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Ribble Cycles - repeated non-delivery of new bike - is it just me?
Just wondering whether I'm just unlucky or whether others have had (are having) similar experience to me..
Ordered new Ribble CGR Pro Ti di2 bike back in May this year. Projected delivery then was early October due to supply chain issues which seemed reasonable in the circumstances. Due to how I wanted to finance the purchase myself I have already paid Ribble in full for the bike.
So the first delivery date early October was approaching when I received an apologetic email from Ribble advising me that due to component shortages my build was being delayed to late October. Fair enough I guess, everyone knows the bike component supply chain is screwed so I can live with that.
As late October approached I contacted Ribble via their support chat to confirm my 'new' delivery date shown on my live order tracking status page was still on track. Oh yes they said, everything is correct with your revised delivery date. This was the case right up to 24hours before the delivery date, at which point it suddenly jumped back to mid November... the same thing happened again a few weeks later when the promised dispatch date approached and got bumped back to 03 December...
I tried contacting Ribble customer service again to get some kind of explanation for why they no longer see fit to advise their customers when their bike orders are being delayed but was simply given some flannel about 'supply chain issues beyond our control' but no apology or explanation as to why my order delivery date keeps being bumped back a month or so at a time with no actual reason given or effort made to advise the customer.
So this time I waited again for 3rd December to arrive. A week before this date I contacted Ribble customer chat again who confirmed my order was still on track for 03 December dispatch... however again this week the dispatch date suddenly slipped back to 17th December just a day before the promised dispatch date of 03 December.
The bit that really pisses me off with this approach from Ribble is that they seem perfectly happy to take a significant sum in full payment up front for a new bike build and then repeatedly mislead the customer with continually slipping magical 'dispatch dates' (which they no longer even bother contacting the customer to advise have changed - it's left to the customer to keep checking the fictional 'order status' on the website to discover the delivery dates just keep changing the day before promised dispatch).
We all know the bike supply chain is on its knees at the moment, and I can accept that my new bike build could be affected by that, but why can't Ribble just treat their customers with some respect and admit they won't be able to deliver when they promised, and instead give a realistic (and honest) projected delivery date? It's just too easy to hide behind 'supply chain uncertainties' excuse and not actually engage in any honest dialogue with the customer.
Can't help feeling that now they've taken my money they're happy to just keep brushing me off indefinitely. Not impressed at all. Would welcome any advice as to how to get some honest communication out of Ribble?
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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For what it's worth, I'm also waiting for an Endudance AL, and have also been told late January 2022, having been waiting for many months.
This has frustrated me to say the least, but have you noted over the last couple of months they have advertised 'pre-build' bikes with 7-day turn-around? At one point I spotted one of the 7-day builds was exactly my bike build. I contacted them and they said that their computer hadn't flagged that the 7-day pre-build was the same build as my 'custom' build (which is the standard build but with different tyres!!) and that the pre-builds had already been sold by the time they dealt with my query... I mean, if they have lots of Endurance AL buyers waiting, and they can get 'pre-builds' in, what is the excuse for not realising they can safisfy one with the other, even if they have to swap some 'pre-build' components? It's the frame that's delaying things apparently. Other than, of course, now being owned by venture capatilists, and wanting to maximise sales by hoping new sales go under the radar while we wait for months longer ...
This '7-day' thing might also have been the case for yours!
Madness. I really should cancel but I do want that bike, really. They're giving me some vouchers but it hardly makes up for the long wait, awful service, and annoyance.
Hi Tom, just saw your Trustpilot review - I expect you'll get some contact from Ribble customer support now with some nonsense about delivery delays and an offer to upgrade your bike with a new bell. Can't believe yours was ordered in January 21 and it's going to be over a year before it's delivered - begs the question what the hell were/are they doing still accepting orders for new bikes 6+ months later which they knew/know they have absolutely no chance of delivering within any sensible timescale whatsoever...??
It's a shocking way to do business whatever they may say about delivery issues beyond their control. They simply shouldn't be taking customers' money in the first place for non existent bikes they have no hope of being able to build/supply within any practical timescale.
