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You're right, but my rebuttal would be this isn't me calling Target to say the blender I ordered didn't get delivered.
This is a VIN-trackable vehicle, and a customer who already paid for a bike and is saying they don't have it, should go to the top of the priority list, right?
The guy paid over $12k and couldn't get a response back from the company. That's inexcusable. Too many similar stories.
It's unfortunate, because it seems the product itself is pretty incredible.
Not, like they are just leaving it on a driveway without a signature. Or I would hope not.
But if their system was showing it was delivered it could have been delivered and not activeated.
Remeber the story of the Stolen Varg a few months or so ago? That would be a way of steeling a Varg never activate it and sell it. Then claim You never got it.
Obviously something slipped through the cracks and they should have been able to verify that he did not get it. Maybe thats what they were doing during that time? Unless the delivery driver scanns Your lic anybody could have signed for it.
I've gotten shipments to my shop that were NOT for me. That I signed for since I get lots of packages and found out after opening them that I was not the person they were supposed to go to. I got a package of pain patches one time and a package of some sort of expensive parts for some CNC machineary . I ended up going and delivering the item to the correct address both times. And both people were happy, but they could have filed a claim still since the packages were not delivered to them. The CNC stuff , the person was super happy I got them their parts, they said they were worth a good amount of money. 10 or 20K .
When that package came in I had a kid that was working for me opening up the packages and putting them into inventory and he brought the parts up to me to ask what they were and thats when I realized the package was not intended for us.
I'm just saying its possible and with so many people scamming these days , I don't blame Stark for taking time to confirm the bike was never delivered. I do think that it really should have been resolved much faster.
Where are the other stories of anything similar that has happened? I can remeber maybe 2 others that were early on. One that the person got the bike, one that was paid for on a CC and the got the money back from their cc company. I will agree that even 1 case is too many. But saying that there are many similar stories, is not a really accurate way to describe a handful of incidents. Like I said,I think 1 time is too many times. But if they have sold thousands of bikes and 5 people have had issues, that may not be many to a lot of people.
Not sure of an exact number of bikes sold and not defending the actions of Stark. But I would like to point out that there have been many more stories of people buying a Japanese or Austrian bike and having it break and just being out of luck. Having to pay to fix it. Or fighting with the company to get something fixed for a longtime. With Stark You have a warrenty.
I’ve been buying new motorcycles for over 30 years now, and I’ve never paid for one I didn’t get, just sayin’.
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We are beating a dead horse at this point, but in my opinion, that is a tremendous amount of text trying to defend absolutely terrible customer service.
Bottom line, if you have a customer who paid THAT much money saying they didn't get the product and your system shows they did....that's a "give me an hour to figure this out" kind of thing. Not a ten days with no response kind of thing.
I don't know why you're so set on bailing out Stark on this one man.
Pay everything you can with American Express…they will give you your money back, the same day you request it and then go after the retailer
Ten days was the time frame from OP getting the number of someone further inside Stark corporate and their response…the total timeframe of communication (or inherent lack there of) for the OP has been months
Yeah, I'm just going off that time because even then it's unacceptable. There is no excuse AT ALL for how this was handled.
Sometimes things are handled so poorly the only thing a company can do is just admit fault and say it was completely unacceptable, they have changed processes and policies, and assure everyone it won't happen again.
That kind of accountability seems hard to find these days. Especially when you have people who I don't think have a vested interest in ANY of it giving dissertations on the internet about how it's not that bad....
I've been very outspoken about Stark. But lets be honest here. Multiple stories like this are terrible to hear in our industry.
Couldn’t possibly agree more. Doesn’t seem to be a very consumer friendly corporation after some of the stories and issues, regardless of what people associated (I assume either a dealer or regional sales manager) do to try to help resolve the situations. In a hobby industry like motocross where the buyers are pretty committed to the industry, that’s really not a good look…
Update
As of today no refund and haven’t heard anything from stark. I’m just a construction worker from Tennessee that barely graduated high school, but I don’t understand how you can bring such an innovative bike to market and still not be able to issue a refund for going on 8 weeks.
As far as the comments on the situation itself, I have tried to explain everything as accurately as possible. Maybe someone from stark could share their side of the situation to be fair for both sides.
I think stark has a unique opportunity to lock in a good customer base now while they are basically the only ones in the market. But if/when the Japanese enter the market it will be difficult for them.
There isn't a "fair to both sides" part of this. You paid for a product you don't have, and can't get a straight answer or a refund.
The fact you haven't heard anything from them, as far as I'm concerned, is enough to go straight to your payment method and file a legitimate complaint. Then forward that info to whoever you last talked to at Stark, and wait for the response.
It's pathetic your situation is being handled like this. What a joke of a company.
I wonder if he could show up to one of these with his receipt and all the back and forth, and they give him a bike?
I feel like there’s more to the story, but from what he’s said, I think you would agree he’s been shafted.
I know a lot of text, I said that I agree that it was handled badly.
I am just trying to give a plausible reason for why it may have taken a while with a couple real work experiences I had as examples , NOT THAT I THINK IT SHOULD HAVE TAKEN AS LONG AS IT HAS .
