I am sure you are all up to your eyeballs with Evans rants.
Previously I have defended them when the service hasn’t been up to standard because the shop front slaves aren’t on a great wage and there insentives aren’t exactly inspiring.
So Monday I rang my nearest evans to get a bike in to try out for size, a freindly assistant said it may be with him for next day or Wednesday at the latest, but ‘we will call you when the bike is built’. Just need £50 deposit which is refundable. Cool I say, make it so.
Wednesday evening no news so I call the store and the manager (he told me) happens to answer my call and says the bike is in but not built he will arrange to have it ready for that evening but probably tomorrow, cool I say.
No news on Thursday drop in to the shop Friday and stand there waiting to be served.
Eventually I corner a staff member, checks his computer, notes say the bike is to be built tomorrow for a test ride the next day (Sunday).
Ah, I was hoping it would be ready already.
No, it says for Sunday.
Ok, can I have my deposit back.
Sure.
Is the manager in?
I am the manager.
Oh but…
But the manager will call you tomorrow, I will put a note on the system.
Ok?!

So I leave.
The sad thing is a mate went to Evans a couple of weekends in a row to purchase a bike and was treated to the full just wait here for an hour or two while we build your bike that should have been ready already with scratched and battered parts then come back next week for you next 2hour stand around the shop while busy staff serve all and sundry because the parts we should have had ready to collect are somewhere a staff member who has a day off has buried it under a pile of stuff for returns we couldn’t sell because other customers got fed up and went somewhere else…
I felt awful cos I told my mate to go to Evans.
Oh dear.
Thankfully there are plenty of independent bike stores about, the ones that have what I would like aren’t local (most seem to road bike biased around here) but I feel It should be worth the extra journey.

Evans = Halfords

I love Evans

Only ever had good service from the Gateshead branch, but that’s the only one I have ever used.

I’ve always had good service from the Trafford park Evans

Me too, cracking online shop and very handy actual shops

Thankfully there are plenty of independent bike stores about,

Yeah, because the independents never do that sort of stuff do they? 😕

Interesting……

I posted on this thread earlier, nothing that I would call too contentious. Someone (post also removed) suggested shopping online instead. I suggested shopping at a good bike shop being my alternative.

Both posts were removed.

Why?

mines be deleted as well.

I posted on this thread earlier, nothing that I would call too contentious. Someone (post also removed) suggested shopping online instead. I suggested shopping at a good bike shop being my alternative.

Both posts were removed.

I saw two complete threads, obviously a double posting by the OP – I think one of those has gone?
I always look at the Evans threads – a hangover possibly from when I used to work for them. 😉

Ah, so it may well have been two threads. That could be the explanation!

Thanks.

I still think that Evans suck. 🙂

(Let’s see what happens now…..just in case!)

Ahhhhh good explanation. And here was me thinking someone from evans asked the forum mods to delete the posts.

I was a little disappointed by Evans once when I asked for a product to be price-matched (knowing that CRC had it cheaper), only to be told that I would need my own mobile device in order to show them. They fail to mention this on their website despite specifically stating that http://www.chainreactioncycles.com are included in their price-matching scheme. Are they trying to tell me they don’t have the internet instore?? Shower of bas*****…

Trivial rant over.

On the whole, my experience of Evans has been far better than that of Halfords. From a customer service point of view anyway.

Some better bargains at Halfords – but there’s the formula: cost and customer service go hand in hand. Evans ain’t the cheapest, and as long as you pick the right day you can get some decent advice.

Unfortunately, most people aren’t prepared to pay for any better service than that so will rarely get it.

Online retailers can cut a few overheads and offer cheaper deals again, but it’ll be a sad day when you can no longer walk into a shop and actually take a look at what you’re going to buy.

I’d disagree CHF. You used to work for them right? I do now, I see a company full of good people who ride and work hard. Also a large company that tries a few too many things to help out that make the best of the company’s scale, like getting in bikes for people to try out, and the more things we try to do, the more risk of overwhelming busy staff or something going wrong. They try to get it right and offer a good service and waaay more often than not, they do. The bigger the company the more complaints however – unavoidable.

But we’ll always get blind-swipe ‘the big brand sucks’ comments from someone )

You are of course free to disagree, but my experiences of Evans have never been anything other than utterly rubbish. This also applies to friends and colleagues who have used them. So, my opinion is that they are a terrible example of a bike shop.

For a start, try actually acknowledging that there’s a customer in the shop .A couple of weeks ago, with time to kill, I went in to the Canary Wharf branch. There were three members of staff chatting at the till. I was in the shop for about five minutes, the only customer there, and not one of them even bothered to raise their eyes to acknowledge my presence.

I was in the shop for about five minutes, the only customer there, and not one of them even bothered to raise their eyes to acknowledge my presence)

They were probably in awe of you and afraid to meet your eye. What did the aristocracy used to insist on, that no servant should ever look their master in the eye?

