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I've been locked out of Wiggle since the new site launched. unable to register with either of my email addesses, and support are generally uninterested. They suggested deleting my CRC account (which does work) so that I can create a wiggle account.
Their new site seems to have been a disaster in every way, and I read an article saying they spent £14.5M in exceptional costs, which was being attributed to the new site.
I seem to be able to find whatever I am looking for very quickly and the prices are mostly competitive to start with but when reducing by platinum amount then cheaper than elsewhere. I always go for free delivery and I have got every item I have ordered over the last year or so within 2 working days.
My experience is that Wiggle (the site and pricing) is good for clothing but awful for things like tyres.
The only thing keeping CRC/Wiggle alive right now is the UK customer base being cut off from their far better run and stocked competition in Germany and elsewhere (I suspect).
A few years ago they were the best option for me in Oz too. $80 and free shipping made sense, one week and it would be at my door, which is often as quick as domestic post here. The Australian competitors were $100 for free postage.
Then CRC changed to $200. They must have lost a lot of our market now.
I don't understand the point about losing sales from Europe, it's just as easy for me to order from them as it's always been, no surprise charges - which are a risk with smaller UK based retailers.
There was a quirk for about a year where full bikes on Wiggle (but not CRC) were priced as if it was without VAT when set to ship to Ireland. But VAT was paid by them, so there was an effective ~20% discount. They fixed it after the new site was launched.
Agree with all comments above about the website and bad stock.
Used to be the default destination for me, with free postage that you’d usually get the next day.
Now barely even look at them. Terrible broken website, nothing ever in stock in the size or colour you want, low pricing, but then you check and it’s only on XXXXL size in line green, M or L is twice the price. Can often get better deals elsewhere.
Unless they turn it around soon I can see them losing even more customers.
Post Brexit, we should really be using British imperial units.
So, that’s an imperial skip load of money.
I believe the current UK government approved metric for pissing money away is the 'Kwarteng' CRC have lost approximately 0.3 Kwarteng'
Googling it, I'm a little unclear about who currently owns them, there seems to be a couple of different German outfits named Signa Sports United(?) Or Bike24 (or are they the same thing?) Wikipedia says Bridgepoint Capital (NatWest group) or is that old information?
Either way isn't this what big investment groups do now, buy up moderate turnover e-commerce businesses based in Blighty and then stuff their losses in to them as a tax minimisation wheeze, knowing the UK government doesn't give a monkeys.
Totally biased, zero knowledge cynicism on my part, I'm sure a proper capitalist will be along to correct me and say it's down to something sensible like strangled supply chains, import duties or a global downturn, but where's the fun in that...
The Wiggle + next day delivery didn’t work for me either and even then, IIRC it was only on orders exceeding £10. It does offer free returns though, which can be useful.
Cycling product attributes for ecommerce is getting to be a nightmare. Clothing is gender/size/colour/other, parts are a mess of fitting and compatibility now so the search / filters side of it is chaos on some sites.
Googling it, I’m a little unclear about who currently owns them, there seems to be a couple of different German outfits named Signa Sports United(?) Or Bike24 (or are they the same thing?) Wikipedia says Bridgepoint Capital (NatWest group) or is that old information?
They used to be owned by Bridgepoint - but were acquired by Signa Sports in 2022 (based in Berlin but NYSE listed). who also own Bikester and other bike/tennis/outdoor sites.
Lots of sites do it well, including bike24, CRC's owner.
I like R2 bikes filtering and search, you can even sort by weight
Well ive been watching all the stuff they are dumping for below manufacturing cost to get sales and wondering when they are going to run out or go pop? Im sure their new owners have very deep pockets to keep pouring money in a hole. Shafting all the shops who sell nukeproof is going to be doing them long term harm in that respect.
Nukeproof pedals for nigh on what they will be buying them for in Asia, Raceface chainrings £55 now £8, all those frames. smelt a bit of desparation to me.
Maybe im just being a bit cynical here
Neil (superstar components)
Apart from the new website being rubbish I can honestly ay I have never had a single issue with crc or wiggle in all the time I have used them. Still cheap enough and still quick enough
Can I add my sales history was 20 pages long.
They used to be the first place I'd go, but hardly ever use them now. Over the last couple of years it's been Sigma and Merlin for me. I'm not sure I could pinpoint exactly why, but it didn't help that both Wiggle and CRC redesigns were awful.
That recent web redesign must be a huge chunk of that loss - I've not used them since I think, who ever thought that up as a good idea must have got the sack by now?
dangeourbrain
Full MemberI wonder how much is interest on the loan used to buy them.
You don't get to find that out til years after a company goes bust in which time everyone's either forgotten or been convinced that they failed for other reasons, a la Maplin.
I agree on terrible website.
The fact they never remove a product when it's out of stock from Google or thier own search - so you waste time finding is XXS and was out of stock a year back.
Really odd stock of sizes or items too.
I just gave up even looking at thier website, let alone buying.
