Last sunday i gets my eye on some RS Sektor Airs’ 2012, on the worlds biggest online bike store. £279 ! thats cheap i thought, especially as they also had the 2011 fellas for £299. So i ordered them. A couple of days later, i get an expected email saying they are out of stock and the order will be cancelled. so i get on the phone and rant a bit. I also suggested that they send me the 2011 forks for £279. After a couple of asking the manager moments, they agree and the kid on the phone says he will just change the product code and they will be in the post that afternoon.(Tues).
So, thursday afternoon i got another email saying the origional order had been cancelled ! so back on the phone again, only to find that the 2011 forks have not been sorted and are not on the way.
So, i get the card out gain and re-order them then and there at the agreed price. The guy on the phone apologises for it all and upgrades the postage to 24hr parcel force and says they will be with me friday.
So, huffs the missus and stays in all day friday so as not to miss the nice man in the red van. And guess what ? nothing !
can it really be that bloody hard ?

Outrageous, isn’t it?

meh, pay peanuts, get monkeys. The LBS is that way —–>

I think your onto something there….

Ordered forks from Merlin on Sunday, arrived Tuesday. Used them today. And very very cheap…

Merlin are wicked. Ordered a stack of stuff midnight Thu, including some special non-standard requests. All arrived 07.30 this morning. Chuffed.

+1 for Merlin.

I used to order from CRC all the time, but after getting stung last March with a fraud on my credit card I haven’t used them since.

Check your order history – there should be a Parcelforce tracking number so you can see at a glance if they’re on their way or not.

Call the Daily Mail!

Merlin over CRC anyday

+1 merlin.
superb service

Using merlin instead these days. CRC mess me around every time.

Used merlin and crc in the last week, great service from both, it’s an outrage!

I guess CRC is the Ryanair of the bike world. It’s fine most of the time, but if you want decent service upgrade to Aer Lingus.

I think the OP needs a sense of perspective in their life. Is this minor annoyance really worth bellyaching about?

+1 For Merlin here. Always use them fast service never a problem. And with VIP membership you get a extra 10% of most things as long as it has the VIP badge above the item on the web when ordering. Also check on-one from time to time they do some mega deals.

Ordered forks from Merlin on Sunday, arrived Tuesday.

Ditto that…
Merlin all the way………..

I think the OP needs a life.

FIFY

Really doesn’t sound like that much to get worked up over to me. World’s biggest bike shop occasionally gets it wrong, shocker. They didn’t need to offer you the discount on the forks in the first place but you even seem sniffy about that.

First world problem…

Never had a problem with CRC myself, always get the order right and always arrives promptly.

never had a problem or a wrong item with CRC in all the time they have been trading………………mind you, i dont buy much……. 😀

I’ve been using CRC for about 9 years and can only say that since they went global their service has gone from excellent to damn near shoddy.

Their customer service needs a full overhaul I recon.

Bit of a shame really.

I now shop elsewhere

Never had a problem with CRC, Wiggle or Merlin – have used all three regularly for years.

Since recently returning to mountain biking and riding now more than I ever have before. I need to buy bits more often as I wear components out, or just want bike bits.
Over the last year I have bought from CRC and Merlin. Both have had what I wanted at the time, I worked on the basis cheapest for what I needed at those points got the order. Merlin have always delivered within 48hrs, CRC orders have never arrived faster than 96hrs. No big deal, but that’s how it’s been.

I never order from CRC anymore other than for a £5-10 spare that no one else stocks and it will take the LBS a couple of weeks to supply.

I never even used them much in their hey day as i never found them to be very reliable in relation to Wiggle and Merlin. Nothing I have read in the last year or so makes me think things have changed for the better

Since we’re doing personal ancedotes. I’ve used CRC extensively for the past four years – never had a problem and everything received within two working days. Have used their returns service once and everything sorted out in three days.
Have also used Merlin a few times and they’ve been equally good with price and delivery. Had a bit of on issue with a return on some of those shoddy Altura ‘waterproof’ 3/4s, but all sorted out well in the end.

With both, I don’t think you can judge them on one, or a handful, of people’s personal experiences.

I’ve had minor problems with Merlin, Wiggle and CRC on one occasion for each reatiler whoop di do!

Used all of them quite a lot over the years. I hardly think its time to tar them with a Dave Hinde tar brush!

I notice crc delivery/stock issues aren’t on Dawson’s problem list. I’ve bern using crc for 7 odd years and never had one single late delivery problem and everything has been in stock. Perhaps they monitor this forum and ensure all the whingers get their stuff late or not al all? 🙂

It must have been annoying, get them/it (I never know whether a fork is a them or an it). Get your Sektors sent to work instead.

Other than the fraud up there ^ I think CRC do a pretty good job. They must have a fair few staff and the errors of one or two dispatch workers doesn’t really sum up the whole company. The person who took your order is not necessarily the same as the one who picks it, packs it and despatches it! Email them, explaining that your wife stayed in and ask them to get the delivery person to phone when they’re on their way.

I agree, Merlin are very good.

huffs the missus

interesting

retailer in “sometimes we get it wrong” shocker

🙄

let he who is perfect … etc

Merlin are good but they simply don’t have the choice that CRC have and personally I’m not a big fan of Merlin’s unwillingness to haggle.

For the record I ordered some bits from CRC 11:55 last Friday and those nice people from the Royal Mail delivered them Sat 10:30.

I ordered some cheap £12 gloves from CRC, that were in stock at the time – I received an email two days later apologising that they were now out of stock along with a £5 voucher. I simply reordered the same gloves in a different colour the same day but paid £7 instead!

\o/ for CRC 🙂

^ I’ve had three £5 vouchers from CRC recently for issues like that 😀

I’ve used Merlin and CRC loads and they’re both great although I’m a bit disappointed Merlin only apply their 10% VIP discount to orders over £50 now.

They do seem to be taking longer than they used to and Merlin are good but all this buying stuff! I’ve become the consumer I despise. How can such a simple, low carbon form of transport cost so much?

I guess when its not your bike thats off the run and you havent had a problem with orders from them, then it wont be a problem at all.
Just by way of an update, i phoned monday lunchtime to cancel the order but was given a tracking number and told “if they dont come today give us a call back”.
The number they gave me didnt register with the parcel force tracking search. So i got back on to them to make sure i had written it down correctly (had to do it left handed, as my other fat hand was stck in the pringles tube), got someone else who said that the forks hadnt actually left yet so it would take a while for that tracking number to register. He also said that i should expect them Wed as they were 48hr standard.
so, lies as well as deceipt. But i remembered that i am a “whinger” and just apologised for troubling them and hung up quietly.

Make sure you check any forks from Merlin as they might not be a perfect as you’d expect from a ‘brand new’ set. I found this out to my cost. They’re as cheap as they are for a reason.