Funnily enough I've just missed a call from them...Â
I am fortunate in that I've been able to service my current bike myself and buy new parts for it but the whole point of me ordering it was to limp my current road bike through to April. I've spent a lot more just to keep that going than if I received the new bike when I should have.
Either way, you're right about taking customers' money. For the Endurance AL they#re saying May 2022 if ordered today. I still don't think I'll have mine until then.
Well just to give an update, as suggested on here I found that an 'honest' review on Trustpilot resulted in fairly swift contact from Ribble customer service looking to review my order... suffice to say the first thing I was told was that the latest (17th Dec) dispatch date on my order status page no longer applied, instead they are advising a new dispatch date in late January 2022. Strangely, the 17th Dec dispatch date has still not been updated on the website 3 days later...
Ribble did advise me that the groupset on my new bike would be upgraded from ultegra 11spd to new 12spd, which is nice, if/when it arrives, (presumably on the basis that no new stock of 11spd ultegra will ever be available on the market again in future, so it would never be possible for them to build it with 11spd, even if they wanted to).
When I pointed out that welcome though this will be, it still only amounted to an upgrade gesture of around 5% of the value already paid for the complete bike, I was told that they would upgrade the wheelset from Sport to Pro level. This was, however, an upgrade I had already selected, and paid for, when ordering the bike back in May, so this was hardly a generous gesture in their part!
To make matters worse, when I pointed out to Ribble that I had already selected and paid for the wheelset upgrade, their response was simply to say "we've checked and your order was only for the basic wheelset, so we're happy to give you this upgrade for free". I've literally had to copy and paste them my original order confirmation email showing the wheelset upgrade included at order. Slightly annoying to say the least that even Ribble themselves can't seem to see what my original order spec was, and that I paid for it.
Amzing that on some occasions retailers cannot get even the absolute basics correct!
Not that I have to forecast bike delivery timescales but I do have to forecast in my line of work and it can be one of the most demoralising things to forecast based on information you know is unlikely to be right, and it's outside your control, but it's the only information you've got.
I doubt Ribble will be making up the delivery dates, they'll be based on the forecast from their supplier and I bet updates from their suppliers are equally as tardy. They could add a week, a month, 6months to the delivery date and who knows what would be right at this time?
Customer service could be a bit better perhaps but whoever is advising your delivery date probably wants to give you a revised date when they say "sorry the delivery has just gone back" rather than admitting they just don't know because their supplier / shipping company can't tell them either.
You're right, of course, that they are at the mercy of their suppliers to some degree. But having read a lot of the Trust Pilot reviews (and replies to their facebooks posts etc) it seems some people are getting their bikes unexpectedly early whilst others are suffering long delays. It seems unlikely that that is just down to the vagaries of component choice and availability, but more likely some fundamental flaws with their systems.
Having said that, five months after finally getting it - and some 2,750km ridden - I am delighted with the bike itself.
Sorting out the customer service side should be a priority.
There are indeed global shortages and problem, should we just shut up, accept things, and move on?
Or could this company, or any other company push to get something solid for their public image and improve customer service?
As an intermediary, nothing pisses me off more than either back office or a supplier telling me we've got an issue. Give me some credit for working that out.
Give me plans, give me dates and give me contingencies. Growing a pair isn't that hard and I've never had a hard time from a customer for telling them the truth plus a bit of a plan.
The biggest problem with Ribble is that they aren't a family run business anymore. True Capital, the present owners are already looking to flip the business and view profit as far more valuable than such benign things like customer service.
As advised elsewhere there are some excellent bikes out there if you are willing to be diligent. How you get your money back from the chancers is another thing altogether.....
I had the same problems with Ribble, constantly pushing back the dates, this coupled with useless costumer service made me cancel my order. Do yourself a favour and do the same. There are available bikes out there. Great gravel bikes from brands like, Lauf, Storck, Specialized are available and will be better value for money. Ribble is overpriced and not worth the hype. Especially their Ti frames are nothing special. Trust me you will not regret it. Also we shouldn't support companies with such shocking customer service.
I'm not sure either my personal experience (but I wouldn't put too much weight on that) or a number of reviews agree with you on the quality and value of Ribble bikes, including (especially?) their Ti frames. Your final sentence is a reasonable one, though - indeed, had I not finally got some decent response/service after posting a critical review, I might well have cancelled my own order. But I'm glad I didn't.
