It undermines trust for me. I see them as like Mountain Warehouse - permanent sales, stuff may or may not be good quality/ value, do your homework first.
You could go to, say, Blacks, pay £n for a jacket without knowing all the various brands, and feel like your jacket was worth £n. With PX I'd feel the need to do research to avoid (what I perceive to be a risk of) getting mugged off. Which doesn't instil trust.
In planet x defence I ordered a ribble cgr Sl 105 around September 2021. It was around £2000. The same bike is now £2500. It had already gone up when I paid £2000! Not really sure why it keeps creeping up? Large overheads or they think their brand value is increasing after large amounts of money spent on advertising.
At the time I was looking at px bikes which were around £1799 mark RRP not taking into account random 20% discounts etc. The same bikes are still £1799!
Now if I was going to buy a new bike I doubt I'd pay £700 more for the ribble or even more for a px bike in the sale. That's a lot of money for upgrades.
I will say that ribble customer service was excellent once the bike arrived after a long delay.
Px don't have fancy show rooms to pay for, they stack em high, sell em cheap and customer service is hit and miss. My on one scandal is my favourite bike and it was £150 for a frame but it did arrive in a box too small for an XL frame and the mech hanger was poking out the box which it must have left the shop like that.
Doing the research and you then buy should instill trust though - you've done research and happy with the price and you are aware of quality. So why would that not instill trust?
Doing the research and you then buy should instill trust though – you’ve done research and happy with the price and you are aware of quality. So why would that not instill trust?
Ummmm.....because you have to do the research before you buy?
You don't do that before you buy already? That sounds odd to me...surely you do research to make sure what you are buying is what you want, no?
I’d buy something they have if I need it, but in reality they’re mostly selling absolute crap that no one else would sell outside of sports direct
I think that’s harsh.
It's just wrong.
They make some really good value bikes across road, gravel and MTB... if you can successfully negotiate the ever-changing prices and not accidentally spend £800 on a Scandal frame.
They also offer very decent, cheap clothing and kit (e.g. bibs, gloves, etc.)
As you said, they are great for newcomers to cycling or the budget conscious. It's just ironic that newbies may find the confusing pricing and the over-dense product range offputting.
Price changes are rife in some retailers. Curry's are a prime example. If you look at a price tracker site for a Currys fridge, washing machine, oven etc you'll see they change their prices weekly. An oven I bought had been at 37 different prices over the past 12 months. They do it so they can tempt you with "Was £599, now £499" but they don't tell you it was also at £425, £450, £475 etc
Ummmm…..because you have to do the research before you buy?
I normally do that with anything I buy online over about £20. Internet pricing varies enormously between retailers etc for the same item....
It’s just wrong.
They make some really good value bikes across road, gravel and MTB…
+1
I own quite a few of their bikes and they're very decent bikes for the money.
I've given up looking on planet x after a couple of disappointing orders, I don't know how they keep afloat with such limited stock on offer, a quick browse through their components is just depressing.
At one point their p&p was something like £7 and adding a couple of cheap rims to the basket skyrocketed that postage so I swiftly ended that after a few expletives at the screen.
Edit. Just had a quick look, SLX chainset £79.99 was £499.99 apparently 😂
I wouldn't buy from Planet X again if it came delivered with a second free bike...
In the past i have had a Scandal frame where the headtube was oval...
A second Scandal frame where the whole back end was wonky
A third frame where the paint fell off in big flakes when you looked at it funny..
I then had a Reverb seatpost that was faulty from the start, sent it back recorded and despite them signing for it, they denied ever receiving it. I sent proof of the fact they signed for 3 times, 6 months it went on and me having to threaten court proceedings, before refund came.. then a member of staff found me on Facebook and thought it would be funny to drunkenly send me abusive messages, i contacted PX and there response "he's on sick leave, not our concern", despite admitting he is still a member of staff!
Spoke to an ex-employee of theirs who said they once sold a load of Giro dodgy helmets, the actual UK importer kept getting these helmets returned to them, and then could not find how they'd entered UK and these "seconds" had entered UK market, traced them back to PX and them having circumvented the UK importer to flog factory second helmets direct from Italy..
Same as any deal really, you buy something at a price that you are happy with. This has no bearing on your purchase if the price then changes up or down.
Planet X prices have been erratic for as long as I can remember. But I've always been happy with my purchases.
My Hello Dave's dropper post developed a fault after about 9 months of use. Planet X were a delight to deal with and sent me a new post.
I've maybe been lucky over the years as I've never made a bad purchase from Planet X. This includes 4 bikes and many other components.
I can sympathise with others who have been sent faulty products which have then not been resolved as they should have been. Although in Planet X's defence, they have been trading for a pretty long time so are bound to have made mistakes over the years.
They're a budget brand 🤷♂️
