Not pleased with the service at all , certainly wont order again.
Defective bike delivered , sent them emails - no response yet its been a week.
I have ordered a bike 2 weeks ago from bikester.ch and in 3 business days it arrived. After 2 days from bike delivery I have made another small order, for chain and pump, and this order was delivered in 3 business days too. So far, all went very good and I'm happy with their service.
I just had a very mixed experience
Got a great bike at a great price
But.. (minor).. I did ask on the order that they contact me with the delivery date. They didn't.. just the tracking number which was (again) inaccurate. So, sure enough I had to go to the PO to pick it up.. thankfully it just fit in the back of the car.
And.. (more annoyingly).. 1 hour after ordering the bike I ordered a lock holder and asked that they ship it with the bike. They didn't, they shipped it 2 days later and inside the massive box (again, which I had to pick up at the PO because it was too large to fit in my post box) was.. a set of mudguards. So.. the usual hassle of sending them back.. got the refund.. and (just because I was annoyed) I sent a copy of the receipt for the return postal cost which was never refunded.
My advice.. if the savings are irresistible then they're OK .. otherwise.. meh
Fits in with my experience. Good prices but rather shit service.
Beware! Worst Online Shop ever! Fraudster attitude!
Long story short:
1) I order a bike and they deliver the wrong bicycle.
2) They organise to pick up the bike (they accept only Swiss Post that only gives you a full day and not windows) and they never show up, despite me take a day off from work!
3) I ordered a second bike and it is again wrong!!!!
4) I ask them to use DHL that they give time windows so I don't lose another day from work. After numerous emails they agreed and they would cover the costs. Once I arrange with DHL and I inform them for the cost they decline!!!! 5) I take the bicycles to the Swiss post myself (as they are in boxes I had to rent a car to do it!)
6) After 2 weeks of them receiving the bikes they have refunded only the one!
They still owe me CHF 850 due to their mistake and they do not even reply to emails!! Maybe you had nice experience with this shop but be warned that once something happens this is by far the worst customer service I ever faced.
i ordered two bikes from these people nine days ago and only one arrived. their website says that if you order by 4pm weekdays they will ship same day, however that is not true. the guy on the helpline phone (10 min. wait on hold) obviously was not well trained in customer service, but he did say that "it happens" that bikes shown to be in stock and promised for same day shipping don't go out for more than a week. also, this outfit is clearly based in germany (stuttgart) so they're just using a .ch domain and prices in chf to fish for swiss business by pretending to be local. this means you have to add four days for shipping after you get the confirmation email. i would not, make that never, shop here again.
All these negative reviews made me check out the website and I'm glad I did
I ended up ordering an ebike from them on Sunday, it was on my doorstep on Thursday morning. Bike is perfect, the specs are even a bit higher than what's advertised on the website (4A charger instead of 2A, better display). So in summary, I'm very happy with their service and prices!
I've ordered parts and clothes from them and am very happy. Prices very good (Brooks saddle cheaper than on the Brooks website) and returns super easy. I've not experienced next day delivery, but the delivery usually only takes a few days.
it's generally better than buying swiss as in germany they actually have some level of customer service and consumer protection vs swiss companies. Plus better prices
I have been happy with the service from them. If the item is time critical or high value then I always get email or phone confirmation before ordering if I don't get a response then I use another company. Nettoshop is good for this service response as well.
june 2018 update: i finally received the second of the two bikes we ordered, fifteen days after i ordered it. the website said "in stock, ships today" when i ordered.
so yes, now that it's here, my ortler bozen is a great e-bike and i go absolutely everywhere with it, and it's clear that for chf 2'089 all-in i got a great bike for the price.
nonetheless, as a number of people have remarked here and elsewhere, their customer service is shoddy. it seems that their order fulfilment "machine" moves at the speed it moves, and you just have to wait until operations gets around to you. if you don't mind waiting two weeks plus for your bike (or not, but you don't know in advance which it will be), the german company bikester".ch" is ok. else, it may be better to consider alternatives.
another thing to keep in mind is that i have been unable to locate a bike shop that will service our new bikes in a timely manner. they either send you away or quote upwards of two weeks to get anything done, in my experience. if you buy from them, they set the bike up and provide follow-up.
Bikester is fine for bike components but if you're thinking of buying a new bicycle I would recommend Rose Versand ( https://www.rosebikes.ch/ ) because they offer excellent service (incl. VAT refund).