I disliked their website before it was cool 😎
The original site displayed really poorly on my phone, almost as if I was being redirected to the desktop site.
Merlin have been my default for almost everything now, often a bit cheaper too.
The website re-design has been a disaster.
The main driver behind it, was all the companies were running separate systems. Wiggle, CRC, and Hotlines all had their own systems, so there was a lot of manual stock moving going on behind the scenes.
However the changeover didn't go smoothly. The new public frontends are rubbish. B2B didn't work and Hotlines couldn't ship anything for weeks.
And then CRC/Wiggle decided to dump stock at stupidly low prices, so you could buy direct cheaper than the trade price from Hotlines.
Essentially CRC Wiggle have managed to screw themselves on pretty much every sales channel over the past year, so it's no real surprise that they've made a big loss.
That recent web redesign must be a huge chunk of that loss – I’ve not used them since I think, who ever thought that up as a good idea must have got the sack by now?
I'm guessing it was outsourced to India in a lowest bidder wins style scenario and they got what they paid for....
Our company did that for a new Network Management System, it finally arrived Dead on Arrival, not fit for purpose, was never used and the whole project canned (as they'd spent the money and didn't have any more).
I recently bought a pair of Endura armoured shorts from a small bike shop I'd never heard of for £10 cheaper than Wiggle/CRC , ordered on a Sunday delivered on the Wednesday 👍
I agree on terrible website.
The fact they never remove a product when it’s out of stock from Google or thier own search – so you waste time finding is XXS and was out of stock a year back.
This.
Also bought a load of stuff a few weeks back on next day so we could go riding at the weekend - didn't arrive.
Contacted customer services, refunded postage, wait till tomorrow - didn't arrive.
Contacted customer services again, oh it was picked up by Fedex by mistake, we'll tell them to get it to you ASAP.
Week after I bought it it finally arrived, dumped on the doorstep whilst I was out by Evri.
Went back to store drops after that. Only bought from them again because they were the only ones who had what I needed. Won't be back if I can help it.
I used to go straight to Wiggle/CRC as they were always the cheapest and delivery was very quick, free returns were also great. I was buying something at least once a month, had platinum loyalty discount (I think everyone did!) and received regular emails with genuine bargains.
DHB used to be good value, good fit and quality but they introduced a fancier line of DHB clothing and it didn't make sense as you could buy Rapha, Castelli etc. For the same price or less. The core DHB clothing line was forgotten about and size availability went downhill (Unless you need xxs).
I gave them another go recently as I needed a cassette and they had what I needed, it turned up in a box but the rings were loose and two were missing. I couldn't call them as I couldn't see a telephone number so I sent a message and after explaining the situation I was asked for photos of the cassette, eventually advised I could send it back and they would send a label (which didn't turn up), it took almost a week just to arrange the return.
I've never seen such a disorganised website, could you imagine if this was a bricks and mortar store? "Looking for socks sir......you'll find them in the homeware section, on the roof next to the basement, if they're in stock" its crazy and been like this for years, it must be costing them a fortune in lost sales?
I've given up looking at their site these days and could honestly say over the last 12 months I've spent what I could've easily spent in a month a couple of years ago with Wiggle/CRC, its a real shame as I used to spend ages looking at their site, reading reviews and filling my basket.
I really hope they improve but competitors are catching up, even the likes of Amazon are sometimes better.
Just to echo, the website sucks ass now, used to be my default but hasn't been for a couple of years probably more.
Wow that is a lot. Used to use them quite a lot but most recent purchases have all been elsewhere. Final straw was trying to buy inner tubes and having to wade through pages of nonsense with no suitable filters.
Wonder if Amazon and these direct to china type apps are stealing a bit of their market. Especially for folk new into cycling their brand doesn't mean anything and you can get almost any typical spares off of Amazon prime sellers.
DHB used to be good value, good fit and quality but they introduced a fancier line of DHB clothing and it didn’t make sense as you could buy Rapha, Castelli etc. For the same price or less. The core DHB clothing line was forgotten about and size availability went downhill (Unless you need xxs).
Yeah, I recently unearthed some pretty old 'Aeron' bibs which are lighter, better in heat, the mediums fit me really well and somehow they still haven't gone translucent.
I also bought some dhb 'Classic' Bib Shorts recently (discounted of course) which are comfortable enough but have a weird, longer leg fit where they're almost at my knees, nothing else DHB I've ever had from them has fitted like that it's quite odd. I don't quite get why they've started messing about with the fit and shape of their established clothing that people were probably buying as a matter of course...
Agree with everything that has been said.
What I don't understand is why they don't differentiate? Make Wiggle Run, Swim and Tri and CRC just bikes.
And then spend another load of money on consultants deciding how to split the two brands 🤦♂️.
The Wiggle + next day delivery didn’t work for me either and even then, IIRC it was only on orders exceeding £10. It does offer free returns though, which can be useful.
i never have a problem adding stuff to make up 20 quid to get free postage. Unfortunately. But you can also return stuff so you can get your money back for those socks you added to your cart.
