Evans are even more rubbish than I thought

[jefmcg]

If you go into Evans, there's lots of commuting stuff around: folding bikes, city bikes, computer panniers etc etc and of course cycle scheme. This might make the more naive amongst us think that they regarded cycling as a serious mode of transport. However ...

Earlier this week I crashed my bike. It's a folder, so I folded it up and got on the bus for work. As there is an Evans a few doors away taking the bike anywhere else was going to be a serious PITA, so I took it in there. Kudos: they asked me if I was ok, and tried to sit me down with a cuppa. They booked it in for a safety check and ended up not charging me for that. They rang me promptly with an assessment of damage and got back to me with the best option for repair: a new front wheel. That was my assessment, too, so ok.

Estimated time for repair: 2-3 weeks! To be clear, the repair consists of getting a wheel, putting a tyre on it and fitting. As I was planning to take it away at Easter, I rang the supplier to check lead times. It's in stock, so 2 or 3 days they said.

I took that information to Evans, but it turns out the estimate was 2-3 days from supplier to Gatwick (Evans hub) + 1 or 2 weeks from there to my London store.

Can you imagine if this was a (for example) Toyota dealership? "The fanbelt is in stock at the depot, so we should be able to have you back on the road within a month"

</grumble>

Cancelled the Evans order, called the supplier and it turns out there is an LBS near me that could order it. Hopefully will be back on the road on Saturday. Note the LBS are charging me more because they had to pay shipping on top.

joan

 

[gannet]

2-3 weeks

that's insane!

LBS's rock

 

[rusky]

That's strange, I've recently had to deal with Evans regarding a warranty claim & they were really good, only let down by the bike manufacturer!

There's an Evans customer service person registered on here & they have an email address, I'll see if I can find it.

 

[Jezston]

Evans are great for buying stuff, tend to have lots in stock, friendly staff and price matching, but they do suck for repairs - charge loads for simple jobs and my local one at least appear not to have full time repair staff.

 

[rusky]

Email here community.manager@evanscycles.com

 

[jefmcg]

Thanks Guys,

I'm not going to email them, because I feel the guys in the store gave me good advice that may not be in corporate's best interest, so I'm not going risk exposing them.

Evans must be aware of it: the guy on the front desk, when I cancelled the order asked "is this because of how long it takes?" and when I rang the supplier and explained the situation, they suggested I try an independent store "not Evans or Cyclesurgery".

Very happy for my business to go to the local store - Evans' is getting most of my cycle shopping anyway, because they are everywhere.

 

[400bhp]

Kudos: they asked me if I was ok, and tried to sit me down with a cuppa. They booked it in for a safety check and ended up not charging me for that. They rang me promptly with an assessment of damage and got back to me with the best option for repair: a new front wheel. That was my assessment, too, so ok.

Am I reading the thread title right?

Did you bother to ask why your impromptu repair would take so long?

 

[Twenty Inch]

I know someone who knows someone who works in Evans hub at Gatwick, I'll forward them this thread.

 

[ttcycle]

Yes,

I've come across this problem before - It seems to be with Evans and Cyclesurgery - twice theft of carbon fibre bike - dealt with Cyclesurgery who kept me waiting for weeks. They both have some bizarre stock system which seems to delay things by quite a lot.

 

[jefmcg]

Am I reading the thread title right?

Did you bother to ask why your impromptu repair would take so long?

They warned me they needed to order a part, and told me it would take 2 to 3 weeks. I just assumed as it's a slightly less common folding bike (Mezzo) and the part has to be from them, it was a supplier problem. At this point, I thought I knew why it would take so long. It never crossed my mind to ask them to break that lead time into different phases. It was only when I came back to them with the supplier's time did I find out the details.

btw, The part is waiting in my LBS for me to pick up tomorrow.