Banshee Spitfire ordering exeperiance

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Banshee Spitfire ordering exeperiance
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flag stiingya
Posted: Feb 18, 2017 at 8:42 Quote
Posting this cause I would like to save someone else the experience I've had.

If you are a Banshee fan you might have seen this.

2017 Banshee Spitfire frames are now arriving at Dirt Merchant Bicycles!

That was posted almost a month ago. I inquired immediately, first thing is I wanted to know is when I'd get the frame. Below is what I was told.

The first batch of frames will start shipping to customers Feb 13th....I can get a frame reserved with a $500 deposit. (Note it doesn't say a non refundable deposit.)

I replied that, "if I could get it shipped to me on the 13th I'm in". They took my deposit, and was told they'd get back to me with an update next week.

Lets just skip to the end, there were no updates unless I messaged to find out what's going on except for one. The one where they ask me to give them the remainder of the purchase price so I could get the frame 3-4 days earlier.

I reply, 3-4 days earlier than when? (because I've gotten no firm answers at this point) And I specifically point out that I just read of some guys experience where he waited a really long time for a Banshee frame and I was getting frustrated with the whole thing.

Again, no answer to the "when" question. I'm told I'll get it shipped directly to me and it will be three days earlier. I'm not happy, the communication has been a bunch of crap IMO. But I say that's fine thinking it will be any day now. (he had in a recent response to one of my inquires said "any day now".)

THEN, I realize it's the 13th... There they are asking me for more money to get my bike 3-4 day's earlier like they are doing me a favor when the frame is already late per our agreement... WTS...?

But, I tell myself to chill, I look at the pictures of the new bikes! (some dude has a large black 2017 built up and posted on here and it's the most bad ass looking bike EVER!) And for the next four days I make sure to check my messages and my Paypal multiple times during the day to look to see if there is an update. Then Thursday night I decide I'm done. I e-mail that I want to cancel, I'm fed up with the lack of communication, and I'm not happy that the 500.00 magically appears to be non refundable... (I'm sure there was fine print someplace when I sent the money, still...) NOTE paying an invoice through paypal leaves you with no recourse. Better to say no to that and call them up with your credit card info. Because if I gave this information to my bank I think they'd reverse the payment in a heartbeat...

Only AFTER that message saying I want to cancel do I get a decent update on the shipping situation and a forwarded e-mail from Banshee USA saying what's going on. I'm told that it may not be, "acceptable, but this is the industry norm". (This isn't my normal experience, and "if" this really is what a shop thinks is the industry norm than I guess they have no reason to complain about loosing out to online retailers)

But at this point I'm pissed off with the whole thing. I don't want to deal with a shop that's not up front. What happens if I get a lemon/bent or damage in shipping, etc, what happens if the Spitty cracking issue hasn't been solved or the new bearings end up creating a new issue, etc. There hasn't even been a real test of a 2017 Banshee yet...? I don't want to be dealing with this shop for a warranty situation after all of this... there's no way I'm going to feel like I'm going to get fair treatment now? (nor obviously after posting this!)

So I reply that I still want to cancel. I point out that their shop is the one that advertised frames "arriving now" back in January. It's not Banshee's fault they are misrepresenting their stock levels. Or that they are not up front about the shipping situation or the actual terms of the deal.

So then I get a message last night that does have clear specific information. Bout time.

BUT they will not cancel my order. OK, I was kinda expecting they weren't going to based on the last message.. MOST IMPORTANTLY to this whole story is that then the guy points out to me that he has other interested customers in the frame. But that he's not letting me out of the deal because it's, "not that late". (and if their would have been good information all along than I could see their point)

SO, it's not that he couldn't sell it to someone else, give me my money back and all of us could be happy and go on with our lives. But NO, HE'S GOING TO KEEP MY 500 BUCKS OUT OF SPITE...?

So I could have just admitted defeat, kept my mouth shut paid the rest of the money and hoped for the best. But for one, it's a bunch of BS. And two they need to get called out on how they are marketing these frames. It's one thing if they are upfront that the timetable is just a guess. That the 500 dollars is non refundable. (If the first thing that happened is they said they couldn't be sure of the 13th and about the "no refunds" before taking my money I'd have nothing to complain about here other than their lack of communication/answering specifics.)

