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01-27-2011, 02:34 AM | #1 | |||||||||
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Abbotsford, BC, Canada
Posts: 4,880
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GioBikes.com and why I will not be doing business with them.
Note: for the resolution of this issue see this post
I would like to start of this post with a bit of a disclaimer. Giobikes.com is a sponsor of this website, and I am a moderator. My posts are my own experiences and opinions, and does not reflect the position of Chinariders.net. If anyone has concerns about this post, please refer to the usage guidelines for this forum. As many of you may know, I have a Gio Beast atv I purchased used and am in the process of repairing. I haven't needed that many parts, however giobikes.com auctions seemed like a logical place for some of them to be sourced from. Mainly the carb and shocks. I have read many posts on this forum relating to Giobikes.com and the level of service offered both by the company and the general manager John Dem. One of our other moderators, has had only positive experiences. Other members have had both positive and negative. In hindsight, it may have been foolish for me to disregard the negative experiences people have shared. My first parts order for the beast was for the performance carb (and another carb for someone else). The carbs both arrived in good shape as far as I know, though the packaging was lacking. It has been my experience ordering parts from Gio that they are thrown loose into over sized boxes, allowing them to bounce around quite a bit during shipping. Some packing peanuts, or if Gio doesn't want to spend the money, crumpled up old newspaper would make the packing much better. The next parts I needed to order were shocks. The gio beast performance shocks have been quite problematic for many of our members here. They are adjustable shocks with a nitrogen reserve. The problem is many of them seem to leak out all the nitrogen. The members who were having these issues were first posting about them in 2009. There did seem to be some hope that a new batch of shocks with black springs instead of red springs may be less likely to be defective. Foolish me again, I figured with the positive reports I've heard of Gio, and the fact that it is now 2011, with the time being passed, Gio would have sorted out this problem, and not still be shipping out defective products. My shocks arrived, with red springs, and no nitrogen. They will not hold any pressure as it leaks out just as quickly as it goes in. I guess ordering these shocks from Gio was like gambling, and I lost. Chance was not on my side. I hoped Gio would be though. After all it appears to be the largest and most professional out of the Canadian China bike dealers, or at least that's the impression I get when I visit their website. I used the contact form on Giobikes.com to report the problem. John got back to me pretty quick, and after a bit of back and forth we clarified what part I was talking about (even though the part and order number was included in the contact form, it appears to have been lost). John replied to me and told me he could send out a replacement set for a shipping and handling fee of $25. The shipping and handling on the original order was just over $16, but I guess he tacks on to the handling portion to recover some costs or something. I told him I've heard people had better luck with the black spring version, and I also told him I needed a clutch lever and asked him how much it would be if he could include it when he shipped out the shocks. John never told me how much it would be for the lever. The shocks arrived. They arrived alone, and with red springs, and no nitrogen. I tried pumping them up, but again, the air comes out just as fast as it goes in. They are very clearly defective, and exactly the same as the original set that arrived. I now have $115 spent towards getting a set of shocks for my beast, and I do not have a set that functions properly. I sent John another email as soon as I tested them after they arrived. Quote:
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The other part of the response seems to imply that I am lying to him to get free shocks, and he will not offer any further customer service to me. I'd like to add I did not receive any free shocks. At best, the replacement set cost me $9 plus shipping and handling since the fee is inflated on the warranty parts. If I received a functional set for replacements though I would have been ok with that. After John's response, I was a little frustrated because I had chosen to have faith and give Giobikes.com the benefit of the doubt, and trust the positive reviews, rather then the negative ones. I ended up sending John 3 more emails before he responded to me. Quote:
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A day after I sent the last email John finally replied to me again. Quote:
With that last email apparently John is telling me he is more capable to troubleshoot the shocks from an hour away without looking at them or asking anything about them, then I am with them in hand. He also did not appear to take note of my comment that I would be perfectly happy sending him the defective shocks back for a refund. I sent him one more email on the subject after his response, however I am not expecting a reply. Quote:
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01-27-2011, 01:04 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: orbital platform
Posts: 741
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I will offer that John has always stepped up and made things "right" for me in the end, but as you can imagine it was more than a little work, on my part, to get there.
I *think*, living as close, as you do, a visit (with a box of defective shocks) might be in order? I don't know.............. (I found shaming him get's the best results, I tried, and found "reasonable" not to work so well). Sorry to hear of your troubles Jim................ |
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01-27-2011, 02:08 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Southeastern Washington desert
Posts: 14,761
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Sorry to hear about your problem. I compliment you on your objective and professional post and explanation.
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Happy to serve. |
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01-27-2011, 03:56 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Abbotsford, BC, Canada
Posts: 4,880
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Thanks guys. As far as I am aware, Gio does not like to do business in person, and the address provided by the BBB may not even be accurate.
