Can’t stand the variable pricing, has put me off buying a bike from them in the past.
Makes them look like a bunch of spivs.

Daughter has a bike and a frame, the latter arrived damaged and she had the usual lies and appalling service attempting to get it resolved.

Life’s too short to deal with shonky, untrustworthy companies, no matter how good the perceived value.

I nearly bought a London Road frameset on Sunday at £144.99 but was a bit dubious given the quality issues. Sat on it over night and surprise surprise it has gone up to £199.99. Won’t be having that then, even with the ‘Christmas discount ‘ that will no doubt be applied.
I only bought my Parkwood because it was cheap although at the time oddly enough more expensive on the On Ine site than the PX one.

We see huge fluctuations in sales from week to week the only sensible way to cover the work requirement that creates is to be flexible, and that means using agency staff. If consumers didn’t want the lowest possible prices the world would be a different place.

I don’t know how you’re going to fix your customer service problems with people who only work a week or two at a time for PX. Ignoring quality control, one of the biggest complaints is wrong stuff shipped, mislaid returns, late shipping, nobody answering the phone or getting back on email requests in a timely fashion. 5 years ago I had GREAT service from PX around Xmas, earlier this year I never even got a reply on an enquiry (you left money on the table there, a German company got that).

I almost bought a new frame from PX this year but all the QC/CS issues put me off. I spent more to get something from a local shop. Oh, and the postage to Europe is extortionate which didn’t help either.

I feel for those loosing jobs, and the (likely) zero hours agency contractors being brought in.
I also feel for those leading the business – no easy decisions in this at all. The usual online response is not overly helpful at times either.

I personally stopped using OO/PX because – I don’t understand the constantly varying prices, and frankly have more important things in life then checking their site for good prices, I also had a couple of orders messed up, and had to endure their customer service that felt like this.

Simply, other companies offered something more for my money – even if it cost more, that was more important to me than lowest cost.

it seems Planet X / On-one are not having the best of weeks, and they’re taking a bit of a bashing on this thread, which can’t be helping.

My Codeine is ace, it’s well built and i think it’s full price was very reasonable. spare axles/bearings/dropouts are well stocked and fairly priced.

it seems to me that buried under the sports-direct business model is a good bike company. i wish it well.

Some of their bikes are excellent, customer service is and always has been criminal.

They are basically the sports direct of the bike world, and judging by their latest staffing plan, they have the ethics to match.

I meant to order a narrow-wide chainring off them earlier this week, I forgot and now can’t ethically order one. Have to go race face now!!

Is the good bike company still there? The one that designed/chose good products and got them made to hit a decent spot on the strong/cheap/light spectrum at an OK quality? I still love my Scandal and the feel of my Fleegle bars, and if the Codeine is what it looks like (my Transition Bandit 29er) then that would be ace as well. Is that sort of thing still being done?

Actually at £144 I wish I’d seen the LR framesets for that. My silver one was £150, it’s done great, inc Torino Nice. Shim works well (wink).
But it’s a bit bashed up now and I’d have preferred a black one, which were £300 back then.

So recently they were 300 – then 145 – then 200 – then Xmas 12% sometime whenever so probs £175 – I’ll have one for that ta.

Bit daft/DFS though eh!

Is the good bike company still there? The one that designed/chose good products

That dude makes trousers now…..

+1 atlaz, moving to casual agency staff might save money but it will add to not solve their other problems. The (lack of) care they take of their website, with products with little or no description, often inaccurate and full of typos is a reflection of the care they take of the rest of their business and their customers. These were publicised on FB adverts, and despite me pointing it out then they haven’t bothered to correct anything 🙄

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/SHVIUNQ30/vittoria-unique-30th-anniversary-road-cycling-shoe

Vittoria’s 30th Anniversay shoes

Please note these shoes are cosmetic ends and may some have slight discolouration

and ref

I meant to order a narrow-wide chainring off them earlier this week, I forgot and now can’t ethically order one. Have to go race face now

£15 at Superstar if that’s not another can of worms.

Now that Brexit’s off will you be re-employing all these staff on their old t’s and c’s sq34276436523442332?

