Order Problems, Zero Customer Service

I received a reply from them (via email) after countless emails and messages left on their voice mailbox. Timbuk2 Customer Service gave me a discount coupon to compensate for all the hassles.

The problem is, that it shouldn't take countless anything for communication to happen. If there's some kind of problem with an order, the customer should be told right away without any prompting.

Same here, ordered on the 26th of August, I've heard nothing, sent three emails in as many weeks, called twice from Europe, the first time I was on hold for 20 minutes and didn't speak to anyone, then last weeks was told I'd be reimbursed, which still hasn't happened. Also, the woman I spoke to (Melinda? Melissa?) while not rude, didn't apologise, nor offered me anything in the way of compensation.
Needless to say, I'm pissed. This is no way to conduct business.

same here. ordered on September 6, but my credit card hasn't been charged and my order apparently hasn't been processed. i just tried calling their CS number, the recording didn't identify the number as Timbuk2 and didn't allow me to leave a message. i just e-mailed. hoping this is resolved soon. but things aren't sounding very good from all the comments here. what's going on?

Any of the 29 employees "listening and participating" here care to comment, or even assist any of your customers?

this is ridiculous.... placed the order 11 days ago,got confirmation email and then nothing.... no sign of life... after 3 business days of calling CS I've finally reached them and not even an apology!!! Finally I've canceled my order.... and to think that I really liked timbuk2.... all they had to do was to send out an email or an update apologizing for the wait.......

wow, how disappointing. this is my first time ordering from timbuk2. for a company with such a cult following i was expecting much better customer service than it seems everyone in this thread is experiencing.

other online companies also hold SALE events yet they can still accommodate and respond to customer emails and requests

I'm also awaiting the order status of my 3rd order from the SALE, no updates on whether my order has been shipped or not

last time I got an email from them, I was told to stop sending emails as they have already received my previous emails, but no response/update on the status of my 3rd order

here's the email from Timbuk2:
"Got it. Please stop sending emails. We got your first 5. Thank you very much, we will not change your order."

if it was not for this SALE event, I would have placed my Timbuk2 orders with www.ebags.com, www.altrec.com, or www.zappos.com, you can reach their customer service hotlines 24 hours a day and customer emails are replied within 24 hours. Ebags even has an online chat that's almost open 24 hours a day except when there are system updates/upgrades. Altrec also has an online chat open during office hours

Timbuk2 should make this SALE experience (especially the numerous customer frustrations) a learning event. considering the slumping sales experienced by the economic slowdown, they should reinforce/revamp their customer service

Finally got ahold of customer service. The whole order held up because their ordering site had no link to the number of items they actually had in stock...thankfully only one item was unavailable. But the whole order was held up and they had sent no notice of what was up..rediculous.... supposed to ship by tomorrow...they gave me the discount code too.... a bit dissapointed in the company as i had previously had only good experiences.. at least the bags are still high quality...

On the contrary, I would like to give these guys working their *ss off at Timbuk2 for their prompt service delivery.

I placed my order on a Thursday, 4th September. Furthermore, it's late in the evening and I expect a post-business hour will be processed, the earliest is the next business day.

Soon enough, I received their confirmation email and I can immediately start tracking my consignment with UPS Quantum Tracking with their Expedite Air Service. The consignment started shipping on the 8th September (I clearly understand the disclaimer on the shipment of order depends on the order queue) from Suisun City, CA. The consignment reached next point at Mather, CA the next day and soon to West Sacramento, CA and back to Mather,CA before leaving California for Louisville, KY. After several hours in Louisville, KY, the consignment left US of A and make a touchdown at Koeln (Cologne), Germany on the 10th Sept. The consignment continues to be flown from Germany to Hong Kong before reaching Pampanga, Philippine, the nearest point to my home, Malaysia. Since I believe there wouldn't be any flight over the weekend, the consignment was held at Pinoy Land for 3 days before reaches Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 15th Sept, in the lee hour in the morning.

UPS set the expectation for the delivery to reach by 16th Sept and I got it at 12pm on the 15th Sept, which is at least 12hours earlier than expected !!!

Thumbs up, guys! This is my first transatlantic shopping experience online and it's a flawless one. You guys deserve credit and I must say I have been looking for a gigantic, comfortable and rugged messenger bag to store my IT tools; network cables in several metres, nettop, USB keyboard, crimping tools, digital cameras and TRIPOD, and much more...

Another thing to note is that I like the way Timbuk2 treats me; they aren't being indifferent to me because I am an Asian and the order is coming from a people-still-living-on-treetop country, Malaysia. I've been trying to shop online from Manhattan Portage, for example, Malaysia wasn't listed discreetly as a shipping option. They put our puny lil neighbour, Singapore, in the list but ignore the large plateau of land which is 20x the size of Singapore. I'm not sure the inclusion of Malaysia is "accidental" (lol) but I must express my gratitude to Timbuk2 dedicated staffs for their service.

