So like most the thought of %20 off seemed like a good lure to loose some of that unwanted cash in the wallet, Black Friday Hope goodness .. How wrong could I have been.
Order placed for a custom wheelset on Thursday 22/11 job done ,product in stock quick call and told around a 7 day build time 🙂 happy days . Phone call from the Brighton store at 5.25pm on the Saturday 24th “do you fancy changing your order to meet with our stock levels?” No !
Promised a call back on the 26th ..never happened
I rang on the 27th when I was told they could fulfil my order ..
Money debited from my account as per email ” Your card will ONLY be debited when your order is fulfilled”
Call made Friday the 7th/12 from me asking how the order was proceeding? The reply was still waiting on stock from Hope and could be around 10 days (WTF you showed product in stock !? ) and basically told to just be patient ..
Call made at 3pm to cancel order and return the money taken .
Since this point 3 calls and 9 emails asking for a refund and still waiting .. lastly being informed in the terms and conditions it could take 30 days to issue a refund ..

Is this normal practise for retailers this day and age as im sure a refund can be issued instantly.
I did pay though paypal so would it be recommended I start the proceedings there?

UYBK be warned their rep should have been inspected before ordering ..

My Paypal refund took about a week to come through.

They should refund instantly which can take a couple of days to show up. They are being chancers. Id report to paypal or threaten them with reporting it as a fraud – which is what it is taking money for products you do not have is not on.

I’ve never ordered anything from them, but I’m working in Oxford at the moment, so I thought I’d pop into the shop to have a look at the Yeti SB150 and Ibis Ripmo, both of which were showing as in stock on the website. When I got there, there was no sign of either bike, they only actual had three bikes, a Santa Cruz Nomad, an old Ibis HD3 or 4 and some road bike. There was also no sign of Enve wheels which they’re supposed to do. I think their idea of ‘in stock’ is hope it’s in stock at the distributor and order it when the customers money comes in!

Going to cancel my order tomorrow for Hope Wheels from UBYK. It will be interesting to see how smoothly it goes.

Frustrating that they are still advertised as in stock.

The two people that I have spoken to have no interest in the fact that the website is misleading or that money has been taken in contradiction to their email stating tha5 the money would be taken when the order is fulfilled.

They have ignored my emails but do answer the phone.

So glad I followed my gut instinct after seeing an item in stock which I needed however knowing after previous thread on them recently that it was best to phone them to check stock.

Took a bit to find out that they had not held stock of item for quite some time and that in a unhelpful kinda way just stated we’ll let the web team know to change status of this product which guess what is still showing as in stock.

I phoned another dealer who actually phoned UK disty which surprise surprise was met with a longer wait time for item than in the end quoted by Ubyk shite!

I skipped the disappointment by not taking the risk as all the alarm bells were ringing.

Anyway that’s my version and story of my experience. So yeah they’re sure stinking 👺💩

When they rang on the Saturday that’s when my gut instinct should have kicked in,normally I’m good with first opinions but blinded by a saving on something I’d been toying with for a while caught me out.. Let’s see if I get that refund and call back today.. Shame I can see social media getting used a bit more today to advice potential customers…

They are a waste of time frankly. Yes you’ll occasionally get your order delivered as you expect but that will pale into insignificance compared when you have to deal with one of their falsely advertised items in stock

I ordered a bike in July – apparently in stock – only to be phoned and told that in fact the bike would not be in stock until November. Would I like some other piece of crap bike they could get their hands on instead?

TBF was refunded immediately.

I think a lot of people are being a bit naïve.
Buying online has resulted in the middle mans margin being squeezed to zero.
They cannot afford to buy stuff, stock it and hope you buy it. So they are left hoping you buy it so they can order it and then send it to you. Tiny margins, cash flow problems, basic economics.

Large distributors will end up being all that’s left. When there is no more profit margin you grab market share.

