Just curious as to approximately how long a claim takes to process from being allocated to them through to the replacement bike being ready to dispatch.

In my case, it’s a custom build so not a simple case of grabbing one off the shelf …

I’d press your insurers for the cash – they have to offer it to you.

Hmmmmm.

They didn’t.

Just said ‘our cycle replacement is handled through Wheelies, they’ll contact you within 4 hours’ …

I guess if I settle with cash I’ve then got more options of what to buy, rather than being restricted to Wheelies’ suppliers.

Other benefits of going for the cash?

Just been through it all myself, are you with M&S insurance?

You want to speak to the custom build team asap and find out if they can match the build you had stolen (if you want exact like for like). If not then inform your insurance company they are unable to and get a written quote from a local bike shop for providing your custom build including build costs.

The insurance company will be keen to use Wheelies to keep their costs down, but also have to meet the conditions of the insurance policy eg like for like / new for old.

Wheelies couldn’t supply the specific frame I had or an equivalent I liked so I took the cash.

Wheelies will also offer you a cash equivalent to spend with them but this is not the same as the cash settlement from the insurance company.

It took two working days for Wheelies to come up with a value for my wifes custom build bike a few weeks ago.The price they came back with was good too.

They could not supply what she wanted so she contacted our insurance company who paid within 3 days.

chapaking – Yes, I’m with M&S

carbis – I spoke to the rep from Wheelies who went through each component asking what I’d had on my build, then referred me to the Custom Build team … although I’ve not had a conversation yet along the lines of whether they can get a like-for-like build (I know for a fact the frame is no longer available). Cheers for the advice about the cash though : if it comes to the crunch I’m best taking it from M&S rather than Wheelies

noidea – sounds reasonable. I’ll see what Wheelies come up with first, see if it’s something I’m happy with.

I was with M&S too. Happy to share my experience if you’d like to email me (address in profile). Prefer not to put all the gory details out in public.

They are a bloody nightmare for communication at wheelies but very nice people when you do get hold of them.

Just literally gone through the process with them (Direct Line) but not a custom build.

Was very impressed.

I had concerns about getting the right bike for me again, knowing that the I got my Anthem in the sales for £1,700, so therefore they might not pay out more than this, and you cant get an Anthem x2 for £1700.

Anyhow Wheelies were asked to quote only (to Direct Line) on the cost of replacement. Wheelies rang me up and asked what it was that I had made me buy the last bike. I advised that I really wanted another Anthem and that it was the XT groupset that I had gone for.

Few hours later Direct Line rang me and said that the limit of their liability would be £1,800 for the claim. That kind of money would only get me an X3 with SLX. Basically Wheelies could get a 2012 Anthem X1 (retail £2,400) for £1,800 hence the £1,800 being offered to me.

No brainer for me, Wheelies rang me back to arrange delivery. All the staff were very knowledegable (more so than a lot of folk on here!) and I couldnt have hoped for a better service.

I know custom build will be more complicated, but I would imagine again they will be able to do the custom build at a better rate than the insurance co will offer to settle direct with you.

Of course I may now have a issue with one of the Shifters on the bike, so could be interesting dealing with that, but then again they are just a shop which has branched out in to doing insurance claims.

I agree with chakaping.

They were very good when I spoke to the right person, but it took a lot of work on my part to get past some less reliable (but friendly – they had done the course) staff. However, once my insurers had agreed the value of the claim I could choose what I wanted up to that value: it did not have to be like for like.

You have to be careful with some stories whether folk are talking about a dispute with their insurer or with Wheelies as a supplier.

They are a bloody nightmare for communication at wheelies but very nice people when you do get hold of them

I’ve dealt with Wheelies once before as an online customer … item I ordered took weeks to arrive … and yep, in the meantime communication was much less than ideal

Happy to share my experience if you’d like to email me (address in profile). Prefer not to put all the gory details out in public.

Thanks – I’ll see what happens first, maybe I’ll drop you a line later if I’m not happy with things, see if you’ve got some useful advice/experience

Fingers crossed …

I had a custom build from them six years ago and still love my bike.

At that time I dealt with one person in the custom build department and they were very helpful. They could not source the frame that I wanted quickly so I was able to get a sale frame delivered to them from another cycle shop and they even upgraded some parts as the sale frame was cheaper than the one they would have ordered in.

If I had settled for cash I would have got 75% (Direct Line). Wheelies costs are at list but I didn’t have to build the bike and I was very happy with the replacement spec.