Warning - Viking Bags

[TRath]

About three and a half months ago I ordered a set of bags from Viking Bags after confirming with their customer service that they would fit the "unique" setup of the Rocket. They seemed very helpful in answering my questions about the bags and fitment, as well as detailing how to get them shipped to limit or avoid the customs brokerage fee on arrival.

When the bags finally showed up, I was assessed a $70 brokerage fee because despite my request in the order, they sent them via ground, resulting in the highest fee possible. I complained to the company about this and was told that just because they could send them differently so that I wouldn't have to pay that, it would mean more effort on their end so that's why they didn't. To make it right, they said if I sent them a picture of the bags on the bike they would send me a tailbag worth about $40. This offer came at about the same time as an automated email saying that anyone buying bags that sent in a picture get that bag.

I got the bags home and test fitted them to the bike. Not even close. The convenient shock cut-out was right where the mounting bracket needed to bolt on, and moving it up and forward enough to allow for mounting had the top above the passenger seat and about 5" of the bag coming forward into the drivers seat.

Complaint number 2 to the company. After over a month of emails where they said that I could ship them back and pay a restocking fee and end up out of pocket for about $140 all told, I finally got someone on the phone. The conversation was about 30 minutes long, and the rep agreed to refund half of the brokerage fee, one way shipping for the return of the bags, send a different pair and refund the difference. They would send the new bags properly so that I would not be paying out of pocket again. This would be a refund of $95, $50 of which I had to pay out in advance to ship the bags back. I asked for an email confirming the details of the conversation and was told I would get it that day but nothing ever arrived.

2 weeks ago the new bags finally landed, along with a $20 brokerage fee that I had to pay again. Shortly after I got an email stating that they had refunded me $45. I sent an inquiry as to when I could expect to see the other $70 (remainder plus second brokerage) and was told it would be in my account within 4 days. This refund never surfaced and the following email stated that they never agreed to any such refund.

Trying to mount the bags, the brackets included barely fit, but did involve cutting part of the liner out of the inside of the bag to make room for the bolts and redrilling the brackets as they were not finished properly. The other hardware in the mounting kit was surprisingly also wrong. The bolts were far too short and the wrong thread. I have since ordered a set of Easy Brackets just so that I can finally get the bags mounted.
Another email was sent, again asking for the remainder of the refund and recommending that they double check their fitment guidelines as they must have the wrong specs for the Rocket.

Within 15 minutes of that email my phone rang. I was informed that the owner of the company had decided that the issue was closed and if I wanted to see any more refund from them I would have to pursue legal action. He stated that they knew that suing them would cost me more than the remainder of my refund and therefore I would drop it. When I questioned how a company could treat customers like this he said flat out "Maybe your standards are just a little too high." I asked if he were in my situation if he would find this reasonable, at which point he hung up on me.


I intend to post this to every club and riders forum I can find to warn people away from this company, as well as to the Los Angeles BBB and any consumer watchdogs I can find in their local media. My hope is to cost them at least 100 times the $70 that they decided was so important to them, and to give them that value back again in bad press. This is the worst company I have ever had to deal with. I can't speak to the quality of the bags, they're still not mounted.

 

[Willtill]

Your first mistake (unknowingly to you) was to attempt to pursue a refund and/or Exchange with this company - Viking.

They are well known in the motorcycling community for absolutely heartless and ****ty customer service.

Some of their bags are ideal for certain motorcycles, and some of them are not. As you have discovered.

I'm not sure how they do it in the great frozen north where you live; but ideally you should have paid with a credit card. COMPLETE protection against a ****ty product if one was to receive it; after the fact. You call your credit card company (or due it online) and they refund the purchase price back to you as a credit, while pursuing the perpetrator of such ****ty or mis-advertised/mis-represented goods.

I stuck it real good in Corbin's ass last year (and twisted it hard - 8mm German Mauser bolt action style) via my credit card issuer/bank; when they screwed me over with their customer service for a long ordered and awaited set of saddlebags for the Rocket.

Btw, I actually have a set of Viking saddlebags on my Rocket; and they work well and are of good quality:

 

[MsLizz]

BASTARDS! definitely contact BBB, file the complaint, contact your local news guys. We have a segment on the news here called "Three-On your Side" they help consumers on the news with this & expose businesses for their unscrupulous behavior & often get results. maybe your local news has something like that. Good luck-Tenacity is the key!

 

[TRath]

I'm pretty sure we have something like that here, but they're in LA so I'm trying to find one there first.
My parents had a similar ordeal with Uni-go for a bike trailer last year and got hold of the local newspaper which actually ended up sending a reporter to the building and everything miraculously cleared up within hours!

*Edit* I have sent this to all the major LA newspapers, the LA BBB, the Huffinton Post, and to several consumer watchdogs. I just googled "Viking Bags" and my copy of this post on the .net site was the 5th hit on page 1!

 

[TRath]

So I understand that they are sending out this form letter as a reply:

Hi,
Thank you for letting us know.
This customer has paid $269 to vikingbags.com including shipping [please note vikingbags.com has second shipping option that is duty and tax free that is $20 more but he didn’t choose that one]
vikingbags paid $150 shipping cost for sending the original bag and the exchange bag
Replacement bag was $30 more but vikingbags.com didn’t charge the price difference. [duty was prepaid for the exchange]
Also vikingbags.com credited $45 for the duty he paid for the first time.
Now he also has the bags and demanding us to credit him $70 more.

Best Regards
VikingBags

Truth is, I specified the higher shipping rate when I ordered and when I questioned why they didn't follow that request, I was told that it meant the had to drive somewhere to drop them off instead of having them picked up, so they generally don't do it. The fact that I had requested it apparantly didn't matter. I paid the shipping ($50), customs ($70), as well as the return shipping ($65), how the second, smaller set of bags cost them $150 to ship is a mystery to me as this is the first I've heard of it, but I still had to pay another $20 out of pocket when they arrived. The fact that they have put the original bags on sale so that the new ones now cost less is a clever trick, but at the time the replacements were $10 less.

The refund that was agreed to was half of the customs ($35), one way shipping to return the bags ($50), and difference ($10) for a total promised refund of $95. Seeing as they guaranteed that I would not be paying out of pocket again, I also included the $20 that I had to pay when they arrived for a total of $115. Considering that I am out of pocket for an extra $165 this seems quite reasonable.

Confused when they sent $45 (a number never discussed), I asked when I would see the rest and was told it would be within 4-5 days. A week later they said that they had actually only agreed to $45, yet I kept trying to deal with it reasonably. It wasn't until they called me yesterday to tell me that they were never going to pay the agreed to refund and that I would have to sue them for it, stating that they knew the suit would cost me more than the refund amount, that I told them I would make the story as public as I can, which is what I am doing.

They lied when they said the first ones would fit. They lied when they promised to make it right (twice). They lied when they said the second ones would fit. The fact that they are now lying about me is not surprising in the least.

This isn't about $70. That was just a catalyst. If they suddenly decide to refund it, I will give it to charity because I don't want it. This is about showing a company that they can't treat customers the way they do and that they can't lie and cheat their way out of a bad situation. This is about the little guy standing up for what's right, and making sure that other paople don't go through the same thing he did.