Tried to order from them once, but got a message on payment saying my credit card company blocks this shop. So guess they got a few complaints
Oh dear, maybe I spoke too soon. Just got my credit card statement, 1.5% surcharge because it's not a Swiss merchant (36chf). Had I known, I would have paid with paypal, invoice, anything else other than credit card. I've contacted them a few days ago, let's see how long this takes to resolve and if they will offer a satisfactory solution.
Strange - never had that with them. Just checked a transaction a couple of days ago and nothing. Maybe your CC issuer rather than Bikester?
That's likely got nothing to do with bikester, but is because those are the terms and conditions of your credit card. I have a card with Viseca and have the same issue. Even if you shop with a merchant which charges you in CHF, if it's not an actual Swiss business, the card company charges an extra 1.5%. It sucks, but that's the way it is with this card.
Contact your card provider.
Incidentally, I use Bikester often and recommend them.
It is definitely not Bikester's fault that my CC provider charged me for this, because they didn't actually make this 1.5% charge. I do think though, that they should put a notice for Swiss customers that foreign merchant charges may apply, then the customer would know to use another form of payment (or choose to pay 1.5% for the convenience of using a credit card).
From first glance, the website looks like a Swiss business - they even ship from St. Gallen and have a St. Gallen phone number (which doesn't work).
Right now I think we are at a disadvantage, shopping online on what appears to be a Swiss business, only to find out later that we can be charged 1.5% for using a credit card.
I would be happy with a solution along the lines of them reversing my payment and letting me pay again with paypal or invoice, but it is an inconvenience for them. It's probably better to file a dispute with the credit card company, but then again, it's not their fault that Bikester is not transparent about their billing location. Either way, an answer from my inquiry would be nice
update: I've filed a complaint with the CC company - I wonder if this will work
Bikester did reply and told me it wasn't their fault that my CC provider charged a fee, which is true. So at least they replied relatively quickly
For the future, I've ordered a PostFinance Visa card for my online shopping, which doesn't have administrative fees for online CHF purchases made outside of CH.
Just want to give my review of Bikester.ch as well. Not completely positive, but also not necessarily their fault.
About 2 weeks ago I wanted to change some cables on my bike. Decided to order from Bikester, about 70,- CHF worth. Select items, go to checkout. Create a new account. At checkout, I select Bill. Send me an red/orange slip and I will pay it. "Unfortunately, we can not offer you this method of payment. Please choose another payment method". Fine, I guess it's a new account, whatever. Ok, I'll pay by bank card. I don't have a Swiss Credit Card, so I decide to pay with my UK (Revolut) MasterCard. "Unfortunately payment has failed". I have a CHF account there and well in excess of 70,- CHF on it, but it still failed . Oookay... There's Sofort banking, supposedly I could use that. I enter my account details, authorize the login request from the bank's mobile app, nothing happens. . Whatever, I chalk it up to Sofort failing. I do not want to use Paypal as I refuse to pay their ridiculous fees. I am not going to pay a 4% markup on my transaction lost through currency conversion and whatnot. I really want to things I haven't found other retailers that have all of the things I want in stock (At that time, I didn't know Galaxus.ch had those products, I probably would've ordered from them). So only bank transfer is left. I knew it would be slow, but whatever. I select to pay via Bank Transfer. I setup the transaction to be executed the next day, Wednesday. It gets executed, everything's fine. Friday there's no sign of them receiving the money, so I call them. They explain it can take up to 4 days, so I should open a ticket with the proof of payment next week. Ok, I wait till Tuesday afternoon, I open the ticket. Wednesday, I get a reply saying they will investigate, it will take up to 48 hours to contact the financial department. Friday I get a confirmation that they have indeed received the payment and they have sent the items. Yesterday the postman brought the items.
I'm not mad at them, since it wasn't urgent. But kinda annoyed that only usable payment option is Bank Transfer. I have since gone back, I still cannot pay via Bill.
TL;DR: Had to pay through Bank transfer, took 2 weeks for things to arrive. Will look for a better alternative.
To continue adding to the thread....
Appalling customer service experience by phone and execution!
Order was made on Monday morning last week, several hours before the cut off time for the items to be shipped that same day. (as promised on their website)
The order confirmation states that bikes are to be delivered in 2-3 days and other items 2-3 days.
Separates arrived day 5 after the order date.
The bike arrived on day 9 at which point I refused delivery and will get the full refund.
Bought another bike elsewhere!