Quantcast

CambriaBike?

Roachmeister

Chimp
Sep 13, 2001
46
0
Canada. Great White North
HI.

I am guessing some of you have dealt with Cambriabike before? any problems? Took a while to get your stuff? I ordered some stuff back on the 7th of July. I still haven't heard anything from them, all i got was a tracking order that shows absolutely nothing was done on their webpage...

I sent them an email on the 10th asking to know what the status of my order was and still no answer...:disgust1:

Guess i'll try calling tomorrow...
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
So, let me make sure I have the facts here:

You live in a different country from the shop.

You ordered an item less than a week ago.

You got a tracking number.

You haven't called them.

...but starting a thread in the bad seller forum was the best course of action? :bonk:
 

Roachmeister

Chimp
Sep 13, 2001
46
0
Canada. Great White North
Ive ordered from them several times with out issue. Canada delivery could take longer maybe??
The items are being shipped to Louisiana...My sister lives there...so that would not be an issue...Cheaper to get it shipped there and me picking it up in 2 weeks since i will be heading over there for my vacations...
thanks for the input though.
 
Last edited:

Roachmeister

Chimp
Sep 13, 2001
46
0
Canada. Great White North
So, let me make sure I have the facts here:

You live in a different country from the shop.

You ordered an item less than a week ago.

You got a tracking number.

You haven't called them.

...but starting a thread in the bad seller forum was the best course of action? :bonk:
Whooo there...If there was a Forum marked "online stores" or the such, i would have started it there.

Yes i live in a different country. And? I should get a feedback either way no?

Got an order number, that shows nothing useful. Sorry, it is not a tracking number from usps or the likes...my bad in the original post.

I will call them since they are not answering their emails, even though this is mentioned in their FAQs: "We will get back to you in 24-48 hours when you write to info@cambriabike.com".

I am by no means calling them anything yet...As the title implied with the question mark, Does Cambria have a good or bad rep?

The very same day, i ordered from PricePoint (items have been delivered already), Bikeparts (items should be delivered this coming Monday) and Cambria (items are ???)...from what i could tell online, the items were marked as In Stock, so that should not be an issue.

thanks for any inputs in your previous dealings Ridiculous, reading positive stories will help ease my anxiety! :biggrin:
 
Last edited:

Roachmeister

Chimp
Sep 13, 2001
46
0
Canada. Great White North
Thank you RollerToaster.

I finally got some news from them. All emails sent were never answered, so i gave them a call, actually two calls since the first one was dropped after a 5 min wait...
I was told some of my parts, were now out of stock. I made sure to tell the rep that the items were all IN STOCK when i ordered and were still about a week later when i checked online...He mentioned that they had emailed me twice but got no response as to what to do with the rest of my order...I said BS!. Never got an email and i've been emailing you. PLUS the online "status" of my ordered never changed, until i told him to send me a test email at the address he had in the order, well by golly, i got it about 2 seconds later and the online "status" changed on their webpage, which just proved my 1st thought, BS!

So i canceled the whole thing and promised myself to never deal with them again.

BTW, maybe Cambria does not fit under the bad seller but they definitivaly fall under the Bad customer service, slow response and overall bad experience.

Thank you though to Pricepoint and Bikeparts, which got my items delivered a week later.
 

pirate28

Monkey
Jun 13, 2006
108
0
Maryland
I had a similar problem with Cambria Bike just this morning... Not as bad, but still annoying. I ordered some tires about two weeks ago, for a race that is this weekend. I figured 2 weeks was enough time to get them ordered and shipped.
Well since the tires are still not here, I decided to call Cambria Bike and check on my order. The guy says that my credit card had been rejected, and that they had sent me an email letting me know this. I double and triple checked my email, but had received nothing from them other than the original order confirmation. I asked him to verify my email address, and it was correct.
Anyway, I gave the dude the exact same credit card info, and it magically went through this time. I don't know... maybe I fat fingered a number or something when I ordered, but what is with the missing email?
Now that I've heard this from someone else, it kindof confirms my thought that the customer service guy was not telling the whole truth. Why would they do that though?
 

