Evans on line ordering

[clodhopper]

Having been used to good customer service from Wiggle and used them for many
a year now, my wife took a look at the Evans site and decided there were one
or two items that caught her eye and decided to place on order.

Of the three items she ordered one was completely wrong in that shorts were
ordered yet a top was delivered.

The second item was listed on the site as size 14 but on arival turned out
to be 14-16. Had this been described like this on the site she would not
have ordered it and in fact it was way too big.

The third item was the only item out of the three to be correct.

My wife was very disapointed with this and promptly returned all three items
with a demand for a full refund to include the postage charge incured by her
to return the items.

Now, bearing in mind that on item was completely wrong and the second was
inacurately described size wise I would have expected Evans in the interest
of customer relations to say, ok fair play, and refund the return postage.
Sadly no, it would seem Evans have more customers than they need and are not
concerned that as a result of her experiences my wife will never use Evans
again.

I wonder if anyone from Evans will see this and even remotely care. Back to
wiggle from now on and to hell with the silly efraud scare stories.

 

[Paul Boyd]

On 03/04/2007 20:40, clodhopper said,
> Having been used to good customer service from Wiggle and used them for many
> a year now, my wife took a look at the Evans site and decided there were one
> or two items that caught her eye and decided to place on order.

Oh dear. You didn't need to say any more!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

 

[Don Whybrow]

clodhopper wrote:
>
> My wife was very disapointed with this and promptly returned all three items
> with a demand for a full refund to include the postage charge incured by her
> to return the items.
>
> Now, bearing in mind that on item was completely wrong and the second was
> inacurately described size wise I would have expected Evans in the interest
> of customer relations to say, ok fair play, and refund the return postage.
> Sadly no, it would seem Evans have more customers than they need and are not
> concerned that as a result of her experiences my wife will never use Evans
> again.

To quote SWMBO when we recently had cause to return an item (not
Evans)[OK, I have removed amount & date, so it is not really a quote]:

"I understand that, under the Distance Selling Regulations, I am
entitled to a full refund within 30 days of the cancellation and I
expect you to contact me with details on when and how to expect the sum
of <amount> to be re-paid before close of business on <date>."

We had the cash back PDQ after waving that around. Oh, and all that was
wrong was that they had shipped the wrong colour but were unable to
source the correct one after multiple phone calls.

--
Don Whybrow

Sequi Bonum Non Time

"The war isn't the war between the blacks and the whites, the
liberals and the conservatives, or the Federation and the
Romulans. It's between the clueful and the clueless." (an
anonymous poster on cypherpunks list)

 

[Steve Smith]

In article <[email protected]>, clodhopper says...
> Having been used to good customer service from Wiggle and used them for many
> a year now, my wife took a look at the Evans site and decided there were one
> or two items that caught her eye and decided to place on order.
>
> Of the three items she ordered one was completely wrong in that shorts were
> ordered yet a top was delivered.
>
> The second item was listed on the site as size 14 but on arival turned out
> to be 14-16. Had this been described like this on the site she would not
> have ordered it and in fact it was way too big.
>
> The third item was the only item out of the three to be correct.
>
> My wife was very disapointed with this and promptly returned all three items
> with a demand for a full refund to include the postage charge incured by her
> to return the items.
>
> Now, bearing in mind that on item was completely wrong and the second was
> inacurately described size wise I would have expected Evans in the interest
> of customer relations to say, ok fair play, and refund the return postage.
> Sadly no, it would seem Evans have more customers than they need and are not
> concerned that as a result of her experiences my wife will never use Evans
> again.
>
> I wonder if anyone from Evans will see this and even remotely care. Back to
> wiggle from now on and to hell with the silly efraud scare stories.
>
>
>
I had a much better experience with Evans albeit that I ended up
returning the shorts because they did not have the specified inner liner
and I had ordered the wrong size. I phoned the customer serivce line
and explained the problem. The guy called back well within the promised
hour to confirm there should be a liner but he couldn't locate a pair
the right size. He then promised to check when the Warehouse Manager
returned to work (it was between Christmas and New Year) and call me
back. By 10.00 a.m. on 2 January he had called to say that they had had
no luck (the item was in the clearance section of the website). He told
me (unprompted) to specify the return postage cost on the returns form
and this was refunded along with the cost of the shorts and the original
p&p cost. I was left with a very good impression of the service even if
I didn't get the shorts I wanted!

