I know a lot of folks have had good luck with Biketronics and their RetroRadio kit, but I thought I should share my experiences so far.

I ordered a RetroRadio kit from them on 7/15/07. The first package was lost by UPS in Minneapolis, so we started a tracer on it. On 7/25/07 I was desparate for the kit as I had a big ride planned for the upcoming weekend. My bike was torn apart waiting for the package and I didn't want to reassemble everything, only to have to tear it apart again once the radio came, so I ordered a second kit to be overnighted to me. I spoke with Deanna and she said it would not be a problem for me to return the original order via UPS Ground for a credit when/if it showed up.

The original package did finally arrive, so I took it straight to the local UPS Store without ever opening the box. That was on 7/26/07. I've since been watching my online credit card statement and as of 8/10/07 nothing had been issued. I then checked the tracking information on UPS.com. Turns out the package was delivered back to Biketronics on 8/2/07. However, on 8/6/07 Biketronics claimed the package arrived back to them damaged, so they have apparently shipped it back to me (obviously no credit issued). This, in and of itself, is an interesting claim as the box was never opened by me; I had already installed the second radio on my bike. The boxhereone afternoon and it was back at the UPS Store the next morning to be returned.

Clearly the original problem was no fault of Biketronics; UPS lost the package. However, claiming damage 4 days after the package was returned to them with NO PHONE CALL OR EMAIL to alert me to the problem is, in my opinion, inexcusable.

A lot of readers here have lauded the excellent customer service from Biketronics. I, however, have thusfar not benefited from it. I called and left a voicemail this morning asking for a return phone call to explain the situation. I'll post a follow-up message to keep everyone abreast of how Biketronics handles this situation.

 

Biketronics should have sent you a return shipping label on their dollar. Hopefully you paid for it by credit card and this can be disputed. My credit card company has taken care of me for incidents such as this before with excellent results. Sorry about your misfortune.

 

Nope, I had to pay to return the package (~$23) out of my own pocket.

 

Let us know how things work out. As for the "four days after the package was returned" before a damage claim was made part of the episode, two of those days were the week-end. Apparently, from your facts, the package was delivered to Biketronics on a Thursday, 8/2, and the damage was noted and package returned to UPS on Monday, 8/6. That doesn't seem like an inordinate amount of time, IMHO.

Also, as for the damage claim with UPS, you were the shipper of the returned item and the insurance on the package would have you as the insured party, not Biketronics. So any refund on the damaged item would go to you, not Biketronics. I had a similar experience with UPS when I sold an item on ebay that was damaged en route to the buyer. The UPS payment came to me as the shipper, not the buyer. Then I made the refund/adjustment with the purchaser. As I recall, it took a couple of weeks to get everything sorted out.

Biketronics is a "mom and pop" operation and ususally a consequence of that is we sometimes must wait for responses to our problems rather than have an automated phone system or machine generated email response serve as our point of contact when we have problems.

Hopefully, Mike and Donna will get you squared away to your satisfaction.

Also, contact your credit card company and make a disputed charge claim if you can.