Quite simply its like Amazon vs. all other online retailers. But in the bike world, so you will just end up with one or two big players. Look at Wiggle + CRC, they are now one.

i too have fallen foul on this.

i got my money back within minutes by threatening to report to them to the police for theft, on the basis that they had repeatedly lied to me about the availability of the part and had debited my money before the order was fulfilled.

now that the dust has settled on that issue, i actually feel bad for UBYK. as has already been said, they are just trying to stay in business by offering the most cost-effective service to their customer. it is not practical to hold loads of stock, so like pretty much every online retailer in other industries, they work on the basis that the distributor holds stock, so they can mark it as available and then order/supply on demand. what i believe is really letting them down is their lack of transparency in this, their ambiguity about when stock will arrive and their 30 days refund period which just throws petrol on what can already be an inflammatory situation.

it’s a shame as they outwardly offer a good service with great stock choices at very reasonable prices.

They messed me around with my order, so I’ve cancelled.
Strongly worded response to the email chain and I got my refund within minutes.
I’d like to support them, but zero communication, no updates and when asked I just got woolly responses.

Honesty and transparency probably do more for a reputation than rock bottom prices.

As in the above cases can i ask who you guys spoke? was it Brighton or Oxford ?

Im just going to follow this up with to anyone wanting a refund basically be relentless ..Two final calls and a fair few long words some colourful and the refund has been issued … Once bitten ..

Sorry to hear this. My experience with them was no problem free.

I think a lot of people are being a bit naïve.
Buying online has resulted in the middle mans margin being squeezed to zero.
They cannot afford to buy stuff, stock it and hope you buy it. So they are left hoping you buy it so they can order it and then send it to you. Tiny margins, cash flow problems, basic economics.

None of that excuses blatantly lying to your customers. Because your business model is broken doesn’t mean you play that off to your customers.

Why not be up front, and not state ‘IN STOCK’ in bright letters, that look like they’re dynamically generated based on your selection? It’s obvious fraudulent use of that wording , and completely unfair to their customers.

Either sort out a stock system that reflects reality (TFTuned do this really well, In Stock, or Available with our supplier). Or, don’t say anything, and add a clear caveat on the site to say they don’t have stock, but in most cases they can order it in, within 2-3 days.

I don’t buy that you just can’t compete with big suppliers, they’re offering far too much stock, of which they obviously can’t hold onto.

CRC and Wiggle succeed not only because their business model works, but because they set out what they’ll do for you, and in a very high percentage of cases excute on that.

There is no excuse for treating your customers unfairly.

If they had been straight up and kept me in the loop from the start my order may still have stood. But when told “it is what it is ” and just wait ! from the shop in Brighton.. and then the 3 days of lies and utterbull about the account department having to set the refund as opposed to it being issued after kicking off, id rather spend the £80 extra and buy elsewhere . The business model, staff attitudes and blatant lies are why i raised this thread. And I hope others read it, as being strung along is unexceptable.

I bought a mudguard and a Knogg bell from them. Admittedly it took a while as they admitted that they had been a bit overwhelmed. I was initially a bit peeved but then remembered that it was just a Bella nd a mudguard. When I called they were extremely helpful and I would order from them again as they are clearly a small business trying their best and they could do with our support.

The bell works well and the mudguard thing is keeping mud out of my eyes so we are all happy.

Dogsby

they are clearly a small business trying their best and they could do with our support.

As key critical feedback to help them survive as a small business – they need to stop lying openly to their prospective customers. They need return custom, as the market is only so big, and new customer acquisition can only last so long.

they are clearly a small business trying their best to be chain reaction, but without the required size/relationships to make it happen effectively.

FTFY

I was expecting to be adding a negative review here, but fortunately I have a more positive experience to relate.

I pre-ordered a frame through the Black Friday Sale with a delivery date in early January. I was disappointed that they took full payment for a pre-order at that time. I phoned the Brighton shop this morning and they confirmed a delivery date slightly later in January but more importantly were happy to just take a 10% deposit. I received a refund of the other 90% straight away. This seems to me to be a reasonable approach. I suspect the issue is with their online ordering system and you get a better service through the shops.

Eagerly awaiting the February “where the hell is my frame” mega rant thread 😂😂😂

Hope assemble/build to order rather than keep stock. They are also aware that ubyk have a lot if back orders and are shipping out to them on a daily basis.

Doesn’t excuse the lack of communication and the claim of stuff being in stock though because, as above, Hope don’t even keep stock so they can’t rely on suppliers holding stock.

Their website seems to be down now and they are not answering the phone. Worrying as I phoned yesterday to cancel my order but they assured me that they would have it today.

Anyone know what’s going on?

