http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/

Comments on service etc please, thay have a lot on offer

 

Had god and bad experiences. The bad is that they still take orders on out of stock items and charge your card almost immediately, which in some states, is illegal.

I waited 2 weeks for one order without notification of the out or order item before I finally contacted them. When they told me it would be an additional 2 weeks, I canceled the order. And it took at least a week to refund my credit card.

Not good business, IMO.

 

I have dealt with them alot. The only thing I can say about them is, watch out ordering anything where the build date may effect you, i.e. tires, helmets, etc and make sure, no matter how fast they say they will ship it to you, add a week to that. Other than that, they are a pretty good company.

 

Cheers guys, how about www.hardracing.com then? Not to mention I like some one that works at this place

 

You "like" someone at "Hard" racing? This should be good

 

ordered my Ohlins shock for my Speed Triple from Hard Racing. dude on the phone was cool, took my specs info, it was at my house like 3 or 4 days later. granted i'm on the east coast, they're on the east coast (i think), but still seemed super prompt. they got a lot of good prices on a lot of good stuff.

 

Exact same thing. I had some good experiences but two times they took my order and the item was out of stock. I was leaving for a trip and ordered an OGIO travel bag I contacted them directly specifically asked if in stock as I needed it in 10 days and they said yes. When in fact it never came and I cancelled the order after my trip and the girl was very rude and condensending .

I will never do business with them again.

 

I've had good experience with them and with www.kneedraggers.com

 

See, now Kneedraggers.com pulled the same deal with me as mentioned by others where I was charged immediately for a chest protector they claimed to have in stock. Three weeks later I call to check the shipping status and they tell me they didn't in fact have it and would try to get it out to me in another week or two.

The issue with these online retailers is that many are primarily serving as the middleman vendor between distributors and the end customer; they rarely stock product and rely on what TR, PU and other distributors tell them is available via their distributor websites.

Problem is, when the distributor doesn't actually have the item or runs out of stock, the middleman vendor tries to cover their ass and spin tales about availability whether or not that information is correct.

 

yeah I cant believe the TR / PU business model still exists in todays online commerce.
Coast to coast ground shipping is less than 6 business days.

 

i just placed my first order with Superstore today, but I usually use Riders Discount and TJ for most things and they are great, but I also use STG and they are great but lately it seems harder to get someone on the phone. And more recently the Trackday Store which also has great service.

 

It's an issue of operating capital and time. Theres no way we can list and maintain actual inventories of distributors. My shop only has about 1% of the product available through our distributors listed on our site. We try to keep good stock for the popular brands and popular apparel but it's impossible to hit it every time. We have over 100K in inventory and thats still just the tip of the iceburg for stocking everything available.

Theres guys out there with pics of their warehouses full of tires and helmets. Yes they have them but a lot of the time the tires are 3 years old and most of the helmets have been on closeout for 2 years. We try to think of our inventory like produce. Keep it fresh.

When we get an online order for something not in stock we immediately check the distributors. Based on our location we are usually 1 or 2 days out on orders. If it's an issue of a day or 2 we dont contact the customer because we ship priority on most items so it's a reasonable amount of time to get their order. If it's going to be more than that time frame we will call the customer and tell them and then give them the option for a refund or to wait. We order from PU, Tucker and WPS almost every day. We dont wait for big orders... we get it coming as soon as it's ordered. Drop shipping is also an option so we dont have to warehouse a ton of inventory but it still gets shipped the day of the order.

If we have a customer call we check stock, if it's not in stock we check the distributor while on the phone and give them an accurate shipment time and then they have the option to buy or not.

Everyone has a different way of doing things. We get orders for weird stuff that you wouldnt normally stock.... that no one would normally stock all the time.

I think most online shoppers are aware that most online stores dont stock everything they sell. It's all about getting the product to them in a reasonable amount of time. 5 days from order to delivery is reasonable for a non stocked item.

The slump in MC sales also plays a huge role in what people keep in stock. You have to have cash on hand, not inventory to survive right now. It's not like a few years back when you would get 6 or 7 grand in walkins on a Tuesday.

Apparel is the worst because it changes so fast and people get stuck with tons of inventory that suddenly goes on closeout. Then your competition buys it cheaper and your stuck with a bunch of inventory and a big fat loss.

Theres give and take... you buy from a big warehouse and if theres an issue you get a robot on the phone who doesnt give a rats ass about you. You buy from the little guy and when theres an issue you get the owner on the phone who's livelihood is on the line to keep his customers happy.

If the item isnt in stock you just have to find the fastest way to get the product to the customer, if it's drop shipped or if you have to pay extra for freight to get it to them on time. 5-7 days from order to delivery is what we try to maintain.

 

For sure, you guys are doing it the right way. I understand the business model - it's just the lack of notification by some online retailers or claiming 'in stock' when a product isn't available that becomes ponderous for the customer.

Thanks for the insight regardless :up:

 

It sucks... I cringe everytime I offer a refund because it's going to take a week or 2 to get something. We lose sales because of it sometimes but in the long run I think we keep more customers than we piss off. I do get a slight grin when people take the refund and order somewhere else when I know they dont have it either. Those people usually call me back next time they need something.

 

Post No #12 was great, but this made me smile

 

that kinda thing is happening with me right now for this belly pan that i guess only one company makes, and only 2 little italian stores distribute. ordered it January 20th, still not here. every week the dude from italy is like "oh next week, i promise" then that day comes and he's like "still delayed, next week i promise". thing is, i can't really cancel it cause there's nowhere else to get it really. so what can you do i guess. its annoying that they charged me right away and then didn't have it actually, but whatever i guess, not the end of the world.

 

www.sportbiketrackgear.com

 

Had great experience with motorcyclesuperstore although I try to do most business locally. The amount you can save on a tire is insane though. Most stuff comes within a couple of days to me, never had a problem. Tried CycleGear last week as they had a tire I wanted and gloves for my son, one week and still nothing, just an order number. Grrr

 

btw they do match lower prices found online.

 

When i built up a bike a few years ago i got most of the stuff from Hard Racing shipped to Australia.

Only small hassles were no non-US credit cards, only wire transfer of funds and was occasionally slow with email responses. But nothing a few late night phonecalls couldnt fix.

Overall not too bad.