 

[elyob]

"clodhopper" <bob,[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> Having been used to good customer service from Wiggle and used them for
> many a year now, my wife took a look at the Evans site and decided there
> were one or two items that caught her eye and decided to place on order.

Boo hiss ... elyob recommends not using Evans.

 

[John]

elyob wrote:
> "clodhopper" <bob,[email protected]> wrote in message
> news[email protected]...
>> Having been used to good customer service from Wiggle and used them for
>> many a year now, my wife took a look at the Evans site and decided there
>> were one or two items that caught her eye and decided to place on order.
>
> Boo hiss ... elyob recommends not using Evans.
>
>

I've not used their online service but the shop up by London Bridge is ****.

It's a shame really because six or seven years ago before they
expanded the shops up at waterloo were OK.
>

 

[congokid]

In article <[email protected]>, John <[email protected]>
writes

>I've not used their online service but the shop up by London Bridge is ****.
>
>It's a shame really because six or seven years ago before they
>expanded the shops up at waterloo were OK.

I bought my bike there in 1987, but stopped shopping at Evans after they
refused a company cheque when I wanted it serviced.
--
congokid
Eating out in London? Read my tips...
http://congokid.com

 

[Roger Merriman]

elyob <[email protected]> wrote:

> "clodhopper" <bob,[email protected]> wrote in message
> news[email protected]...
> > Having been used to good customer service from Wiggle and used them for
> > many a year now, my wife took a look at the Evans site and decided there
> > were one or two items that caught her eye and decided to place on order.
>
> Boo hiss ... elyob recommends not using Evans.

i very occationaly use the one in kingston mostly so i can see the
stuff, luckly i have a local bike shop that i can push carry drag a ill
bike shop, as my bike spannering skills are low and long will that
remain!

Evans are useful to look at whats about, but they are very much a chain
store. i buy the odd thing from them but some how i dought that for
instance they'd remove pedals for me for free, or of serviced my old
mountain bike which after over 10 years of being ran around hills. was
fairly knackered.

makes a hell of differance the old girl glides along lovely now. evans i
suspect would of felt it was below them to touch such a knacked beast.
while the local bike shop's folks are into bikes. does make a
differance.

roger

 

[elyob]

"Roger Merriman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:1hw1xkv.1rdwmuu1yrd4pwN%[email protected]...
> elyob <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> "clodhopper" <bob,[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news[email protected]...
>> > Having been used to good customer service from Wiggle and used them for
>> > many a year now, my wife took a look at the Evans site and decided
>> > there
>> > were one or two items that caught her eye and decided to place on
>> > order.
>>
>> Boo hiss ... elyob recommends not using Evans.
>
> i very occationaly use the one in kingston mostly so i can see the
> stuff, luckly i have a local bike shop that i can push carry drag a ill
> bike shop, as my bike spannering skills are low and long will that
> remain!
>
> Evans are useful to look at whats about, but they are very much a chain
> store. i buy the odd thing from them but some how i dought that for
> instance they'd remove pedals for me for free, or of serviced my old
> mountain bike which after over 10 years of being ran around hills. was
> fairly knackered.
>
> makes a hell of differance the old girl glides along lovely now. evans i
> suspect would of felt it was below them to touch such a knacked beast.
> while the local bike shop's folks are into bikes. does make a
> differance.

Kingston's the one that p*$$ed me off. Then it went to head office who quite
happily continued the bull.

I'm still planning my revenge. Not buying anything from them is the first
part.