P.S. I shoved my Manhattan Portage messenger into the Timbuk2 XL Messenger as backup "tote bag" ^_^

I was happy to see that my order quickly shipped ; I ordered two bags, a cross strap and and a cell phone holder. So far, I have received the cross strap, and I have no information about the rest of my order... I already sent two emails. I'm trying to keep calm and wait a bit, still I am a bit worried...

I ordered a custom classic messenger, a laptop messenger and several accessories in August and there were no updates after making payment, can't even track the fucking order.

Tried contacting them via telephone and email and the only reply I received was "it should be on the way, else please call us again".

How the bloody hell can it be on the way when I can't even track it? And to make matters worst, their customer service is NON EXISTENT.

I finally managed to contact them via telephone yesterday, no apologies or compensation, just an impatient staff who told me some items are non available. Told her to cancel the order as I can't be bothered with this company anymore.

Got my bags from eBags, prices are cheaper and customer service is EXCELLENT.

This is not the way to do business, especially for premium priced items. I have been shopping online for several years and this is the worst company and experience I have ever experienced, other sites ship on the same day and I receive my orders 3-4 days later.

BYE BYE TIMBUK2, I AM NEVER EVER GOING TO PURCHASE ANYTHING YOU AGAIN AFTER THIS HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE.

There have been many complains pertaining to customer service on this forum over the last few months, just what the heck are you guys doing?

From what I read, the bags and accessories ain't that great either, most of them are made in Asia(China and Vietnam) except for custom and limited edition ones.

I'm okay with Asian made products commanding a premium price as long as quality and customer service is good but my personal experience proved otherwise.

I was under the impression that Timbuk2 is a good American company..... *pukes*

Kagaya,

You are one of the luckier ones.

And if you have done enough online shopping, you will known that some merchants refuse to ship to countries from which they have received multiple fraud cases or complaints from banks.

Getting another country involved with that tone is not nice either.

I have been to both countries for work commitments and was almost robbed in the one which MP refuses to list, period.

Same problem. Ordered on 19th of August. I messaged them once a few weeks ago and got a reply about them sorting out the problem, promising that the bag should leave the warehouse in a few days. Since then, I've received zero communication despite sending them email again after I did not receive any more information about my order.

Does anyone know where to order their Grown-series of Laptop Messengers in Europe? If I get ahold of one, I'll just cancel my order, tell my CC company to block their billing and order it from someplace where I'll actually get my stuff.

I bought a (cheaper) Samsonite messenger bag this morning, after realising that despite the fact that Timbuk2 had sent me an invoice (three weeks ago!), they hadn't actually made any charges on my card. What's going on over there?

Well, according to this link they blamed errors on warehouse problems, atleast during the summer. This might still be the case but they could atleast be upfront about it:

http://journal.drfaulken.com/timbuk2-...

I just think it's pathetic that out of 29 employees supposedly active here, not one of them has responded to this thread. While it seems Timbuk2 has no trouble organising a sale and finding bloggers, customer support appears to elude them.

FEI... I never got a response from CS, but I checked my order # again today with the packaging tracker. It now shows that my order's been shipped and is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I hope it's the right product/color!

I didn't notice this before, but it's kinda ironic the splash sale graphic on the main Timbuk2 site says "No Apologies."

I just checked my order number and it also shipped.

I just got an email from Customer Service, I have a new tracking ID, my order is on it's way.

I got this feedback from them a day before I received my order:

"right now we are on a bit of a back log, so our normal 2-3 days shipping is up to around 5-7. *see "goo in our gears" on order page at our website* With the back to school rush and our current online sale it's all hitting hard. But we are catching up and orders are shipping as quick as possible. Yours should be shipping out in the next couple days.?"

I received my order confirmation in mid-August. Still no shipping information. I can't get through on the customer service phone number. It seems to ring, then a recording comes on to say that this mailbox is not receiving messages. I've sent 3 emails so far with no response. My son is at college with no bag for his books and laptop while I wait for Timbuk2 to wake up and understand the concept of customer service!

I tried checking the order tracker to see if my order had shipped but it seems nothing has happened. Fired another email to customer service, maybe this time they'll actually answer and tell me what's going on. This is getting pretty ridiculous, it's been over a month since I placed the order..

Even if I ever manage to get the bag, this will be the LAST time I'll ever order from them or recommend their store to anyone.

I'm glad I read this topic. I recently did not have a good pre-sale support experience with Timbuk2. After reading the problems that people have experienced post sale, I will not become a customer. It's unfortunate; I used to live in SF where Timbuk2 is located. I usually prefer dealing with local merchants. However, it sounds like they don't act like one.

I ordered from them despite all the negative reports and received my order quickly. BUT, I decided to return two things and keep one item due to it wasn't a good fit for my needs and I have not yet received any information. So they too have my money and my order. I won't be recommending Timbuk2 to anyone anytime soon that's for certain. It's too bad cuz I actually like their products.
Funny how they can answer questions re: products but they are "unable" to answer questions re: customer service.

