[Closed] CRC - they're not what they were, are they?

I haven't used them since the card number leakage issue last year.

Have been a customer since 2005 and even though they've had their ups and downs I still think they are pretty good esp considering how much business they attract.

For the record I ordered some bits the other weekend and they were delivered the following Tues

They're rubbish. I am an ex-customer.

Same as they have always been, up and down.

Busy days crap
Quiet days ok

im obviously in their good books as every time i order theyve been great. last ordered something about two weeks ago.

I've had some stuff form them drop through the door whilst it still said it was processing on th website..

Ah, well, here's hoping...

Got to admit I have noticed a decline... 3days for some handlebars!!!

Only issue I seem to have is that the postman always turns up in the 30 mins or so that my girlfriend is out of the house :/

Certainly no longer my first port of call if I need something in a hurry.

They have some good prices.

You get what you pay for.

[i]They have some good prices.

You get what you pay for. [/i]

All the stuff I bought was (pretty much) RRP and mostly stuff that is not available locally, so I'm not having the 'support your LBS' stick thrown at me

I very rarely use them these days, on the whole not that cheap, and stock tends to previous years at knock down prices.

Oh then there is the never ending sale...

I'm not sure, it's unusual if something takes more than 2 days to arrive which is good, but it used to be the case that you could order by 3:30 and put money on it arriving the next moroning. They even had that advert of the bloke looking at the weather, ordering a jacket and it arriving before he left the house, which wasn't far from the truth! It used to be cheeper and quicker than getting to the LBS, now it's just cheeper some of the time.

Only had 1 interaction with their customer service recently, they sent the wrong part, I asked for a replacement but they gave a refund. Which would have been fine, except the part was about £65, the order total was £85 and £15 off, so they only refunded £40 and I had to buy the part again at full price and I was left with £20 of stuff I'd only added to the order to get it above the £85 threshold. Not enough to put me off buying from them, but I'm mercinary and just buy from wherever is selling it cheepest and delivers in an acceptabel timeframe.

Nothing i've ordered has taken even 48 hours to arrive in the last month. I've had 5 orders... all completed within the 48 period.. Couldn't be happier.

Merlin were even quicker...

Yesterday morning I ordered small parts from CRC, Merlin, Wiggle and Rose. Merlin and Wiggle orders were both delivered this morning. It seems that CRC are now racing the Germans...

If you've an order sat at processing for what you think is too long, drop them a message and ask what the problem is (I find the phone is the best bet here).

I ordered several things and one of them they couldn't find on the shelf, so the whole order sat at pending. One phone call, they shipped the rest, refunded that item and gave me 2 £5 vouchers!

That's the only problem I've had with them, they are AWLAYS my first port of call for new parts.

I remember back in the day when the goods were through your letterbox practically before you'd placed the order...

I've asked on here a million times for people not to exaggerate.

Not had much problem with them, still often next day and at worst the day after that.

They're not always (often?) the cheapest or quickest at delivering but I can't fault their returns policy

I don't think they are as good as they used to be.

Would go with wiggle even if the same price now as delivery is faster and better on returns.

The other thing with CRC - headline price for an item is always for XXXL and the size you want is always more.

i informed them of a pricing error once, . .and no voucher, . .nothing, . . . bastids!!

Is it that time of the week again?... 😛

I've asked on here a million times for people not to exaggerate.

It's not really though, I remember checking my bank statement and noticeing that the money hadn't even left my account before stuff had arrived!

They must be reading this thread, just had a mail to say it's been dispatched 🙂

I ideally wanted the stuff by tomorrow too so I could complete a build by the weekend

I know they offer free delivery but surely if people want bits by a specific time then why not pay for next day delivery of just get it from you LBS assuming they have said items?

For the record. Ordered some cx tyres from them Sunday night and were delivered this morning. The were the cheapest I could find them for and as I wanted them for racing tomorrow I paid for next day delivery. Still cheaper than most with postage cost and had peace of mind knowing they'd be here in time for when I needed them.

[i]I know they offer free delivery but surely if people want bits by a specific time then why not pay for next day delivery[/i]

Because I didn't need it next day, I needed it by the end of the week, and standard delivery from CRC was always pretty much next day anyway. I may have been expecting too much, but it's what I've been led to expect by their previous service levels.

[i]just get it from you LBS assuming they have said items?[/i]

They didn't

Ordered a bottom bracket at lunch time and already had an e mail saying it has now been despatched so pretty good IMO. They are far better than most of the on line retailers and at least you know whether something is in stock or not.
Wiggle have certainly upped there game though and seem to set the bench mark these days

Just had CRC refund me for a bottom bracket I (no quibble) returned on Thursday, free, via Collect plus.

Went to LBS, whose prime function these days would be expertise and convenience - "please put a BB and chainring on that". A week later, "oh we couldn't find a BB and forgot about the chainring". 😯

So decided to go hollowpoint and ordered a crankset from CRC on Sunday; it was on my desk this morning.

It's not really though, I remember checking my bank statement and noticeing that the money hadn't even left my account before stuff had arrived!

But not before you ordered.

The other thing with CRC - headline price for an item is always for XXXL and the size you want is always more.

To be fair, they do put "From £xx.xx" ...

Although this is just another way of saying "ha! there's no way you're getting it this cheap unless you're 8' tall. or a dwarf. but now we've tempted you in to our site you'll probably spend money you weren't planing to. ha! again."

