Evans Cycles Bike Reviews Misleading Customers.

Ive tried to leave an honest review of my most recent purchase which i have now owned for 6 months.
I have tried to leave the same review twice and it has been rejected twice. I have been honest and true about the bike.
In future i will ignore reviews because only positive ones are accepted which is misleading customers. Infact i wont bother with evans again. Fake.

Depends if you followed there T&Cs and other what nots. What did you say?

Put the review here

What happens is the software doesn’t post 1-star ratings at first, until they can be resolved on the basis that a ‘1’ is a serious complaint that needs adressing. We’ve received both your reviews though, I’ve read them. I also replied to your email on the Pinnacle site and responded to your thread on here. I can reply to reviews directly (to the supplied email) but hadn’t so far as it’s the same email I’d replied to earlier.

If after further communication -a 1-star generally gets further follow-up- it’s a valid complaint rather than a rant-vent or trolling they will be posted up. If you’d put a comment on the bike in general and added the bearing size info issue as a 3 or 4-star it’d go on right away. There are some 1-star reviews on the site, there’s no avoiding it at times. In this case I’m waiting for some info from a supplier and will get it to you asap next week. if I don’t have it by weds I’m in the workshop and will get a hub opened up to be sure. If after that you feel the bike rates as 1-star overall I’ll make sure your review goes up.

Love these threads….

Very nice reply, I wish I had had such an honest approach fromr another Bike dealership based in Scotland when i felt there was a problem with the product.

I just checked the reviews section of our site, your (second attempt?) 2-star review with the same comment is ‘pending’, the 1-star is held as rejected for upload before further feedback. I the 2-star may well go up or I’ll get a mail on Monday about it. There’s other 4 and 5-star reviews on Arkoses in that same review report that are pending still, some keyword will have flagged them for a check rather than a direct approval. Not entirely sure how that side of it works tbh.

Curiosity piqued…
Did the bearings burst into flames?
Please tell us it involved fire somehow

I had a second rejection email this morning saying my 2 star review was not accepted.

We’ve received both your reviews though, I’ve read them. I also replied to your email on the Pinnacle site and responded to your thread on here. I can reply to reviews directly (to the supplied email) but hadn’t so far as it’s the same email I’d replied to earlier.

And the other emails? The responses seem valid from Evans as to making sure the online reviews system can’t be abused and to help customers out to resolve their issues.

Cloudnine i couldnt give 2 monkeys if they did set on fire. The annoying thing is i cant get any information on hub and bearings used. Neither can Evans.

Just for clarity then, Evans could have, say, 100 1 star reviews from 101 sales of genuinely faulty product, but shoppers wouldn’t see any of these reviews until each had been ‘satisfactorily’ resolved by Evans (at their discretion), potentially some months later?

In the meantime customers are being informed by a single 3 star review (that could be a typo) that just happens to meet some unknown rule that allowed it to get uploaded automatically.

If that’s the case, I’m not inclined to spend much on the Evans site.

I read reviews and hope I can make my own judgement about whether they are reliable E.g. one star from a clown reviewer who bought something that wasn’t compatible, in spite of clear descriptions on the site.

Genuine question, do people just look at the average review rating when making a decision, or do people go into the detail and read some of the comments?

The trouble is you will get negative bias. You buy something and it works so just use it. You buy something and it fails you go on the website and have a rant. At least this system gives the supplier a chance to fix things and weed out the people who’s first action is to moan online. If it’s still a valid complaint then the low feedback should go up, and I know there are plenty of sites where this doesn’t happen.

Does anyone trust reviews on any user submitted website? I treat them with the same level of trust that I trust anything on the Internet, as a guide until I’m able to find other independent references or peer reviewed information.