Thought not.

You’ll have to ask Bikebiz what our next move is, seeing as they made the original article up…

thepodge – Member

CRC drop staff and the whole world wants to kill Wiggle

Planet X drop staff and half this thread are like “I got something cheap, what do I care?”

TBH that’s not surprising, because of the differences in the companies- most of the negative comments about On One are “Sigh, typical”. CRC and Wiggle otoh might be Bike Amazon but they do tend to do the job. Different levels of xpectation, basically. Same reason Scottish people don’t all go mental when we don’t win the world cup.

You’ll have to ask Bikebiz what our next move is, seeing as they made the original article up…

you keep saying that and then trotting out a load of specious corporate waffle as you’ve adopted the role of formal PX defender, but you haven’t said what was inaccurate? The money figures? The number of layoffs? Or just the Brexit speculation as the cause? A lot of people on here DO know how business work because, guess what, they own, run or work for them. The road.cc ‘clarification’ and the substance of your reply is that P-X are laying off close to half their permanent staff and replacing them with casual staff from an agency used to sourcing factory work and crop picking, which will cut costs but also performance.

This is a huge MTB forum (isn’t it the biggest in Europe?) and representative of your core market (internet savvy, often price conscious enthusiasts). This and all the other P-X bashing threads are free market research in what you’re doing wrong and how you’re alienating former happy customers (including me – the Codiene ticks all the boxes for a bike both me and my other half are looking at but after the L-R seattube debacle we won’t be buying another bike from you). If someone at P-X Towers paid attention this is stuff companies pay a fortune for. Reduce your bewildering range, stop variable pricing, improve QC and CS.

wot crashtestmonkey said. Especially;

If someone at P-X Towers paid attention this is stuff companies pay a fortune for. Reduce your bewildering range, stop variable pricing, improve QC and CS.

Well put.

We’re only moaning because we want you to be better Planet X.

Is it too late though?

I imagine someone who has built a company from pretty much nothing to being worth 20 million in 20 years probably doesn’t give 2 hoots what this forum says because all in all, its a success.

I think I missed the bit where the company is ‘worth 20 million’ – where’s that info from?

Yep, for every buyer from here – who weighs up every pro and con and knows every bike on the market and who tracks prices, reads reviews, etc – there will be 5 more who just get tempted by something shiny – see the discount and take a punt.

As a member of the former, I’ll be shopping at PX about as often as I do at Sports Direct (who are also reasonably successful without me).

It’s a shame – their BishBashBosh looks like it could be right up my street, but the fact my friend has one and has suffered with a few returns to get it right has put me off. I absolutely hate being deprived of my bike.

crispedwheel – I think I missed the bit where the company is ‘worth 20 million’ – where’s that info from?

Its actually 25 million and its from the rouleur.cc link on page 2 of this thread

I wouldn’t buy any PX/O-O products based on my experience of poor quality goods from those brands, and what I’ve learned of their ‘customer service’. And sq225917’s attempt at a ‘defence’ (not to mention stealth advertising, surely that’s against forum rules?) only makes me even less likely to ever shop with them.

As for admiring Mike Ashley, well, that kind of sums it up really.

sq225917 as I and others have made clear on a number of occasions in this thread, every time you make a thin skinned and defensive reply on here, you create further brand damage. Yet for whatever reason you cannot see this. You need to accept the truth of the issues you are getting from your customers – I am one of them. If you choose a one dimensional path of arrogance then good luck, you will need it. But you can actually make more money as a company by listening to your customer’s needs and their very valid criticisms. Start by acknowledging there are some key areas of improvement needed, and follow it up with action and clear communication.

Yep, the variable pricing is the main reason I don’t buy from them anymore.. and the variable quality.

I finally unsubscribed to their email spamming list this morning.

If Planet-X are reading this – stop treating your potential customers like idiots.
The weekly ‘final/everything must go/look what we’ve just found hidden in a box/Christmas come early’ sales aren’t fooling anyone.
It is all just the same tat they were pumping out last month, just with different prices.
I’d much rather they found a niche (maybe they had one a few years back) and tried to be good at it..

