New Bike Day last Thursday – I thought these things were supposed to be fun. 🙁

I’m riding very little these days, so decided to get an e-hybrid to motivate myself to go into the office more. A bit of research finds Evans stock the Trek FX+2 – comes with rack, lights and mudguards, range “up to” 35 miles, and most importantly it doesn’t look TOO obviously like an ebike, so hopefully less attractive to the light-fingered. I can use Cyclescheme to get that and all the other bits I need, so I email their Ride2Work address and ask for a quote on the bike plus a raft of other things – panniers, helmet, jacket, D-lock, etc etc.

First snag – the reply comes back to say they can’t do a quote, but I can get one in shop or alternatively use the online “wish list” to work out total cost. I go to the shop nearest me at work for a quote – “sorry mate, don’t do them, haven’t for five years”. I report this back to Team Ride2Work, and a different person replies to say that is correct, I can either price things in-shop or using the Wish List, but they won’t honour that as a quote, if a price changes before my Cyclescheme voucher arrives. Now that’s a problem – if a price goes down, I’ll have to change my order otherwise I lose the difference, but if one goes up (and the bike is reduced, so it COUlD go up by a couple of hundred quid) then I can’t “top up” my voucher, it’s either take things off the order or cancel the voucher and start again. Ride2Work confirm that this is the case. This is a frustration – to mitigate my exposure to price changes, I cut my order down to just bike and panniers. If Evans doesn’t want my money, fine.

The Cyclescheme website advises my employer takes an average of around two weeks to process voucher requests but this time they play a blinder and I’ve got it two days later – this is genuinely exciting! So I go to the website and order the bike and the panniers, select the store, choose Cyclesheme as method of payment and…. snag two. Out of nowhere, a £19.99 delivery charge appears. I’m buying a bike from a bike shop (an expensive bike, too!) and they want to charge me another twenty quid – where this becomes an issue is that there is no way, online or in shop, to pay this seperately, the voucher has to cover the ENTIRE cost. Fortunately, they have some Altura panniers for exactly twenty quid less than the Ortleibs I wanted, so I can swap them out and now place the order (either that or request a voucher for a different amount), but now I’m annoyed. I outline my frustration to Team Ride2Work – I don’t want to have a go, but this is really stupid, and could have been headed off by providing a quote in the first place. The less sympathetic of the two Ride2Workers who I’ve been speaking to says I could have found the carriage charge of their website – I’m buying a bike from a bike shop, why would I look up a carriage charge?

But the Excitement Of The New Bike is on me – I create an order with a second retailer that does Klarna for the other three hundred quid’s worth of stuff and await notification that the Trek is ready to collect. Two days pass, then three and four – I look up the shop’s number on the Evans website and call. Number doesn’t work. No number I can see for Evans head office, I call another nearby Evans shop and they say no, the number for that shop doesn’t work, so I go to social media and a helpful chap comes back pretty quickly to confirm the number doesn’t work – there’s no reply when I ask if they know when it’ll be fixed.

I find an email address for the shop, and a reply comes back to say they’re still awaiting the bike, they’ll chase it with head office – turns out it’s still not been collected by the courier. Finally, fully 7 days after placing the order, they mail to say it’s been picked up and should be at the shop that day, he’ll prep it that night and let me know next day when it’s ready. Excited, I got into the office and do indeed receive notificatiom it’s ready, but snag number three arrives – they can’t charge it as it has an American plug so I bounce down to the shop via Argos for a three pack of adapters then off to pick the Trek up – a busy but exciting lunch hour.

The transaction is ok – I have one nice young person ask if they can help, I say I’m there to pick up a new bike, she says just bear with, she’ll fetch somone else. Nice Young Person number two subsequently arrives, and exactly the same conversation occurs. Nice Young Person number three gets us into the transaction – there’s some debate about whether the bike has been paid for (it’s an online order through Cyclescheme, it was paid at point of order with this certificate I’m showing you), then we have a side debate to let me know that, if the voucher value is greater than that of the bike, I lose the difference – I tell them about the panniers and the penny drops. A courier package, still unopened with my name on it, is fetched from the back – inside are my two panniers, I clip them on, chuck the paperwork and charger in, and off we go.

