Streetstrider International, LLC

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2015/07/23) */
StreetStrider International LLC was reorganized in early New management was brought in and the operations base was relocated from *** to *** Beach CADuring this transition, there were several changes made on the website,
including offering new models and removing free shippingWhen an online order is made by a customer, the customer must complete all the checkout steps by filling in the required fields, including the shipping methodIn this step, which occurs prior to filling in the payment method information, the shipping charges are listed in a column right under the customer addressThere is no option for free shipping at any step in this procedureBefore the customer can place the order, they are provided another screen to review the order, which again includes the shipping chargesThere is nothing on our website that states any purchase gets free shipping
Under the previous management, free shipping was offered only on new units, not refurbished unitsWhen we changed management, there remained some remnant ads playing on the internet from the previous management or third party affiliates that may have stated free shippingThese ads are not part of our websiteAdditionally, customers often call to say they have coupons or promotion codes generated from other third party sources for discounts or other free itemsIt is impossible for us to control the production of such offersInstead, we must provide customers with accurate information on our official website and when they call our agents by phone
In the case of *** ***, he found a remnant ad with a free shipping tag line and placed his order for a refurbished unit by calling our sales department and speaking directly to the agentThe process of making his order included a discussion of shipping and the chargesIt also included an invoice with shipping charges listed, which was sent to Mr*** after the purchase was made and before the item was shipped
It was not until after he received the product that he demanded a reimbursement of the shipping charges
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 11, 2015/07/28) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Streetstrider Int'l has provided much
extraneous information in their Revdex.com response which does not apply to the specific complaint at handI did not have an online order, so any description of how the online order process works is irrelevant to my complaintThe only relevant issue pertaining to the actual website is that there is absolutely no mention of shipping cost on the websiteNot even in the FAQ sectionThis is clearly designed to obscure the fact that shipping charges will be addedIt would be easy enough to add an asterisk or notice to any advertised price, stating that shipping charges applyThe website purposely and pointedly avoids any mention of any shipping costs which is very unusual, in my experience with websites
The website description of the 3i model, for example, shows the price of $in BIG printThere is no asterisk indicating "plus shipping costs", which would be very useful information for any potential customersTransparency is not valued by this online vendor, apparentlyDismissing online ads for their product as irrelevant, Streetstrider has responded to my Revdex.com complaint with the statement,"...We must provide customers with accurate information on our official website...", and yet they clearly fail to provide any attempt at accurately portraying the cost of shipping (if there is a cost.)
In my particular case, I had originally never heard of Streetstrider, everI was perusing through my *** *** print catalog and came across a contraption for sale at $which I now know to be the Streetstrider 3i.(There is an asterisk that tells you that it ships direct from the manufacturer, and the shipping fees of that manufacturer applyIt does not identify the shipping fees, if any.) The catalog does not identify the manufacturer or model, but gives a photo and a brief description
I attempted to find out more about this "mystery contraption", so I Googled using descriptive info from the catalog adAs is amazing with *** I got back results with photos, and I quickly identified that this exercise contraption was called a "Streetstrider"I then Googled "Streetstrider", and the very first entry that came up was a paid ad from StreetstriderThe ad was small, but it said "Free Shipping"The web address that was included in the ad was the official Streetstrider web addressI clicked on the ad, was taken directly to the website, and looked at the infoIt should be noted that the *** ad did its job admirably I clicked on it because it was at the top of the list and because it was directly from the manufacturer not from a third party
The website had a few different models, but the Summit 8r is claimed to be their all-time "best-seller"(It is 8-speed, compared to 3-speed for the 3i model.) There were apparently no 8r models in stock, but I noted that they also seemed to sell refurbished unitsThe website said to call direct and inquire about refurbished unitsI kept this in mind, and searched elsewhere on the web for a Summit 8r unit