I’ve recently ordered a new Exposure light, it is nice to know that if it falls over in 4 years time they’ll only be too happy to fix it for a fair price.
Can’t say the same for Planet X customer service.

I imagine someone who has built a company from pretty much nothing to being worth 20 million in 20 years probably doesn’t give 2 hoots what this forum says because all in all, its a success.

you’re probably right. The fact that Chain Reaction and Wiggle went from being local bike shops to being worth £150m and £180m respectively (2014 figures, quoted in press about their merger) in the same market in a similar period is unlikely to dent the ego of Dave Loughran.

Tescos is clearly a successful and huge business, that doesn’t mean they can’t make poor decisions and suffer financially as a consequence.

I guess for those asking what happened to the inbred/scandal On-One of old that we all liked, this is the answer:
https://partners.singletrackworld.com/Alpkit-Technical-Clothing-Equipment/showcase/bikes

Aye, indeed. Said as much earlier as an example of doing things properly.

I wonder if sq gets paid for this, or if he’s got a telling off from the boss coming? I do social media stuff for work, if I got reactions like this my boss’d wedgie me.

sq is probably the boss.

A business with any kind of media strategy would/should control channels of communication like this, especially as it has such a reputational impact. So no, prob a bit sneeky on the side, but if not then a massive own goal.

AlexSimon

I guess for those asking what happened to the inbred/scandal On-One of old that we all liked, this is the answer:
https://partners.singletrackworld.com/Alpkit-Technical-Clothing-Equipment/showcase/bikes

Yeah good point that – Alpkit are very similar to the PX/OO of old – a limited range of niche bikes and parts with a definite slot in the the market.

Guess PX lost that by the random all-sorts stocked to try and grow turnover. That and the terrible pricing policy and woeful social media presence demonstrated here.

Alpkit are very similar to the PX/OO of old – a limited range of niche bikes and parts with a definite slot in the the market.

Brant is also involved

Guess PX lost that by the random all-sorts stocked to try and grow turnover

they seem to have wanted to be all things to all men and been a bit scattergun. They follow the Sports Direct model of buying up bankrupt heritage labels to stick on Chinese catalogue kit, but then try to introduce premium lines such as Holdsworth and Viner (didn’t they buy an entire manufacturing line in Italy with the plan to hand build high-end frames?). Then they stick 3 different labels, including a premium name, on the same bike/frame, only to be called out by the owner of one the names they’ve licensed (Tomac) who, it appears but feel free to correct me SQ, has to approve the use of his name.

All this whilst buying up warehouses full of random old/bankrupt kit and selling it off like a bargain bin, tarnishing the image of the supposed high-end stuff listed alongside it.

I’m sure SQ is doing this off his own back out of a sense of loyalty to his employer which is commendable, at least he gives a sh1t which is more than can be said for the QC and CS departments and very possibly the management.

only to be called out by the owner of one the names they’ve licensed (Tomac) who, it appears but feel free to correct me SQ, has to approve the use of his name.

ooh interesting – no Tomac bikes on the site any more!

It’s odd as it would be so easy to make their ranges look coherent:
Viner – High end road and CX
PX – Mid to low end road and CX
On-One – Mid to low end MTB or hardtails only
Titus – High end MTB or full-sus only
Holdsworth – faux vintage/retro stuff
Tomac – Dropped, maybe CX I guess
Selcof – Components
Jobsworth – Tools and hardware.
Sells the clothing under the same verticals and jobs a good ‘un.

But then you’d struggle to hide cheap frames and kit so well…

i was quite tempted by some of the winter gloves 😳

The Planet-X to Alpkit goes deeper than that, David Hanney was director at Planet-X and is now director at Alpkit and Mango bikes.

Have Planet-X done something to p*ss off Shimano, seems very little of it on their site and on their bikes.

teamhurtmore – Member

i was quite tempted by some of the winter gloves
Posted 39 minutes ago # Why, are you hands different sizes? Because the gloves may well be.

Not buying it through the official channels I would imagine.

It was very strongly hinted that a UK distributor dropped Giro because a container load appeared at PX without their say so