The new bike excitement disappears in an instant. Neither the saddle nor handlebars are straight, something’s rubbing, the saddle’s way too high and without power it just feels like a heavy hybrid. No time to sort now – I ride back to work and put it on charge – the lights fire up and the battery level indicator lights run in sequence to show it’s charging. I email Mrs Pondo to express my sadness and she has a stirling idea – I planned badly and have no tools, but there is a tool station in the excellent train station secure cycle parking, for which I have a pass, that’ll give me access to an Allen key to straighten and lower the saddle. I also email the shop to list the issues (I also find a cable running into the frame where the outer doesn’t go into the opening, so the inner is exposed) and express my disappointment. No answer.

At five I go down and find the lights off and power at five bars – we’re good to go! A pitstop to adjust the saddle and we’re away – rubbing and wonky bars aside, she’s great, a bit of power on those draggy inclines that put me off commuting and it’s just like riding on the flat, even with a headwind – bliss! I get home with four bars remaining, straighten the bars and investigate the rubbing (front mudguard) – everything is bollocked up super-tight, this bike has been assembled with neither care nor finess, which makes me sad. I email the shop with my findings once more. No answer.

Next day, I ride in and tbis is totally the life. Work now has great shower facilities and free breakfast, so an e-assisted ride in is a great way to start the day. We start the ride home with four bars that quickly drops to three, then two about half way home, then one and, in the last couple of miles, the final bar starts flashing, and the power dies completely a few hundred yards from home. We’ve done about twenty miles from full, so that’s really disappointing range, I’d reckoned on two days between charges – I hadn’t even been caning it, some was with power off, a little bit of power level two, a bit more of three on the inclines, but the overwhelming majority has been level one.

But then I try to charge the bike – the lights come on but the battery level indicators don’t run in sequence, there’s just the low level flashing light, then after a few seconds it goes off. I check the plug and adapter – the charger itself has a green light, so it MUST have power, and it can only be plugged into the bike one way, but nothing suggests the bike is charging, unplugging and replugging it in just turns the lights on and gives the low level battery warning then it turns itself off. I email once more to let them know it’ll be coming back to them tomorrow morning. No answer.

So yesterday, Saturday morning, the Trek goes in the back of the car to get wheeled back to the shop. The guy behind the counter could not be any less happy to see me and he has no problem letting it show. He takes bike and charger out back, then comes back to say it’s charging. We go look – lights on, battery level low is flashing. I tell him the indicator cycles through the levels when it’s charging,which they wouldn’t know because they didn’t charge it – he says he couldn’t as they have no adapter and we’ll have to leave it there to see if it charges, and they won’t be able to look as support is only available 9 to 5, Monday to Friday (I presume Trek’s tech support?). That’s ok, it’s not much use to me until they either fix or replace. I ask him to look at the cable outer issue – it’s from the front light down into the frame, and very clearly it should be routed through the mounting bracket but has been routed the longer way outside the bracket, which is why the outer appears short. He is totally going to just pull the outer down and press it into the frame opening until I tell him.

I ask if he wants to take my contact details – he says yes, pulls a bit of till receipt out of the till and puts that and a pen on the counter, so I write name and number on it. I ask if they have a number I can call – he says no, they’re waiting on it being fixed. We leave. He has said nothing rude – nor have I – but he clearly just wants us to stop being a problem, almost as much as I am going to be a problem until it’s sorted. No call or email just yet, so I think I can assume it hasn’t charged.

Goodness, I’ve written a novel. The TL:DR is that generally the people we’ve spoken to have been very nice and polite, but Evans’s processes are massively, stupidly frustrating, and why would I ever buy a thing from them again? Paying carriage for a bike I’m fetching from the bike shop is absurd – I have zero doubt there’s at least one weekly delivery truck from the warehouse, I could have waited for that just as easily as I could for the week the courier took. That a two grand bike comes with a rubbing mudguard, wonky bars and saddle and exposed wiring is real shoddy – I guess we’ll see what happens with the charging issue.

she’s great

You had my deepest sympathy right up until that point 🙂

Probably of zero use to you but your first mistake was buying at Evans.
I assume your company scheme is locked to them?

