There are two bear traps waiting to snap shut on your leg when buying a bike online. The first, of course, is buying the bike itself. If you’re going by an ad and pictures – and placing trust in your fellow man – you’re buying a pig in a poke. God only knows what’s gonna show up on the truck a few weeks down the line.
If the truck ever shows, that is.
Which is my problem right now and Exhibit A that even an experienced wrangler of vehicles of all types can find himself in a position not unlike that of Ned Beatty in Deliverance – you know, the Hillbilly Scene. “Aintree? You aint never gonna get down to Aintree… ”
Or get your bike – city boy.
Here’s what happened:
In late November, I bought a new (to me) 1983 Honda GL650 Silverwing Interstate. I had been looking off and on for a decent example of this rare (because one-year-only) middleweight touring bike for about a year when I found a low mileage (just 12k) apparently well-preserved example about 100 miles northwest of Chicago. After some back and forth with the seller (who happened to be a dealer) I bought the bike. Now I had to figure out how to get the bike.
I live in SW Virginia, not too far from Roanoke – but very far from the Chicago area. Driving 10-plus hours (one way) to pick the bike up seemed like a hassle, so, after discussing it with the dealer, I decided to have the bike shipped to me instead. Without thinking about it much – and, much worse – without doing any research first, I agreed to use the company he recommended, Haul Bikes, Inc.
This was Wrong Move Number One. I should have checked the company out before signing up. Instead, I paid $600 to Haul Bikes to ship the bike to me within an estimated “2-3″ weeks from pick-up. Later on, I read the caveats and clauses in the contract that talked a lot about delays. I should have read those clauses before parting with my money.
This was Mistake Number Two.
Well, the bike gets picked up by Haul Bikes the following week – the first week of December, 2010. So far, so good. The Haul Bikes web site goes on at great length about how the bikes are placed on secure pallets for the trip, all tied down snug and safe. I am feeling good.
I let two weeks by – which is Mistake Number Three. I figured, after about two weeks, the bike will be either on its way to me or about to be sent on its journey. I should certainly have it in my garage before another week or maybe two at the outside. So I call the shipping company to check in and see whether they can give me a ballpark ETA, so I can be sure to be available to receive the bike.
Drumroll, please.
The lady at Haul Bikes informs me on Friday the 17th that “… nothing is going out before the end of the month.” Speechless pause follows as I digest this. Haul Bikes has already had my bike in its possession for two weeks. Now I am told that it will be at least another two weeks before it is “assigned” to a delivery driver. Maybe. No guarantee.
It gets better.
Even if it is assigned, the lady (who is personally very nice; I do not have any hate in my heart for her) tells me further that the actual delivery date could be the first week of January. Or the second. Maybe the third. She doesn’t know. Can’t say. We’ll just have to see how it goes.
So it could go on for weeks to come – possibly, months. To ship a bike 800 miles, for which I paid $600. I could walk 800 miles in the time my bike has just been collecting dust in the Haul Bikes warehouse.
If only I had done 5 minutes of due diligence Googling I would have found that glacial delivery times are a common complaint leveled against Haul Bikes, Inc.
But this I did not do – which is why I find myself looking and feeling jus’ like a hog. They have my money; they have my bike. And there is very little I can do about it except sit back, close my eyes and try to enjoy it.
Lesson: If you buy a vehicle online and need to get it shipped to you, take at least as much time checking out the shipping company as you did the vehicle itself. In particular, do they give a written guarantee that your vehicle will be delivered by such and such a date, excepting war or natural catastrophe? If not, think twice – unless you don’t mind your new baby spending time – potentially, a great deal of time – with someone else, long before it ever gets to you.
Postscript: I am getting ready to do what I should have done back in November – drive the 800 miles to pick up the bike and drive home with it in the bed of my pick-up.
I always have to learn the hard way.
C’mon boy, squeal! Louder! eeeeeee! eeeeee!
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
eeeeeeeeee! Louder!