777bw

Chimp
Oct 1, 2008
3
0
Hello All,

Approach any orders with this company with caution. I have had some of the same issues mentioned in this forum on two recent occasions. I did an online order in August but was in no hurry for the parts and I expected a 7-10 day wait for the order due to a backordered item. After three weeks went by I got pissed and called and they said my credit card (plenty of room on this card) had been declined and they sent me an email. BS. I got the original order confirmation email but that's it. To top things off, several items that were in stock when I placed the order were now out of stock. Out of frustration I decided to just cancel the order and do another one later.

I placed two more orders over the internet in the middle of September on the same day. This time I put all the backordered items on one order and the in-stock items on the other order. I waited for about ten days and received nothing so I called today. They said that they could only ship to my billing address and not to my business address due to the amounts involved and this being a first time order (less than $1K on one, just over $1K on the second, both cards different from my 1st attempted "order"). WTF! This isn't Ebay. I have never had a mail order company do that. They also said that they sent me an email about this. TOTAL BS!!!!!!!!!!!! Again, I received the original order confirmation but no second email! I calmed down and worked out a solution with them. Rather than having $2K worth of primo bike parts and tools sitting in front of my house or having to have someone sign for the box which is usually a damn hassle, I struck a deal with them to simply have UPS hold the items at the local depot which as it turns out is only 1 mile from where I work. Shaking head, rolling eyes. To top things off, after the guy on the phone agrees to place the order and get things rolling he calls me back (KUDOS) to tell me that my first credit card (which is funny that they still had it on file) was declined. Ok, fine, just put everthing on my second card that has a zero balance and $8K limit. Hungry fella? Here you go.... chew on that.

Just for fun I'm going to call tomorrow to see if the order is actually going to go through this time. Any more issues and I'm done with this company for good. If this order works out, I highly recommend talking to a phone operator and having them charge your card while on the phone with them or at least demand a confirmation email and follow up if you don't get it. It's like I have to force feed them my money! Amazing.

Sorry to rant but there is a chance this might actually help someone. And by the way, orders I have placed through Price point, Performance, and Jenson USA all have typically arrived the week after I placed the order. I can only speculate as to what Cambria's problems are. Perhaps they don't even stock a fraction of what is listed on that massive webite or can't actually meet the prices they advertise. I can only imagine doing muliple "price smash" discounts then having them F your order. This better work! :banghead:
 

Ride!Urban

Chimp
Oct 2, 2008
1
0
Yeah, be very cautious with Cambria. I've ordered from them 5 or 6 times and prefer to use other places now. If I order from Cambria, I do it over the phone and specifically ask them to confirm that the items are in stock. Most of what they list on the website is NOT in stock and they really jerk you around when it comes to backorders or special orders. They're a great source for some things, especially small parts and one-offs, but you need to be bike savvy and stay on your toes when ordering from them. At one time they had very competitive pricing but not so much these days. I'm much happier with Jenson, Blue Sky, Pricepoint, and Greenfish.

I won't go into my experiences with them as far as honesty, but some of them were very questionable to put it kindly. My money goes to other retailers for the most part.
 

777bw

Chimp
Oct 1, 2008
3
0
Well, I don't want to say I'm happy to hear that this crap happens to other people but at least I'm not alone. I was way too busy at work today to call Cambria for order status but did manage to check my credit card this evening and it has been billed so my hopes are up at this point. It looks like doing the order over the phone was the trick. I haven't received a shipping confirmation email yet but this story may still end well. I don't like to say anything bad about a company unless they just plain deserve it but I'm still shocked that two different credit cards were somehow declined and no notification emails were sent out. I'm building several bikes that don't have to be rolling right away but If I actually needed the parts right quick I'd be fuming. I have spent far too many thousands of dollars for mail order crap over the past ten years that I've had credit and never once had this type of problem with a vendor. Ok, I'll stop bitching now and report the news as it comes. :brow:

Thanks for listing the other vendors Ride!Urban. I haven't used Blue Sky or Greenfish yet but I'll have to take a look.
 
Jun 18, 2004
945
0
Online ordering can be tricky. Especially if your trying to get products from boutique vendors or odd parts like unusual chain rings for instance.
 