 

[Roger Merriman]

elyob <[email protected]> wrote:

> "Roger Merriman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:1hw1xkv.1rdwmuu1yrd4pwN%[email protected]...
> > elyob <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >> "clodhopper" <bob,[email protected]> wrote in message
> >> news[email protected]...
> >> > Having been used to good customer service from Wiggle and used them for
> >> > many a year now, my wife took a look at the Evans site and decided
> >> > there
> >> > were one or two items that caught her eye and decided to place on
> >> > order.
> >>
> >> Boo hiss ... elyob recommends not using Evans.
> >
> > i very occationaly use the one in kingston mostly so i can see the
> > stuff, luckly i have a local bike shop that i can push carry drag a ill
> > bike shop, as my bike spannering skills are low and long will that
> > remain!
> >
> > Evans are useful to look at whats about, but they are very much a chain
> > store. i buy the odd thing from them but some how i dought that for
> > instance they'd remove pedals for me for free, or of serviced my old
> > mountain bike which after over 10 years of being ran around hills. was
> > fairly knackered.
> >
> > makes a hell of differance the old girl glides along lovely now. evans i
> > suspect would of felt it was below them to touch such a knacked beast.
> > while the local bike shop's folks are into bikes. does make a
> > differance.
>
> Kingston's the one that p*$$ed me off. Then it went to head office who quite
> happily continued the bull.
>
this about the check?

> I'm still planning my revenge. Not buying anything from them is the first
> part.

i see them like halfords or pcworld etc, ie useful to see stuff in the
flesh. but staffed by sales droids.

roger

 

[Rola]

elyob wrote:
> "Roger Merriman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:1hw1xkv.1rdwmuu1yrd4pwN%[email protected]...
>> elyob <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> "clodhopper" <bob,[email protected]> wrote in message
>>> news[email protected]...
>>>> Having been used to good customer service from Wiggle and used them for
>>>> many a year now, my wife took a look at the Evans site and decided
>>>> there
>>>> were one or two items that caught her eye and decided to place on
>>>> order.
>>> Boo hiss ... elyob recommends not using Evans.
>> i very occationaly use the one in kingston mostly so i can see the
>> stuff, luckly i have a local bike shop that i can push carry drag a ill
>> bike shop, as my bike spannering skills are low and long will that
>> remain!
>>
>> Evans are useful to look at whats about, but they are very much a chain
>> store. i buy the odd thing from them but some how i dought that for
>> instance they'd remove pedals for me for free, or of serviced my old
>> mountain bike which after over 10 years of being ran around hills. was
>> fairly knackered.
>>
>> makes a hell of differance the old girl glides along lovely now. evans i
>> suspect would of felt it was below them to touch such a knacked beast.
>> while the local bike shop's folks are into bikes. does make a
>> differance.
>
> Kingston's the one that p*$$ed me off. Then it went to head office who quite
> happily continued the bull.
>
> I'm still planning my revenge. Not buying anything from them is the first
> part.
>
>
Kingston branch have staff that are high up on the list totally useless
objects.

Woking branch are a bit better if you get the right guy, but for the
majority of the quick-turnover-shop-boys I wouldn't trust them to get
anything right that involved something more than pointing to an item on
the shelf.

 

[Ian Smith]

On Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:47:16 +0100, Rola <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Woking branch are a bit better if you get the right guy, but for
> the majority of the quick-turnover-shop-boys I wouldn't trust them
> to get anything right that involved something more than pointing to
> an item on the shelf.

Woking Evans was my worst ever bike shop mechanic experience.
Admittedly long ago, but since it was the last time I ever went there,
it's all I can recount:

I'd bought some SPD pedals. One was clearly broken internally - when
you turned the tension adjuster, the tension didn't adjust, the screw
merely wound out of the pedal. Obviously knackered.

I took it back. The assistant looked at it, said they'd have to let
the mechanic look at it, disappeared out the back. Came back and told
me it was fine - it was supposed to do that.

