I bought a pair of much-needed tires off eBay from Atlanta Cycling (eBay ID bicyclesurplus). They do a lot of eBay business. The item description said that they only accept PayPal and that items ship out the next business day after payment is received. I checked UPS and their ground service from Atlanta to my ZIP guaranteed delivery within two days. The auction ended Tuesday and I paid immediately.

So, it was reasonable to assume that worst case, they wouldn't ship the tires out until Thursday, and they would arrive Monday (I needed them Monday night). Even though according to the description, they should have gone out sometime Wednesday and I'd have had them for the weekend.

Monday afternoon I started getting nervous and sent them an email asking for a tracking number, and got back a half-@$$ed response from Don Dutson (shipped but no tracking number, call this number...) Turns out he didn't ship them until Monday! Four business days after I paid! I know, I know, should have sucked it up and bought them at the LBS if I needed them, but judging by what he said that he would do, I figured I'd be O.K. Lesson learned, don't buy from Atlanta Cycling / bicyclesurplus!

He didn't do what he said he would do. And, he didn't even respond at all to my second email politely explaining the situation and why I was unsatisfied.

Normally I'm more laid back but I missed out on some serious training time and a group ride...

Don Dutson of Atlanta Cycling is a liar, and an @$$ hole.

After he didn't respond to my last email, I left negative feedback for him stating that he shipped slow, he said it would ship the next biz day but he waited 4 biz days.

Well, he leaves retaliatory negative feedback, lying his @$$ off, saying I had "unfair expectations" and "never contacted them." That is such BS, as I have the previously mentioned email from Dons' account and I spoke to Kristi from Atlanta Cycling on the phone.

SO if anyone lives in the Atlanta area, or if you go on eBay to buy bike stuff, stay away from Atlanta Cycling or bikesurplus online.

Don Dutson is unprofessional, lies before the sale / does not follow through on promises, and then is unethical and lies after the sale. BUYER BEWARE / STAY AWAY

A helpful hint for a hopeful hero....might want to hang on to your paperwork that justifies slandering this dealer. It's not unheard of for merchants to sue to customers for what they say in a public forum. I've been upset too and felt ripped off but I try to limit what I say for this very reason. If you are going to list specifics, particularly names, make darn sure you have your ducks together.

As El Cheapo says...
If you need something shipped by X date, YOU need to follow-up from the get-go and make sure shipping is done in a timely fashion.
I'm not excusing the shop for lackluster service, just pointing out that when time is a factor, one needs to follow-up, follow-up, follow up, or buy from a local dealer.

Wow so this guy ships you the item (as stated i assume) a couple days late and you leave negative feedback and then call him unethical and an a$$h0le. Take a very deep breath and analyze the situation. I might be slightly irked by the transaction but I'd hardly be calling for a worldwide ban.

Wow so this guy ships you the item (as stated i assume) a couple days late and you leave negative feedback and then call him unethical and an a$$h0le. Take a very deep breath and analyze the situation. I might be slightly irked by the transaction but I'd hardly be calling for a worldwide ban.

The poster wasn't complaining as much about the bad service as he was about the lies, especially in the retaliatory feedback. When a vendor makes a promise, I expect him to follow through. If the vendor says he ships the same day, he better do that or he deserves to get dinged with negative feedback. If it takes someone a while to ship, but they don't make any promises to the contrary, no problem.

If a vendor lied about me in retaliatory feedback, I'd be a whole lot more than slightly irked. There's probably a reason Atlanta Bicycles gets so much negative feedback. I know I wouldn't buy anything from them.

- Forbes Bagatelle-Black
Santa Clarita, CA

Funny, isn't it-this guy want's to cheap out online, then when his unrealistic expectations aren't met, the vendor is suddenly an Åŝšħơłę. Really, I think that the only Åŝšħơłę here is the one Bender sees when he looks into the mirror....

Funny, isn't it-this guy want's to cheap out online, then when his unrealistic expectations aren't met, the vendor is suddenly an Åŝšħơłę. Really, I think that the only Åŝšħơłę here is the one Bender sees when he looks into the mirror....

So you think it's unrtealistic to expect a vendor to do what they say they'd do? Now that would be funny.

Customer Service 101


Under Commit and Over Perform- too many vendors have a tendency to over commit. In my business, we teach employees to under commit and over perform.