I too have been unable to get through to them today despite speaking to Richard in Oxford yesterday.
He didn’t have an answer when I asked if they were in trouble…
He did assure me that my order was in the next delivery despite not even asking who I was or what my order number was…
Doesn’t look good with the website also being down.
I’ve raised a claim via Paypal.

I was promised a call back today before they closed. I don’t suppose anyone is surprised to hear it was another broken promise.

Can’t decide if I should try again tomorrow or get straight onto paypal now.

Reminds me a lot of Duffbags!

I would not be surprised if they’re actually making a change to their content, removing the ‘In Stock’ statements.

Hurray for them if they are, it’s one step closer to generating customer loyalty.

If you want an example of how stock levels and ordering should be done look at Tredz. I had a part on preorder and despite it being obvious it was going to take 6 weeks on their site I still got an unexpected courtesy call asking if I was aware and still wanted it. Above and beyond really. (Note: not to say they are perfect – I wouldn’t trust a ‘built ready to ride’ bike from them or anyone as a mate has had issues with his Black Friday deal, they handled his after sales issues pretty well too though)

For a bit of balance, Ive ordered a couple of parts from UBYK, and recieved them both within 2 days, but I do always ring shops to check stock levels before placing my order. I should add, Kustom cycles are pretty competitive on hope parts, and offer excellent customer service. Could be worth a look

Thisa ^^. What I’ve learned from experience is with the exception of CRC/Wiggle and Merlin cycles and perhaps JE James all lot of shops are actually advertising what they can source, rather than what they have on the premises. If you want it quickly, phone first to see if its actually there.

It would be nice if they were honest about that.

Large distributors will end up being all that’s left. When there is no more profit margin you grab market share.

To run a proper online store with decent stock levels must take a hell of a lot of stock, unless it’s very niche. I can see why people would try their luck saying stuff was in stock when it’s not, but when big distributors (CRC/wiggle, bikediscount.de) with huge stock are available, why would you want to support a middle man?

I don’t think the biggies will take everything over, they already seem less competitive and comprehensive than they once were, and I suspect at some point they will fall by the wayside and be replaced (by other biggies), in the meantime there will be niches for places like SJSC and the like to have a good range of certain things in stock. But to try and stock a wide range of popular, mainstream, expensive kit and sell it at competitive prices with little capital is beyond ambitious.

I hope anyone ordering paid on credit card, I dont think that web site will be coming back up any time soon. I used to work in a bike shop and Hope do not take 2 weeks to build and prepare parts, it’s always pretty much next day. If they are taking 2 weeks then someones not placing or paying for the orders.

I would not be surprised if they’re actually making a change to their content, removing the ‘In Stock’ statements.

Hurray for them if they are, it’s one step closer to generating customer loyalty.

riiiiight…..

but when big distributors (CRC/wiggle, bikediscount.de)

They aren’t distributors. End users (me and thee) can’t buy from distributors. They are resellers/retailers. Distributors are zyrofisher, madison, extra etc.

Seems to me that ubyk have tried to win market share by making next to no margin on the Hope stuff, trouble is its Hope that have to put in all the extra effort to fulfil the orders. Not sure how happy hope will be about that, given their preference for LBS type shops. See why they fell out with Halfords…

Hope obvs have a production capacity, so if someone starts placing a ton of orders, by undercutting the competition (and making a big deal of it online), potentially devaluing the brand. Would you rush to help them out?

Week and a half before Christmas is not the time you’d expect a site to be down for planned ‘maintenance’.

Unless all substantial Christmas spending is now in their account with no hope of getting orders fulfilled and it’s the right time to go pop.

Hopefully not for anyone who’s placed a big order. Get your Paypal disputes in quick if you’re still waiting for refund.

Still not answering the phone
Doesn’t look good.
I’m down that way next week, think I’ll drop by the shop.

I’ll pop by in a bit, I work about half a mile from them. Not boding well!

I’ve made a claim with the credit card. Sounds like a straightforward process, albeit long winded.

I had 2 separate orders, one some custom Hope wheels, the other included some other Hope parts. Spoke to them on the phone a couple of times about changing colours/end caps 2 weeks ago which were all noted on their system.

Emailed them on Wednesday to see what was happening and still not had a response… Even though I’m in no rush for the parts I’m tempted to cancel after reading this!

Be good if you could chief.