I ordered on Sept. 4 and sent a "hey, where's my bag?" e-mail on the 14th. The order tracking finally kicked in as of the 18th, indicating that my stuff would be here on Sept. 22 (now it seems to have been derailed, not that that's Timbuk2's fault).

Today, I got an e-mail from customer service that says that they over-sold one of the things I'd ordered, sorry for the inconvenience, here's 50% off a future order.

Meh. I work in a company just like Timbuk2, and half-off a future order is almost as much a benefit to them as it is to me. We'll see, though...I understand they're trying to salvage this one person at a time, but I hope this doesn't take much longer.

Hey I am hear to help! I am newer to T2 so I can field some questions and take the real humdinggers to someone craftier than me. I need an order # to track an order. I won't have an instant answer but I can get back to you when I find out what's up.

My 2nd order for this month was for a limited edition messenger bag. I wasn't able to get any feedback on the order status. After approximately 3 business days, I called the timbuk2 customer service hotline (c/o another department as no one picks up the phone at the SALES dept) as all my emails and voicemail messages were unanswered.

I then got a return call that the limited edition bag ran out and they had to contact the factory to ask if they would still be having more of those fabrics. I was then emailed after 1 business day from that call that the fabric was still available and they would be making more of those limited edition bags. My order was shipped via UPS Next Day Air on a Friday but received it on a Monday as UPS doesn't deliver on weekends.

I was disappointed with their customer service, that I have received no updates in spite of sending emails to orderstatus@timbuk2.com and customerservice@timbuk2.com as well as leaving messages on their voicemail box.

Shipping my bag/order via UPS Next Day Air was not enough a compensation for the quality of customer service I was expecting from this company. I just couldn't order that bag from another online reseller as it was a limited edition messenger and only www.timbuk2.com has it. I also called their Hayes store but they couldn't sell/make me that particular bag.

They should assign someone to reply to customer emails and update customers on their order status. Or perhaps, they could feature an Online Chat during office hours like those from www.ebags.com and www.altrec.com

I'm reading all these posts and realizing that some, some had a bit of a problem. The rest seem to be, to me, a little impatient.

I waited and recieved, yet again, one of the finest bags made at a very, very reasonable cost! This is my second bag from T2, first one was nearly eight years old and was stolen. It was still waterproof, still looked new and was still an everyday bag! I set it down for a minute and it dissapeared.

Anyways, point is, you could spend a whole lot more and still not recieve the quality of a T2 bag. The other point is, patience will pay off. Third point is, have none of you any sense of humor?

If I was sending you hate mail, would you respond? Be nice and people are nicer with you!

Alright, I have used up all my pairs of pennies, take care!

Yeah, I might have gotten a bit too frustrated with the order. However, I would have accepted the delays a lot better if I would have gotten at least some confirmation from Timbuk2 that the bag would eventually ship and that they were resolving the matter. I got mail yesterday stating that they were checking what went wrong. I'm hoping the matter will get resolved. Been well over a month since I ordered :P

I got a gift voucher from a friend to buy a Timbuk2 bag. Lucky me! I don't think so. I live in the UK - it was going to cost me 50 bucks for shipping + 50 bucks of taxes on top. Effectively it would have cost me 100 dollars to receive my order! So I decided to ship it to Canada - it took so long that my buddy that was there for 3 weeks didn't get it. It went back to the Timbuk2 store and they reshipped it. Finally after nearly 5 months I'm getting my bag tomorrow. I hope it's worth it. I'm going to cough up extra 53 bucks in tax just to end this nightmare. Handy tip - Only give a Timbuk2 gift voucher to someone if you hate them. It's worthless and will cost them a fortune to receive what is supposed to be a brilliant present!

I have this problem too. Clearly there is no "customer support" here. Usually the first early indicator that a company has problems, or is so arrogant that we "little people" (customers) don't count and are the enemy. That will bite them in the butt at some point too. Too bad- the products are cool, but bag companies are a dime a dozen. competition will overtake them unless they only go wholesale and treat their dealers better than they treat us.

Well,
I finally got my messenger bag just now and it is indeed nice. Funny thing is that I got an email stating that the customer service was handling my problem and would notify me as soon as they know what's wrong about two weeks ago but after that, nothing. If I hadn't received a call from UPS about a week ago asking my details for VAT, I wouldn't have even known it had been shipped..

Obviously, I was not alone in having problems with Timbuk2. I do feel sorry for them. I think they are overwhelmed and caught up in the cycle of sales success, but fulfillment hell. They should decide whether they want to be an on-line retailer, or a wholesaler, and if they can't do both well, get out of the retail game. Diminishing returns will set in for them. They probably don't see it yet, and a sale is a sale, but all of this dialog about poor support will eventually bite them in the butt- it always does. Just that it is impossible to recognize now while the "hot" product is flying out the door (or in some cases, not flying out the door). If you can't provide proper retail support, get out!!! Fact: every customer of a company who has a bad experience tells on average 7 people. I know that I already have. I was going to use them for a corporate project (bag) but now, I wouldn't even buy on-line again, let alone a bigger order. Timbuk2 employees: if you are listening, it's only a matter of time.