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Possible demise of CRC / Wiggle

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benpinnick

Gutted for him. Best ever(?) result one month, next month team goes pop.

Yeah, I guess the good thing is that result hopefully wins him a new sponsor quickly


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:08 am
zerocool and zerocool reacted
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Administration will still be handled by the appointed adminstrators AFAIK, it’s the going in thats self-done. You can be forced/compelled, or choose to go into administration.

It's a long long way from my area of expertise but AFAIK the current directors do the administration, they're to some extent protected from creditors but unlike [not self] administration the company is still run by the same people, not an insolvency practitioner, at least until such point as things get worse.

I don't think it's the same as voluntary administration but, my bit of googling only turns up details from Germany. I wonder if it's [edit for clarity: just] Signa sports rather than wiggle crc that have gone into self administration? [and somehow wiggle crc are not in administration]


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:09 am
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I guess that nobody is getting their free shoes.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:11 am
zerocool and zerocool reacted
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I placed an order yesterday and got postage confirmation this morning so it doesn't look like it's quite at the "take your money and run" stage yet *cough*.

I'd not have bothered but a part I need came down to a price I could afford. Glad I didn't also order some kneepads as they're an almost certain "try on and return" item, but operations seem to be normal for now.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:12 am
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I wanted one of them vitus ebikes but I'm now holding off ordering trying to understand if they are likely to sell-off cheaper on Sports Direct in a few months 🙂


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:14 am
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Yeah, I guess the good thing is that result hopefully wins him a new sponsor quickly

Hopefully, but next year is looking more and more like a game of musical chairs where all the chairs except one get taken away when the music stops.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:15 am
 PJay
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I wonder if it’s [edit: just] Signa sports rather than wiggle crc that have gone into self administration?

Companies House is still showing Wiggle as an active company. I know that this is all only a day old, but I'd have thought that this would have needed to be up to date.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:17 am
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It’s a long long way from my area of expertise but AFAIK the current directors do the administration, they’re to some extent protected from creditors but unlike [not self] administration the company is still run by the same people, not an insolvency practitioner, at least until such point as things get worse.

During a regular administration the administrators are only around for a few weeks AFAIK if the company is looking to restructure its way out. Once a plan is drawn up and agreed, the regular directors are the ones to see it through. Sounds like the german version is similar, just a bit more hands off.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:20 am
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so are they still trading or what.

Yeah, these things have a habit of just slowly grinding along, until either one of two things happen.

1. They grind their way out of the hole they've created, move some deckchairs, and pretty much just rumble on,

or

2. it all comes crashing down around their ears very rapidly in a sudden rush


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:20 am
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Well this sucks. Have a mis-sized Vitus I need to return, paid for with PayPal. 

What's the best course of action?


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:20 am
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I guess there are other* share holders in wiggle crc for exactly this purpose, rather than it being wholly owned by Signa?
So they're protected to some extent from the legal status of signa if not from the fall out of it, so I'm theory wiggle crc could be a going concern despite SSU going pop.

*who I'd assume are other Signa shareholders but holding just enough shares either privately or through another holding company to keep their bank accounts away from any potential damage they cause.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:22 am
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Well this sucks. Have a mis-sized Vitus I need to return, paid for with PayPal.

What’s the best course of action?

Facebook marketplace? No that's never the best course of action, even if it's the only course of action.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:25 am
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@stwhannah yeah fair enough! Thanks for the starting point, I shall Do My Own Research.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:41 am
stwhannah and stwhannah reacted
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I shall Do My Own Research.

Do come back and tell us what exciting things you have learned.  Especially if most of your research is done via youtube videos:)


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:44 am
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Do come back and tell us what exciting things you have learned. Especially if most of your research is done via youtube videos:)

I've been at it 8 minutes and what I've gathered so far is that somehow it's all the fault of covid vaccines.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:49 am
hatter, zerocool, jameso and 5 people reacted
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benpinnick

Sounds like the german version is similar, just a bit more hands off.

The german version of anything will involve a lot more paperwork, and actual paper forms needing signing and stamping.