But you can also return stuff so you can get your money back for those socks you added to your cart.
Except they no longer do free returns, having sent back a couple of items recently it's £2.99
We’re still getting free returns with Wiggle+
theres no option to filter tyres by wheel size !!
twonks
Full Member
It does make me wonder how could who ever signed off the new web site structure be comfortable with their decision
Some over paid product owner who has no idea about the user experience.
In a related note I am amazed at how many websites seem to have removed the possibility of navigating the tree, i.e. Google has taken me to a maxxis tyre but I want to go up and look at all MTB tyres or all tyres, but no I have to go right up to the top and back down. Just give me. A "up" button.
What I don’t understand is why they don’t differentiate? Make Wiggle Run, Swim and Tri and CRC just bikes.
And then spend another load of money on consultants deciding how to split the two brands 🤦♂️.
I suppose either URL is just a front end to the same e-commerce platform, although not long after their recent great reset there were some alternative prices on items between wiggle and CRC, so it's worth double checking.
My other favourite feature currently is ticking the "in stock only" filter only to discover that doesn't seem to work for items that they've marked "stock expected soon" or something, clearly the fields in their database and the available search options don't align.
But this is probably their parent company trying to wrangle two very similar businesses into being one.
The funny thing is I once described wiggle as "Amazon but for bike stuff" to my family and hence I get a wiggle e-voucher or two every birthday and Christmas. But you know what's becoming increasingly useful for cycling odds and ends? Amazon, they don't have everything but various shops sell stuff through them and the occasional bargain pops up it's worth checking on CRC/wiggle, merlin, sigma, etc and nowadays Amazon just to be sure.
The CRC warranty experience certainly leaves a lot to be desired. Sorting in their depot can take up to (and did) 2 weeks...... How???? They really were awesome in days gone by but yeah, I try to shop locally first then go to other retailers these days. Pity.
Surely having two companies instead of one is an extra expense, unless there's some tax dodge having CRC and Wiggle, and why bother revamping the sites if money is tight, they've literally paid IT guys to ruin their sites and lost customers at the worst possible time, I'd say they've definitely lost a decent percentage of custom.
If you think the website is bad, try using the app!
Just want to filter based on tyre size / length etc. useless!
theres no option to filter tyres by wheel size !!
There is on Wiggle - do you mean CRC?
Staggering really given most of the competition was removed with brexit. I pretty much moved from European suppliers to merlin for cost/ availability.
Wiggle has a tkmax vibe these days with some big name components at silly pricing, so randomly useful.
I've been a reluctant occasional user for the last 10 years or so - mainly based on their quite frankly appalling treatment of workers or potential workers you'd keep hearing about when I was living in the area when they were Portsmouth based. One friend in particular who had their offer of employment withdrawn the day before they started, having already left a safe secure job in readiness to join them. Wiggle's explanation was that they were having a restructure and the role they were to go into didn't now exist. The reality (from someone in the business) was the restructure was in the works prior even to going to interview but they went ahead with the recruitment anyway just in case there was a last minute change of plan. ****ing with people's lives as a business fall-back.....they can shove their Haribos where the sun don't shine.
I think they've change hands a couple of times since then and all the staff of note have changed multiple times so maybe unfair to still hold a grudge.
It's hard to fathom that the tiny little Butler's cycles in Eastney, complete with a wire mesh basket of bargain basement dodgy early 90s skimpy triathlon clothing gathering dust in the corner have grown to this - let alone managing to make a £90m+ annual loss!
superstarcomponents
Well ive been watching all the stuff they are dumping for below manufacturing cost to get sales and wondering when they are going to run out or go pop? Im sure their new owners have very deep pockets to keep pouring money in a hole. Shafting all the shops who sell nukeproof is going to be doing them long term harm in that respect.
Sounds very much like the Starbucks business strategy where they undercut local competition at a loss until there is no competition.
If you think the website is bad, try using the app
i tried using the app but it wouldn’t let me use my 2FA key so I wasn’t able to buy anything. Worked ok on my desktop but I lost confidence so just turned it off.
Not being able to sort by discount is probably intentional on their part.
The rest is incompetence.
I'm also locked out of Wiggle since the rebrand, previously I was Wiggle+ and used them quite a bit.
The site keeps trying to use 2FA when I log in, but I don't receive the code. Customer service says my account failed to transfer over during the redesign and to sign up, but it won't let me use my email address. So know they've diverted me to the team that supposedly do password resets but possibly don't exist...
Bought tyres and shoes yesterday. Search Nano and CRC just gives me the budget non tubeless model, Google it to find another and up pops a link to Wiggle with the Nano dual compound, but on both sites I can only find that by typing Nano dual not Nano! And then the shoes, mostly out of stock but I find some I like that are in stock. Quick Google and every where else are selling them almost £20 cheaper