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"Be excellent to each other" "We are all human. Let's start to prove it!" |
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01-27-2011, 09:31 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Idaho
Posts: 25,054
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I'm sorry to hear of your problems with GioBikes, Jim. :( I think your expectations were entirely reasonable, and GioBikes owes you a total refund of your money. :evil: Please do keep us updated regarding the status of your complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Also, thank you for warning other potential customers about the questionable customer service provided by GioBikes.
Spud
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Spud "Never argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level, and beat you with experience." Mark Twain 2015 Zongshen ZS250GY-3 (RX3) 2006 Zongshen ZS200GY-2 (Sierra 200) 2005 Honda XR650L 2004 Honda CRF250X 1998 Kawasaki KDX220 Mods made to my Zongshen ZS200GY-2: http://www.chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=6894 |
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01-27-2011, 10:37 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Abbotsford, BC, Canada
Posts: 4,880
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The BBB said that for that location they are very busy and it could take up to 6 weeks before they can get to a complaint.
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"Be excellent to each other" "We are all human. Let's start to prove it!" |
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01-27-2011, 11:27 PM | #7 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Idaho
Posts: 25,054
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Quote:
Spud
__________________
Spud "Never argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level, and beat you with experience." Mark Twain 2015 Zongshen ZS250GY-3 (RX3) 2006 Zongshen ZS200GY-2 (Sierra 200) 2005 Honda XR650L 2004 Honda CRF250X 1998 Kawasaki KDX220 Mods made to my Zongshen ZS200GY-2: http://www.chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=6894 |
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01-27-2011, 11:48 PM | #8 |
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Alberta, Canada
Posts: 3,274
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Edit:
After rereading my post, it looks like I was venting so I will revise it to say that John needs to work on his customer service. Cheers, Stew |
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01-28-2011, 02:18 AM | #9 |
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Abbotsford, BC, Canada
Posts: 4,880
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Thanks for sharing your experiences Stew.
http://www.bbb.org/mbc/business-revi...ond-bc-1244182 A quick google search also reveals Gio Bikes has a rating of F from the BBB on a scale of A+ to F. Now there is not a lot of information there to accompany the rating, so it is up for interpretation I suppose. I tried to post a review of the shocks on the Gio website, but their product reviews are held for moderation, so even though I don't have proof, it is my opinion that negative reviews are probably not posted. I guess time will tell.
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"Be excellent to each other" "We are all human. Let's start to prove it!" |
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01-28-2011, 04:05 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Southeastern Washington desert
Posts: 14,761
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Now there is not a lot of information there to accompany the rating, so it is up for interpretation I suppose.
In my book there are not a lot of ways to interpert 'F'.
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Happy to serve. |
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01-28-2011, 06:17 PM | #11 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Idaho
Posts: 25,054
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Quote:
Spud
__________________
Spud "Never argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level, and beat you with experience." Mark Twain 2015 Zongshen ZS250GY-3 (RX3) 2006 Zongshen ZS200GY-2 (Sierra 200) 2005 Honda XR650L 2004 Honda CRF250X 1998 Kawasaki KDX220 Mods made to my Zongshen ZS200GY-2: http://www.chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=6894 |
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01-28-2011, 08:06 PM | #12 |
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Abbotsford, BC, Canada
Posts: 4,880
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I agree, I'm only trying to be fair though.
__________________
"Be excellent to each other" "We are all human. Let's start to prove it!" |
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02-01-2011, 06:42 PM | #13 |
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 267
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This is pretty much what happend to me also.
I ordered a Exhaust system from them and paid what I thought was a premium for it and for shipping on it. The Exhaust was sent in a box with no protection on any of the parts and the pipe and can literally Beat the snot out of each other all during shipping. The pipe was sticking out of the cheapo cardboard box when it came in. I took plenty of pictures the day I got them and sent them to Gio and basicly got the run around until finally he told me to esentially Stuff it and nothing was going to be done about it. Nice.. I just chalked it up as a lifes lesson. |
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02-01-2011, 06:47 PM | #14 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Idaho
Posts: 25,054
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Quote:
Spud
__________________
Spud "Never argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level, and beat you with experience." Mark Twain 2015 Zongshen ZS250GY-3 (RX3) 2006 Zongshen ZS200GY-2 (Sierra 200) 2005 Honda XR650L 2004 Honda CRF250X 1998 Kawasaki KDX220 Mods made to my Zongshen ZS200GY-2: http://www.chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=6894 |
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02-01-2011, 10:05 PM | #15 |
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: London, Ontario
Posts: 1,097
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I think after the "LIME" auctions started i kinda don't like going their anymore, i'm just glad i got all my stuff when things were good and the shipping rates were much. much better, i'm thinking it will only be parts that i really need if i'm buying there again.
Speaking of shipping rates, i think it's funny they have $20 Timmies gift cards on the lime auctions and the shipping is $16.76 to me, lol. |
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