EvansCycles bad experience (resolved [to customer satisfaction])

[ewssonaht]

Hi guys I just want to share with you my bad experience with Evanscycles as i feel like it is worth knowing how the company serves customers when it comes down to resolving an issue.

I am not in the UK (so sorry for the not perfect English). I placed an order for a Genesis Day ONE Alfine 8 bike for a total of 1169 pounds. I received a bike home one week later. Like a little boy on Christmas eve i opened the box... To my big disappointment the bike was used (Ex demo) (See pictures on the gallery here http://postimg.org/gallery/b69fdj18/ ).

• Dirty saddle (pictures taken after i cleaned it as it was the first thing I got out of the box and thought it was just dirty from the box
• Front rotor unusable so wrapped that it was moving the caliper in every rotation
• Scratches on the frame
• Logos on cranks faded
• Tires dirty from use
• Cranks have hits from cleats?
• Dirty bar tape

This is where the horror with Evans... I emailed them as soon as i opened the box with pictures attached. Nobody replied so the next day i called after i sent even more pictures of the bike. The person that got my call looked at the pictures and with a dull voice told me they would call me back later when they had spoken to a manager. Nobody called me back so i called again to get a similar response only with a promise that they would call me within a couple of hours. Nobody called me of course so shortly before the customer care would close I made another call. I had to explain again the situation and this time the employee seemed more helpful and nice. She promised me they would call me back the next morning by 10. I explained to her (also on my emails) That I would accept a partial refund of 30% and a new rotor as being in Sweden would mean sending the bike back and waiting for a new one. (the 30% idea came to me after I checked their website and they list "soiled bikes" and even the ones that they sell for 30% off were in better condition than mine... )
She told me that she would have to speak to a manager about that.

The next morning at 13:00 after receiving no call again I decided to call again the CC and ask for the same employee. She came to the phone and offered me a 100pounds refund and no rotor (I would have to pay 30 for that). That because the damage was "only cosmetic". I told her that this is more than unacceptable and i that i wanted a full refund. She arranged it for me without explaining anything to me about the process and the refund, while letting me know that they do not book a time for picking up the bike, rather they book a day (YES, a whole day...)

What is important is that the whole time i felt i was treated as if i was lying and no apology was actually made nor comment about the condition of the bike, mainly tried to convince me to keep the bike as is. Also nobody ever called me back or wrote back to me fast, just some emails with a wrong name and clearly copy pasted from another case. The customer care experience was horrible and indifferent to the point that i thoought that i was getting scammed and they were stalling. The only thing that gave me peace of mind was that I knew they are a big chain.

NOTE that biking is my way of getting around town and going to work, i have no car or any other mode of transportation...

What this has cost me

• 38 pounds lost to the bank due to the currency exchange. I sent 12100 sek and received 11735 sek back (banks fault but irritates me the fact they did not even apologize)
• 21 days with no bike and no money to order a new bike
• 4 hours on the phone
• 1,5 days off to wait for a delivery and to wait for their pickup van (these days off cost 200pounds if I decided to get them paid)
• My nerves

Link to pictures
http://postimg.org/gallery/b69fdj18/


I hope this story makes people more aware of the bad service that Evans seems to be providing. After my experience i googled around and they do not seem to be getting great reviews, but little did I know, i was only after price...

 

[wisdom]

What a bad experience,how can a used even if demo bike ever be sent out instead of a new one.
Good luck with the case if you take it further

 

[vickster]

That is pretty russish to say the least!

The senior management team are listed here if you want to take it higher

http://www.evanscycles.com/help/about-evans-cycles#current-ownership

Hope it all works out for you

 

[ewssonaht]

Thanks vickster, i have now sent an email to Nick Wilkinson from your link to inform him about my experience. At this stage i have received a refund for the bike as i said. However if somebody else was in my shoes, they would understand that it still does not feel right to not share this experience with others. It is mainly that I got the "we do not give a shoot feeling" and it was a first for me, though i have been buying a lot online...

I lost mainly my time while STILL I have no bike (placed the order today that i got my money back to another store that hopefully will appreciate me more), 2 days of my vacation that i could be out having fun instead of waiting deliveries for Evans mistakes, and also some money that could be better spent.

 

[BUR70N]

That is really poor from them. I and others have been happy with the service from them.

This does make it seem that they couldn't give a toss on something that shouldn't of happened to start with.

Hope you get the result that your after.

 

[jdtate101]

Sometimes the best way to get action in these cases is to take to twitter. If you hashtag them with a horror story, often they will contact you in order to avoid the bad press. I seem to remember a similar case on here (not Evans, but wiggle I think) where someone was having a real hard time getting resolution to a problem. All sorted after 1 post on twitter. Companies really do hate bad press.

I've never really had an issue with Evans, but then again any stuff I mail order from them I get delivered to the local store so I can check it over before accepting it.

 

[Herzog]

To my big disappointment the bike was used (Ex demo)

Just to clarify, the bike was sold as new?