Really sorry for all your issues. Just wanted to say one thing. It is worth the wait. Got mine some time ago and just love it. Hope jt will be on time for Christmas (and that you have a tree large enough to put it under)!
Obviously it depends on how you fund your purchase but I ordered a CGR Ti Enthusiast in October (estimated delivery date May 2022 - fingers crossed) using a cycle to work voucher and the pay deductions have not yet started.
I'm not sure if that's a good sign or a bad sign...
I'm still waiting for my Gravel AL:
Ordered it on the 16th September (delivery estimate 29th September), but needed to get my bike2work voucher sorted before they'd put me in the queue. Bit of a delay from my work meant I didn't get the voucher until the 28th September. Ribble confirmed my order on the 1st October. Was expecting to get it at the start of November. Currently the Ribble website is showing an Estimated Dispatch of 17 Dec 2021.
I'm not particularly happy about this, but I knew it was possible (likely?) this would happen. Most of the other alternatives I looked into were estimating delivery in March or April next year, or the bike wasn't quite what I was looking for.
I think the communication from Ribble could be a lot better. I also feel that they may be being a bit too optimistic when estimating timescales (I'm a software engineer though, so glass houses and all that).
I agree.. the optimistic timescales are one thing - it's the waiting till the day before each dispatch date to bump them down the road each time which gets me - it's obvious Ribble know they can't honour the dispatch date long before it arrives, so they could (should) be honest with their customers who have, in many cases after all, paid up front in full for their new bike in good faith.
If Ribble are unable/unwilling to be able to predict when a certain bike will actually be available then they should simply remove them from their listings as being available to order.
Brief update - got an email to say my bike has been built and I should have it in 3-5 working days.
I do believe that we'll hear from you again in 7 days...
I was hoping I'd get my bike today. However ParcelForce has, for some reason, sent it to Wales. Probably won't get it until Monday.
It's gone looking for some of those views from G's twitter.
ParcelFarce have now delivered my bike.
Looks like it had a few big nights out while it was in Wales.
There's a thread from earlier in the year on delays with Ribble deliveries (Ribble Rant, I think it's called). I didn't start it, but my experiences are on there. I'd advise you to out a negative review of trust pilot - that seemed to kick them into gear for me.
Thanks Steve, I couldn't find that thread, are you able to post a link to it? Thanks
https://road.cc/content/forum/ribble-rant-well-more-whinge-283045
Thanks, makes familiar reading.... đ€đ€„
Almost everyone in the industry has supply-chain problems, but that's not an excuse for bad customer-service.
I think Ribble's customer-service people would actually find it *easier* if they were honest with customers and kept them updated; there would be fewer ranters to deal with, and a larger % of customers would be happy to sit and wait a little longer for an update. More repeat business, too.
I have a lot of nostalgia for Ribble; they built my first Really Nice Bike; but that was 24 years ago, and the world moves on, and goodwill gets eroded. I got my most recent bike in July from a Ribble competitor who also had delays (it was originally supposed to be March) but I never felt like they were cheating me. They ended up offering a sweet deal on some upgrade parts, and both sides were happy.
I bought my bike before covid appeared, mid 2019. I gave Ribble a good look, went to their showroom, and found their customer focus so totally lacking that I gave them a wide berth. They really did not seem to give a toss. I bought a Pinnacle from Evans, where the customer focus was excellent. And now, even after all the travails that Evans have been through, the customer service has remained top notch. So glad I avoided Ribble. Sorry for your experience, but it certainly makes me believe my radar was correct.
Interesting account....
I guess I made the mistake of assuming that cos so many Ribble bikes (and Ribble in general) get such rave reviews here on Road.cc then they must be a pretty decent outfit with real stock of real bikes.
Lesson learnt.. but they've now got all my money and I've still got no bike...
Did you at least pay by credit card?
It's not just you, but I've only had second hand reports.
Their full payment at time of order policy certainly has our club members muttering. It was fine when they did that in normal days as they were committing stock to a build, but when their lead times are 6 months to a year... It stopped me from even considering them, and I was a happy Sportive user some years ago.
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