Anyone bought a bike from Chain Reaction Cycles?

[soulful dog]

I know buying a bike online isn't ideal, but I'm tempted by a BeOne bike on CRC and wondered if anyone has any experience of buying a bike from them?

I emailed them last week with some queries about the bike, and to ask if they did anything similar to Wiggle's test ride. They've never replied, and I will just forget about the bike if they don't get round to replying (I was supposed to be waiting until next summer to treat myself to my first brand new bike anyway)...... I'm very tempted by the bike though (BeOne Copper)!

 

[smokeysmoo]

Not CRC but I have ordered 3 bikes from Wiggle, CF MTB, CF road bike and CX bike, (all Focus), and never had any issues with their ordering system, delivery, products or customer service. I've never used the 30 day test ride system though

 

[Alembicbassman]

CRC is in Northern Ireland so the bike comes via sea or air.

 

[Soltydog]

I bought a bike from them a couple of months back & all was well. I had an issue with some loose spokes on the rear wheel, & rather than having to send it to them under warranty, they asked me to get it sorted locally & send a copy of receipt, which I did & they sent me a refund within a couple of days, so excellent service imo

 

[jdtate101]

I bought a bike from them a couple of months back & all was well. I had an issue with some loose spokes on the rear wheel, & rather than having to send it to them under warranty, they asked me to get it sorted locally & send a copy of receipt, which I did & they sent me a refund within a couple of days, so excellent service imo

Thats a refreshingly common sense approach that meant you could still have your bike around to ride. Shipping it back would have takens at least two weeks to return. Wish more companies would do this.

 

[smokeysmoo]

I've had to ship 2 bikes back to Wiggle under warranty, (both at their expense), but each one did require a new frame so I wouldn't expect them to permit this via an LBS.

Both times Wiggle sent out a bike box, I emailed them when it was packed up, courier collected next day, bike came back in a week first time, bit longer second time as they had to wait for a new frame from Germany.

Each case was dealt with swiftly and each bike came back re-built and ready to go

 

[soulful dog]

Cheers, I know Wiggle are meant to be good for returns, but only CRC stock BeOne bikes and I can't see anything on their site about there being any kind of test period. It just mentions that bikes should be returned "unused", that you should contact them prior to returning the bike so they can "advise you on the best and cheapest method", and that "on receipt and examination of the bike we will e-mail you to advise of the refund procedure".

Compared to Wiggle all of that sounds pretty, well rubbish.

I'll perhaps email them again, hopefully they'll reply this time....

 

[akb]

Whats wrong with Halfords...

I have brought a few accesories from CRC, but never any fully built bikes. No problems with them at all.

 

[smokeysmoo]

Whats wrong with Halfords...

Most of their bikes

Most of their service

 

[stu1903]

I work for FreeFlow Bikes and without being biased the service you get is very good. I work in the IT side of things dealing with the websites etc so am not trying to sell anything here.

 

[brokenflipflop]

+ 1 for Wiggle too.

I bought our kid a GT mountain bike for £550. He was quite happy with it but he always liked my Cube MTB. After exactly 30 days I noticed the GT I'd got him had been reduced in the Wiggle sale to £400.

I sent them an E-mail with the intention of returning on the 30 day test ride and they accepted it back and gave me a full refund. They were great and efficient too.

Just to finish the story off, my cheeky brother found a Cube MTB like mine on another website which was reduced to £649. Yes you guessed it - I bought him that one.

He's well chuffed and I'm a further £100 out of pocket than I was at the start of my grand plan.

Bugger.

I've used CRC a few times and although they're ok I've found them a little bit arsey and not particularly customer focused or attentive when I have a query or a problem.

 

[soulful dog]

Cheers folks, I wish Wiggle stocked BeOne bikes.....

Though to be fair, CRC have at least responded to my email now. £15 to return the bike, which isn't too bad.

Still undecided though!

 

[brokenflipflop]

Cheers folks, I wish Wiggle stocked BeOne bikes.....

Though to be fair, CRC have at least responded to my email now. £15 to return the bike, which isn't too bad.

Still undecided though!

To be honest SD, if I liked the BeOne It certainly wouldn't deter me from buying it from CRC. Wiggle are brilliant and CRC are just good.

I find dealing with Sainsbury's a better customer experience than Tesco but it wouldn't put me or anyone else buying at Tesco and the goods are of equal quality.

If I liked something enough I'd buy it off an Irishman in Liverpool. (Am I allowed to say that

)

 

[soulful dog]

Well I've gone ahead and bought it now, so we'll see how it goes..... I had conflicting suggestions regards what size I should get, eventually went with the advice from CRC (as I can quote them if they turn out to be wrong!).

First time I've ever bought a brand new bike before, it's exciting isn't it!

 

[ianrauk]

Well I've gone ahead and bought it now, so we'll see how it goes..... I had conflicting suggestions regards what size I should get, eventually went with the advice from CRC (as I can quote them if they turn out to be wrong!).

First time I've ever bought a brand new bike before, it's exciting isn't it!

Very.... and we don't believe you have bought it until you have posted pics.