[Closed] UK Bike Store being funny...

Gonzy - I never called your friend a liar. I said that he may well have not given you ALL of the inforrmation.
As it turns out - he didn't.
Did your friend tell you that he'd already received the forks before he rang them to ask for the price match?
Betting he didn't....
Bet he didn't mention that he was told on the phone nicely that the "Price match" applies to "in stock items" the same as CRC/Wiggle/Halfords/Evans.
Whether Merlin have a pair "out the back" is neither here or there - if a retailer (in this case UK Bike Store) does a web check and it shows " out of stock" then quite rightly they are going to say no!
In this case they said no because your friend had already received the forks!
Returning an order because you didn't get them at the price you wanted may well constitute a good reason to refuse a return from the retailer.

Feel free to ring them yourself and ask them.
Dave and the rest of the staff are aware of this thread and indeed have all had a good read of it themselves whilst I was there.

*waves at Dave and the rest of the staff*

Unless their policy explicitly says (maybe it does now, who knows) 'we won't accept returned goods if you get arsey about the price' they're not in a strong position.

Hi Dave!
Glad you did the right thing and complied with your own policy (and the law).

*waves at Dave and the rest of the staff*

Unless their policy explicitly says (maybe it does now, who knows) 'we won't accept returned goods if you get arsey about the price' they're not in a strong position.

+1, doesn't matter that they didn't price match, they need to accept returns for upto 14 days. Phoning them up ref. a price match does at least give them an opportunity to keep the fork sold (albeit at a lower price) and not returned to them.

They chose not to price match, but they should accept returns, as the customer has changed their mind. As noted on their own website policy.

Still off my list of places to purchase.. unles -

**unless of course these forks were bought ages ago...

Returning an order because you didn't get them at the price you wanted may well constitute a good reason to refuse a return from the retailer.

Returning an order because you didn't get them at the price you wanted may well constitute a good reason to refuse a return from the retailer.

Actually no it doesn't based on SOGA and their own terms but if their version is indeed true (and it would go some way to explaining the situation) that's probably not the point.

TBF, I'd still buy from them. It seems someone just got arsey at being undercut by a grey import which is understandable.

at being undercut by a grey import

Who said anything about grey imports?

Merlin innit? I thought that was their thing?

Merlin innit? I thought that was their thing?

Not necessarily, a lot of what they sell is from pukka UK distributors.

Ah, soz to merlin then.

They did comply with the SOGA and their Terms for the return.
When they guy actually called them and spoke to Dave there he arranged the return straight off.
They didn't get arsey over it or it being a grey import/undercut. They had agreed to price match even AFTER he had received the forks IF they were in stock on their website.
Again though - someone forgot to mention the not so nice calls demanding a price match because "Merlin say they have one out the back so you have to...." and " the SOGA says...."
I think nowadays people forget that they can call somewhere and speak to someone civilly with perhaps "can we please have a look at this" or "could we possibly" rather than going straight to a rant and spouting "it's the law - my mate said so..."

Returning an order because you didn't get them at the price you wanted may well constitute a good reason to refuse a return from the retailer.

Not - SOGA allows people to change their minds. Whether that's right or wrong, it's a fact.

But this

I think nowadays people forget that they can call somewhere and speak to someone civilly with perhaps "can we please have a look at this" or "could we possibly" rather than going straight to a rant and spouting "it's the law - my mate said so..

also

1:1 scoredraw, no extra time or penalties in this one.

In all the circumstances, this thread is not sufficient to put me off UKBikeStore. However, it does amuse me that hammyuk is pretending that he isn't Dave.

He has been well cheeky but he can do this within the law
UK bike store seem to have done more than they needed to morally then what they had to do legally

Rather have a beer with the shop than the OP's mate

Think I'd get right pissed of with folk like that calling and messing me about, lawful or not. OPs mate sounds like he's been telling porkies too.

My name isn't Dave Ape!
They just happen to be on the same business park as my premises so bloody handy for parts that you don't see elsewhere.

Ok Dave, whatever you say 😉 🙂

I agree, they are good for bits you can't get elsewhere.

Ops friend want s to save £80, can't blame him for that it might be a lot of money to him. UK bike shop don't want to price match (the reason is irrelevant), nothing wrong with that either.
The only issue as far as I can see it was this;

anyway the forks from UK Bikes arrived yesterday and UK BIkes are r[b]efusing to accept their return and issue a refund[/b] even though the box is unopened.

And for what's it's worth where did I call anyone a lier.

Asking for a price match after you have bought something is just stupid, you were offered a price and agreed to it. Also if you have just bought it and happy with the purchase why go home and check prices after?

Not price matching something that someone else doesn't have makes total sense as well, they are not actually selling them for that price if they don't have them are they?

IF (and I stress IF) this happened, it's the only thing anyone's done wrong.

I think most of us would argue that asking for a price match [b][ after the purchase and delivery][/b]for forks not in stock is someway short of best behaviour.