I had a similarly terrible experience with them on a R2W bike and have refused to shop in there since.

Shame that new bike day is ruined for you.
Hopefully you’ll get a resolution from them eventually.

You had my deepest sympathy right up until that point 🙂

She is, what can I say? 🙂

I assume your company scheme is locked to them?

It’s not! But it’s lesson learned for my next bike… Mrs Pondo got hers from a different store after being messed around by Ribble supply issues – that wasn’t too painful a deal, and they were helpful (albeit grudgingly…) with a replacement when the bike she ordered was too small (after choosing the size based on Evans’s own recommendation). But I can’t believe a cycle retailer of their size can make buying a bike so frustrating.

in assessing your claim for sympathy, i identified the following indicators
tax dodge bike scheme
company BiK Breakfast club
e-bike
hybrid
e-bike hybrid
charging your e-bike hybrid at work*
you also refer to a NBD but without any pictures

im afraid to say this limits my sympathy response to 2pts.

you get one point back as i sense your disappointment and a genuine sounding wish to roll again.

*you may feel that im a little biased against e-bikes. 😉

I’d be onto Trek straight away. I think Trek will have minimum standards for a bike set up and these can’t have been met. I’d also be asking Trek about Evans having stock with an America plug

Are you sure the charger can accept 230v?

But I can’t believe a cycle retailer of their size can make buying a bike so frustrating.

This is your mistake, Evans isn’t a cycle retailer. They’re a big box shifting operation with some retail premises.

They may as well be selling dishwashers.

If anyone’s wondering – 1927 words. Possibly a new record?

in assessing your claim for sympathy, i identified the following indicators
tax dodge bike scheme
company BiK Breakfast club
e-bike
hybrid
e-bike hybrid
charging your e-bike hybrid at work*
you also refer to a NBD but without any pictures

im afraid to say this limits my sympathy response to 2pts.

you get one point back as i sense your disappointment and a genuine sounding wish to roll again.

*you may feel that im a little biased against e-bikes. 😉

Outstanding work, thank you! 🙂

I’d be onto Trek straight away. I think Trek will have minimum standards for a bike set up and these can’t have been met. I’d also be asking Trek about Evans having stock with an America plug

Are you sure the charger can accept 230v?

No idea, I assumed that a bike from a global manufacturer sold by a nationwide retailer in the UK would be UK ready – but there’s a famous saying about making assumptions… Great shout, thank you. 🙂

I ordered my Pinnacle Arkose through C2W(Cyclescheme) from Evans, I wasn’t overly keen to use Evans but the bike was what I was after so went for it.

I also made the mistake of not realising they charge for bike delivery to a shop (i.e. if it’s not physically in stock at a specific shop then you are charged for it to be delivered to the shop). I also didn’t want the hassle of redoing the whole voucher so found the number for the shop online, gave them a ring and they said come in to the shop and we’ll sort it. I went in thinking they’d be able to charge me the delivery separately but the manager waived it so my original voucher value covered the full amount.

I checked the bike over when I picked it up and it was all put together correctly, I didn’t take up their offer of a free three month service. Tbh I’d check over any bike that someone else built for me just for peace of mind.

Is there a TLDR?

This is your mistake, Evans isn’t a cycle retailer. They’re a big box shifting operation with some retail premises

In my case they can’t even ship the boxes properly. Bought a bike for my wife from them online, purely because they were half the price of anyone else. Knew I’d have to do a full rebuild just in case, but worth it for the price. Filled with dread when I get my Evri shipping confirmation. Sure enough in delivery process, bike is marked for return, ie it’s been stolen. Refunded ok, and ordered again with delivery to store this time, thinking it’ll be less likely to go missing in a bulk direct delivery. Order been sitting in processing for a week and already past latest “estimated” delivery date. Not in any great hurry and £450 saving on a bike that’ll get used a handful of days a year is very welcome, but surely it shouldn’t be this hard?

Most frustrating, having recently been through a very positive NBD experience with C2W and a large retail group, must be a real anticlimax.

Hope it gets sorted..

Is there a TLDR?

