restocking fee is pretty usual with on-line motorcycle accessory dealers. Really I'd rather buy from my local stocking dealers like TFOG or Faster Motorsports, but particularly with the economy down, nobody local can stock a wide range of pants. I decided to give Motorcyclecloseouts another try, knowing now that it was going to cost me for a refund.

I placed another order this past weekend with Motorcyclecloseouts. I never recieved any shipping info, so I called today to see if they had shipped the pants I had ordered. After 3 calls, Christian called me back to tell me that in retalitation for my original post on this site, the owner of Motorcyclecloseouts had put a note on my account not to ship to me. My order was canceled!

Whatever, I don't care, but what a pin-head! I don't conceal my identity on this site by hiding behind some name like "SuperFastHondaGuy" or something. My name is on it. This guy is nasty enough to go do the research with my first name and blacklist me on his computer. If this order had gone through smoothly, I would have come back here and posted a positive experience. I'm like that. When I go to a restarant and have bad service, I'll complain. So, when I have good service, I leave a good tip and I tell the manager I had good service. This is definately bad service. I wouldn't recomend these jokers to anyone!

[Devaclis]

I hold grudges. I hold them like I will die if I let them go. But I don't understand them not wanting to do business with someone willing to give them another chance.

Eh, the price you pay for being a squeaky wheel. I know that price all too well.

[salsashark]

^^ yep... now Dana's been put in charge of recycling for his entire building...

[Devaclis]

I am turning into a plane-arium

[Ricky]

Fuck a company that won't take your money for a product, whether they get a bad/good review for it or not. Money is money, especially now.

[sugarrey]

I hold grudges too, for a very long time. But seriously if a company screwed you over, and didn't try to make things right. SCREW THEM BACK! If an attempt was made to regain your business, and you still didn't allow them the company deserves "some" respect, but if they just turn away, and basically say screw you then I make it my job to make sure everyone knows exactly what happened so some other consumer doesn't get screwed.

I feel responsible to let people know where I've had good experiences and bad experience. As I have said before, if I help one person, job done.

[SloBlue]

I gave them a second chance, and I admitted my share of the fault in the original post. This guy had all my contact info, but chose not to get in touch with me. They didn't even get in touch with me when I did place another order. I was told there was a "don't ship until Bert talks to Andrea" note placed on my order. That's a heck of a way to run a business! God Bless Jim at TFOG, last time I was in there, I bought gloves just 'cause he's a great guy!

[sugarrey]

These days I have more company loyalty than brand loyalty. Never used to be that way. But I think you really gotta take care of the people who take care of you. And that is what I try and do.

I think you did everything right. I see no fault.

[McVaaahhh]

Sounds like somebody that doesn't know how to run a business to me... :down:

[Graybird]

I guess I know where I'm not spending my $$$ now...

[Sleev]

what a dumb dildo

[kalibra]

+1K for TFOG. Fuck the other company....look up my name now and put a note on there.

[kalibra]

I just tried to visit Motorcyclecloseouts.com and a big middle finger popped up on the screen after which I was redirected to the TFOG website automatically.Works for me.I put their name on my black list as well.

[Bashed]

I ,being a person who has been on both sides of the retail counter, and have heard your side of this experiance from the beginning, can only say this.
Sometimes you have to fire the customer.
They are in business to make money, no more, no less. Expecting them to take a loss, is unreasonable. They are cutting thier loss.
Thier policy was clearly advertized, and you made the decision to buy, not them.
And then you went back for more, brillant!
And you are still complaining, after you say you don't care.
sorry dude, your fired.

[rforsythe]

I went back and read your original thread and agree with part of what Bash said, in that in the owner's opinion, you're more trouble than you're worth given the small profit he's likely making (this industry is brutal on retail shops).