*** listed several models on its website, and the 8r was listed (sold by *** as "Currently Unavailable"The 3i is sold on *** (through *** and is listed as $with FREE SHIPPINGI could not find any other source for the 8r unitI went to the ***-Schlem catalog online, and saw that they, too, only offered the 3i modelSo, I called Streetstrider to inquire about availability of refurb units
There were two refurb 8r units available ($1199)I asked why they were refurbished: were they defective in some way? The sales guy says No, they are simply returns from people who decided they didn't want themNot only that, he says they are completely disassembled, repainted, re-assembled and tested multiple times before being sent outI placed my order over the phone, and he takes my credit card info, etcThen he summarizes the transaction and says it comes to $I was confused by this figure since it was $higher than I was quoted, and I asked about itHe then tells me that this includes $shipping
I was confused as to why I had thought it was Free ShippingDid I make a mistake? Where did I get that idea from? Rather than make a fuss, I thought that maybe I was mistaken in my memory, and I did not protestAfter all,I had looked at a lot of websites, and had seen Chinese knock-offs advertised, etcI can't remember the shipping policy of every websiteHowever, after placing the order, I searched for the source of my information about Free ShippingI first looked at the Streetstrider website, and could find no reference to shipping cost whatsoeverHmmmThere is no mention of shipping cost on the websiteWhere did I see that? I tried Googling Streetstrider again, and there it was! The ad for Free Shipping came up as the first search item
The ad was clearly labeled as a Paid Ad*** does not provide ads for free*** will not put your ad at the top of their search results without being compensatedSo, it is very reasonable to accept that if Streetstrider has a paid ad saying Free Shipping, and the ad shows up at the very top of the *** search results for Streetstrider, then Streetstrider surely has paid for, condoned, and placed that ad*** is not "gifting" free ads to anybodyIn addition, if you were to purchase a 3i through *** or through *** you would get Free ShippingSo, why wouldn't an average potential customer believe that Free Shipping was in the offing when purchasing direct from Streetstrider Int'l, who happens to be advertising Free Shipping on ***
Finally, $seems hardly worth arguing overI probably would not have brought this complaint if it were not for the faulty product that I received from Streetstrider, and the ensuing poor customer serviceMy 8r arrived without any instruction manual, and I tried contacting the companyGot into the voicemail system, and nobody returned my callI then tried looking at the website to see if they had any online manualsI found the online manual and printed it (came out very grainy, but I could use it.) After assembly, the 8r 8-speed transmission was completely non-functionalAgain, I tried contacting the company and got into the voicemail systemNo call backI filed an online form for repair, and got no response(Custservice later tells me that the online submission system DOES NOT WORK!) I was pretty ticked off by this time, and when I was finally able to speak to someone about the faulty shifter issue, I decided I may as well ask about the Free Shipping issue
I got several contradictory responses about Free Shipping including the accusation that the ad on *** was not their ad! Then, they agreed it was their ad, but they meant to delete itSo, then I knew that they were not being truthful, as they had not been truthful about the refurb unit I was sentMy refurb unit was not repainted, was not tested, was completely unrideable without re-adjusting the shifter cable terminal boltThis was not a case of the shifter being stretched, as the problem was that the shifter cable was too short! This unit was obviously not tested prior to shipping to me
Most, if not all, reputable companies would honor an ad that the company placed, even if it was an errorI know that my local pizza shop did that recently: the local newspaper apparently printed an ad showing a pizza deal that was $too low, and the pizza shop did not catch it in their proof-readingSo, if someone brought in that coupon, they honored itSimple as thatBig boys take responsibility for their errorsThey honor their customers by being truthful and forthrightIf Streetstrider did not want to give Free Shipping, then it was incumbent on Streetstrider to remove the ad from GoogleThe ad was "hiding in plain site" right at the top of the *** search for the company nameYet, Streetstrider made no attempt to remove the ad until weeks after I purchased my StreetstiderI even attempted to compromise by suggesting I would accept $in credit (which I may or may not ever take advantage of.) Yet, Streetstrider simply tries to obfuscate the matter by talking about "remnant ads" not being their problemLet's review: this was not a third party adIt was a major ad, paid for by Streetstrider, and it did its job of getting me to their websiteThe ad was there, and we all know itHonor itEnd of story
Suggestion to Streetstrider management: It makes more sense to create happy customers than to create "***-off" customers$in store credit is clearly a good compromise(I would prefer a total refund, but...) Your ad on Google is irrefutable, and while I understand you wish I had not found it, the fact is that I did find it, and relied upon itAssuming your ad has now been removed, Streetstrider should have no other issues related to advertising for Free Shipping