Always within a day or two, not going to complain about that.

Ordered Friday night and delivered on Monday morning cant really complain, as others have stated Merlin are normally quicker it would of arrived on Saturday with them.

I'm in Spain.

12 orders, in the last 6 weeks.
All delivered next day! via DHL courier.
One order a custom wheel set sent a couple of days late (no complaint by me was a weekend order place) gave a 10% off voucher.

For me, absolutely amazing service 100% reliable and allowed me to build up 2 bikes with a deadline.

Your mileage may vary I guess, but just superb service IMHO, I cant match the prices or the delivery in Spain. Nuff said.

Never had a bother with them.

Only thing that went wrong was a shimano cassette that arrived without lock ring. Sent back as they had no other stock, full refund (inc my postage) within a week. Subsequently bought equivalent Sram cassette for half the price!

Used to be very good. Recently, awful for delivery. Paid extra for next-day, before-noon delivery on some parts I really needed in a hurry - they eventually wandered in a week later. Other orders the same - free delivery taking about a week. Oddly, as soon as I called up to cancel an order, it was "just out the door" and too late to cancel - though it still took 2-3 more days to arrive with me.

I've had Lots of orders from CRC over the last decade or so always just had the free 1st class postage ~50%+ probably arrived within 24h most of the rest with 48h a small number of my orders have been 72h+ probably under 5% and I don't think they've ever exceeded a week...

If its truly urgent then walk into a shop and pay the extra to secure the item in time otherwise stop whinging about what is actually a pretty good level of service (for free) when compared with most online shops...

Pretty much found most things I ordered from them arrived the next day, which was amazing. Not seen that for a while though, 2 to 3 days now the norm and I'm not sure it's all the fault of the Post Office.

I'd rather pop up to Merlin or the LBS or Halfords Bike Hut these days.

I bought bib tights off CRC at 11am last Wed they where at my door next day at 10am

I was really impressed with the returns policy recently. Bought a rear light nearly 2 years ago,light stopped working, one e-mail, brand new light sent out me

I'm pretty sure most businesses would have said "nah mate, warranty's expired"

The new light is actually the model up from the one I bought, and they didn't ask me to post the old one back

Ok, a relatively low value item, but its things like that which make sure you come back (and last week I ordered a full set of brakes from them...)

only been using them for a year or so as i used to be a one eyed "wiggleite" but i do think CRC are pretty good and if they cant match the processing times that they used to, surely this is a sign that they are getting busier and that cant be a bad thing really, more sales, more stock, more choice, better value....in theory 😉

anyway, the fact that each order now comes with a preprinted "collectplus" returns label is a big plus factor for me, no more faffing having to wait to take returns to the post office if its the wrong size etc. Loads of newsagents are collectplus outlets and its tracked so its perfect.

Ordered on saturday, dispatched on monday........ still no sign of it and the tracking number they gave me doesn't work.

Hi Stuart,

Thank you for your email.

Please accept our apologies that you have not received your parcel.

We will now contact our account manager in Parcel Force to start an investigation regarding your parcel. We should receive an update from them in the next 2-3 working days and will contact you again via email as soon as we have further information.

Once again we sincerely apologise for the delay and inconvenience caused.

Thanks,

Tanya

Order placed Sunday night, dispatched Monday and received Tuesday.
Order placed last night, dispatched this morning so should receive tomorrow.
Whats the problem guys?

Only problem no freebies or discount codes!

Order placed Tuesday 1pm delivered 4pm today in Spain, last of the parts I need CRC rock.

havent used them in nearly two years now, let me down once too often

i use rosebikes in germany now, usually cheaper even with the postage and better stock availability coz they are huge

My forks i ordered in Sepember 2010 are still showing on my account as processing!

I still use them a fair bit, but you are absolutley correct, they are definitely slower!

Never had any probs with CRC, saying that there due another voucher code weekend....

Weirdly 4 of us ( 3 mates and myself) all ordered stuff over the bank holiday weekend. We all got confirmation of order at 7:20 am Bank Holiday monday ( probably not a bank holiday then in Ireland) we all live within 300 mtres of each other and the order deliveries varied from 3 days to 8 days !!!! compared to the early days, they are not anywhere near as good as others, but I always work out when I need stuff relative to the now extended delvery times they do now.

They've had a couple of issues but on the whole I'd say they're pretty good. Never had anything take more than 5 days to arrive and a couple of weeks ago I got a very nice message telling me that they were going to refund the postage on a warranty repair. Maybe other places do that anyway but nice touch all the same.

CRC are still reasonable, but i think a victim of their own mega high standards of a few years ago, when they were shit-hot. I still use them for the more obscure stuff, but i find that Wiggle have quicker delivery, and Merlin are both cheaper and have faster delivery these days (though they carry the obscure bits that CRC do).

I've asked on here a million times for people not to exaggerate.

Oh come on, it was hardly meant to be taken literally.

Regardless, it used to be exceptionally rare that a lunchtime order wouldn't be with me within 24 hours. More recently, I've had orders taking much longer, parts missing etc.

Lets face it, CRC are always a better/safer/quicker/reliable bet vs. Winstanleys, and they are also the above vs. 'Dave Hinde'*

*is he even still in business? IF so I'd like to know how.