The customer is not always right as this example shows

I suppose so, he should have kept his trap shut and just sent them back without mentioning the merlin price.

another slag a bike retailer off without knowing or relating the whole truth of the event, 99% of the time a retailer provides great to excellent customer service its what keeps us customers going back.

Wow, either price is exceptional for some 350CRs, I love mine.

I think most of us would argue that asking for a price match [ after the purchase and delivery]for forks not in stock is someway short of best behaviour.

Really - There is nothing wrong with giving the retailer the opportunity to save a sale if you are going to return under soga. I did it with crc once on some shoes that I discovered where cheeeper (like half price) elswhere, CRC refunded half the price.

Some shops offer this as part of their service; if you subsequently find it cheaper elsewhere we'll refund the difference.

OP was entitled to ASK if UKBS would price match to keep the sale; UKBS were entitled to decline for whatever reason. After which OP is legally entitled to return for refund (soga, etc) and UKBS is not legally entitled to refuse.

No-one's entitled to behave like a ****, whatever played out. Being nice about a transaction that didn't pan out as initially intended costs nothing.

I think nowadays people forget that they can call somewhere and speak to someone civilly with perhaps "can we please have a look at this" or "could we possibly" rather than going straight to a rant and spouting "it's the law - my mate said so..."

Gobby jobsworth customer gets messed around by staff having a wind-up, think I would too in their position.
😆

Really - There is nothing wrong with giving the retailer the opportunity to save a sale if you are going to return under soga.

This. Could have sent it back without asking under SOGA, and UKBS would have lost the sale. Everyone's praising Rapha in their various PSA threads for their generous refunding of sale price differences.

A-ha!!!

My tenner is safe after all.

I knew it!!

(And I'll take the other bet that I'll never pay up, I would have honest, ahem, so that's a tenner you owe me)

a-ha?
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nemesis - Member
I'll bet a tenner that poisonspider never pays up

Have you paid up? No. As such, I win 😉

Gotta love STW he-said she-said threads.
Everyone always comes out looking soooo good!

Thanks Hammyuk for making us aware of this, much appreciated.

Just to set the story straight I work for UK Bike Store and I'm afraid the original poster has been giving a grossly inaccurate version of events.

The customer ordered from us on Saturday, the fork was delivered to him on Tuesday. The then phoned up and asked if we would price match Merlin. At no point did we say he couldn't send it back for a refund, quite to the contrary and it was for that reason that, after quite a bit of pressure from the customer, we gave in and said we would match it - it would be better to match it and not make much on it than have it come back for a refund and loose our shipping costs.

However I noticed when doing the price match that Merlin didn't actually have the fork in stock and we wouldn't price match on something that is out of stock, let alone something that the customer had already received from us so I let him know that we wouldn't be refunding the difference. As mentioned it also wasn't clear that it was the same fork as we don't deal in grey market while merlin often do and the product doesn't mention the Marzocchi aftermarket 3 year warranty.

He then came back to us saying that they did have one in stock despite the site saying otherwise and he had already ordered it but wanted us to either knock something off his order and he would send the merlin one back or pay for his return shipping! We refused to do either but at no point did we say he couldn't send it back for a refund, it was made quite clear all along that it wouldn't be a problem and we even emailed him the returns address. We offer more returns period than the statutory minimum and often will go beyond what our terms say to help people out but this guy is clearly taking the piss. Will be interesting to see if the fork does actually get sent back to us or if the one supposedly coming from Merlin turns out to be imaginary and so he decides to keep it.

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Grrrr..... someone needs owning, with Bombers. If only there was somewhere to get a set, at a good price, with them in stock.......

Good stuff mistadave; op's mate sounds like a bellend of the highest order.

Wehay!

Kettle's on. I've got digestives (caramel of course), some hobnobs, and possibly some custard creams at the bottom of the tin. What can I get folk?

Ooooof, nice to see the other side of the story. If you really are Dave from ukbikestore then that's a very reasoned response.

Customer being a dick......never 🙂

Be interesting to hear what the OP has to say about that response above!!

Nice response Dave. Always worth waiting to hear the full story. I wonder if the OP's friend even knows this post is going on?

Will be interesting to see if the fork does actually get sent back to us or if the one supposedly coming from Merlin turns out to be imaginary and so he decides to keep it.

The forks from merlin got dispatched yesterday and should arrive today...

So, did they arrive yesterday?

Pretty boring when the shop in question makes a sensible and measured response to a situation. These threads are much more interesting when you get a rant of Dave Hinde proportions and the suggestion to settle it with a fight 😀

Oh dear. Looks like the OP has been bullshitted to.

I would like some pink fanny wafers as this is getting interesting.

I've always found UKBikeStore great to deal with and very efficient at sending parts by post.
The OP's mate has been taking the piss and if I was UKBikeStore I'd had told him that he wouldn't be getting a price match and no return.
This is where (in this case) the SOGA benefits no-one but the guy trying to pull a fast one.
Well done for UKBikeStore for rising above the silly behaviour!