If that’s the case, I’m not inclined to spend much on the Evans site.

you realise it’s a standard review model they use, outside Amazon pretty much all shops with reviews will be the same.

jacob46 – Member
Cloudnine i couldnt give 2 monkeys if they did set on fire. The annoying thing is i cant get any information on hub and bearings used. Neither can Evans

I don’t know if you realise, but Jameso who responded above is the designer for pinnacle. So when he said he is trying to find the relevant info for you that’s not a fob-off from a random shop guy, you will get that info!

Online reviews attract nutters like flies to sheezay.Apparently much like this post.

Are people really daft enough to buy a bike based only on the website review beneath it?!?

relevant-to-evans-but-off-topic-rant/

Yup, I’ve had some seriously bad customer service from them recently at the Reading store. Kept me waiting for an hour with no update and gave me a bike with an inferior lockout and scratched carbon bars, greasy frame and packaging still on it, bike not setup (bars & rear axle not tight) and gears not properly indexed and rubbing discs. I took the bike because I’d had a long day at work and needed to get back.

They put me in contact with the manager of the store, but after seeing his twitter account there is no way I’ll be talking to him.

No way in hell I’ll be going back to them. Almost gave the bike back but was the only one left in the country. Shame that my LBS didn’t have stock. The free service will be useless too if it’s the same mechanic working on it. He’ll make it worse. I despair for any amateur cyclist buying a bike from there, that’s if they get down the road alive after how mine was set up.

/rant

Great reply from Jameso – and as rightly stated, far too many online reviews are just rants where people emotionally unload, usually in spectacular fashion. This seems to be an internet “thing” – look at threads on with stupid openers like “I need to vent”. No you don’t.

Sounds like the review moderation system works well to not only weed out ranters but proactively drive resolutions. That’s a bloody good thing.

We still don’t know what this alleged bearing issue is and whether it’s a 1 star worthy or not……. Enlighten us OP.

Sympathy for retailers to an extent here, in preventing the review system being distorted by irrational contributions (no judgement on OP).

I’ve moved into social media management for some large and unpopular companies recently and while it’s not that hard to separate the irrational rants and troubled souls from the genuine grievances, it’s not always a swift process and follow-up is invaluable. This is only really possible with engagement from the customer.

Post your review here OP, you can’t flame a company with such vague evidence.

STATO, im sitting here waiting to find out what hub and bearings are on my bike. You must be able to see my frustration. I cycle to work and cant get my bike fixed.

Post a picture up here and let us look.

Can you see the bearings? Are they a cartridge type? If so, is a serial number visible?

Let’s look for a solution here.

Yep and by what has been said somebody has replied twice to you giving both reasons a day trying to help you, seems you have tried to shout a lot and not talking to the person dealing with it. Sorry to sound harsh but it’s what it reads like. Has your wheel collapsed and is unrideable?

I’m not sure trust is the right word.
I take note of web reviews more than magazine reviews. They’re particularly helpful if there’s a theme of “it fell appart after 13 months.” etc

STATO, im sitting here waiting to find out what hub and bearings are on my bike. You must be able to see my frustration. I cycle to work and cant get my bike fixed.

Ok, but when you took the wheel back did you ask (or demand if the bike is new/newish) a ‘demo’ wheel until yours is returned, as you NEED your transport?

Genuine question, do people just look at the average review rating when making a decision, or do people go into the detail and read some of the comments?

I click through to read the copy on a few reviews usually, as part of due diligence when considering a bike. Like to get a feel for the buyers’ level of experience before I trust their rating TBH.

Why not take it to Evans and ask them to fix it instead of getting your knickers in a twist doing it yourself.

Evans are my first choice for bike bits.

Tbh I would be a bit annoyed if the wheel bearings went after 6 months as per op’s other thread and more so if the shop and manufacturer couldn’t tell me the size required to replace it.

I can see your frustration but you need someone to either take the hub apart or supply the numbers. You said on your other thread you can’t take it apart and you didn’t take it to the shop. It’s an older model so they likely can’t just look on the shop floor, short of waiting for Jameso you need to take it to a shop that can help, I know you tried halfords but they have many staff so likely you got the work experience guy. Try another shop or maybe even someone on here can help.