Sure. 🙂

The TL:DR is that generally the people we’ve spoken to have been very nice and polite, but Evans’s processes are massively, stupidly frustrating, and why would I ever buy a thing from them again? Paying carriage for a bike I’m fetching from the bike shop is absurd – I have zero doubt there’s at least one weekly delivery truck from the warehouse, I could have waited for that just as easily as I could for the week the courier took. That a two grand bike comes with a rubbing mudguard, wonky bars and saddle and exposed wiring is real shoddy – I guess we’ll see what happens with the charging issue.

Last bike I bought from Evans was a single speed commuter. All paid for and they wheeled it out to me. I pointed out they hadn’t flipped the stem as requested and they apologised. As I took hold of it I noticed there was no air in the tyres, when I pointed this out the sales guy said there’s a pump over there and pointed to a track pump. I think I just turned to the guy on the till and said “is he taking the piss or what?” in quite a forceful manner, which led to them sorting it. If it hadn’t been a single speed road bike I’d have been very wary of the pre-delivery checks being done.
Terrible shops.

I’m afraid a long corrupt trail composed of that holy trinity: private equity, insolvency practitioners and Sports Direct have led directly to your dodgy e-bike.

I wouldn’t touch that company with a barge pole anymore. Always gives me a twinge when I glance at the cover of my old copy of Richard’s Bicycle Book with its beautiful FW Evans steel tourer on the cover.

@soobalias your response made me laugh 🤣

What @Ampthill said. It’s probably the charger using European power via the adapter that’s causing the issue. The onboard sensor isnt happy.

How about you refuse the bike, get your money back. Then find something more suitable at your local bike shop who won’t charge you postage and will give you a quote for exactly what you want, they wont sell you a bike with wonky bars and will help you in the future with any issues.

Imagine what’s going to happen when you have a warranty issue further down the line if this is how it all started? Run now while you still can.

@ampthill.

American plug and voltage………Good observation.

What a disappointing story, about which should be a day full of ‘buzz’.

Hope that it gets sorted out.

I used to work at Evan’s pre-Sports Direct, and a lot of the good staff have left since that time, because building and selling muddy foxes all day isn’t fun. Even pre Sports direct it was hit and miss whether you got a decent store. I last heard that there was one full time person to cover bike builds and repairs, in one of the larger shops in the country!
I haven’t been there for a number of years because to be honest they only stock crap these days. The extra charges that they levy sound like a new thing, and I remember we used to do Cyclescheme/R2W quotes all the time, and allow you to top up if the voucher was a bit short.

You’re shopping at a shop owned by that ethicless scumbag Mike cAshely.

What do do you expect?

Less than zero sympathy supporting that @#£@£&%## by handing over £££

Why would I know that?

^ agree, i didnt know.

extra bonus sympathy point

Free breakfasts at work not BIK if offered to all. So another bonus point 🙂

@robertajobb

Less than zero sympathy supporting that @#£@£&%## by handing over £££

Well unlike you I don’t have a magic money tree growing in my garden, so £450 saving makes a difference to a purchase.
Unless you’ve never used Amazon, drank in a Wetherspoons or had a Costa/Starbucks you can shut your mouth unless you’ve anything constructive to add.

Just because Ashley is scum, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t expect decent service.

Evans has always been rubbish and Mike Ashley buying it was surely the death knell. My sympathies OP. If it were me I’d send it back and get a refund, then find one somewhere else or find something else.

Just because Ashley is scum, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t expect decent service

But that’s the problem isn’t it? You can expect what you like, doesn’t mean you’ll get it. I feel sorry for the people working there, imagine the stick they must get every day.

I fell out with Evans, oh, probably over ten years ago now. We were mis-sold a bike and when I complained the store manager’s idea of customer service was to say I was lying.

I wouldn’t expect a bike-fit service from any high street retailer. I’d expect it to be in a box unless I’d bought a display model.

A twenty quid delivery charge for a bike you have to pick up yourself is Ticketbastard levels of shitbaggery. Are you sure that wasn’t for assembly? I think you’d have reasonable cause for complaint over the crap setup if so.

Happy new bike.

I used to like Evans, I pass a big one on my commute home that has sensible opening times so handy to collect an order on my way. Sorted out a warranty issue on a Commencal no problem in the past.