I was flummoxed for a moment, then pointed out that in that case the
_other_ pedal was knackered, because when you turned the same screw on
that one, it didn't wind out of the body, instead the cleat tension
reduced. In either case, the pair was faulty and I wanted my money
back.

Assistant disappeared out the back with it. Came back and told me it
was fine - that one was supposed to do that - it was the tension
adjustment screw, you see.

I was double flummoxed. There are levels of idiocy you just can't
argue with. The assistant was adamant both pedals were fine.
However, there was no way I was leaving with goods I _knew_ were
broken, and after a great deal of argument, I got my money back before
leaving. It took a long time, however, and I think they basically
relented when they wanted to lock up and go home.


I've actually forgiven them now, in that I no longer hold the grudge,
I merely recount the above tale whenever possible and don't use Evans
except to handle things I'll but from wiggle. The turning point was
that when my company was setting up its bike-to-work scheme, it was
proposed by the person creating it that we use the Evans ready-made
scheme. I succeeded in putting a stop to that notion, since when
several thousands of pounds-worth of bikes they haven't been sold by
Evans, pretty much solely because they ****** me off ten (probably
more, actually) years ago.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

 

[Rola]

Ian Smith wrote:

> I've actually forgiven them now, in that I no longer hold the grudge,
> I merely recount the above tale whenever possible and don't use Evans
> except to handle things I'll but from wiggle.

My favourite evans story involves a rather expensive cycle computer that
gave up after 3 weeks. I took it back to Kingston, and after the
mechanic took it into the back to fix it - despite my cries of "it's a
computer for ffs" I was told they would have to send it back. I would
not budge and demanded a replacement there and then, which I eventually got.

8 months down the line, and I thought I might like the luxury of another
computer of the same model for my other bike. So I stops off at
Kingston to pick one up. Once outside, I opened the box only to find it
was the one I had took back all those months ago. Someone had put it
back on the shelf.

Went back into the shop, and immediately they didn't believe me
insinuating that I was pulling a stunt, but eventually they reluctantly
gave me my money back. On the bonus side, I had bought it with a
discount card, but the "manager" who gave the refund gave me the price
off of the box without looking at the receipt. Gleeful in knowing I had
just made money, I rode home and treated myself to a kebab and a can of
tizer en route - and still had change left!

 

[Pinky]

I buy happily from Wiggle for most of my bits and pieces. despite being an "on
line" site they know me! And I do complain sometimes!

For service and advice and problems I go to my LBS J E James of Rotherham who
have a good dual/triple team on servicing. basic sales and specialist sales.
In 4 years I have had only one doubtful result of servicing but hey have
always been good to me as an increasingly aware cyclist ( albeit ancient Just
imagine a 64 year old going into a bike shop and saying "I need a bike to
cycle all the way to Spain -- camping all the way" -- and they didn't laugh
too much and helped me a lot!

Evans are also the CTC shop site and are expensive too -- even with a quoted
CTC discount!

despite the strings on here I have had no problems at all with Wiggle. I
wouldn't touch CTC/Evans with a barge pole!

In the end buy where you will for accessories and bits but maintain a good
relationship with your good LBS.

As a matter of fact my memory is that JE James used to make their own bikes
some 30 years ago! Sad that that sort of excellence has long gone.

Just a post script -- one of the lads who was trained by J E James now works
for Halfords in Doncaster and has carried his standards across -- happily he
also remembers me on my v infrequent visits to Halfords! Well done JE James!
Good LBS in South Yorkshire.

( Langsett Cycles -- Sheffield -- is also good but just a tad understaffed
but they won't sell you a pup! They are just a bit too far away from me!)


