Merlin Cycles – wont be using them again

I’ve got some spare rim tapes that came with 2 sets of wheels I ordered. I would post them to you but if they don’t arrive or their faulty, or you want a collection arranged.. god knows what will happen to my reputation 😀

I hate Merlin now after years of faultless service. Bought a cross bike from them for my son, they didn’t have the frame in stock so upgraded it FOC without saying anything, he now has a better bike than me. Damn you Merlin……

Never had a problem with Merlin. They are a ten minute drive away also which is a bonus. Crc never had a problem with them and Tredz are excellent also.

Tredz are excellent also

Aahhh and now the thread loses all credibility 😳

I posted on thread 18 hours ago and I still haven’t received my free rim tape. Thinking of phoning them to see if I can get a voucher or something. Shocking service.

Whatever you do don’t use your Lbs.This has nothing to do with giving you good advice.It’s more not wanting to ruin some poor sods day.

😆

That’s brightened my morning up!

My experience both sides of the counter over many many years has taught me that manners cost nothing, but often mean you are rewarded well, where being rude and/or having unreasonable expectations generally gets you nowhere… Merlin are successful for a reason. Being an LBS owner it grates me to say, but as a previous customer of theirs myself, their service really is top notch. The only thing that pisses me off about them is that they often sell products for cheaper than I can buy them from the official distributors, but this is a whole other matter that’s not really relevant to this thread, and part of the reason it’s increasingly tough for an LBS to compete.

Anyway… I’ve worked in retail for many years, owned my own shop just over two now. I’ve never fallen out with a customer, I’ve always been able to resolve something so far. But I do feel that with expectations like the OP’s you’d be trying my patience somewhat!

Should add that you probably don’t need a courier to send things back to the LBS too, and with most things like wheels etc. Bought online, the moment you have any cause for warranty/return that any savings you made on the price of the item are usually negated by the hassle or cost of sending things back. Merlin’s courier have been less than ideal in this situation (the only thing the OP has to complain about), but most online retailers would point to the fact that any returns are subject to the customer’s own cost, and can in no way be reimbursed by the seller (I don’t know of many online retailers that would offer to pick it up for free!)…

On the issue of weight… There’s nothing worse than a customer that insists they KNOW what they want, but when they get it, it is of course wrong and it’s your fault. Of course, the chances of this happening would have been mitigated if you’d used an LBS as they would have undoubtedly talked through some decisions to get to the wheel you wanted, and made some suggestions too (Merlin can’t do this if you just click a few boxes on their website). But then you probably know that already…

I am with the majority of posters here.
However whinging about couriers may have the effect of it being passed on or the retailer going elsewhere, hopefully by a more effective company.
Blaming the retailer isn’t on but letting them know is as long as it’s done properly.

However whinging about couriers may have the effect of it being passed on or the retailer going elsewhere, hopefully by a more effective company.

True. Given the option I’d pay a couple of quid more to have stuff sent Royal Mail. If I’m not in I can easily get it from the sorting office.

I would not buy anything online if I knew Yodel was the courier.

Sometimes good to get it off your chest OP, sounds like a disaster from Merlin on this occasion imo. Waiting in for people for 2 days when they don’t show up would drive me mad and then getting the run around on the phone would be the cherry on top.

I have also had above average service from Merlin over the years so try and put it down as a one-off.

If you’re struggling to get weights and info on parts before ordering then post on here and usually someone will have the answers for you pretty quickly.

sounds like a disaster from Merlin on this occasion imo. Waiting in for people for 2 days when they don’t show up would drive me mad and then getting the run around on the phone would be the cherry on top.

whatever you do dont try dave hinde if this constitutes a disaster

Not their fault over courier or parts being shonky and all they did was what they had to and not give the OP a freebie to say sorry.

Bit Mleh but it is my LBS so cannot comment on what they are like mail order but they are sound in the shop

In fairness to the op, it’s bloody annoying when you wait in all day and no one turns up

If you need to stay in all day for deliveries, online shopping probably isn’t for you.

Not their fault over courier or parts being shonky

I don’t agree with this and neither do Merlin and neither does the law. Apart from that fair point 😀

I often buy from Merlin.
Only had one warranty issue was a chain that I bought and after a few rides I heard something clicking and there was a roller missing from one link.
One call to Merlin and they emailed me a pre paid postal label and sent me a new chain before I even got the old one back to them.