T.Rex

Monkey
Sep 6, 2004
134
0
Pacific Northwest
Hey there, has anyone put a good sellers thread together, it's helpful to pass on the names of people who go out of their way to provide good customer service; just a thought. Retailers check the forms and believe it or not, some of them actually work hard to hold onto their customers.

With regard to Cambria, I'll join the parade. No rip off, but another one of those careless oversights by one of their customer service reps. They charged me twice for an order and it took quite a while to get it right. After almost two weeks, I managed to connect with one of their managers who followed up and credited my account. I will say that once they started working on the problem, they hung in and made it right. However, I had to ask for compensation, because they didn't offer. I asked them for a few things at cost and they gave it up; the manager was customer service oriented. However, once was enough; I shop elsewhere.

There's one thing you all know that is often overlooked. Think about the times when you bought something online and the purchase and delivery of the product went smooth as silk. Use the good online experiences as a template when you do business. If you're not getting what you got when they did it right, cancel the sale and shop elsewhere.

One time I started to order from Air Bomb, but ended up canceling because what I heard didn't sound right; it's those little contradictions that can tell you something's fishy. Shop smart and remember there's lot's of fish out there just waiting to hit somebody's favorite lure; all it takes is a quick jerk on on the line and the hook is set; :shocked:

Bluesky has been good and I've had good luck with Jenson. For some reason, I didn't order from Jenson until a year or two ago. They've been 100% on every purchase and the turn around time is excellent. Universal Cycles continues to provide good service, that is unless you happen to get the customer service rep from hell. Mike has always taken a personal approach to his business, he takes care of his coustomers; at least he has with me.

Price Point is good and Speed Goat has been good. The shop in Bellingham is great, I just can't remember their name; they used to operate out of Oregon. Ride Now I think is the name; they're solid citizens. Nashbar has been good too, they have good turn around times.

As for the botique bike shops, I'm not sure who you might have had problems with, but Turner, Ventana, Botique Bikes in Maine, and any of the others I've contacted have gone out of their way to be helpful. I could tell you stories about Turner and what they do for their customers; Titus was pretty good too; not sure any more. Brodie Bikes in Arizona have been good. One time I met a Turner rep in the Philippines who went out of his way to get me a part I couldn't get here in the states. For the record, Santa Cruz isn't a small shop any more, but they've been fantastic, they went the distance for me.

Fluideride and Downhill Zone have both provided excellent service; customer service doesn't get much better. Recycled Cycles has been great, those guys blew me away with their work and their customer service. That grumpy old man in Lake Stevens is pretty cool too; that guy will take good care of you and he does excellent work. I think we're lucky up here in the Pacfiic Northwest, we've got lots of high quality shops.
 

Anejo

Chimp
Sep 8, 2008
1
0
I used to like Cambria. It's been 6-7 years now. They were helpful and had old school type CS. I recently ordered a pair of pedals that were a "price match" from another site. 3 days after I recieved a confirmed order I recieved an email from a rude pinhead telling me that they would not honor the price match due to the competitor having a website registered in the UK. So, let me see. Shimano parts being shipped to me for less money from England (yes England) were $40 dollars less than Cambria and they would not even entertain keeping the business. I wish I could post the name of the guy who responded from Cambria but I sent it into the spambox after he started to get really pathetic. RUDE CUSTOMER SERVICE! What happened over there? They used to be my one stop shop and I would wait if it was backordered just to give them my business. I don't foresee any further dealings with them. My dos pesos.
 

bullitridden

Chimp
Nov 26, 2006
51
0
I used to like Cambria. It's been 6-7 years now. They were helpful and had old school type CS. I recently ordered a pair of pedals that were a "price match" from another site. 3 days after I recieved a confirmed order I recieved an email from a rude pinhead telling me that they would not honor the price match due to the competitor having a website registered in the UK. So, let me see. Shimano parts being shipped to me for less money from England (yes England) were $40 dollars less than Cambria and they would not even entertain keeping the business. I wish I could post the name of the guy who responded from Cambria but I sent it into the spambox after he started to get really pathetic. RUDE CUSTOMER SERVICE! What happened over there? They used to be my one stop shop and I would wait if it was backordered just to give them my business. I don't foresee any further dealings with them. My dos pesos.
I left them back in 96 when I ordered a ZigZag which they never ordered after waiting for a month, then when I did get in touch w/ some jerk off there I got nothing but smart-ass remarks. Never dealt w/ them again... amazing how they lost close to $7k over the years from 1 PO'ed customer. Sure we're not alone in this situation. Swore if I ever made it to Cambria (not likely) I would stomp a hole in his a$$.
 