You felt the 10% restock fee was "punishment" for being indecisive or whatever. The fact is it costs them money to hold actual physical inventory, and how much they buy is based on how much they sell. By making a sale to you, it tells them to go get more product; when it comes back, they now have too much. In addition the store monkey shipping guy has to receive it, re-prep it, and re-shelve it, as well as put it back in as available inventory in the computer. All small tasks, but they take time and money. $10 probably barely covers the owner's real cost to accept a return, and now he's carrying too much product.

Granted it would have made you a happier customer to avoid it, but those policies exist for a reason and are just normal business practice. Really, we're talking about you spending $30 vs $20 - either way you are out something to return it if you don't like it, unless you pay for super-cheap shipping - also a potential risk of mail order shopping.

So, Bash is right in that sometimes you just have to stop doing business with a certain customer. However I don't agree with his little passive-aggressive approach to the whole thing, he could have at least called and been like "dude WTF, please don't shop here again". Or he just felt he'd rather not provoke some other thread from you and flag you in the computer if you actually came back one day (likely a small chance in his mind).

I'd have handled it differently as a store owner to try and resolve it, but honestly he can't cut money without taking a loss, and probably lost business from your post.

IMO better diplomacy could have been employed on both sides of this thing.

[= Buckeye Jess =]

I agree 100% with Ralph on this one! I'm actually rather interested in this thread since this is the store that I just bought my leathers from. I'm hoping they fit me right, but I had a hard time choosing between two different sizes. Oh well...for the deal that I got on them, I don't mind paying a small fee to exchange.

[IT WASN'T ME!]

That is why I never mail order any clothing, shoes, helmets, gloves, or boots. There is too much variation between brands sizes and even differant identical items. I have to try on what I buy.

[PROFLYER]

I ,being a person who has been on both sides of the retail counter, and have heard your side of this experiance from the beginning, can only say this.
Sometimes you have to fire the customer.
They are in business to make money, no more, no less. Expecting them to take a loss, is unreasonable. They are cutting thier loss.
Thier policy was clearly advertized, and you made the decision to buy, not them.
And then you went back for more, brillant!
And you are still complaining, after you say you don't care.
sorry dude, your fired.

+1, I fire them everyday. Customer attitude and bashing publicly isn't worth their margin sometimes, sorry. And if I had 10 bucks for every one that said "I'm going to ruin your business" I wouldn't even need to BE in business, yet we still post record year over year profits--after 28 years.

Not to debate their policy, as it is their own, but you agreed to the terms. The owner obviously decided that your attitude wasn't worth your 15 bucks or whatever slim margins there are today as a dealer. Do business with people who's terms you can accept, as those terms go BOTH ways.

[SloBlue]

I haven't had a chance to respond to some of your points on this until now.

On my original post, I tried to be fair to Motocyclecloseouts.com. I know I was mostly at fault for not reading the policy well enough. My point was in their indifference to me as customer. I was a first-time customer of their business and I was frustrated to learn that I would be out about $35 if I returned my purchase for a refund and have nothing whatsoever. I don't like store credits. I lose them, forget about them or they just expire. That said, in my mind, I had every intention of doing more research on motorcycle pants and coming back to order pants that would better suit my needs. I called customer service at Motorcyclecloseouts.com and asked if they would consider waiving the restocking fee for me. After all, I did pay the shipping both ways. Their attitude was totally indifferent. They didn't care if I shopped there or not. It was their attitude, not their policy that prompted my original post.

Fast forward 2 months. I still need pants. I don't hold grudges forever. I know that I should have read the policies better and I'm willing to say their customer service guy was just having a bad day. I place another order with Motorcyclecloseouts.com. The owner of Motorcyclecloseouts had seen my original post on this site and gone to the trouble to do the research to connect my post to his order data base and blacklist me. He had my contact info and could have called me to tell me. He could have said, "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding" and I would have been ok. He could have offered me $10 off on a future purchase and I would have been happy as could be and it wouldn't have cost him a thing. Instead, he cancels my order and just leaves it set until I call so they can have the satisfaction of giving me a giant "SCREW YOU".

