Anyone heard from Hilary Stone recently?

I bought some things from this bloke...

A rear wheel, which had such a worn rim, I'll cut out the Campag hub & flog it,

A seatpost, grooves for saddle adjust clamps so worn it wasn't funny,

A frame, with thread on forks so badly damaged I actually did send them back - *finally *getting a swap, forks for a pair of brakes which were fine - except there is broken cable retaining screw on the rear...

Yes, his stuff looks great - but my purchases were actually clapped out stuff.

I'd think seriously before I buy online from him again.

Just bought a frame and headset from Hilary. Had a slight hiccup with the headset not being sent although I've had a quick response to all of my emails and to his credit he was genuinely apologetic and keen to fix the issue. I'd happily buy from him again. He seemed like a very straightforward character who is really into what he does. Maybe a wee bit scatty, but you know, It's not amazon.......

Out of interest, would anybody know if he has any people working for him. Does he handle everything? Sales, sourcing, postals, accounts etc.....

Would be a lot of work for any one person to do consistently well I'd say.

out of interest, would anybody know if he has any people working for him. Does he handle everything? Sales, sourcing, postals, accounts etc.....

Would be a lot of work for any one person to do consistently well i'd say.

yahsaicmfp

I've bought two f&f's that I couldn't find anywhere else from him in the last two years.

The first time I did everything over the phone and this went super smoothly.

The second time more recently I did everything via email and I had a moment of panic as I didn't hear anything from him at all for about 5 days after I'd paid. I dropped him another 'friendly but slightly concerned' email and the f&f was hand delivered to my work place the following morning, but still slightly oddly without any communication.

I would echo what pretty much is said on every forum where this is discussed (...and it really is discussed a lot). If you want something from him it will go probably be fine BUT there is a chance that he will be erratic. If this isn't acceptable then simply don't buy from him.

It's definitely not the way I would choose to run my business. I also struggle a little that someone might be buying stuff from peer forums to turn round for a profit rather than for use themsleves, though I realise that this sounds woefully naive, However he often has hard to find stuff that I would need a fair bit of luck or time to otherwise source so as a customer I will continue to take the chance.

paid a stem almoast two weeks ago. Emailed couple times during this time and no response. He did give me a quote for shipping cost before I paid. Dunno if he has sent it. Pretty frustrating, some guy at finnish forums described his communication as "his fingers leave the keyboard as soon as you pay him".

Lets not keep funding this bad service
Overpriced and from experience - not well cared for equipment.

I have nothing but BAD things to say about Hilary Stone. Quick to take your money then drops off the radar. I bought a concor royal saddle from him that had been 'glued' back together and sold off. No reply to emails nothing. He has none of the exceptional ethos which permeates the cycling community. Don't use.

I sold hilary stone a frankly knackered and dented frame at a bike jumble once for more than i paid for it...
Karma i suppose

ok now I got the stem. Was described as "very good" and it looks like this...

Oooof!

I probably wouldn't fit that.

Probably.

That's ridiculous and dangerous.

I mean, who still uses quill stems?

I bought a quill stem from him a fortnight ago. It turned up relatively promptly, as advertised and with no hassle (other than his mildly idiosyncratic ordering system).

But I can understand why people have trouble with him and find him awkward or difficult to deal with.

For example, I once sent him a polite email, with photos, to ask if he'd be interested in buying some nice Shimano Golden Arrow derailleurs I couldn't be bothered to eBay, and to name his price.

Several days later I got a one-word email back:

"No"

Gets the point across, I suppose, but his approach is unlikely to be adopted as customer service best practice.

He did get back to me about the faulty stem quite quick after I wrote him a polite email yesterday.

Things sorted out now. I'll ship it back and he'll refund it.

Eeesh. You shouldn't have had to go through that. Boycotting this joker.

ship it back? is someone else going to use it?

because in which case, dibs.

That's ridiculous and dangerous.

I mean, who still uses quill stems?

dammit

I ordered something pink on Wednesday from Hilary, with a little trepidation having read this thread, but I wanted it.

He promised to post it Friday. It landed on my mat Saturday morning.

Would shop again.

Something for your sweet fixeh trike?

edit: if it's pink, I doubt it...

Nope, sweet fixeh trike is indeed unsuitable for pink, it's more of a brown kinda bike.

It's a pink Concor saddle either for my sweet fixeh TT bike or my sweet fixeh tarck bike, depending which it looks most amazing on. And it will look amazing.

@Hefty sorry if you had the impression but this thread isn't a place to slagg of Hilary. There were periods of time where things were a bit choppy dealing with him. Hence this is just more of a 'bump' type of thread where forumers try to find out info (if any).

I have dealt with him on countless of occasions with no issues but he did go through a rough patch and some of his dealings were sub-par but hey he's a one man show with one heck of a hoard of bike stash I must say.

I met him once at a jumble, nice chap, all the traders know him and deals were done on the spot with no haggling or bitching whatsoever. Will I deal with him again? Yeah for sure, no better man to deal with IMO.

sorry if you had the impression but this thread isn't a place to slagg of Hilary

I didn't. I had the impression it was somewhere to post feedback, positive or negative. Mine was positive, so I posted it.

That is all.

Anyone bought from Hilary lately ? Considering buying a few things from his website

bought some rims off him about a month ago. although his communication is terrible, they arrived within the week