Cycling UK Forum

Ordered some tyres 11 days ago and they arrived today delivered by Hermes. Live 90 miles from the warehouse so really fast delivery, had email from Hermes on friday telling me the goods were being returned to chain reaction but they did not state why, had an email from chain reaction on monday telling me that the goods had been returned to them and that they were issuing a refund and also they did not know why the goods had been returned. Rang Hermes on monday and it is nigh on impossible to speak to someone on the phone, the message is to ring the retailer who sent the goods, you could not make this story up if you tried. The goods finally turned up on tuesday. Heard a whisper that wiggle who own chain reaction will soon be reporting a loss for the last financial year, i wonder why? Such a mess but their prices are so cheap i will probably order again for non urgent goods to be honest. I also ordered a bike off them in march and that took 5 days to arrive after being dispatched as well, how it did not get damaged god only knows as their was no packing in the box at all, not even the cardboard wheel inserts. In fairness to chain reaction the call centre staff could not have been more helpful they have been brilliant. Just wish they did not use Hermes to deliver their parcels.

Ordered some more stuff on thursday and it was delivered on friday, very good service as i chose the 3-4 day delivery option, the courier company was yodel and what i love about this company is that they tell you via a link to there website exactly where the driver is and how many drops he has to do before he delivers to you.

It has finally worked its way from my subconscious to my conscious mind that I am deleting an email from them every single day. Enough is enough, time to unsubscribe.

Hermes are a lousy delivery firm*, so it may not be Chain Reaction's fault- though it would be better to use a better delivery firm.

* they have left parcels on my doorstep, thrown them through an upper window (onto a quarry-tiled floor), delivered two if not three times on Sundays without any prior notice so I wasn't there and couldn't tell them to hold the delivery until another day. We have great neighbours and all take parcels in for each other, so there is zero excuse for leaving stuff on the step. Where I have choice of delivery company, I would never choose hermes. Oh, and they regularly block one way of the (narrow) main road here on the brow of a hill close to the M-way junction with a truck when unloading goods at a private house (in the rush hour) where someone lives who delivers for them. Large trucks from the nearby depots and industrial estates struggle to get started and round it in the limited gaps in traffic coming the other way, and visibility for cars is difficult due to the slope. This has gone on for years now, and I understand has already caused at least one accident that I know of. The house could easily have had a wider drive put in so it could pull on to that, but hasn't.

meic wrote:It has finally worked its way from my subconscious to my conscious mind that I am deleting an email from them every single day. Enough is enough, time to unsubscribe.

I had the same problem.

I've had the same problem, to a lesser extent, with most companies.

Give your email address to a company, get put on a mailing list - you're not asked.

That's wrong, but the real problem is getting *off* the mailing list.

Unsubscribe links work I find about 50% of the time.

When they don't work, you now have a non-trivial effort to get the email to stop, and some companies turn out to be unable to stop.

I am a software engineer, so I've written a little script which sends a polite email explaining all this.

I send the email 10 times for the first email, 100 for the second, 1000 for the third and so on.

It works.

Only ever needed to do the 1000 once, for a *very* stupid Sports Center in Holland.

Ordered Sunday, delivered Monday evening to Collect+ pick up.

TrevA wrote: If people aren't using CRC or Wiggle, who are they using?

Chain Reaction used to be my first choice until they switched from Royal Mail. Then I went to Wiggle, who now use a courier, and I recently sent them feedback telling them that they were losing my custom because of their choice of courier.

Trendz is now my first port of call for anything mainstream. Service is very good, price/availability good.
Anything a bit less popular (say a single speed freewheel, or an odd-sized seat post) I'd recommend either SJS or Spa Cycles. More expensive, but very good service from both.

gaz wrote:Ordered Sunday, delivered Monday evening to Collect+ pick up.

For some reason I wasn't given the option of Collect+ with my latest CRC order and they sent via Hermes, luckily it was letterbox sized so I didn't need to sign for it.

Redvee wrote:

gaz wrote:Ordered Sunday, delivered Monday evening to Collect+ pick up.

For some reason I wasn't given the option of Collect+ with my latest CRC order and they sent via Hermes, luckily it was letterbox sized so I didn't need to sign for it.

Yes this confuses me.
Pretty sure that I have been given the option of free collect+ on some orders and not on others.
Yes hermes has a bad reputation.
One of my grumpy local post office chaps trying to redress the balance by ringing my doorbell then scarpering before i get to the door and leaving stuff on the doorstep. And no, he has no idea if I am in.

Ordered stuff from both Chain Reaction and Wiggle at dinnertime on Wednesday, both orders turned up at my local collect+ shop at 1030hrs today. Ordered some stuff from Wiggle a few weeks back and had to have it delivered to my local post office, I emailed them and asked them to reinstate Collect+ so they must have listened!!

Ive had nothing but great experience from CRC. They once identified a lost part from a headset for me. Very impressed.

Returned a cycle helmet for a refund , took nearly 5 weeks and the intervention of paypal to get my money returned.
C.R.C. and Wiggle are no longer good suppliers.
I shall shop elsewhere in future.


Doug.

Returns service

Forgot to size up size on some Giro shoes, had to pay £2.95 to return them via local garage Collect+. Good tracking, it will be interesting to see how long the process takes.

There’s no mechanism for an exchange and come to some arrangement about the overhead of the return. I’ve now gone to a different firm for a different product - seems daft.

It used to make a difference who the delivery parter is, but I’m WfH and the worst ones like Hermes have improved their tracking.

Someone mentioned Tredz. First class outfit.
I tried ordering a cassette from CR yesterday, but their payment pages would not accept my details.
I tried their pathetic Chat when it wasn't busy. Complete waste of time. Their phone line was unavailable and the E mail just tries to send you through Their server and won't let me use mine. FAQ's!!! Are you kidding?
Easy answer, get straight on to Tredz and get satisfaction. CR did e mail me telling me my order was incomplete. Really!!!!!!

I used to use Chain Reaction because there was always a friendly Northern Irish voice on the end of the phone. Very helpful. No longer the case . Must be the Wiggle factor since they were bought/merged?