They're a funny old mix of very modern and very old school bureaucratic, it's kind of charming until you are actually dealing with the hassle of it


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:50 am
slackboy, zerocool, slackboy and 1 people reacted
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Bit late to this but there are some Euro names I know connected to Signa who are Berlin based.
Probikeshop
fahrrad.de
Bikester
Brugelmann
CRC/Wiggle

I'm hesitant ordering from any of these now and will probably stick with R2 and Bike Discount.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 10:50 am
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Good riddance if they go as far as I'm concerned.

I had a set of XT M8120 brakes in my basket at £124.99 and £139.99. I removed an item and the page refreshed with the brakes at £169.99 and £154.99. A short chat session and I was told prices do change. Given the poop they are  in you would have thought the instructions would be honour all baskets when customers noticed the increase. 

I'm not expecting them to hold the basket at that price for days, we're talking 24 hours here. 


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 11:04 am
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Marko

Good riddance if they go as far as I’m concerned.

I had a set of XT M8120 brakes in my basket at £124.99 and £139.99. I removed an item and the page refreshed with the brakes at £169.99 and £154.99. A short chat session and I was told prices do change. Given the poop they are in you would have thought the instructions would be honour all baskets when customers noticed the increase.

I’m not expecting them to hold the basket at that price for days, we’re talking 24 hours here.

Yes, they should all lose their jobs. I'm sorry you had to go through this. Overnight pricing changes are something nobody should have to cope with.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 11:06 am
hightensionline, crossed, doomanic and 71 people reacted
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The are a few European countries with their own Hotlines entities all with their own structures and dependences waiting to collapse. Hotlines France sells through bricks and mortar shops and supports a domestic enduro team, so that's another crowd that'll be desperately searching for support.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 11:06 am
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That seems pretty standard in a lot of places...prices do seem to change daily in a lot of markets.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 11:06 am
dc1988, zerocool, zerocool and 1 people reacted
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Given the poop they are in you would have thought [s] the instructions would be honour all baskets when customers noticed the increase. [/s] they may be under some legal obligation to try and make enough money to keep the business afloat and not sell at a loss

Ftfy


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 11:08 am
hightensionline, finners, finners and 1 people reacted
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probably stick with R2

I ordered from them a while back and had no end of issues with chasing a delivery via UPS that eventually has ended in a dispute as they'd damaged the package so much 2 of 3 items were missing, and it came (finally) in a UPS box that wasn't sealed. I got my money back for the missing items - R2 were pretty easy to deal with about that, but it took over a month from start to (sort of) finish , and was constant hassle of waiting, paying import fees, calling UPS to remind them that I'd paid them, chasing R2 to chase UPS,  trying to find the package, them ignoring me for ages, and so on and on.
Doubt I'll be doing that again in a hurry, and I still need to re-order the bits that were missing from somewhere


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 11:16 am
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How are shops meant to introduce a price change exactly? Should they start increasing a price 1 pence every 30 minutes until they reach their target in a weeks time?

Your timing was just unfortunate but it's not exactly the end of the world.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 11:26 am
zerocool and zerocool reacted
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Companies House is still showing Wiggle as an active company. I know that this is all only a day old, but I’d have thought that this would have needed to be up to date.

You've not dealt with Companies House much, I assume? No, the records often don't update that quickly.

Wtf is "self administration" anyone? Never come across this (and I've been involved with some companies going into administration before, it invariably involved appointing (outside) administrators).


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 11:31 am
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Wtf is “self administration” anyone? Never come across this (and I’ve been involved with some companies going into administration before, it invariably involved appointing (outside) administrators).

I believe it's the german version of administration with intent to continue trading through it.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 11:41 am
kelvin and kelvin reacted
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Thanks Ben.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 11:46 am
 PJay
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They've just put up their Black Friday offers - Wiggle Black Friday Deals 2023 | Wiggle


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 12:05 pm
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I was not saying it was wrong to change name, just pointing out that it had happened and thus it was less easy for people who don’t know to find the publicly available information to inform themselves.

No, what you said was:

they changed the company name to make it harder to find…

This is utter bullshit. Other posters above have explained why company names are often changed in insolvency situations, and it's not to make them harder to find. And neither is it true that changing the name makes the company harder to find: you whack the company's old name in Companies House website and it takes you to the company's record under its new name.