 

[ewssonaht]

Of course it was sold as new, otherwise I would NOT complain.
I paid the full price 1169 gbp for it and received a bike that it was as shown in the pictures, plus a wrapped front rotor. The feeling from their customer care was "take it or leave it". I was after the money off not so much for the money but for the fact that I would be without a bike for a month as it happened. I received the money now and ordered a new bike, that will take another 1-2 weeks to arrive. First snow is here (Stockholm) October... I 'll miss this summer practically and it pisses me off that they did not even apologize for sending the bike in such rough condition.

"I understand where you are coming from but 100 quid is the most we can offer since it only has cosmetic damages*, otherwise you will have to wait for us to send a new bike after we have received and tested the one you now have" is not an acceptable customer care reply to me. Had they offered to immediately ship another one and THEN pick up the old i would not complain even... But SURPRISE, when i asked if a replacement was in stock, there was none... Makes you "WONDER" if they intentionally sent me their last ex-demo bike to begin with and hoped i would accept this junk at a full price.


*wrapped brake rotors are cosmetic damage according to Evans customer care.

 

[TheJDog]

s/wrapped/warped/ ?

Sounds awful, but I think that shows that buying something expensive from a foreign dealer is inherently risky. Amazing that they thought you would just roll over.

 

[MichelleEvansCycles]

I am pleased that both BUR7ON and jdtate101 have said they've had good experiences.

Ewssonaht - we would never purposefully send a faulty bike because it was the last one - ex-demo bikes are sold completely separately on a different area of our site - it is possible yours was damaged elsewhere, perhaps during a customer test ride, for which we're truly sorry - but I do want to very clearly state it is not our policy to try to sell a demo bike as new (if this were the case we would put resources into the sale of genuine demo bikes)

I’m really sorry to hear that you’ve had such a negative experience with us. We know how exciting a new bike is, and we’re really sorry that in your case the excitement was followed by disappointment. With regard to marks on the bike – we’ve now invested a great deal of money in special ‘shrouds’ which cover all bikes in our warehouse so they are protected during delivery, and we’re also ensuring all handlebars and saddles are wrapped so that white tape is not marked. I know this doesn't change your own experience (which we are dealing with) but wanted to assure you changes have been made. I am sorry that the advice you received from the contact centre was not consistent and I can assure you that this matter is now being looked into by managers and we are treating it very seriously.

Evans Cycles is a business with a 90 year heritage – we started as a small independent and though we’ve grown dramatically, we absolutely want to ensure we are still offering customers good and helpful service in all cases and that our customer care team recognise every customer as an individual. In your case, it seems you’ve slipped through the net – and I really hope we will be able to make amends for this.

All the best, and if you have any further problems (though I believe your case is now being dealt with and resolution will be swift) – please email
evans.marketing@evanscycles.com


Michelle (Evans Cycles)

 

[ewssonaht]

The Jdog, yes the rotors were warped, i just realized i misspelled the word in all my emails to them Maybe they thought thery were in a sandwich wrap...

Michele please take a look at the pictures if you have not done so especially the cranks and saddle and tell me if you honestly think that this is a new bike that maybe was tested once by a customer. This is an ex-demo bike that HAS certainly been ridden more than once.

Here is a picture of the seat post that i did not include in the picture gallery by mistake

 

[Herzog]

I find the condition of the bike unbelievable...it looks like the bike has taken a hammering!

 

[ewssonaht]

Herzog, thanks for the verification as Evans seemed (and still seems?) to think it is fine...
This according to them is "cosmetic damage" worth 8% off, which effectively is as low as 5% off since they did not even want to send a new rotor to replace the warped one...

Note that although what Michele says is probably true (they wrap the bike to protect it), EVERYTHING you see damaged here, was wrapped up nicely in bubble wrap (By a person that I believe could see the damages)

How is it possible that all these is from anything else than use of the bike is beyond me...

 

[Brandane]

Michelle (Evans Cycles)

"Michelle" is back! Last time I posted on here about a complaint in relation to unhelpful and disinterested staff in a branch of Evans, I'm sure it was someone called Michelle who posted under the name of LadyInWhite (or similar). The post was of a similarly apologetic tone and promised improvements. I am unable to say whether or not any improvements were ever implemented because I now shop either on-line or at a number of far superior bike retailers in the Glasgow area.
Selling that item to the OP as a new bike is nothing short of fraud. They probably took the chance to ship it to a non UK address customer in the hope that nothing would ever come of it. Well done the OP for not lying back and accepting it, and I hope you have a good outcome to this poor situation.

 

[Leodis]

I had the same issue last year after I got my Badboy, there was a dent on the downtube, a chip out of it as well, I didnt pick up on it until I got home and then when I reported it they claimed it was me, I couldnt prove or disprove at this time. The bike within 18 months has been back for service after service at my expense because the gears have never ran smooth for any more than 2 weeks at one time. Its going back tomorrow for a new cassette and chain, if this doesnt work its new bike time.

we would never purposefully send a faulty bike because it was the last one - ex-demo bikes

You did to me, I bought one of the last CNND Badboy R4 in Medium Feb 2012, it was ex demo because it came from your showroom in Manchester to Leeds after it had been shipped from somewhere else.