So be it. I have 4 motorcycles in my garage and the amount of money I spend each year on gear and accessories is not insignificant. Yeah, the profit one one pair of pants wasn't important, but don't you think that a happy, returning customer that recommends your company to his friends might just be worth $10?:)

[Nick_Ninja]

As I sit here connected to the TFOG wireless while Jim is replacing a valve cover seal on my bike, I can't help but feel sorry for your predicament. I just ordered an Alpinestar two piece. If it don't fit we return it. SoooooooI don't feel that sorry for you as you made a decision not to support the local guy. Buyer beware. You made your bed now you must sleep in it.

[SloBlue]

Actually, I went to Jim at TFOG first, in addition to Sun Honda, Rocky Mountain Kawi, Motoadventure Kawi, OTD, Faye Mayers, Ducati, Faster Motorsports, Boulder Powersports, Interstate Honda, Tri-City Cycle, etc. Like I said, dealers have had to cut back on what they carry. Yes, all my favorite local stocking dealers were willing to order pants for me. Most of those dealers are at least a 50 mile round trip from my house. From what I understand, Tucker Rocky will charge a restocking fee to the dealers if I order something from them and then don't like it or it doesn't fit. I was told only Alpinestars will not let their distributor do that on an exchange for the same item of a different size. I love motorcycles, I love motorcycle shops and talking motorcycles, so, I buy from my local dealers whenever I can. When I went into TFOG, I talked to Jim and he looked up the pants I wanted, quoted me a price and was perfectly willing to get them. Frankly, I've had such trouble finding something I like sight-unseen, I didn't want TFOG to have to deal with a return.

[longrider]

Bert, I realize Fay Myers is not very convenient to Berthoud but our policy in that situation is if you need to exchange for a different size or style there is NO CHARGE. The only time the restocking charge comes into play is if you just want to return the special order and get your money back. Even then if it is an item that we stock but just happened to be out of when you came in the restocking fee gets waived.

[chanke4252]

I like motorcycle-superstore.com and newenough.com. Both are awesome with returns and both stock a lot of gear. I've returned way too much stuff to motorcycle-superstore, so I'd feel bad if I didn't give them so much business.

The owner of the store you are complaining about sounds like he's the type of guy who is going to run the business into the ground, and he definitely should as he sounds like a real douche. It's business/commerce, it's not personal, and if you take it personally then failure is pretty much guaranteed. There's always someone else much more than eager to provide you with service in return for your money.

I had an experience with kneedraggers.com where they wanted a deposit to order something that was already backordered. If they couldn't get the item they would give me a store credit (not a refund). I said I won't buy from them if they insist on taking my money for a "maybe" that they could get the product in and the only guarantee being that I would get a store credit if they couldn't. They didn't budge so I went and bought it from newenough. And that's why I have yet to return to kneedraggers.com for anything.

Dumb policies like that drive customers away. Treat customers right and they will come back. It's very simple.

[SloBlue]

Longrider, thanks for the info. I went to Fay Meyers the day you guys were having a stunt bike show in the lot. That was pretty cool, thanks. I bought a couple gallons of bike oil and filters but you guys were hoppin' and I didn't really get to ask someone about pants. Anyway, my issue wasn't just the restocking fee, it was the "like-it or lump-it" attitude of Motorcyclecloseouts.com.

At this point, I figure there is only another 5 or 6 weeks of really hot weather this year, so I'll just put some mesh pants on my Christmas list for my wife. As far as when it cools off, I still have the Fieldsheer Adventure pants I got at Motorcyclecloseouts.com. I didn't even return them and they still told me to screw-off.

[SloBlue]

I haven't heard of newenough.com before, I'll have to check them out. Thanks for the info.

[chanke4252]

np, theyre obviously not local, but I don't really do a lot of local shopping except for motogearoutlet (real cool people), though their selection seems to be geared more for the adventure riders. I should probably try to support local shops more.

[kawasakirob]

Come on people now, smile on your brothers every body get together, going to love one another right now.