Here's an example:

Customer calls company "A" and asks when their shipment is going to be delivered. Company "A" tells them no later than Wed(knowing that they will probably receive it on Tue). Company "B", over commiting, tells the customer Monday. Both shipments arrive on Tuesday. Even though both shipments arrived at the same time, Company "A" is a day early and Company "B" is a day late.

Atlanta Cycling appears to use the company B philosophy...

I think the "cheap out online" is a cheap shot.

If the place says it does ship out within a stated period, and then doesn't, I don't think that's an "unreasonable expectation". Who's setting the expectations?

Having said that, because of my previous business dealings, I've unfortunately come to the realization that it's the exception rather than the rule when something is done as per advertized. If I'd needed those tyres, I would have either followed up or bought somewhere locally -but that's more a product of my cynicism and experience dealing with some stores.

Funny, isn't it-this guy want's to cheap out online, then when his unrealistic expectations aren't met, the vendor is suddenly an ���ħơłę. Really, I think that the only ���ħơłę here is the one Bender sees when he looks into the mirror....

As some of you have noted, I didn't set those expectations, the seller did.

And, it really would not have been that big of a deal to me if:

1) The seller would have offered some kind of explanation or apology for the delay (he didn't even offer a response to my email at all).

2) The seller had not left retaliatory negative feedback, including outright lies. That's trying to hurt my ability to sell items online, for no reason.

And THAT is the point where I got mad, Dave. By the way Dave, are you saying that you wouldn't be pissed if you and I agreed to make a deal, then I didn't hold up on one aspect I promised you, then when you contacted me about it I didn't respond, and then when you posted that I was a "bad trader," I lie about everything, including you?

Follow-ups: I thought, why would this guy need to be baby-sat? I even allowed a couple of days for him to be late, I just never expected him to be THAT late.

And as far as slander, bring it on! I have everything necessary to prove this guy deserved it.

All right guys- enough abuse of the poor word filter already. Please wrack your brains for another descriptive term which isn't a word you have to subvert the word filter to use.

Atl Cycles used to have the market cornered in Atlanta. They had / have four or 5 shops throughout the city and could usually beat the smaller, stand alone shops in service and pricing. But, IMO, they started getting complacent with their work and attitude.

They seemed to have quick turnover in employees and I could never run into the same guys more than two or 3 trips into the shop down the street from where I live. I had some sub-par wrenching done through the shop closest to my house that I would chalk up to this rotating employment and I started driving to a smaller shop where the owner was also a worker.

Performance just opened up three shops and there are several other shops that are starting to thrive in the suburbs. I am waiting to see if their quality will swing back up.

Atl Cycles used to have the market cornered in Atlanta. They had / have four or 5 shops throughout the city and could usually beat the smaller, stand alone shops in service and pricing. But, IMO, they started getting complacent with their work and attitude.

They seemed to have quick turnover in employees and I could never run into the same guys more than two or 3 trips into the shop down the street from where I live. I had some sub-par wrenching done through the shop closest to my house that I would chalk up to this rotating employment and I started driving to a smaller shop where the owner was also a worker.

Performance just opened up three shops and there are several other shops that are starting to thrive in the suburbs. I am waiting to see if their quality will swing back up.

Thanks for the insight!

I pretty much figured that they had to have some issues, judging by the lack of response to my email and then the attitude / lies after I left feedback on the transaction to let others know what happened.

If this has been the norm for a lot of their customers, it seems unlikely that their quality/service will swing back up. They'll just continue to lose market share, for sure.

I just finished selling a lot of bike parts on ebay. Ebay has a 5 business day shipping policy. When an auction ends i give the buyers a date within those 5 days when the shipment will go out. Thats the deadline, if i ship it out before, lucky them, if i ship it out after i refund half of shipping payment, i state that policy in my auctions and it seems to work very well. Lying to the customers is never a good idea, you lose customers, also, dont charge $10 shipping if your going to have a $3 shipping label affixed to the box, buyers dont like that either.

sounds like atlanta cycle sucks, sometimes i wonder how businesses even stay afloat with their attitudes...

Well, still no response to my email a couple of days ago, before I left feedback, asking why the shipping was delayed...

Also no response to the offer I sent through eBay for mutual feedback withdrawal (I'm even willing to have my truths taken down if it will remove his lies from my record).

If anyone still chooses to try to do business with these guys, I sure hope you don't need anything after the sale... good luck even getting them to talk to you about it