😉

😆

For a start, try actually acknowledging that there’s a customer in the shop

I totally agree. A problem in retail in general and one I’ve had 1st-hand store manager experience of trying to deal with in both the bike trade and outside it. I walked into some of the London stores unknown when I first started there and was pleasantly suprised by how good the staff were imo – you’ll always hear more made of the negative experiences though, that’s how it is.

I ordered some shorts from evans, they turned up with no padded liner. Quick phone call, and some, much better endura ones turned up the next day 😀
It’s such a big company now, that some of the staff will be muppets, but most seem pretty good.

I was a little disappointed by Evans once when I asked for a product to be price-matched (knowing that CRC had it cheaper), only to be told that I would need my own mobile device in order to show them. They fail to mention this on their website despite specifically stating that http://www.chainreactioncycles.com are included in their price-matching scheme. Are they trying to tell me they don’t have the internet instore?? Shower of bas*****…

I would expect that I would need to show them the cheaper price online myself.

I wouldn’t rely on them doing it for me.

Why on earth should they.

Evans = Halfords

So that’s why Helen Gaskell works in the Gateshead branch.

CFH plus one I’m afraid. Like most if us, I go into shops occasionally. Often it’s for something citing a couple of quid. If ever I find myself in a bike shop, it’s likely I’ll be spending a fair bit more. Why is it then, that in Evans all the staff are always (every single bleeding time) more interested in yakking to each other than in helping a customer with mo.eh in his pocket. This is the Gateshead branch btw.

Last time I went in, I was buying a fully built $380 hardtail for my stepdad. Spent ages trying to get the attention of a staff member in an almost empty shop, bought the thing with zero interest or input from the sales guy and was told they had to safety check it before I took it away. Fair enough – one of the brakes was completely loose, it had a flat tyre and the seatpost wasn’t tightened. After a pantomime-worthy performance which had me coming and going for TWO bloody hours (shop still empty, staff still yakking) I finally got to take it away. Needless to say, it was exactly the same as when I’d last seen it. Won’t go back…

I was a little disappointed by Evans once when I asked for a product to be price-matched (knowing that CRC had it cheaper), only to be told that I would need my own mobile device in order to show them. They fail to mention this on their website despite specifically stating that http://www.chainreactioncycles.com are included in their price-matching scheme. Are they trying to tell me they don’t have the internet instore?? Shower of bas*****…

This is hilarious – as an ex-employee at Evans I can tell you that most rival bike shops are filtered as part of their internet policy. It’s incredibly hard to find a price match for someone.

I found them pretty patronising in 1995 when I was buying my first bike…
They lost my business in 2006 when they lied to me about my frame being sent back to Cannondale for warranty claim.
Thank goodness for Cycle Surgery having grown so much… at least we have some choice now.
Scaling up is no excuse for bad service. If CS can manage it, so can Evans. Respect/lack of for customers is a cultural thing, nothing to do with size of a company

I’ve always defended the local (Guildford) shop but went in earlier this week for a new bottom bracket. I could understand it when there were two shell sizes, potentially different thread types, and then square taper, octalink, ISIS and multiple axle lengths, that there’d be a chance that even a large retailer might not have one in stock but a shimano compatible HT II type? Not a single one.

They said they’d order one for me to collect the next day, but oddly, CRC had plenty and delivered next day for less price.

they don’t have clones working for them so it’s rather disingenuous to tar all Evans’ with the same brush. Some stores are good, some bad. Lets be a bit more specific when ranting about poor service from a national company with many stores. I.e. Name and shame.

Failing that, send a complaint email to Head office

Why is it then, that in Evans all the staff are always (every single bleeding time) more interested in yakking to each other than in helping a customer with mo.eh* in his pocket. This is the Gateshead branch btw.

*money

Would be interesting to find out what all the STW members do for a living?. I’m sure we could criticise everyones job/role at some point.

Evans to me is like any bike shop. The ones i’ve been in have been not bad. I’ve been left to browse, i’ve been asked if i’ve needed any help. If i’vee needed anything or help i’ve also done this unbelievable thing of asking for help. Amazing, i know.

There on line service is o.k., 5 days for a pair of gloves to arrive but if i needed them next day could of paid a little extra. CRC, Merlin, Wiggle etc, still dont arrive next day in some cases so its horses for courses i guess. For those who constantly moan about them, pretty simple, stop using them.

radoggair – I’m a wedding photographer. Like high street bike shops it’s an incredibly competitive market. All most of us here are asking for is a bit of respect as a customer. If I treated my customers the same way as I’ve been treated in Evans, I’d be working in a call centre Evans within weeks.