This is not the first time you've made wobbly comments about your competitors on here.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 12:06 pm
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benpinnick

Sounds like the german version is similar, just a bit more hands off.

If they have to engage an external administrator, would that make it more Hans on?


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 12:08 pm
crossed, doomanic, wheelsonfire1 and 13 people reacted
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Thoughts and prayers for Marko.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 12:15 pm
hightensionline, crossed, doomanic and 19 people reacted
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They’ve just put up their Black Friday offers – Wiggle Black Friday Deals 2023 | Wiggle

Some of the in-house bikes and frames are looking remarkably good value... If your brave enough to skirt some potnetial warranty issue, a full carbon trail bike frameset with a Fox factory shock for £1400 plus any other discount you might get from BC etc.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 12:31 pm
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How long has this been up? About 2 weeks? then it all goes titsup for CRC


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 12:34 pm
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Black Friday looks like the same stuff they have had on offer for a while based on the few things I had looked at buying.

I think I'd be happy buying cheaper items still, on a cc.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 12:39 pm
zerocool and zerocool reacted
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Pair of NP trousers for me and a new seat ordered for mini-DBW #000002's new bike build.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 12:46 pm
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I'm currently building an N+1 hardtail for the coming winter. Comparing prices on parts with other retailers, there is very little that CRC/Wiggle are cheapest for. If cashflow is their biggest issue right now, I expected them to be undercutting everyone, to get cash in asap.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 12:52 pm
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PCA I’m not making statements and accusations like you just have. I was just pointing out the name change makes it harder to find if you were just googling it or similar. That’s actually the reason they do it.

Neil SuperstarComponents


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 12:59 pm
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If cashflow is their biggest issue right now, I expected them to be undercutting everyone, to get cash in asap.

I feel like they were doing that a couple of months ago, when there were some crazy deals, and this BF sale is just a pre-planned marketing thing.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 1:07 pm
dc1988 and dc1988 reacted
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Once you go into/decide to go into administration then you stop selling stuff cheap. You wont be able to afford to replace it/get credit for a while, so you need to sell stuff at the best price you think you can get over whatever period it will be for.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 1:18 pm
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<br />honourablegeorgeFull Member<br />benpinnick

Sounds like the german version is similar, just a bit more hands off.<br />The german version of anything will involve a lot more paperwork, and actual paper forms needing signing and stamping.

They’re a funny old mix of very modern and very old school bureaucratic, it’s kind of charming until you are actually dealing with the hassle of it

I'll say. My wife is trying to renew her German passport at the consulate in Cardiff. They will only accept payment via a Postal Order. She had to buy one in the PO yesterday and they had no idea how to do it, had to look it up. She then had to withdraw cash from her card at the PO counter to pay for the postal Order they were selling to her! Madness


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 1:21 pm
Murray and Murray reacted
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Your timing was just unfortunate but it’s not exactly the end of the world.

I was under the impression that it was all about cash flow in a crisis, not profit. They clearly have the item in stock and were selling at a profit at the old price I assume? Hard to believe that they would not give me a discount code to bring my basket back to the old price given the circumstances.

Purchased from Biketart for an extra fiver.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 1:25 pm
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@welshfarmer - LOL, that's exactly the sort of thing

Years back, remember queuing at some tax office to get a form, then having to join another queue when I had filled out the form, got to the top, the clerk stamped the form, and told me to go to a different office halfway across the city to hand in the form. Whole day gone.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 1:26 pm
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Once you go into/decide to go into administration then you stop selling stuff cheap. You wont be able to afford to replace it/get credit for a while, so you need to sell stuff at the best price you think you can get over whatever period it will be for.

But they're not selling anything unique. We are talking about items that can be bought from other retailers at a lower price. Why would anyone want to order from CRC for more money, when there is a risk you may not even receive your purchase?
Seems like a sure-fire way to ensure collapse.


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 1:39 pm
Marko and Marko reacted
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How long has this been up? About 2 weeks? then it all goes titsup for CRC

Makes you think!


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 1:44 pm
jameso and jameso reacted
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Looks on the website there are some bargins to be had. But do you think consumer faith is there in the long run with worries over returns and warranty problems ..


 
Posted : 20/10/2023 2:16 pm
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