So I had my beloved bike stolen back in August. My insurance company were incredibly reasonable and, because I had failed to insure my bike for anything close to its value, offered me double the amount I was insured for to spend through Wheelies. It was a no-brainer. I had found a great deal on a bike elsewhere but figured I’d pimp it out with parts from the insurance settlement. The fun then started…

Wheelies website shows a huge stock of parts, so I set about my task like it was Christmas. I settled on some outrageously expensive kit I would never normally consider buying, added it all to my basket then went to checkout. Turns out you can’t. Insurance claims have to be done over the phone. So I called and gave the fellow my first item –

“I’m sorry sir we don’t have that item in stock”
“It’s showing as in stock on your website…”
“Please excuse me one moment.”

Five minutes go by…

“We can get it in five days”

Fine.

Next item, exactly the same. And the next. And the next. Literally nothing I ordered was in stock but I was promised they would have it all in five days and contact me for delivery.

I waited 2 weeks (I had kind of banked on it taking that long anyway) and heard nothing. So I called back. “Oh yes sir we have your parts here waiting for dispatch.” No apology for the fact they didn’t bother to let me know, or, you know, just send me my stuff like any competent mail-order company would. Then he did a strange thing, he went through my order “to confirm the claim settlement”. There was £100 worth of kit missing from the order. The way this happened, and the fact it happened at all makes me very suspicious that, had I not picked up on it straight away, I would never have received those parts.

Anyway, surprise surprise, the missing bits weren’t in stock. “two days sir”. I called back after a week. “Oh yes sir your order is waiting for dispatch. We’re sending it next-day via TNT.”

I wait four days. Nothing. Call back. A very rude lady tells me she doesn’t know why I was told it was sent TNT but it definitely wasn’t. It was sent Royal Mail and I should just be patient. So I wait some more.

Eight days after dispatch I call back again. My order was actually sent TNT.. it’s been waiting at the depot for me.. Here is the tracking code..

So I call TNT. “That order has been returned to sender because you didn’t contact us to arrange delivery.” There was no delivery card, and I had absolutely no way to know they had it.

I call Wheelies again. They know nothing about it and claim that actually TNT still have my parcel at their depot and they’re going to contact TNT and get back to me. 2 days go by and I hear absolutely nothing so call back again. My parcel is on its way back to Wheelies but they will have it within 24 hours and will call me back to arrange delivery again.

4 days. Nothing. I call back. A different rude lady tells me they still don’t have my parcel and I’ll just have to wait.

2 weeks later I call again. Another rude lady, maybe one I’ve spoken to before, who the **** knows by this stage.. Apparently they might have my parcel but it’ll be in their “parcel shed” and there’s absolutely no way of checking if it’s there until tomorrow. She’ll call back. Obviously she doesn’t call back. Why would she call back? So I call again, wait on hold listening to **** Queen for all eternity. I’m then told they have my parcel but can’t dispatch it until Monday (this is at midday on Thursday). The rude lady asks me if that’s ok. It’s clearly not ok and she knows this but apparently it’s just not possible to send things after midday on Thursday. The rude lady implies it’s my fault for not calling in the morning.

That was today. Seven weeks and about twenty phone calls (I was on hold for at least 10 minutes every time) later, I still don’t have my parts.

One employee out of the dozens I spoke to acknowledged the poor service and apologised, but even he didn’t actually do anything about it. I’ve not included the multiple times I called and was simply told they couldn’t tell me what was happening but they would definitely get someone to call me back first thing tomorrow. I think they called me twice in total.

The worst thing in all of this is that almost every person I spoke to at Wheelies promised to sort the problem out and then just didn’t bother. I remained calm through all my dealings with them but any time I suggested that their multiple promises to call back with a solution weren’t being followed through they became incredibly rude and defensive.

Please, for the sake of your own sanity, do not ever get involved with this company.

Apologies for the stupidly long post but I want to spare you all the same experience.

Tell your insurers of this. It seems Wheelies get a lot of business this way so hit them where it hurts.

Contact your insurer and insist on cash. They can’t force you to use Wheelies.

I waited 2 weeks (I had kind of banked on it taking that long anyway) and heard nothing. So I called back

This perfectly describes most of my dealings with them. But repeated over and over until I finally get an unsatisfactory outcome.

Terrible, terrible company to deal with.

Once they have your (the insurance company’s) money, they don’t give a shit and will welch on their responsibilities as a retailer.

I’m definitely going to inform my insurers of the terrible service, but the only reason I was offered double my insured value as settlement was because I agreed to go through wheelies. The cash settlement they offered was only the insured value. Very fair, in my opinion.

Alarm bells started ringing on your second sentence:

My insurance company were incredibly reasonable and […] offered me double the amount I was insured for

I’d have been suspecting something like the following saga!

Cheers for the heads-up, sounds like they couldn’t organize a two car funeral.

Speak to your insurer and tell them you want a cash settlement; it’s gone on long enough, you’ve been reasonable, you’ve chased more than is reasonable. Don’t have anything more to do with Wheelies.

Hopefully they will get stuck with a big box of expensive parts and it’ll serve as a reminder that it’s easier in the long run just to get things sorted out.

They are on my list of places never to buy from, every time I have ordered from there it’s turned out they haven’t got stock.

They’re so reliable (in a bad way) that I just don’t bother anymore, I’d rather take the hit and pay more elsewhere.

Wasn’t there a thread on here some time ago about this, where one of their guys popped up to promise things would change?

Insist in money voa your insurer explaining they have failed to deliver , you ar enot chasing any more and your contract is with the insurer not wheelies

On the flip side, Wheelies and Axa and Orange sorted out my claim in 12 days from theft to delivery, including Wheelies calling me and going through a spreadsheet of every item on the nicked bike. They did not have an ST4 in stock, in my size, so called Orange and got it ordered straight to me I think.
They were very helpful.

matt – that should be known as the Dave Hinde defence.

“They were alright with me so….”

And I would have posted the same as Matt, if I hadn’t later had warranty issues to be (not) dealt with.

I posted on here a while back about them. Got me a new bike quickly and efficiently.

A following warranty issue, was handled very very very badly with constant blatant lies, incompetence,in fact many of the postal issues as mentioned by the OP.

Wont go near them ever again.

Speak to your insurer and tell them you want a cash settlement; it’s gone on long enough, you’ve been reasonable, you’ve chased more than is reasonable. Don’t have anything more to do with Wheelies.

He would have every right to do that obviously.

But the insurance company would have every right to give him what he was actually insured for.

Rather than Double, if he went through wheelies.

I’d rather wait personally and get double the amount.

Doesn’t make the service any less shocking, but it would take the edge off a bit 😉

They sorted my claim very amenably. Ordered four bikes and all were delivered as described and set up. They also allowed me to drop some items that were on the list and put the money towards better specified bikes. I had a cash settlement for three other bikes.

I think you’ve just been unlucky ordering parts they didn’t have in stock, as opposed to bikes that they do.