--
Trevor A Panther
In South Yorkshire,
England, United Kingdom.
www.tapan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

"clodhopper" <bob,[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> Having been used to good customer service from Wiggle and used them for many
> a year now, my wife took a look at the Evans site and decided there were one
> or two items that caught her eye and decided to place on order.
>
> Of the three items she ordered one was completely wrong in that shorts were
> ordered yet a top was delivered.
>
> The second item was listed on the site as size 14 but on arival turned out
> to be 14-16. Had this been described like this on the site she would not
> have ordered it and in fact it was way too big.
>
> The third item was the only item out of the three to be correct.
>
> My wife was very disapointed with this and promptly returned all three items
> with a demand for a full refund to include the postage charge incured by her
> to return the items.
>
> Now, bearing in mind that on item was completely wrong and the second was
> inacurately described size wise I would have expected Evans in the interest
> of customer relations to say, ok fair play, and refund the return postage.
> Sadly no, it would seem Evans have more customers than they need and are not
> concerned that as a result of her experiences my wife will never use Evans
> again.
>
> I wonder if anyone from Evans will see this and even remotely care. Back to
> wiggle from now on and to hell with the silly efraud scare stories.
>
>

 

[[email protected]]

On Apr 3, 8:40 pm, "clodhopper" <bob,[email protected]> wrote:
> Now, bearing in mind that on item was completely wrong and the second was
> inacurately described size wise I would have expected Evans in the interest
> of customer relations to say, ok fair play, and refund the return postage.
> Sadly no, it would seem Evans have more customers than they need and

You cannot be held liable for the cost of returning faulty goods. See
Q4 at http://www.dti.gov.uk/consumers/fact-sheets/page38102.html

Demand a refund, at least pro-rata for the postage of the 2 items that
did not fulfil the contract.

MBQ

 

[dkahn400]

On Apr 4, 5:19 pm, "elyob" <[email protected]> wrote:

> I see them as higher than that, they're more like the John Lewis
> of cycles.

If they were like John Lewis you would have got a free replacement or
your money back with no quibbling at all.

--
Dave...

 

[clodhopper]

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Apr 3, 8:40 pm, "clodhopper" <bob,[email protected]> wrote:
>> Now, bearing in mind that on item was completely wrong and the second was
>> inacurately described size wise I would have expected Evans in the
>> interest
>> of customer relations to say, ok fair play, and refund the return
>> postage.
>> Sadly no, it would seem Evans have more customers than they need and
>
> You cannot be held liable for the cost of returning faulty goods. See
> Q4 at http://www.dti.gov.uk/consumers/fact-sheets/page38102.html
>
> Demand a refund, at least pro-rata for the postage of the 2 items that
> did not fulfil the contract.
>
> MBQ
>

TBH I cant be bothered and life's too short to get stressed out over a
couple of quid. I'm quite satisfied to vote with my feet as I'll never use
them for anything again. I am in the market for a new bike and had two
shortlisted, the the Bianchi 928 from Evans and a Trek 5000 from elsewhere.
Guess what? The shortlist now only contains the Trek.
It really baffels me that companies can't see what they loose when they
treat a customer shabbily. I only lost a couple of quid but they loose a
whole lot more.

 

[David Damerell]

Quoting Tony Raven <[email protected]>:
>David Damerell wrote on 10/04/2007 13:51 +0100:
>>Quoting elyob <[email protected]>:
>>>called the head office, they told me I'd fitted it incorrectly. How I could
>>>fix a rack incorrectly is beyond me. They said that the stays had to be on
>>>outside, not inside of frame, however am unable to fit to outside due to
>>>frame design.
>>So, in fact, you know exactly how you fitted it incorrectly. Why is the
>>design of your frame their fault?
>Even if he did fit it incorrectly they would need to show that the
>incorrect fitting was responsible for the failure.

I agree; and, indeed, if he had (for example) shown them the bike, it
would still have not been fit for purpose. But to say "How I could fix a
rack incorrectly is beyond me" is absurd when the OP knows exactly how he
fitted it incorrectly.
--
David Damerell <[email protected]> flcl?
Today is Second Olethros, April - a weekend.