My $50 Helmet Mistake

[Venture]

So I bought a dual sport a few weeks back, and decided to invest in an off road helmet. The local dealer had very few to choose from, and the one that I thought would work was the Bell Moto-9, but I choked at the $475 price tag. Fast forward a bit, and I find that the Bell Moto-8 can be found at a very reasonable price from a few online retails, and I figure, "if the Moto-9 fit, then the Moto-8 will be just fine." So I order up a $179.99 Moto-8 from Motorcyclecloseouts.com, without really looking too closely at the return policies they have (Mistake). The helmet costs me $11 to ship because it's a closeout item and they don't do free shipping on those. I still figured I was ahead of the ball game due to the sharp discount, so I paid it and waited.

The helmet arrived yesterday...and... fits poorly. Huge hot spot on my forehead, clearly not my head shape so it has to go back. The Moto-9 must use a different form, because it seemed to fit me much better. Or, perhaps I just didn't wear it long enough.

Previously I'd ordered some gear from Motorcycle-Superstore.com, and they have a really great return policy. For $7 they'll cover your return shipping, with no restocking fees at all. MotorcycleCloseouts on the other hand, not only has no special return shipping deals, but they also charge a 10% restocking fee! Oh, and per their return policies, you must ship with UPS or Fedex and have signature confirmation.

So here's how it turned out:

1. Initial shipping - $11
2. Restocking fee -$18
3. UPS shipping back - $22

Add it all up - $50 later I gots nothin'. :-[

Lesson learned, don't buy helmets online. I'm a big fan of my Scorpion EXO-700 street helmet, and I made some calls today to some local dealers and found one that stocks the Scorpion VX-24, so I'm going to see if the fit works for me. If it fits I may have them order me a VX-34 if they can agree that if for some reason the fit is different they'll let me walk or at least just buy the VX-24. We'll see.

Also, I can't recommend MotorcycleCloseouts at all, mainly due to their return policies. I can understand the return shipping bit to a degree, but a restocking fee? REALLY? I guess I just assumed they were in the same league as Motorcycle-Superstore and Revzilla and some others. Clearly not.

 

[digitalmoto]

Bummer.

Thanks for share with the rest of us.

 

[Twitch]

Many of those discount shops have crappy return policies. IMO restocking fees are bad business. Return shipping is kind of understandable, but definitely not $22 special terms. Outfits like Dennis Kirk are good because they send a UPS return shipping label with every order and take a flat $7 off the refund.

 

[~TABASCO~]

Thats no good... If I cant get what I need though my vendors, Ive had good luck with Revzilla.com .

 

[Venture]

Thats no good... If I cant get what I need though my vendors, Ive had good luck with Revzilla.com .

Yeah, live and learn. Hopefully somebody else avoids this kind of mess by reading this.

 

[Twisties]

Lesson learned, don't buy helmets online.

I would say there are lots of good reasons to buy helmets on line. I bought from Motorcycle Superstore and returned for a net $7. That was well worth it to me to get try a helmet I was interested in but not available locally. Cycle Gear allows one exchange within 7 days. For some that may work out well.

To me the lesson learned is to understand and accept the store's policies before committing.