I tend to take online reviews with a pinch of salt although I do read them as you can get a rough idea of the general mood that people are expressing either happy experiences of sarcastic concern.

I’ve recently looked at rims, 100% of the posts I’d read confirmed they built into a strong wheel that needed little attention, 50% complained that the hard anodised surface on the rims braking surface wore off, 25% of the reviewers intimated it made its own braking surface I suppose the other 25% weren’t bothered either way, Happy with this I went to buy only to find that the wheel builder had flamed them?

I posted a question on here re the wheels and got pretty much the same response as I’d already had.
Happy with this I bought the rims,

I,d post your concern on here, I bet there’s some one who can assist,

At least in future you will know that on line reviews are skewed,

Tbh I would be a bit annoyed if the wheel bearings went after 6 months as per op’s other thread and more so if the shop and manufacturer couldn’t tell me the size required to replace it.

A bit annoyed, yes. Hardly makes it a 1 star product though.

Jameso was directly trying to help you on the other thread, as were others. I’m sure he would have an answer for you at some point.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/pinnacle-arkose-4-front-hub-bearings-help-please

How you think this issue is worth leaving a permanent highly negative review is beyond me.

That doesn’t make it a 1-star product though does it.

I agree it Probably doesn’t make it a one star bike, my commuter from decathlon had hubs in a grease free situation from new, a bit of faff to sort it out but still a good bike for the money. However for someone not keen on fettling it may make them see the bike as a one star model. Also People here expect / fear a certain level of service from halfords, Evans etc if you get this one of the ways you can moan / flag it up is a crappy review for the product, not necessarily fair but to some degree understandable. I am sure pinnacle bikes are on the whole great products, I keep contemplating the cheap 29er they do

@Cokie
Why did you take the bike if you weren’t happy with it, it’s your cash you’re wasting.

I only know that my branch of Evans have been pretty good to me. Have to put them in a headlock to take money from me. Reviews are a bit of give and take. If reviews point out the same problem like ‘cable rattle’ or ‘soft paint’ I take notice, but I like seeing the bikes in the flesh and making up my own mind.

It’s nice that a person who deals with the bike in question actually replied repeatedly to the OP. Things like that don’t happen in real life.

Has there ever been one of these threads that has gone the way the OP hoped for?

Wish my commuters deore hubs last 6 months between ‘servicing’ and I only do 5 miles a day. Still, regular servicing every 4 to 5 months keeps on top of it falling to the side of the road. Cokie, you got that new bike sorted yet?

Phone evans in birmingham whom i bought the bike from and they were about as helpful as a fork serving up gravy. They said they wanted to see the wheel first before they could tell me how i go about buying new bearings.
Took the wheel to my local halfords and they were just the same. They said they only service caged bearings. Says a lot for boardman.

So basically you could have gone it, seen them and maybe got somewhere but instead you went to a other chain of shops. Have you tried a decent bike shop?

The best retailers are the ones who invite feedback, and publish that, not moderate what little they receive because they don’t ask for out from every customer.

There is a reason so many people keep buying from Amazon. But there are also others, like M&S, who also encourage feedback, and post it almost raw.

This approach dilutes the nutter impact.

If people read all the reviews, they can make informed decisions. Hence I’m curious to know how many people read what is written.

For some products, web reviews are really, really helpful, not whole bikes necessarily, but stuff like consumables.

Reviews can give insight that retailers and manufacturers never provide. As someone with wide feet, I have to spend my life trawling the net to find bike shoes fit.

Why don’t Evans publish the rants, respond openly online to those that merit some response, and let people make up their own mind about both the quality of the product AND the quality of their service?

That would be genuinely helpful, transparent and drive up standards all round?

And probably less resource-hungry than moderating every review in detail, so lower overheads too…