Top service from my experience.

Basically what mboy said

I like merlin. They are usually the cheapest and fairly quick. They are also helpful on the phone. However, I’ve never had to return anything.

If you want good quality service and exactly what you want you should try your lbs but they won’t be able to match the online giants but you don’t need to rely on a courier service.

You get what you pay for.

Used Merlin plenty of times, always excellent service, even with a warranty on some xtr brakes, albeit I just paid to send them back for my convenience. At the other end I also had a local bike shop build some wheels for me four months or so ago. Last Wednesday the rear inexplicably dropped all spoke tension from the non-drive side. I dropped them in that afternoon, they tried to find the reason, retensioned the rear, checked the front and I picked them up this morning with no charge. Local bike shop service at its best really.

Pain in the ass waiting in for shonky courier, but that’s not really Merlins fault. If they used DHL then I suspect the free postage would go out the window.

Pfft laws 😉

Fair point but you get what I mean.

I had to return some forks to merlin after finding out they were faulty at best, seconds at worst. Having been fobbed off via email repeatedly I decided to drive the 1 hour each way as I needed the issue sorting. In the shop I was served by one of the most unhelpful and uninterested blokes I’ve had the miss fortune to meet. The new forks were no better so after even more email tennis I got a refund and bought some others from elsewhere.

I have used them since for smaller items because they’re cheap but I certainly don’t agree with the ringing endorsement from the fans on here.

Are you Hora – either both forks were new and you just did not like them or they were selling duds. Which do you think is the more likely?

Having been in there and seen it happen and speaking to them how you complain is at least as important as what it you are complaining about.

…how you complain is at least as important as what it you are complaining about.

100% agree with that.

I’ve had resolutions well above what I had any right to expect in the past, due to working in shops on and off for quite a while, I’m overly polite and reasonable with shop staff, and it has often paid dividends with returns/problems/warranties etc.

(I got a warranty replacement pedal assembly totally free from VW customer care, on a ten year old van (165k miles) that had at best a partial service history 🙂 )

Sometimes good to get it off your chest OP, sounds like a disaster from Merlin on this occasion imo. Waiting in for people for 2 days when they don’t show up would drive me mad and then getting the run around on the phone would be the cherry on top.

I have also had above average service from Merlin over the years so try and put it down as a one-off.

If you’re struggling to get weights and info on parts before ordering then post on here and usually someone will have the answers for you pretty quickly

How much does a rim tape weigh?

Between 5 and 20 grams per rim. Boom, how quick was that?

Now that this thread has gone quiet I though I would try to clarify my thoughts.

My main issue was that when things were going wrong with my order, MC seemed to be unable to respond to the failings of their returns process.

The other things were mentioned for completeness and I attempted to add them in a constructive way.

After repeatily chasing them, many people would just decide not to use them again. I would have been happy with a token gift voucher as a sign that they understood where I was coming from.

Any gift voucher would not have been significant compared to sales discounts available on various sites and I may not even have used it.

My experience with Merlin Cycles has always been okay.

I guess the heavy build is down to the person asking for the wheel build to find out what things will weigh, if you want light weight wheels you need to ask what they’ll weigh first, I’d have thought?

I don’t know about rim tape, can’t remember if other wheel builds I’ve had have included it.

The courier sounds annoying, I guess it’s understandable that somebody might wonder what’s going on if the threat of a complaint speeds things along.

I had some wheels built by Just Riding Along, and my thru-axe Shimano hub axle become very stiff up due to the cone tightening itself up somehow, and I looked at the Shimano website and other places too to work out how to sort it.

You do realise it was asking for the gift voucher which lost you the sympathy of many people on this thread?

I had a poor experience with merlin on a few occasions, damaged custom wheels and XT brakes over the years. It was several years ago and pretty poorly handled. To be fair I have had fine purchases with them.

Waiting two days for a courier not to show would annoy anyone and merlin do need to be accountable for that. But asking for a freebie wont really go down well.

Overall, there are plenty of other very good bike shops and a few of them price match etc. Personally CRC/Wiggle have been very good.

I start talking about going online and detailing my experience (here for example), I get passed to someone else and suddenly they will try to arrange pick-up in the afternoon.

Thankfully someone does do the pick-up.

