Trek Bicycle Corporation, recently issued the press release quoted below:
November 13, 2006
To: All Trek Dealers
Re: INTERNET FRAUD ALERT
Dear Valued Trek Dealer:
We have received several reports about a fraudulent website which purports to sell Trek bicycles over the internet at deeply discounted prices. The website is currently up and running at www.marks-bicycles.com. In the past, the same website has appeared under several other names such as www.kenbicycle.com, www.maxbicycle.com, www.volinbicycle.com, and www.mobybicycle.com. [this is also the same website I mentioned in my Oct. 31 2006 entry at the url of www.steves-bikes.com, which has also been shut down.] We have successfully shut this website down several times, only to find that it reappears under a similar domain name shortly thereafter. Other major brands are also featured on the site.
Elsewhere in the press release:
It is a scam. They do not have an actual bike shop, nor do they have any bikes. All of the contact and credit card information used to set up the website is fraudulent. The pictures have been copied from a legitimate bike shop’s website.
If you try to purchase a bike from this website, you’ll find that the only method of payment they accept is wire transfer. If you order a bike and wire them money, they will keep the money, but you will not get your bike. If you call the phone number, you get a recording, not an actual person.
Trek will continue to monitor the site and shut it down whenever we find it. Beyond this, we know of no way to prevent whoever is behind this from doing what they are doing unless the authorities get involved. So far, they have been unwilling to do so. Please inform customers that they should not purchase anything from this website.
I feel it is important to bring this issue to your awareness for several reasons:
1. As a company that strives to be an honest and reputable source of cycling equipment, service, and knowledge it is people like those mentioned above that make us look bad and creates an attitude that we are only out to make a buck and then disappear with your money.
2. Out of concern for the well-being of our valued and loyal clients. It is our first concern to offer to you the best products, service, and information at the most fair price possible. While the occasional web-based bargain may surface; there are those out there who do not care about the consequences of their actions because they know that they will not have to face you at the local group ride or when there is a problem with the product. We purposefully seek out brands such as Trek who not only issue statements about the fair and honest sale of their products but also enforce it in the way they have stated above. Nearly 90% of the product you find in any of our stores is supplied by companies that have strict dealer agreements which outline the fair and honest sale of their products. You can shop confidently with us knowing that you are getting the best and most fair price possible.
3. People like the ones mentioned above only prosper when they feel that no one is on to them, they won’t get caught, and that the uninformed will actually buy from them. Buy publishing this entry, I’ve eliminated all three possibilities if you simply read this. We’ve proven that we’re on to them, they can get caught and we’ve educated consumers about their existence. We don’t want you to have to deal with them.
You can deal confidently with our stores as we will never be the topic of a press release like the one quoted above.
Thanks for reading.