- This topic has 18 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 9 years ago by wynne.
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Rutland Cycles
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wynneFree Member
Found the helmet i was after on their website at a good price.
Ordered it, money went out of my bank account.
Two weeks later, no helmet. Tried to call and after being on hold for over five minutes got an answer machine. Left a message with my details.
Next day sent an email to ask where my helmet might be.
Nothing. Tried to call another four times, but couldn’t get through to a person.
Waited another few days. Tried to call again and eventually got to speak to someone. He told me that they didn’t have that helmet in stock – and he doubted it had been in stock when I ordered it. I told him I wanted a refund within an hour. To be fair I did get my refund within about ten minutes.
Never will they receive my custom again no matter how tempting the offer might be.Kryton57Full MemberAnd by unhappy coincidence…
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/on-the-subject-of-internet-bike-shops
PJ266Free MemberRibble and Planet X have done the same to me recently,
I would say I will never purchase from them again but it would be a blatant lie. I will be crawling back next time they are £20 cheaper 😀
wynneFree MemberThanks for the link – at least it’s not personal.
I’ve had sketchy experiences with other discount bike websites, including Planet X, but never such outright neglect. I seriously thought I was going to get in the car and drive from North Wales to sort it out.
cynic-alFree Membercynic-al – Member
That is fair – but with prices and margins being hammered, many staff are on minimum wage, you can’t expect stellar levels of knowledge/service.
This is the situation that is created when everything is driven by price.
eshershoreFree MemberThe power you have as a consumer is to vote with your wallet, and also realise that ‘value’ and price are separate concerns. I often see people concerned with getting the ‘cheapest’ price
If you consider the time you have wasted chasing your order, cost your time during this purchase, and figure in the hassle / stress it’s probably worth paying a little more to buy goods from a more reputable retailer next time?
Kryton57Full MemberI don’t agree Cynic-Al. I work in Sales, and in sales strategy and the basic concept of good appreciated Customer Service even affords customers to pay slightly over the competitive value for a product.
Why would I pay £11 at X if I can pay £10 at Y? Well if I had a superior enough service from X I would do so.
Its business 101, customers pay the bills and contribute to the stakeholders success, therefore you need customers.
eshershoreFree MemberThanks for your input. It’s often surprising how many big companies have terrible customer service yet keep trading?
Is this because there are so many new customers coming to that company, that it offsets the customers they have lost?
Or are these companies so large in scale that it takes months or years before bad CS has a measurable effect on the company?
JamieFree Membercynic-al – Member
That is fair – but with prices and margins being hammered, many staff are on minimum wage, you can’t expect stellar levels of knowledge/service.This is the situation that is created when everything is driven by price.
How does that quote, of a big hitter no less, have anything to do with Rutland Cycles selling stuff they do not have in stock?
Kryton57Full MemberIt can be all or any of those esher shore, or just complacency – I’ve experienced that myself.
It could be that Mr X is sitting on a big enough turnover / profit margin or about to retire / sell up and that he doesn’t care about growing the business. It could be a genuine fault with the order processing process, or that the company has taken on a process or staff that are not aligned with the desired outcome. All of those would be conjecture on my part.
The simple thing is, I spotted something I wanted at a good price. If I had genuinely missed the boat I would have accepted that, but the poor communication, without a single genuine offer to compensate my time or frustration is poor customer service.
Kryton57Full MemberJamie, Al is suggesting that we as consumers have driven down the prices to the point that retailers are forced to employ lower quality staff/process/support in their chain of provision, and therefore I should expect the outcome I received because I ordered a product at discount.
Which is bullshit. if there spent the time and cost improving the shopping process for me they’d have another customer = more business = more success. We all know that in most business’s you have to invest before you expect to receive profit.
Anyway, I shall now be buying a ‘post from XCRacer, who not only ensured my item was with me in 2 days, offered me a new-not-yet-on-the-website item at the same price if was interested + some advice, emailed me to see if I was happy,and engaged with me on Twitter post sale to confirm my happiness. I imagine the total time it took Ant at XCRacer to email & tweet me was probably 10 minutes max. But the result I’ll be going back and will be thoroughly recommending them. I hope Ant’s employers see this and commend him TBH.
JamieFree MemberI understand what point he is trying to make, K57, but it still doesn’t make sense.
Rutland Cycles, if they have not got live stock control in place, should not be offering goods without at least having a caveat on the products webpage saying some items may have to be ordered from suppliers.
Anyway, Rutland Cycles were the same 5-6 years ago, so this is hardly a new phenomenon.
eshershoreFree MemberUnless I have this completely wrong, under distance selling regulations, are retailers not allowed to take payment until goods are ready to despatch?
wynneFree MemberPerhaps I was a bit careless, but Rutland gives the impression of being a competent retailer. They had got ‘Winners – best independent retailer’ plastered across the top of their site. I don’t know whether they run the award scheme themselves or whether they were the only entrants.
I am familiar with price/value concept, thanks, and clearly I’ll not be sending anymore of my money in their direction.
Kryton57Full Memberesher shore – Member
Unless I have this completely wrong, under distance selling regulations, are retailers not allowed to take payment until goods are ready to despatch?You are correct. Why I am particarly complaining about is that they waited for me to chase my item before bothering to tell me it was never coming. There’s nothing illegal here, just a poor service.
steviecaptFree Membertredz are well known for this kind of behavior, this is why i no longer deal with them or any company who operate the same policy, i would rather spend a few more quid with a company i respect and trust. the less time i have to spend with any companies customer services the better, talk about bad customer services try orange and EE, truely abysmal, they have paid for more of my sons contract phone than i have , because of there inept staff, and there constant £20 credits.
cynic-alFree Membertherefore I should expect the outcome I received because I ordered a product at discount.
You inferred that, I didn’t even imply it. All I’m saying is if you shop at the lowest price every time, there are likely to be slightly more ****-ups than otherwise (incorrect stock level, poor comms here).
deludedFree MemberI ordered a front light from RC last week at what was a very good price and it arrived two days letter without drama. I’ve never had any problems with orders previously made with them. You only need one bad experience to put you off though.
I ordered a KS Lev dropper from Bike-Discount.Com in Germany, which was borked and showed signs of having been previously purchased and returned. Consequently, I’m leary of ordering from them again.
It’s a bit naughty to advertise something for sale that’s not capable of being posted immediately to the purchaser, unless there’s clear notice that there will be a delay in dispatch. Not returning calls and being accessible is also poor, irrespective of how competitively priced the article is.
There are particular retailers that I’ll avoid because of the consistently poor reviews they get on here.
wynneFree MemberI should add that when I ordered the non-existent helmet it was marked as being ‘in stock’. The same model in other colours and sizes was marked as being ‘available to order’ – which led me to think they might actually send it to me.
I often buy on the basis of price once I have chosen what I’m after. In many years of using CRC, Wiggle, Merlin, Ribble, Planet X, Winstanleys and (even) JE James I’ve not had such a poor experience. Maybe I have been lucky.
In contrast to Rutland, last week I ordered a front Hope Hoops wheel from Winstanleys. It was meant to come with the 20mm axle adapters, but instead came with QR and 15mm versions. A quick email to Winstanleys and they sent me the 20mm adapter by post the next day – didn’t question me about it or ask me to return the others. Very impressed.
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