Displeased with international service
I called in May or June 2026 and spoke with a Bikeflights agent about shipping my bike and gear from Phoenix, AZ to Montreal, Canada. The conversation went well. She said it may take two weeks to ship the bike as going through international customs will delay things. Based on this information, I put on my calendar to arrange for shipping on Thursday, July 30 to allow the bike two weeks to arrive and then allowing the Montreal bike store up to a week to reassemble it as they specified. My bike shop said they could assist me with packing, so my bike (in one box) and gear (in another box) were packed and ready to go at noon on July 30. I started the Bikeflight website process at the bike shop using my phone. Then, I received an email back saying they need a Statement of Purpose for why I'm shipping my bike. Fine. At home, I type up a quick statement. Then, they say that wasn't good enough and they advised that food, fuel, and powdered Gatorade can't be included in the shipped contents. I even had to provide my packing list - with Gatorade omitted from it. Besides, Gatorade, I had no food and, of course, there was no fuel among my contents. Then, they say it won't be picked up by UPS until Monday, August 3 as they have 1-3 business days to provide the shipping label and arrange pick up. So while they originally said allow two weeks to ship, they need an additional up to five days (if the 1-3 business days includes a weekend, as is the case in my situation). Also, when I called Bikeflights, they say I can't speak with someone in their international shipping side. It seems their domestic USA customer service is quite good, but customer service for international customers I would characterize as poor. I don't understand why I can speak with someone if my need is domestic (USA) but I can't speak with someone if my shipping destination is international. To be fair, they did a decent job of responding to emails but this could have been done much more easily with a phone conversation. And I'm quite frustrated that no one mentioned the additional 1-3 business days for shipping when I have a defined start date with a friend in Montreal for a three-week tour to Michigan. Finally, I didn't see and wasn't given a list of prohibited items like food (Gatorade). The communications from Bikeflights' international group is poor by their design. They should have just told me at first to allow one month to ship which would include provision of the shipping labels (up to five calendar days) and they should have provided a recommended list of prohibited items (like food/Gatorade) to customers. Finally, their international group should be equally accessible by phone as their domestic group. Its all the same company, after all.