But had they been upfront, I'd have most likely NOT put in my order. WHICH is probably the honest reason why they are not up with information...?

anyway, buyer beware. If you still want to buy from that shop than good luck! I hope your experience is better...
flag mb49
Posted: Feb 18, 2017 at 11:30 Quote
Wow. That's bad. And I thought On One were bad (oh they are????) . Seems to me no matter what country you live in some unscrupulous company has only one thing on their mind , to turn you over. It's all about in good faith, in my opinion. I feel for you man
flag dimetera413
Posted: Feb 18, 2017 at 13:45 Quote
I doubt they are even supposed to be posting the bikes for sale online. A lot of companies won't let distributors/retailers post online for reason unknown but i'm sure there are loopholes and Dirt Merchant seems like they probably figured it out.

I've never bought anything from them but being a former Banshee fan, I will chime in and say Banshee is the worst with timetables. I feel like they really aren't sure when they are getting anything in to ship to retailers. I love their bikes but with all the hoopla and excuses i've heard from them, I switched to Santa Cruz and haven't looked back. Customer service is huge to me and don't get me wrong, Banshee people are super nice, they just seem a little lost all the time. Ain't got time for that! I'm sure other people will say different but that's just what I experienced.

There are a few sellers on PB that bait you in with corny advertising tricks, Dirt Merchant being one of them.
flag gbeaks33
Posted: Feb 18, 2017 at 15:01 Quote
I wanted to pick up a Banshee Prime this fall after riding one at outerbike, and legit could not find any possible way to get one. I checked with all the BC dealers, who all of a sudden stopped stocking their bikes. I emailed the company directly, never got a response. One shop guy said he'd message the Canadian rep to contact me, never heard from him. I had heard that they were going direct to consumer, but can't find any evidence of that other than a new Zealand website.

The only thing I can find that looks legit is some bikes in stock on jenson, but they are all old stock and only limited frame sizes. And after having zero contact with anyone from Banshee, I decided I wanted nothing to do with buying one of their bikes and not being able to get customer support.
flag dirtrider76
Posted: Feb 18, 2017 at 15:28 Quote
Screw Banshee and their merchants!

I bought a 2013 Rune when the 14s were coming out cause I wanted a blue one. After calling a few places that deal with them I had to call Trident direct to get a frame cause no one would take the time to do it. I had then call a shop, tell them Trident had it pulled and order it through them.

Fast forward just a bit over 2 years later. Rune cracks at the common spot on the seat tube. It's out of warranty but they will do a crash replacement for $900 + $300 to ship it because they no longer are using distributors and don't have a US warehouse/distribution center yet. I was given the option to wait till the 17s came out and went that route cause I was told price would be the same and less shipping cause the warehouse will be operational then.

After numerous calls I was told finally at the end of the year I could pre-order a Rune for $1500 crash replacement. Sick of the games I walked away and bought a frame from my LBS.

Dirtmerchant actually contacted me after posting on MTBR. Said I was told wrong pricing, my frame should have been warranties ect. When I said I was waiting since APRIL last year I never got a reply.


My friends less than a year old Spitfire groaned like mad from the link mount pivot. He contacted them and they expected him to buy a crash replacement! It's a poor design and also common issue.


I
flag dimetera413
Posted: Feb 18, 2017 at 19:11 Quote
Another thing I don't like about the Banshee design is the interchangeable drop outs. No matter what I did to the bolts, they would work their way loose and creak when braking and pedaling. I used loc tite and extra torque, etc. It would always come back. I emailed Banshee and they said "they never heard of that happening before". Really? Never? I'm a smooth rider and even I had the problem, I highly doubt i'm the only one. I don't want to speak too soon or anything but I wouldn't be surprised if Banshee is no longer around within a few years. It just seems like a slowly dying company that's under staffed with bad customer service. That kind if stuff hurts your brand badly in this day an age of highly competitive bike brands.
flag dirtrider76
Posted: Feb 20, 2017 at 17:48 Quote
This get sorted out?
flag stiingya
Posted: Mar 23, 2017 at 22:15 Quote
dirtrider76 wrote:
This get sorted out?

the guy I dealt with from DirtMerchant saw me post about this on MTBR.com back when I started this thread. And he told me if I edited the posts on MTBR.com that he would refund my money. So I took out all my previous posts there and told him so. He refunded my money in like 5 minutes and then he must have seen this post because he then asked me to edit this post too. (but I didn't agree to that, so I didn't)

So then, because I didn't say I wouldn't post anything "new", I went back to MTBR and I posted a screen shot of where he asked me to edit my posts in exchange for the refund. I blurred out everything except that line because I wanted people to see what happened and they could judge if they wanted to do business with him. I didn't comment on it, just said FYI and posted the screen shot.