Yet you came on here and attempted to drag them through the mud anyway. One of the perils of buying online is the hassle of returns. I always prefer to return faulty stuff via my own choice of courier rather than wait for a collection, if they will refund the postage. And I would prefer to post something back from the end of the road than drive 10 miles back to the shop and pay to park.

Waiting two days for a courier not to show would annoy anyone and merlin do need to be accountable for that.

That is the only thing they could have done better here. Looks like their returns process is not good and they are not that interested/empathetic in the customer when it comes to returns.
With the amout of very poor courier companies around the customer should be given a choice, i.e. Yodel = free, DPD = £10, Royal Mail = £12 and so on.
You then get what you pay for based on your own decision and have no right to complain if the courier behaves true to form.
For example, last thing I had to return was a Rapha item and it was as simple as a quick form and take it to the Post Office which to me is 10 times better than waiting in for an unreliable courier.

The rest of the comments about rim tape, weight, vouchers etc,. are irrelevant but clearly tat is what people have concentrated on….

Another satisfied customer here. Bought lots of bits from them over the years, including a rather excellent Malt 2 hardtail frame for which they replaced a bent hanger with no hesitation.
Just bought one of their team jerseys and will wear it with pride.

I used to be lucky enough to be able to treat Merlin as my LBS, living just down the road, so bought loads of stuff from them.

Have had one occasion to need to return anything after buying online, and that was an issue with a carbon fork that came as part of a frameset. I phoned them with the issue, and had a replacement fork the next day. The courier also picked up the duff fork at the same time. Brilliant service, and meant Mrs B was out and about on her new bike by the weekend.

Oh, and the more remarkable thing is that I now live in rural Aberdeenshire, so accept that ‘next day delivery’ doesn’t normally apply.

Still trying to work out why it’s Merlins responsibility to tell you how heavy your wheels are going to be.
If you were actually bothered, or in a position where it would make the slightest bit of difference, wouldn’t you do some research before buying?

With the amout of very poor courier companies around the customer should be given a choice, i.e. Yodel = free, DPD = £10, Royal Mail = £12 and so on.
You then get what you pay for based on your own decision and have no right to complain if the courier behaves true to form.
For example, last thing I had to return was a Rapha item and it was as simple as a quick form and take it to the Post Office which to me is 10 times better than waiting in for an unreliable courier.

in fairness, merlin use DPD for wheel deliveries, generally regarded as at the better end of the courier game.

Looks like their returns process is not good

I’d argue that this thread clearly shows otherwise, and that the OP’s courier collection issue is a blip.

Still folk taking the bait ?

OP. You had ‘bad’ experience from Merlin?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

You’ve clearly not dealt with Planet X then.

I’d argue that this thread clearly shows otherwise, and that the OP’s courier collection issue is a blip.

Can’t really say as the vast majority of positive comments have been around buying stuff, not returning stuff. I have only ever purchased from them and also found them as good as the better companies.

Junkyard – lazarus
Are you Hora – either both forks were new and you just did not like them or they were selling duds. Which do you think is the more likely?

Or how about the forks they sold me had manufacturing defects, as agreed by the ape in the shop when he finally looked up from his computer to serve me? The pair they replaced them with did as well which suggests to me they bought a load in cheap and is the reason they were priced at what they were. Just a shame the ad made no mention of the fact they were slightly less than perfect.

Thanks for giving your uninformed and incorrect opinion though.

Having been in there and seen it happen and speaking to them how you complain is at least as important as what it you are complaining about.

Luckily for me I am aware that being polite and speaking to people as you would want to be spoken to yourself, rather than being an arse tends to be a better way of getting a positive result. Just a shame the ape didn’t seem to think the same.

I could go in to the fun I had trying to return the second set of forks but since the STW Brains Trust seem to get upset by any criticism of Merlin I won’t bother.

4 pages of lol.

A lot of the OPs post is based on unrealistic expectation and I’ve always had good service from Merlin myself but I’d agree they should have ‘owned’ the courier issue a bit more. It might be trivial for some people to stay in all day (twice) but it isn’t for everyone and a missed pick-up shouldn’t just be seen as a minor inconvenience. I’d be ranting myself if I’d had two missed pick-ups (2 days of valuable leave gone) and yes it IS Merlin’s issue to resolve, they chose the couriers to use.