Are there any decent, reliable online bike shops?

Wiggle/CRC have terrible customer service, poor availability and they use Hermes which is just a straight up piss take so counting them our.

Tredz seem very shaky. Rutland get terrible reviews. Tweeks seem very dodgy, not actually holding stock etc.

Only half decent on i’ve found so far is Sigma. Anyone use any others that are reliable/use decent couriers?

Ones that charge more maybe? decent couriers cost decent money. Sigma are a lot more than half decent, maybe your bar is set a little high?

Bike discount.de. never a problem, always informed of delivery situation. They use DPD and we have a large local depot so very good. Cheap for most larger items. Take a bit longer to deliver, although still quicker than Tredz.
I like Wiggle, cheap, next day delivery for a year for £10 and I know the Hermes courier so never any problem for delivery. Yodel on the other hand…..

Merlin are excellent and use Royal Mail. They’re a bit slower than usual, but getting stuff within a few days seems reasonable right now.

Merlin has always been a go to for me.

I use Merlin loads. They use Royal Mail and have always been quick to process orders, never had a problem.

Would have said Merlin but they have messed me about once or twice in the last year or so after decades of stellar service. Bike Discount is my go-to for stuff I can’t source locally as is Uberbike Components.

Had a delivery from Merlin this morning via Royal Mail. All good, no problems at all. Took less than a week.

CRC and wiggle…

Whether you agree or not, for me over the last decade they’ve been great.

Hermes are just a disaster zone at the best of times so not keen on CRC/Wiggle.

I’ll take a look at bike-discount. Thanks for the suggestions!

CRC still fine for me, probably as our local Hermes couriers are good.

Merlin are great but have a much smaller range, e.g. no rear mechs to suit my needs last week.

Merlin has been my go to for years, superb. I even went a wee pilgrimage when on a work course in Lymm a couple of years ago. 😁

There are lots, but they’re in Germany

Used Mantle for the first time recently and they were dead fast. Tbh I’d expect a slower service off most at the moment.

Merlin, sigma and tredz for me. Tredz get flack for not holding the stock sometimes however I’ve always found it very clear what is in stock and what is in stock with the supplier. Comms when it’s coming from the supplier have always been good. Add to that they have been very helpful about sourcing special/different bits from their suppliers and adding them to the web site to make the purchase easy.

If they’ve got what you want then SJS Cycles are pretty much faultless IME.

To be honest there aren’t many that I’ve ever had more than a minor gripe about.

CRC and wiggle…

Whether you agree or not, for me over the last decade they’ve been great.

Agree, have used them for years and always good. Hermes are also a lot better than they used to be.
Ordered saddle on Sunday, free delivery so up to 5 days. Arrived Tuesday morning.

Sigma have been good in past but don’t look good at moment. Ordered tyres on Saturday, not a whisper since about being dispatched.

Had zero problems with CRC over many orders. They are a pile ’em high and sell ’em cheap outfit though, so I wouldn’t have high expectations of attentive personal service if ever I had issues with them.

Merlin have always been reliable, Wiggle used to be until they bought CRC, now they are focussed on volume rather than service. Bike-discount.de have also been good over the last few years.

Agree CRC will not be getting any business from me again given recent customer services

Merlin always good.

Had very good customer services from Sigma this week

Bike discount.de – has a delivery from them today. It took DPD 2 weeks to get it to me though

Wiggle and CRC have been great for me, no issues at all for years and years. I rarely go anywhere else except I find that SJS is great for really obscure bits and pieces. They seem to have every spare part and widget. Also use Tredz sometimes if they have what I want.

Not quite sure what people are expecting in customer service terms but then I almost never have to contact them for anything.

Bike Discout de and Bike Boutique nl have both been reliable – but that was pre-covid.
Since covid Tarty Bikes, Active Sport (yes, I know) and Exposure have all been good.
Most recent example – ordered from Mantel last night, picked and despatched this morning; delivery by DHL so we’ll see how good they are.

another thumbs up for Sigma here

Wiggle and Hermes have been fine for me. I use Wiggle+ (next day delivery for £10 a year) and it all seems to work.