I was a little disappointed by Evans once when I asked for a product to be price-matched (knowing that CRC had it cheaper), only to be told that I would need my own mobile device in order to show them. They fail to mention this on their website despite specifically stating that http://www.chainreactioncycles.com are included in their price-matching scheme. Are they trying to tell me they don’t have the internet instore?? Shower of bas*****…

This is hilarious – as an ex-employee at Evans I can tell you that most rival bike shops are filtered as part of their internet policy. It’s incredibly hard to find a price match for someone.

Which bit is hilarious? The way I see it, I can take in a printout (they explicitly stated that I could take in a printout), with the figures manipulated in Photoshop (it would tae 2 minutes, and most of that would be waiting for Photoshop to load), and absolutely no one would be able to prove that those figures were not on CRC or elsewhere at the time of printing. You’re telling me they are not even equipped to verify these claims?

I took it as common sense that the only accurate way for them to check a competitor’s pricing, is on their own machines, at the time of purchase. And I don’t expect to be excluded because I don’t have access to mobile internet.

Just seems a bit mad to me.

Mr Salmon, you reminded of some great stories from independent stores, there were no forums back then.
Please don’t get me wrong and think I won’t go back to Evans, I served my time working for them, and back then it was the customers who didn’t have a clue! Seriously!!
I made some brilliant friends and we had a good time.
When Evans are good they are brilliant. Shops open long hours and always have basics in stock.
When they stuff up…

No problems with the Kendal branch they all seem on the ball and price matched 4 items i have bought recently including a Garmin 800 price matched from a non biking internet store.

Brucies Bike Shop for cheap repairs!

Don’t any of you have a little independant bike shop to use ?
I’m the first to check out stuff online if I need parts and usually talk to my LBS to see if they can get close ( often they do).
Big retail chains usually pay rubbish and expect staff to work to the “system”, even when that just ties one hand behind their backs. Sadly, managers in these situations, are often still poorly paid and hit with the big stick from both the senior management side and by the customers.

This is hilarious – as an ex-employee at Evans I can tell you that most rival bike shops are filtered as part of their internet policy. It’s incredibly hard to find a price match for someone.

I bought a big pile of stuff a couple of weeks ago, when I got to the queue I asked for a price match on mudguards from so-and-so. He looked it up on the till and said they didn’t sell those versions, but I’d already discovered that they didn’t come up using the search for some reason. Showed them my mobile screen that showed them in stock and got the match.

The lady at the next till pricked up her ears, couldn’t quite believe they did price matching until the two till staff both confirmed it. So she jokingly asked for a price match, the staff member promptly flicked through a couple of the screens and offered to match another online bike shop (winstanleys?), which put her in a really good mood and probably resulted in her becoming a life long customer 🙂 It took him about 20 seconds.

Spooky – if that were your business, would you want your staff doing that with your customers? its up to the punter to prove that cheaper price, not the staff! FFS. you make my pi$$ boil 😯 oh but your shop would be cheaper than Evans i’d wager.

Calm down…I got the impression it was a one off, and it was a couple of quid to make a happy customer.

If I had a friendly local bike shop, I would shop there. But I don’t, and I would rather fit parts myself so free fitting doesn’t entice me. I know there are bike shops out there that offer good service to customers, and no doubt they do well…but there are also some that offer incredibly poor service. Months and months waiting for warranty replacements, trying to sell the bike size they have in stock rather than the correct size, being looked down upon, countless calls not being returned whilst waiting for parts to come in, etc etc.

If I was foolish enough to start up a new bike shop, I wouldn’t be trying to compete on price as that is impossible, I would compete on service/quality. But many bike shops are run and staffed by riders, not customer service experts.

Postierich +1
Nothing but praise for the Kendal shop from me.

Evans have 40 odd stores.

Pick 40 random local bike shops and do a test of customer service. I reckon it would be even if not slightly in Evans favour because they offer more training than most LBS.

The reason Evans get more grief is that there is more of them.

Got to say the York store staff were great with me last week when I ordered a bike to test, it arrived next day and they said they needed a day to build and it was ready when promised.
I went on the test ride and thought the size down would be a better fit so they ordered that in and kept the original in stock in case I wanted to try back to back.
Three different staff talked to me about the fit and I even got them to give me a 5% discount when I said that I could order it online through Topcashback or in the store if they matched the cashback.
I had to go back because bizarrely the Rockshox fork valve is slighty smaller than my 2 shock pumps and they gave me a new Rockshox pump free no problem.
Can’t comment on other stores but felt I should big up York staff for their service.

Big fan of the Nottingham store here – me and a couple of mates have bought bikes from them, items ordered in usually arrive before the promised date, big range of stuff to look at and try in store, happy to price match, one of the staff even discovered that an online voucher code I had that wasn’t valid for the item I wanted online was accepted by the store system and let me have the discount….

Online shop also good – bought stuff in the wrong size, tried it, returned it and had the replacement all within 7 days of the original order.

I’d love to use one of the other LBS’ to but stuff, but Evans are more convenient and cheaper.

But I do get one of the LBS’ do any servicing for me, faster, cheaper for that.