The delay’s reported above seems to be their SOP. They are the epitome of over promising and under delivering. On top of that they put a scratch in my brand new HD, driver admits he did it, offers me $200, but I made the mistake of saying no, I wanted to file with the company. Well the $500 deductible comes into play then. Soooo, they can haul 40 bikes, do $500 damage to each and tell you “too bad so sad”. I have told more people about this bad experience than any other bad purchase decision I have ever made…..because in this case, it was not a matter of policy, it was a matter of taking care of a customer the way you would want to be taken care of….my recommendation, drive the bike home next time!
Hi Kim,
That’s vile – even worse than the delay I experienced getting my bike. I have no way of knowing whether they added scratches to the poor thing, because the first time I saw it in person was when the driver arrived to unload it. Scratching a brand-new bike is unforgivable, because the whole point of buying a new bike is to not have any scratches. Even if they fix it, it’s no longer factory-new. It’s been repaired. And that’s just not the same.
Really sorry to hear this happened to you…
Knowing you, you’ll be on your way TO the bike and the bike will be on the way TO your house…….make sure that doesn’t happen before you leave.
Haul Bikes Inc. Reviews
Sounds to me like another excellent example of an American corporation doing their thing and robbing us all blind.
Help me.. I can’t see anymore!
This is the American way, isn’t it?
Yeah. It’s bleak.
You tell me: Am I being impatient or unreasonable? I don’t think I am being impatient or unreasonable. They told me “2-3″ weeks. Ok. I can handle four weeks or so. That’s a week beyond the outside limit of the estimate they gave me. Five weeks is pushing it. Anything much more than five weeks is fucking ridiculous – and a rip-off. We’re talking an 800 mile (one way) delivery. More than a month for that? Seriously? And this shit about them just sitting on my bike for a month-plus before even thinking about maybe putting it on a truck really chafes my ass.
I have already filed a complaint with the BBS.
Haul Bikes Inc. Reviews
*Caveat Emptor*
“Let the buyer beware”.
Under normal circumstances I would say you are justified in your complaints. Unfortunately, now everything is a gimmick bro. You hurry up and pay massive premiums for simple/basic services then you hurry up and wait. It’s a joke! You’re going to be upset with my conclusion, but this one is your fault man! You have to research these fuckers and not just take a person’s word on it. A dealer will tell you anything necessary to complete the sale. You know this better than anyone. Like I said before when I was thinking about transporting my Polaris Ranger from Texas to here I contacted over 20 trucking companies and had numbers and times all over the board. Ranging from over $1,000 and a month to less than $400 and a couple days. The total distance would have been somewhere like 2,000 miles.
—Bottom Line—
You have to do your homework and not be taken by a nice website, or the word of a used car salesman, or in this case a used bike salesman!
Research.. Research.. Research..
Keywords: Haul Bikes Inc, Reviews, Caveat Emptor, Let the buyer beware
You’re right. I fucked up! Now I’m squealing like a pig…. eeeeeee!!!
I used Forward Air about 5 years ago to ship a KTM 450 from NC to CA. The cost was approx $500 and it took two weeks for everything to happen. I did have to wait for an extra week for them to call me and tell me the container was ready but after that everything went really smooth.
Next time, I’ll be checking with them… live and learn!
Second recommendation for forward air. I bought a Honda Superhawk from Mo and had it shipped to PA for about $400. Everything went smooth and I would guess it was 2 weeks from buying the bike online until I was riding it.
What was the total time for you to get your ride? I see a lot talking about the wait, but nothing about when they get it
Hi Marc,
It took about two months. My main complaint with the company was that they weren’t forthright up front about the likely time in transit and their lack of customer response once they had the bike. These two things caused me a lot of stress during the experience. If I’d known ahead of time it was going to take as long as it ended up taking, that would have been one thing. But it took about twice as long as they initially suggested it would. Not cool. Also not cool – no tracking system. I called several times and all I could get out of them was that my bike was sitting in a wharehouse someplace waiting to be picked up. Was it secure? Was it inside? No answer. When will it be shipped? Is it in transit now? Now answer. That went on for weeks and weeks.
When the bike finally arrived, it was fine. It had been secured properly on a pallet inside a custom-made big ride designed to haul several bikes at a time. The driver seemed to be a conscientious guy.
If they’d been straight with me up front about how long it was going to take – and been able to provide updated tracking info (like UPS or Fed Ex) I would have no complaints.