Looking for any help/suggestions on what I should do in this situation.
I ordered a Stages SB20 bike ($2400ish) direct form Stages Cycling about 2 months ago, and received it at the end of May.
I put it together as carefully as I could, but despite my efforts, the bike electronics just don’t work. (Power pedals work). I did some online research on forums, seems I likely have a “100% resistance” problem that occurs when the circuit boards don’t work - it’s not something you can fix on your own.
I’ve put in 2 service tickets online, and called nicely and left a message on their customer service (for the SB20 bike) every week for the past 4 weeks. I haven’t received a single reply to either. The service tickets are just in ‘being processed’ mode on the website when I login, but that’s it.
So I’m stuck with a 160lbs dead-weight (it’s unrideable due to the 100% resistance issue) with zero help and zero customer support from Stages 4 weeks out. I’m quite disappointed in this, given the good reputation of Stages online and from DCRainmaker’s review on the bike, as well as the sheer cost of the bike, which you’d think would gain some priority in customer support.
In addition - this bike is not returnable to stages once the shipping crate is opened.
I’m inclined to call my credit card company and see if they can either bug Stages to help me, or refund the bike unless I get support.
If anyone here has any contacts they could share, or have any advice on this situation, would be greatly appreciated.
(I am US based - apparently customers in Europe/England seem to be getting good service through a 3rd party vendor)
I’m actually hoping DCRainmaker sees this and can help look into what’s going on over there.
The somewhat galling part is that I can’t get even a return email or phone call just to say “sorry, we’re looking into it but we ARE going to get to you” from anyone, but I just got another email “SB20 back in stock! Buy now!”
I don’t think companies need to be dunked on unnecessarily, but this is a MAJOR issue of you’re a potential new SB20 buyer - the problem I have apparently has been had by multiple people in the past (it gets its own page in the ‘troubleshooting’ webpage, which I tried everything they recommended), and if you buy now, you’ll likely be in same shoes, with a huge, heavy bike that takes up a ton of space, and is completely unrideable.
I honestly wish I had bought a Peloton at this point. I’m not even a Peloton fan (I use zwift, or nothing) but the emphasis they put on getting you a WORKING bike as priority #1 with white-glove service, in-house setup, and followups, really reasonates to me now and is something I feel is warrated from purchases of this size.
Man… Stages (USA) really need to sort themselves out.
I see this story far too often, be it here, facebook, trainerroad, reddit - the customer support is appalling from Stages.
Here in Europe, we are serviced by Stages (EU) who for me have been fantastic, and the UK by SaddleBack - who seem pretty switched on too.
My only suggestion is to look at linked in and find someone higher up the food chain and contact them the email address format is firstname initial, lastname @stagescycling.com
My contact at stages has left and looks like his job for developing the Stages App hasn’t been filled yet:
I saw on a facebook group that someone in the US did have the same problem I did; and Stages sent them circuit boards, which didn’t work, and then ended up sending them an entire new bike. Some other folks said the circuit boards were completely out of stock and couldn’t even be bought by suppliers to repair.
I still have received zero response from stages, now 6 weeks out.
Just called my credit card company, my first time doing this regarding a product.
They’re putting in an inquiry on the charge, and even though I’ve already been billed the $2700, there’s a ‘hold’ on it so there’s the possibility I may get it back.
I’m supposed to receive some letter in the mail to fill out regarding info, and send it back to them and they’ll take it from there.
It’s unfortunate it’s come to this, especially for this large of a purchase. I’m pretty patient and understanding but it does seem pretty unreasonable to leave me hanging for this long for this large, bulky, and costly a purchase.
Had the exact same problem when I bought mine back in February. Took 4+ weeks to get a response from Stages. They resolved the issue quickly by sending out a new part, but man was it frustrating waiting to get a response.
Had the exact same problem when I bought mine back in February. Took 4+ weeks to get a response from Stages. They resolved the issue quickly by sending out a new part, but man was it frustrating waiting to get a response.
Yeah, corporate “ghosting” is a pet peeve of mine. It’s OK to be backed up, but just freaking communicate. Concept 2 does it right. When I had an issue around the time of pandemic-related backlogs, they sent me an initial email estimating six weeks before they’d tackle my issue, and sent me an update once per week on how that timeline was looking. And actually got to it a little early, which made them look good. If they’d just “ghosted” me for 5 weeks I’d have been annoyed.
This. You’ve already been too patient. Call your CC issuer and have them reverse the charge.
CHASE just called me back after I filed the claim about my dead SB20 bike on Sunday online and uploaded a form that evening. They confirmed my claims and have put a temporary credit on my account for the total amount of the bike, and will call me if there are any other developments. The CHASE paperwork said it takes on avg 30-35 days to complete a claim.
I’ve yet to receive any response from Stages on either of my online tickets or the 5 phone calls I have left over the past 5-6 weeks.
Will update as to the final resolution, but for now, buyer beware.
Finally resolved this whole fiasco - after calling the credit card company, who post the charge on hold, then posting about my experience on a SB20 facebook group 8 weeks after I received the bike (so 12 weeks after I bought it), I finally got a call from someone at Stages, who apologized profusely, and arranged to have the dead bike picked up no-charge. Someone on the forums there apparently had a connection to someone in the company and told them to call me. I suspect I was right about their lack of parts (circuit boards), as they never offered to repair my bike or send a service person or part over - I had posted on the SB20 facebook group that I wanted to return the bike since it had been so long, so I do suspect they only called me after they knew I wasn’t going to insist on receiving parts which they don’t have. Apparently, someone else who had the same problem I did but several months earlier, ended up receiving an entire new SB20 bike because of this problem.
I would strongly recommend everyone to steer way clear of buying an SB20 bike until there are confirmed reports that there actually is reasonable customer service. As I type this, there are several other people with my exact situation on that facebook group that also have received zero word from stages 4-8 weeks after buying their new bike, just like I did.
Somebody on the Zwift FB page asked about buying a Stages bike and the common theme was poor customer service. People seem to love their bike, but hate the company. So odd a company would have a decent product, but then shoot themselves in the foot. I’m in the market this Winter and I’m not even going to consider Stages. Too many customer service horror stories.
Somebody on the Zwift FB page asked about buying a Stages bike and the common theme was poor customer service. People seem to love their bike, but hate the company. So odd a company would have a decent product, but then shoot themselves in the foot. I’m in the market this Winter and I’m not even going to consider Stages. Too many customer service horror stories.
The unfortunate part is that Stages had a very good customer service reputation until recently. All the online reviewers including DC Rainmaker, raved about their prompt top-class customer service.
Right now, I can tell you with 100% certainty that it’s worse than garbage. As can be seen by my experience, and if you check Zwift/FB/Trainerroad forums of anyone who’s tried to contact customer service lately.
Avoid at all costs right now, even if there’s a fire sale - the problem I had is NOT rare, and gets its own webpage on Stages. And not even a courtesy “we’re out of parts, you may have to wait months, or we’ll refund you” email, which would have more than sufficed for me in terms of customer satisfaction.