You haven't made the wrong decision. Speaking as a Felt retailoer and a Felt owner I can tell you their customer service is excellent.

Please remember: There are worldwide shortages of certain equipment. Be patient. I think you will find it is worth the wait.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

My LBS received my S22 in about a week and half. I picked it up Dec. 18 (or somewhere around that date).

Mike

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TheBikeRacer.com

I'm in the same boat. I ordered an Orbea Chrono from my LBS in October. They said it would take 6 weeks and it is now Feb., I'm still waiting. They now tell me that Orbea is shipping all of their Chrono frames the 1st of Feb.. Still waiting and waiting and waiting....

I emailed Felt a few times and I never got a response. Maybe it's their website service. I found it pretty disappointing after everything people have said about Felts.

Adam

Why not call them? Their number is right there on the website. I called the other day and had no problems getting through--I was curious as to the availability of a bike and the lady quickly answered my question. Email can too easily be ignored, as you've realized. Good luck.

Had similar experience with Cervelo last year. I got a response when emailing them - a response with no valuable information, and my bike (expected arrival March/April) didn't arrive. I canselled the deal in June.

Tom's right: there are worldwide shortages right now for a variety of reasons. As an owner of two Felt bikes (tri and road) I have to step in here and say I've had nothing but positive experiences with not only the bikes but with the customer service people at Felt. Simply put: Felt makes some really great bikes at very fair prices. I think it would be entirely unreasonable to believe that they are in this business to intentionally mislead their consumers. I say hang in there, think positive thoughts (as hard as that may be right now) and you will be happy when it finally arrives. Oh yeah, a call to Felt isn't such a bad idea.

Thanks to everyone for the input. I should make clear that I understand about the shortages and even that things can just happen. It's not really the delay I am worried about, it's my inablity to get any information out of Felt at all. If they said "you really can't count on it until March" I could at least plan. The stringing me along week to week is what is really frustrating.

I did call, and was told that "none of the salespeople are here right now you have to call back". The guy I spoke with (the Controller) didn't want to take a message (I think he is too important for that).

Sigh. Whatever happened to the concept of "Customer Service".

Hey Cyborg42,

Well, a possible reason why you aren;t getting information from Felt is becasue they don't have any to offer. Remember, the majority of bike brands do not do their own manufacturing. It is contracted to a manufacturer. Given time differences, language barriers, general business hassles, etc. it is incredibly difficult for any bike compnay to accurately forecast delivery times. The people you really need to be talking to are probably someone like "Cheng Lin Manufacturing, Ltd." or some such thing. Did you see the Fedex commercial with the Taiwanese bike factory? That was reality.

Additionally, can you imagine what would happen if Felt sales staff of about 4 people for the entire U.S. had to field inquiries from each and every retail consdumer about where their bikes were? They would literally never have time for anything else- like taking orders or actually shipping bikes.

I can guarantee you these guys at Felt, Cervelo and others are sweating bullets and working very late hours to be sure to get your bikes as soon as possible. I know this for a fact becasue they go to great lengths to get the bikes to retailers as early as possible.

Sometimes people's expectations of customer service are somewhat unrealistic. If Felt, or any company, maintained a staff large enough to respond to every customer inquiry and e-mail requiring deliver times your bike may be $500-$1000 more expensive.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Well, I been lurking here for awhile now, and I sort of regret that my first post here is going to be confrontational, but. . .

That's complete BS.

Guess what? LOTS of companies, big and small, have to deal with manufacturing contractors, outside vendors, shipping delays, time differences, language barriers, operating costs, etc etc etc. It isn't just poor bike companies who have to work in the real world. Difficult as it is sometimes, successful, professionally run companies are- and should be- expected to deliver when they say they will, no matter what industry they're in.

Now, sure, sometimes delays are going to be both unforeseen and unavoidable. Sometimes. Not frequently, not usually, not as a standard business practice, but SOMETIMES. The proper and acceptable response to an unhappy customer at that time is an explanation and an apology, delivered promptly and politely, via whatever medium the the customer has found most convenient to use, whether that be e-mail, phone, snail mail, or whatever.

What is NOT acceptable is for a customer who has paid for a product which has not yet been delivered to be told to "call back" because everyone at the company is too busy to take his call. Completely unsat, no matter what industry we're talking about.