lowside67

Chimp
Sep 30, 2008
17
0
Well I've gotta say I was a bit concerned buying from them after reading these reviews. However, they had an amazing price on an 08 Domain 318 for my girlfriend's bike. I called, confirmed they were in stock, went ahead and placed the order.

It was shipped in 1 day and I had it in 3 business days, I was very pleasantly surprised and wouldnt hesitate to deal with them again.

-Mark
 

Sir_Crackien

Turbo Monkey
Feb 7, 2004
2,051
0
alex. va. usa.
i have found that if you order through them over the phone they are great but if you order online its all problems. personally i think that they do really try but they got screwed by the guy that made their website for them. i feel that has caused them alot of problems.
 

dirtpaws

Chimp
Jan 19, 2004
20
0
Parts Unknown
Cambria doesn't seem to on par with other mail order places in terms of having a smooth and timely act together. I have found them to be slower in the fulfillment part of the business. It seems to take them about 2-3 days upon receiving an order, processing it and then packing it.

Other places like Jensons or Pricepoint will ship out the same day of the order if submitted by say 4pm when UPS truck picks up for the day.

So if you need something timely for an upcoming race or travels, DON'T buy from Cambria.

IMO, they seem to be a local chain of bike shops that happens to do mail order as a side business, so they are not as chop chop about it as the big boys. Which is fine, not everything in life should rush rush and next day this and that. But with that said, they website is robust and gives people the impression that they have a smooth running power bike mail order business, which it is not.

If you have time to wait and no one else has what you're looking for, then Cambria is just fine, just take them a while. They have some good "hot deals" and sometimes buy out good old inventory frames from nice builders like Elsworth and Santa Cruz.
 
Last edited:

dirtpaws

Chimp
Jan 19, 2004
20
0
Parts Unknown
...all i got was a tracking order that shows absolutely nothing was done on their webpage...
I know what you are talking about.

Cambria sends an email out with an order number.
Customers can then use that order number to "track" the status of your order on this page.

There are a handful of "steps" that an order goes through that the tracking page will show like "processed", "fulfillment", "shipped", etc.

The problem is that the status page doesn't seem to be accurate or updated, so that page can be useless and you end having to call to inquire about the true status of your order.
 
Feb 17, 2009
1
0
I've been a Cambria Bike Outfitter customer for years and have had very good service from them, in person at multiple stores, by email, and on the phone. I always get my stuff in a timely manner and have had them go out of their way to sort me out. Just today, I got a call from them, when they were about to ship out the parts I ordered to build up a new wheel. They had actually caught the fact that I'd ordered 2mm nipples with 1.8mm spokes (because I'd gone with double-butted at the last second). They swapped out the right size spokes at no extra charge and got the stuff out the door in under 24 hours from my original order. That's pretty awesome, in my book, and representative of the kind of dealings I've had with them. I'd have to say, they're good people.
 

iambent

Chimp
Mar 18, 2009
1
0
I just experienced same type of issue with CBO. Pedals were in stock, ordered on Monday with 3 day shipping because needed for the weekend. They did not ship until Wed. Now will not arrive until Monday and will not have for the weekend. So I have 7 day instead of 3 day shipping. Wonder what I paid for. :disgust:

I called and got the typical laid back bike shop dude who could care less. I could hardly understand him because he was mumbling. Absolutely no customer service demeaner whatsoever.

If I would have ordered from Pricepoint I would have had my pedals by Thursday. The only reason I went with CBO is because I saved $3 with the price smasher. Now the savings do not look so good. From now on it is Jenson or Pricepoint, no more CBO.

I am sure they could care less losing me as a customer but from the looks of this thread I am not the only one and maybe if the trend continues they will notice.

John