Merlin – Excellent
SJS Cycles – Beyond excellent
Kustom Bikes – Excellent
Sigma – Excellent
Slam 69 – Excellent
Lord Gun (Italy) – Excellent
Bike24 (German) – Excellent
Mantel – Excellent
Tredz – Good (no issues yet)

CRC & Wiggle have been ok, seem to have a better service if you pay for your delivery.

CRC have always been good for me. Once I was sent a chain with the joining pin snapped, I called (still NI at that time) them and was given a £15 voucher and told to send the chain back. When I told them I had managed to fit the chain they let me keep the vouccher for my troubles.

Treds have also been good, only once has an order taken longer than the stated time on the item page. On that occasion I was emailed by a human who offerd a refund if the new time frame was too long.

One item ordered from Evans, last week arrived in 2 days. I have ordered my first from Bike dicount.de this week, so hopefully they will be as good.

Swinnerton Cycles have also been good.

Bit of a wild card, but I’ve had 2 bikes from Start Fitness with another one on the way.
And they answer the phone.

https://www.startfitness.co.uk/

CRC are so cheap that they’ve pretty much put everyone out of business. The stock levels thing can be annoying. I don’t think delivery reliability will improve unless you are willing to pay more. I’ve had a couple of orders not delivered and returned to the depot, which means they automatically got cancelled rather than sent out again. Irritating, but never any question that they would refund any charges.

I don’t mind CRC so much as long as you set your expectations at their price point, dislike the fact they use Hermes. Sigma good, SJS v good. Merlin OK (had issues with delivery)  I’ll pretty much try use LBS though for stuff that’s not just  bits and bobs.

SJS also excellent for me as above. Costs* a bit more but a great range.

* Yes I know they are a smaller operation and the bike boys pricing is artificially low.

Merlin, SJS and Tarty Bikes have all been great during this crisis. Also buying some sale tyres direct from Specialized including a warranty issue has been a very customer focussed service.

Merlin, Wiggle and until Corona – Amazon Prime if I am in a hurry to get a bike back up and running.

Agree with CRC, Wiggle, Tredz – all good ime.
Also Hargroves – a lot smaller chain, and always good. Also Pedal On and Stif been reliable for me.

Since the start of this I have used both Wiggle and CRC without issue, our current Hermes guy is spot on.
SJS, Merlin and various ebay bods have been spot on to.
Still awaiting for a frame to be dispatched from Sunset Cycles which has been processing since the 01/05 so whilst the longest wait of all they are still within their anticipated Covid time frames so it was expected. Plus I’ve had excellent service from them before so I just need to hide the pile of shiny things I have to attach to the frame to stop any sense of frustration 😊

Never had any issues with CRC / Wiggle. Merlin also good. One not mentioned so far: Cyclestore always been good, although I’ve not tried them during Covid

Also. Shout out to TF Tuned who gave me excellent customer service yesterday, really top notch.

Evans, High on Bikes an Chain Reaction all delivered to me within promised timed on recent orders.

Chain reaction are normally very good if you use their collect+ click and collect service. Often ordered on a Saturday or Sunday and found it ready to collect Monday or Tuesday. Obvs given the situation I haven’t wanted to go to Mccolls to collect so been going for standard delivery. 2 or 3 Hermes deliveries have been fine but 1 got totally lost. Hermes tracking stopped at a depot and never started again. CRC wouldn’t send another item until I’d filled in a deceleration form to say it was lost which was a pain. It would work on my phone so I had to log into a desktop and print it off, fill it in, scan it and email it back.

Put in 4 small bike stuff orders on line at the weekend. The two I put in on Sunday not heard a peep from, one of them was Chain Reaction. The two orders I put in on Monday were despatched the same day. Mantel despatched within a couple of hours. Merlin also despatched with a few hours.

Gotta give these guys a shout, had never heard of them but having time to google parts for overdue repairs and check pricing I stumbled upon these, Cyclebasket of Crickhowell, P&P is not cheap at a flat rate of £6 but their prices can be very competitive and delivery is second to none with plenty of communication about your order status, packaging looks to be recycled but that’s no bad thing these days, good luck to ’em I say. To be fair in these straitened times I have had a majority of good service on line and long may it continue, those who do it well deserve to prosper.