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

There are 3 issues here:

1) taking a very long to get a particular bike/frame model

2) irregardless of (1), a company making wildly unrealistic estimates as when the product will be delivered

3) lack of communication from the company to the retail dealer or even to the final customer regarding the status of issue (1), (2), or anything else.

All of these items affect sales and the bottom line. A company is (and should) not be just selling a bike, they are selling the product design, the product quality, the timely delivery of it, the solution of problems, the warranty, and good communication (which everybody defines in their own way). Any major shortcoming in even just ONE of these areas can easily kill a sale, no matter how great the actual physical product is. So, every person has different desires and needs. The bottom line is: if the overalll product, communication, delivery, and/or support is not worth the dollar amount you are putting toward the product, then put your money where your mouth is and give it to a company that gives you what you want or need. Does FELT satisfy its customers? I am sure it does for some and doesn't for others. You decide where you stand.

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Where would you want to swim ?

IMO the bottom line is this: Is Felt using good decision makig to allocate scarce personnel resources to fulfill their obligations to deliver product?

Given that they have a finite set of capabilities, like any organization, my experience is that they are currently utilizing 100% of their capabilities in the most effective manner to fulfill their obligations.

That is to say, they are doing their best. For some people, that may fall short of their expectations. I would suggest respectfully that, perhaps those expectations are unreasonable. This is why: Where can those expectations be reasonably met?

People rant about "customer service" on the back end of the deal and rant about price on the front of the deal. You can't have both.

A respected poster to this forum posted a thread about their expereince shopping at Tiffany's jeweller's recently. They noted the superior customer service. I have been a Tiffany;s customer as well and also received extraordinary service, for which I paid an astronomical premium: 1 Carat engagement ring at local jeweller, about $2000. At Tiffany's, over $10k or five times as much.

You get what you pay for. In the case of purchasing a domestically produced frame where the capability to actually communicate with the builder is in place then all these concerns are absolutely valid since you paid for them to be addressed in the purchase price of the product.

In the case of buying a price-point oriented performance bike from a good company built by a third party, off-shore manufacturer the circumstances will be different and that is why there is a cost difference.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I totally agree with you...complete BS.

OK alan and Vitus979,

I don't mean to be a persistent asshole (I don't mean to be one, I was born that way...), but let me get this straight- you guys think this is BS?

I don;t understand. That is to me, to infer that someone is lying or at least misrepresenting the facts here. Pardon my Drill Sergeant vernacular, but what part of this are not understanding?

Am I correct in assuming you guys both feel the people at Felt are sitting there, smirking, reading incoming e-mails from customers waiting for bikes and thinking "Hell, we're not responding to that- let them wait! We have their money! This is a bike company, we have more important things to do than make sure people get their bikes..."

Is that what you guys think? Or maybe you think your retailer took the money and paid his electirc bill, or took a vacation to Cancun. The invoice for the bike probably isn't due until 3/15/04 if they are on a standard pre-season program.

Well guys, my experience tells me they are not doing that. My expereince tells me our inside sales person at Felt gave me her personal cell phone number and I can call her, in her time zone, at 9 P.M. if that is what it takes. My expereince has been these guys are busting their asses to get bikes out on time. My expereince is that one bike company recently worked almost 20 hours non-stop, including unloading and sorting a container of bikes outside in the rain to get the bikes delivered to their respective retailers. That is customer service, and it is not bullshit.

I don't mean to rude or condecending, but come on guys, we are talking about companies with a sales staff of 4-6 people FOR THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES!

I fail to see what part of my explanation on behalf of our industry is, as you put it, "total BS".

Please explain it to me.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

This is why I am buying an Elite. Dave answers the phone when I call.

Tom you sound like a retailer, which I believe you are. You sound like an aggravated retailer who gets calls from people saying "where is my bike", when you have already spent their cashish on an engagement ring. The point is, above some certain price hurdle you should expect more from your retailer (whether it is you or the person who makes the bike). If they can't deliver on a service promise, people will find someone else to purchase from. I would argue that Felt can’t afford to not stay up night and day communicating with their customers if they want to generate repeat business. Hell they are getting bad pub here by not doing so. Even if they have nothing to say they should tell the customers that they don’t know where their bikes are or when they will be coming in. Something in this case is better than nothing. Silence will cost them more than a few temps to send out form emails. To suggest otherwise is to defend the retailer at the expense of the consumer. That’s just fallacious on its face.