Then Ashley took over and they started the delivery charge for click and collect. **** that! Avoided them ever since. Unfortunately  the C2W scheme at work started using them. 😠 Luckily there are plenty of other retailers that accept their vouchers.

Is there a TLDR?

Sure. 🙂

The TL:DR is that generally the people we’ve spoken to have been very nice and polite, but Evans’s processes are massively, stupidly frustrating, and why would I ever buy a thing from them again? Paying carriage for a bike I’m fetching from the bike shop is absurd – I have zero doubt there’s at least one weekly delivery truck from the warehouse, I could have waited for that just as easily as I could for the week the courier took. That a two grand bike comes with a rubbing mudguard, wonky bars and saddle and exposed wiring is real shoddy – I guess we’ll see what happens with the charging issue.

Is there a TLDR?
😉

Ignore the bike entirely. Evans have broken the law (and in quite a big way) by supplying you with a charger fitted with a US plug. They’ve contravened the The Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 doesn’t comply with British Standards in multiple ways.

US style plugs are exceptionally dangerous in the UK because it’s possible to touch exposed live conductors. And they’re unfused.

So I’d be complaining about that. The Consumer Rights Act incorporates the P&S regulations.

I would email your local Trading Standards office about the lack of UK plug. I haven’t reread it line by like (Trading Standards will know how it works in practice), but I thought that Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 meant practically all UK stuff had to be sold with a proper UK plug.

Is the charger cable rated for 240 v or just 120 v? Are you sure it’s a US plug || and not a European •• plug of some sort?

I thought that, it’s been ages since you could get away with that nonsense.

@pondo Sorry to hear about your problems, I bet it’s taken all the joy out of new bike day. Take it back, get a refund and go to a small independent would be my advice – although discounts aren’t usually available as the cycle schemes take 10%, you should get better service and most importantly peace of mind with any problems. I don’t know where you are in the country but Stanley Fearns in Matlock would sort you out properly.

Ignore the bike entirely. Evans have broken the law (and in quite a big way) by supplying you with a charger fitted with a US plug. They’ve contravened the The Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 doesn’t comply with British Standards in multiple ways.

US style plugs are exceptionally dangerous in the UK because it’s possible to touch exposed live conductors. And they’re unfused.

So I’d be complaining about that. The Consumer Rights Act incorporates the P&S regulations.

I would email your local Trading Standards office about the lack of UK plug. I haven’t reread it line by like (Trading Standards will know how it works in practice), but I thought that Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 meant practically all UK stuff had to be sold with a proper UK plug.

Is the charger cable rated for 240 v or just 120 v? Are you sure it’s a US plug || and not a European •• plug of some sort?

Two hugely interesting posts, thank you both – it was the shop itself that told me the charger came with an American plug, so I bought universal adapters on the back of that advice. A brief Google suggests it’s actually a Europlug? Two round tines – American look like two flat tines? Don’t know what the charger’s rated for – I didn’t think to look, and the charger’s at the shop with the bike which, given the lack of contact, I presume means it’s failed to charge.

Is there a TLDR?
😉

A TL:DR of the TL:DR? Err.. Evans are a bit pants. 🙂

2 round tines is the Euro plug, type-C or type-N from memory.

Two round tines – American look like two flat tines?

Two round thingies sounds like European to me, type C or F

Plug & socket types

Two round tines – American look like two flat tines? Don’t know what the charger’s rated for – I didn’t think to look, and the charger’s at the shop with the bike which, given the lack of contact, I presume means it’s failed to charge.

Those are euro-style plugs, so the charger will be happy with UK voltage. But that’s besides the point as they can’t sell it with that kind of plug either.

Unless you’ve never used Amazon, drank in a Wetherspoons or had a Costa/Starbucks you can shut your mouth unless you’ve anything constructive to add.

Tangent – plenty of people don’t shop at Amazon, drink at Wetherspoons or go to chain coffee outlets* – including me. Every pound you spend is a vote for the world you want to live in.

*I don’t think “never” going to these places is really a prerequisite for suggesting its better to avoid them now. It would have been pretty hard to predict what Amazon would become if you bought a book from them in, say, 2001.

Are you certain there wasn’t an adaptor for the euro plug in the packaging?