Then a few people who had already been calling me out as the bad guy and supporting DirtMerchent started posting about what I dick I was for blurring out the rest of the message. That I was taking it out of context to try and make him look bad, etc. (which is totally stupid, you can't take out of context him asking me to edit my posts in exchange for the refund?) The whole reason I did a screen shot is because I didn't want him denying exactly what he put in his message.

So there was some more arguing back and forth for awhile. At first I was keeping up my side of the argument. But at some point I thought it was all pretty ridiculous. I'd have gave up the 500 bucks to let people know what bullshit that was. (from my point of view anyway) And then there people calling me out for it...? Whatever, I was lucky and got my 500 bucks back. Life goes on... Smile

Have a good one!
flag dimetera413
Posted: Mar 24, 2017 at 8:57 Quote
They gave you a hard time about the refund before and then they see your post and make you take it down in exchange for a refund? These guys are real garbage. Just shows that they didn't give a damn about you since day one.
flag jefathome
O+
Posted: Mar 24, 2017 at 15:49 Quote
I'd like to point out that your post is a bit misleading.... Sounds to me like you are having a DIRTMERCHANT issue, NOT a Banshee issue. I've always had GREAT experiences dealing with Banshee. I had a V1 Spitty and now I'm on a V2 and couldn't be happier. As far as bikes arriving from the MFG late, that IS a common problem in the industry and is often out of the hands of the manufacturer (Banshee, Intense, SC etc.) They are beholden to the actual MFG in Asia and these MFG's are notorious for being behind schedule.

It was ishty of the retailer to represent stock as being on hand when it wasn't. It was ishty of them to not say, Hey.. We will TRY for the 13th, but we can't make any promises, and it was ishty for them to not give you back your deposit on what seems to be a stock frame.

As for the guy with the dropout issues, that does suck, but I know a few folks around here with Banshee's and none of us are having the same issue. Maybe try a better version of the Loctite?
flag mb49
Posted: Mar 24, 2017 at 15:58 Quote
It's amazing what bad publicity will do. It always surprises me that some companies haven't realised that if their honest and treat their customers fairly, they will comeback , and will give you excellent feedback
flag dirtrider76
Posted: Mar 24, 2017 at 16:35 Quote
Its dealing with a boutique bike company issues. Late shipping, only a handful of distributers, total confusion on every angle, crap warranties and shit support. TBH dealing with Banshee taught me one thing, avoid boutique bikes and avoid a lot of issues.
flag snajper2
Posted: Apr 6, 2017 at 10:27 Quote
I am thinking about buying a bamshee frame, but after reading this thread I am getting some second thoughts. Any frame better than that?
flag jefathome
O+
Posted: Apr 6, 2017 at 14:35 Quote
snajper2 wrote:
I am thinking about buying a bamshee frame, but after reading this thread I am getting some second thoughts. Any frame better than that?

Which frame are you looking at?

And please remember... The original poster was having issues with a RETAILER, not BANSHEE.
I've always had GREAT experiences dealing with Banshee. I've never dealt with the company he ordered through that caused all the issues.

Dirt76:
bigquotes "crap warranties and shit support."
I TOTALLY disagree.... I've had great support from them.


MB49:
bigquotes"If their (they're) honest and treat their customers fairly, they will comeback , and will give you excellent feedback"

I AGREE 100% And that's exactly why I'm here defending them. Between myself and my buddy, we have had 6 Banshee frames. V1 Spitty, V2 Spitty, V1 Rune, V2 Rune, Prime and a DarkSide. No, I'm not a Kanuk defending the guys down the street. Im in SoCal, over 2,000 miles away. They have always been VERY responsive and gone above and beyond to help me with any issues. That's why we all keep going back to them for our "next" bikes.
flag dirtrider76
Posted: Apr 7, 2017 at 16:45 Quote
The retailer couldn't get the frames from Banshee who runs their own distribution center now. They had no distribution centers when they wanted to charge me $300 shipping on a frame for a crash replacement last April. Shipping was from a warehouse in Taiwan.
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