Ordered Priceyboys junior bike online, then collected from Birmingham store one week later………………no complaints here

One of the few stores in Nottingham with a ream for seat tubes, I wandered in with a bare frame (from somewhere else) left it with them whilst I went shopping, all done for not a lot when I got back.

What’s more they don’t look at you as though you are scum unlike half the staff in a certain independent bike shop in Hockley…

Bought my hope m4s from the Glasgow store, asked if they could do a discount but told no but they could pricematch.. Saved about £50 at that time so was happy.
Ordered a set of wheels online on Friday night, v good price off rrp (2010 wheels tho) and they arrived yesterday morning.
Had good and bad experiences with most retailers, in Glasgow and online, poss luck of the draw? Had issues with a couple and very little/no effort made to deal with the issues so they don’t get my business any more..

althepal – Did you get my wheels? heavily discounted Rovals so a bargain? summer (edit: dryish weather) wheels so happy to wait for them…

Trek road bike wouldn’t shift correctly on front – when i lookd at it found the mech was way off parallel to chain rings, annoyed because Evans (and Trek) make much of their must collect made up and properly checked bike

I’m not a fan of knocking businesses online, but am going to do it anyway 😀 My mum asked me to buy my stepdad a cheap mtb for his early morning peregrinations – he likes to get up at 6 a.m. and cycle a few miles. His ancient Saracen was falling apart and they live on the Isle of Skye so relied on me to choose a bike, buy it and drive up with it.

So off I went to Evans at Team Valley (near Newcastle). The sales assistant was utterly disinterested when I outlined my requirements and pointed me at a full suss Kona – six times the budget I’d just explained and totally unsuitable for an old man winching along dirt tracks.

Eventually, found the perfect bike by myself – a cheapy £300 Trek and paid cash. Got told to go away and come back in half an hour as they had to complete a safety check – I’d noticed the mechanical Tektro disk brakes were loose and the lever pulled all the way back to the bars causing the whole caliper to shift around on its mount.

Fair enough – went and wandered around the local Staples for 30 mins, went back and a very irritable assistant brusquely informed me that I’ve have to wait another hour.

To cut a (very) long story short, I waited nearly two hours and when they finally deigned to part with the cheap piece of shit, the calipers were still hanging off their mounts, the gears were so badly indexed that the chain fell off both ends of the cassette and it was clear that they hadn’t actually laid a finger on the bike, let alone a spanner. I was polite and patient throughout, I like to think I’m good with folk generally and this was a Tuesday afternoon – the shop had perhaps a dozen browsers during the whole fiasco.

Summary? Won’t be returning 🙁

I think thats part of the problem – if your purchase does not meet your sales person: preference (4X – dirt jump) then your ****. I spent a fortune in there and felt vip;ated afterwards purely down to the attitude of the sales person.

Yeah, yeah great bike I’d have one – stump up and we’ll see you in 3 weeks when your bike arrives in store!

You’ve only just noticed! 🙂

Evans are handy, but in a Tesco kinda way I nearly always feel dirty having used them.. 😉

Sorry to the couple of people I know who do/have worked there, obviously it is a totally different experience when you’re there 🙂

I’ll jump in and say Evans have always been pretty impressive in my book.

Local shop always volunteers a price match on stuff I buy from there, meaning I don’t have to shop around myself – result? I return. I’ve not had to have too much advice from them so can’t really comment on that, but overall I think they do a good job, and moreover put a lot back into cycling as a whole with their ride it events etc.

the odd customer service issue, be it with staff, or external suppliers, is always gonna be a consequence of growth.

I’d say they seem to be pretty good at running a business to be honest.

Was in the Croydon one once and the sales man was explaining to a customer that he needed a bike with front suspension or the frame will snap off road.
Also selling what looked like a 19″ bike to a lady with a lad who could barely get on it.

CrombieCraig, yeah, that was the ones. The traverse els. Saw them on the Friday night and ordered them on my phone while on a night out.. Nothing to do with the beer.
I’ve spoken to a coupla guys in Glasgow and they did seem like keen MTBers so
maybe the point noted above about good and bad staff is a valid one. Guess I just got lucky.

Personally, I’ve had no issues. But I do like Dales and Alpine also.

Used dales years ago but the workshops always busy and they’re not very accommodating for emergency, last minute repairs. Alpine have always been pretty good but have started going the same way.
I work near govan so evan’s opening hours and location are quite handy for me.
Gave a nice lbs in the south side a chance but had an issue with something after getting some work done and it was almost like they didn’t want to know so went back to a big shop.
Shame, as the shop had a lot going for it..

Also selling what looked like a 19″ bike to a lady with a lad who could barely get on it.

This is standard practice when buying a bike for a kid who is still growing though, isn’t it…

Johnnystorm – Yeah did try to send the mech back but they wouldnt do anything till they had seen the bike and asessed the damage themselves. Real pain in the arse.

Thats standard practice when dealing with warranty claims, might have seemed a bit tight at the time but you could have been sending them any X9 rear mech couldn’t you? Likewise, you might just have been riding along when it snapped, or the bike might tell a different story, paint missing where you’d wacked the drop out and mech off a rock or something.

Thats the downside of mail order isn’t it, the shop isn’t on your doorstep when you need it.

I have never had any problems with them (Kingston branch), but it is my LBS of last resort. As others have said you sort of feel dirty having shopped there, and I do not feel there is any relationship between us. My other LBS are SigmaSport, BikeLab, Pearsons and Cycleworks

My main criticism is that they always make me feel that they are more interested in just making the sale rather than actually ensuring that I get the right bike/part etc. Also, the staff’s knowledge is very inconsistent/patchy, but generally I find that their staff are friendly and helpful, which for a bike shop you can not take for granted.

Buy on line and collect in store is a plus for me, but only used it a handful of time to be honest.

No warranty issues. For me you only really know the true value of a shop when things go wrong.

They rose to the challenge of a cosybike repair and re-threaded some pedals for me at 0900 on a sunday morning when everyone else is closed and refused to charge for their time. (I already had the spare pedals bought from an LBS)