All reviews of Gareth Darby
Review about: Evans Cycles
Specialized
DONT USE EVANS CYCLES EVER
Bought a bike in a hurry because mine broke and had a weekend away cycling planned. Used Evans Cycles online as thought big established company would be easy. Bike delivered. On my first ride the chain fell off a couple of times. Continued to ride to work (2 miles on tarmac) for 2 days before taking it to my local store at the weekend. Explained to the guys in the shop (Sutton branch) it was delivered that week and the chain keeps falling off. From the beginning to the end of my time in the shop the assistants pretty much accused me (without saying it directly) of breaking the bike but one said he would bend something back and remove a link from the chain to make it fit again. £750 it cost. It felt they were implying I should be grateful for whatever help they offered. I got comments like, I've not asked you for a receipt, I can see its been used and the online store would need to authorize any work etc. Although the assistant seemed competent enough, he defiantly had that "I am doing you a favour" attitude. I am a customer!
Just to be clear, I had hardly used the bike and certainly hadn't damaged it. It was stored in my garage on a holder and ridden only on the road for max 8 miles for 2 days before I took it to the shop. Nothing or nobody had gone near the bike.
I then explained I want a bike that is perfect for my £750 not one that has been bent back into shape.
After the cycling weekend, where the chain continued to fall off, the gears jump and brakes judder and scrape, I contacted their customer support to try and get this resolved. This is where it got worse! Its by email only apparently. I sent the initial email explaining my issues. Some days later I then got a reply asking for a photo. I then explained the chain falling off is hard to photo. Anyhow, the email chain got longer and longer. It seemed like I was dealing with a team who all accessed the same calls but would all occasionally update the ticket with their comment. really disjointed awkward frustrating email conversation. It finally ended with me just asking if I could talk to them as I don't think the email conversation is working. They said no. I asked for a contact of someone senior in the company they said no because of GDPR. I said please can you call me then and gave them my number, they didn't. I'm not sure where to go with this now, if it gets even worse I plan to email a few media organizations to see if its worthy of a story. But am planning to try and inform people not to use Evans Cycles and spare themselves the agony.
Its so bad its laughable. I think they are a company in financial trouble. I really can see why!
AVOID AVOID AVOID.