Statement on the current delivery times

Dear PROPAIN customers, mountain bikers, e-mountain bikers, and bike friends,

It’s been a while since our last statement in the beginning of this year. We’re issuing another statement today and we’re sad to announce that once again, we don’t have great news for you. Insufficient communication on our end has, understandably, resulted in a lot of frustration among some of you. We would therefore like to give you some insight into our internal processes today. 

At the end of this text, you’ll find an FAQ overview.

First of all we want to apologize.

Of course we know there’s nothing worse for mountain bikers than waiting for their new bike to arrive. But it’s even worse when there are delays which are not communicated transparently and in due time. We are aware that some of you have experienced this unpleasant situation with PROPAIN in the past weeks. We want you to know: this is not what we’re striving for, these are not the standards we set for ourselves, and we’re working hard on improving our communication.

A complete mountain bike consists of over 50 individual components. Since we want to provide the best possible service to you, you can choose from a wide range of components with us. This further increases the number of required individual parts and doesn’t necessarily make our planning process easier. We usually order these components up to 12-18 months prior to certain months / periods. Our suppliers confirm these orders and the delivery dates linked to them.

Our delivery dates communicated to you are based on these confirmations.

Due to the high demand the cycling industry is facing, most manufacturers are struggling to handle the large order volumes. Since 2020, it has happened regularly to us that confirmed orders were pushed back the day they were supposed to be delivered. Worst case: sometimes the suppliers don’t even give us new delivery dates but leave us waiting for a new date – to this day! Many of our suppliers, however, receive the same kind of information from their suppliers. A lot of the delays can be traced back to a current shortage of raw materials like aluminium, steel, etc. These bottlenecks affect many industries worldwide, not just the cycling sector.

To make things even more complicated, the Suez Canal was blocked for an extended period of time. While none of our deliveries was on the Ever Given, the fact that this important canal was blocked caused all ships stuck in this ‘traffic jam’ to later reach the European ports at the same time. This has resulted in longer unloading times, while the direly needed empty sea containers did not reach their Asian destinations in time, which in turn caused another series of subsequent delays. These delays have affected our deliveries – deliveries which we had scheduled, and on which we had based and communicated the shipment dates for your bikes.

We understand each and every one of you who wants to know when they will finally receive their bike. This is why we have been trying repeatedly to communicate dates to you which we thought to be reliable. But in some cases, we were wrong.

The number of bikes ordered and the components required combined with the delays are pushing our ERP system and our internal processes to their limits. Unfortunately, we have been unable to inform all of our customers about the delays before they occurred. This is absolutely unsatisfactory for you, but also for us, and we can only assure you once again that these are not the standards we set for ourselves. We urge you to please not blame this on our staff and imply that they’ve had any bad intentions.

We have taken action and already set the course in 2020 to improve our ability to present processes and information in the future. We are working hard on these changes and restructuring measures, but unfortunately, they also take time.

Despite these difficult times and this slightly chaotic situation, we’re optimistic that the overall delivery and shipment situation will calm down a bit in the weeks to come and we will soon be able to ship the bikes long overdue. We have already increased our production capacities for the upcoming deliveries. After our manufacturing line was on hold for several days due to missing parts, we are now doing everything in our power to best accommodate the productions ahead of us.

We’re hoping that these lines have helped you understand the reasons behind the delays and will make you bear with us.
Thank you so much for your loyalty and your patience.

Your PROPAIN Crew

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions – bitte leer lassen

Over the past weeks, we’ve often communicated dates that we had been given by third parties, which frequently turned out to be wrong. This is why we now refrain from giving exact dates until we’re sure we can actually make them. Please be patient.

We reply to every email, even if it sometimes takes a while. If you have a question regarding the delivery time, please send us an email. This gives us enough time to provide reliable information to you. Our staff members answering the phones are currently swamped with the huge number of calls regarding delivery times. Unfortunately, this results in very long waiting loops, and customers who need help or want to file a complaint can’t get through.

There are several reasons for this. The entire cycling industry is experiencing enormous growth and unprecedented demand these days. Each manufacturer currently needs more components than they initially planned for. The suppliers of these parts are unable to meet this high demand. The temporary blockage of the Suez canal is also affecting transportation routes to this day.

We often learn that there will be delays on the day of the scheduled delivery!

If we notice that we can make minor changes that will help us deliver your bike sooner, we will do so and let you know. Unfortunately, we’re currently so low on stock on most of our parts that we won’t be able to make any changes 95 % of the time.

Unfortunately, due to liability and insurance reasons, we can’t.

No. We treat all of our customers equally and fairly.

Of course we’re very sad to see you cancel, but of course you’re free to do so up until 14 days upon receiving your bike. If you want to cancel your order, please send us an email with your order number. We will then get back at you shortly.