I agree the timeframe seems excessive. But I have never done what Stark is doing, bad customer service yes. But most likely not in a malicious way.
Again, I AGREE it was handled badly. And buying from a local dealer would solve a lot of problems that people have with online purchases.
From the sounds of it, Stark is able to sell direct to customer by not selling direct to customer. They use a dealership to handle the online sales. So that dealer has his money not Stark. Not that it is any better that its not Stark themselves. Stark sells the dealer the bike and they sell all of the bikes sold through the website.
It would be like prepaying for a bike in cash or with your non Honda financing at a random Honda dealer and going to one that is not connected in any other way than being a Honda dealer and expecting them to hand over a bike.
And he's said he doesn't want the bike at the price he paid anymore anyway. I'm not defending Stark. Mistakes happen and processes are changed as a result. It sucks that this guy is having this problem and I hope he gets his money and that Stark fixes whatever allowed this to happen.
My examples of fraud were only meant to provide a reason that Stark would be cautious about just refunding immediately. Not that I think You are trying to pull any type of scam. I was just pointing out how full of scams the world is and why they may have slow walked at first.
It sucks that You had to post on here to get help to get in touch with somebody. I hope that Stark is not OK with a few issues like this happening no matter how few or how many and that they take steps to prevent it from happening again.
How many things have you ordered online that never showed up? How many people do You know that have gotten an item and claimed they never got it, that ordered online ? That part of the process seems to be the problem.
The process they have for being able to sell bikes online. When people and companies do things that have never been done before, mistakes happen. I hope that they provide him with interest or do something for him even though he's getting his money back, to make up for the screw up in some way that is satisfactory to the OP.
Buy the bike from a local dealer and its not a problem. I have sold and will sell a ton more online. But there are benefits to the sometimes slight extra expense of buying from a local shop.
I feel bad for the OP, and do hope he gets his money back asap so he can purchase whatever bike he has decided to get.
Fact is. He paid Stark $12.5K and received no bike. He still has no bike. He has no refund. He has received nothing. What is it that I’m not seeing?
Pit Row
That's easy - the bike. You're not seeing the bike... right?
What do I win?
And don't tell me that I've won a Stark and that it's in the mail.
Well according to Sasquatch, it's not malicious at all, so no big deal. Even though "it shouldn't have happened" 😂
As other have mentioned talk to your payment method provider and go through the process of a chargeback. If Stark gets enough chargeback complaints from a payment provider they will lose the ability to use that provider, as well as be subject to fines. Since the desire to have good customer service clearly isn’t motivation enough for them to get their stuff together, maybe the prospect of actually hurting their business in the long run will be enough motivation. In terms of the chargeback they can choose to blacklist you from future sales, but I have a feeling you probably don’t care about that at the moment
Update
Just got the refund from Stark on this.
Glad to hear you got your money back, Sorry to hear you don't have a new Stark Varg to ride. I guess lesson learned, bummer.
Had this been handled properly this guy would have the bike they initially wanted and Stark would have another sale.
This is the way of the world these days. 80% do the bare minimum to receive their pay check and an hour before clock out time they are already checked out. It’s frustrating dealing with anything anymore. When you do get someone that does their job you’re overjoyed about it.
I am/was interested in buying a Stark and getting back into rec riding. It looks like a great bike. But, until I can sit down at at dealer, look at the bike, touch the bike, actually sit on it and then pick up the bike immediately, like every other bike I have ever bought...I am 100% out. This BS of sending/wiring $12,000 to someone for a bike I can only see on the internet and then wait for a bike for weeks or months for delivery is frigging ridiculous. Personally, I wouldn't touch this sh*t with a 10 foot pole. Stark needs to get their business straightened out so people can have faith as to what is going on. I am not about to send a company an interest free $12,000 loan and then have the communication be so poor (or non-existent) that it's almost scary and then delivery dates be subject to change for whateverthefuck reason. Get it right Stark. People shouldn't have to jump through hoops and rely on some kind stranger on the internet to get things right in order to spend $12k on a dirt bike.
Sorry it did not work out.
Now we can await the non-Stark-owning fanboys to drop in and over-explain all of this to us.
Hammertime Sports in Belvidere, IL about an hour from Elkhorn has 6 Vargs in stock for $10,990 right now.
https://www.hammertimesports.com/Inventory/New-Inventory-In-Stock/New/S…
There are dealers across the country that have Stark in stock.
Knowing this, Stark should have called one of "their" dealers who had this guys bike spec in stock and had it shipped, at Starks expense, to his door.
That's how you handle this situation. Then after your customer who paid for his bike has his bike, you work behind the scenes to make that dealer whole and whatever else needs to happen. Cost of doing (good) business when you eff up this bad.
Wow...that is good to know. Thanks for the info!! I did not know anyone was stocking them yet. They have several 2024's and a leftover 2023. I may take a road trip soon. But...as someone stated, why didn't Stark pull one from a dealers open stock or call a dealer to assist with this guys order?
Post a reply to: Huge Stark Issue/ Refunded