OK, one more time......

1. They are already working as many hours as they can. 25% of their sales force has an infant under 1 yr old to take care of. They are people too.

2. They are already spending as much money on their customer service as they can afford.

3. They are tapped out- doing the best they can. Have you ever been in that position yourself at work? Can you empathsize?

And for the record, I never spent a customer's money on ANYTHING other than a customer's bike. EVER. The inference to the contrary is ill-informed, presumptuous, and offensive to me. Factually speaking, my purchase of an engagement ring from Tiffany's was five years ago and had nothing to do with anything here at our bike shop.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

And, also for the record, the "temps" they have responding to customer inquiries appear to be me on this forum at least, and I am not paid in any capacity other than the profit I generate as a reseller of their bikes- in return for which I feel compelled to come to their support in a circumstance like this because I know they are working very hard.

In addition to spending time on this forum defending Felt and distributing opinions on other threads I am on the phone pretty much non-stop throughout the day checking on availablity, checking backorders, etc.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I have to agree this is total BS. It is Felt's responsibility to manage their growth and it sounds like they are inept.

Okay, you are right my suggestion about spending money that is not yours was wrong and I apologize for that. You seem to have taken serious offense to that portion of my post and it was not intended to be that malodorous but rather contextual. I gave you a jab because you opened yourself up to it. My bad.

The fact remains, the customer does not give a shit what the retailer’s problems are. They want their bikes. The fact that their sales team is off nursing their infant does not matter. The fact that it’s not their fault does not matter. They took the money and they told the customer expect the bikes in X weeks. Now they need to deal with the promise they made. Yes, they are people too but building a business takes commitment and sacrifice. I know I have done it. I spent four years on the road 45+ weeks and two years straight in the office. I’ve done it and it was not fun, granted. However, I know other guys in the bike biz who are in their shop or out supporting a race 360+ days a year. Can I emphasize, yes absolutely but that is because I am and emphatic person but I am not the customer here. I did not buy a Felt, which is off in never never land. What I feel about Felt does not matter. This isn’t even about Felt in my mind. It’s about what a customer should expect when they pay $X grand for a bike. Sorry, you are supporting an unsupportable point. The customer is king.

"it sounds like they are inept"

Or just busier than their projections. Is that their "fault"?

Come on guys, until you have walked a mile in a man's shoes perhaps it is inappropriate to pass such judgements.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

So they underpriced there product, then oversold it and are now underdelivering. All the signs of a tough year in business. I would suggest that overcommunicating might be the BEST route to take. There really is not much worse for the customer than underdelivery.

Yes, it is their fault. I have to make projections everyday and am held accountable for them. I work for a $50 Billion electronics mfg and if we miss a customer shipment by 1 day all hell breaks loose. 3 months is a joke.

Felt is not a $50 billion company and does not have the attendant capabilities.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

heh heh. dude, have you ever bought a swanky custom bike from a west coast builder? time projections mean nothing to these dudes. i once asked one - " dude do you even HAVE hours out there? the shortest time span you seem to recognize is the "week". " nyuk nyuk. he thought it was pretty funny.

so far you are still doing OK, as they seem to be talking in terms of months. here is a little tip - if they start to make references to SEASONS, like, " late spring " you are in big trouble.

now then as tom has explained there are a bazillion things in the production of a "felt" that are way out of felt's hands. first off, felt doesn't actually make shit at this price. cheng lin mfg or whoever does. not too mention lee chin mfg for thos e"felt fix hubs, and maybe ho lee chong mfg for the seatpost, etc etc. god only knows where this track bike is, dude. there is chain of supplies and materials and distribution invoved. nobody really knows when your bike is gonna arrive.

and, let us not forget it is a cheap-ass nondescript entry level low volume track bike. not exactly gonna be rising to the top of anybodies must get done today list, i wager. get a bianchi, or a fuji, or a debernardi. those things are hanging like grapes in shops everywhere.

why did you give the dude your money, anyway? live and learn, brother.