Evans Cycles

no I work in a non call centre office (worked in call centres as well which you agree) but of course they want you to be at your desk at 9am not walking in the door at 9am and off to make a coffee for 15mins.

How do you take 20 minutes? That workshop is tiny

Tidying up the workshop, taking out the stand, stood, etc. (especially after the shop floor staff using them after I left) and reorganising customer's bicycles, getting cardboard boxes full of cardboards upstair, looking through the build and service list ands organising them for the mechanic/bike builder whom coming in late, checking to see if there's any overbooking, getting the BAD populated as it take a while, looking through and answering emails etc.

On top of getting changed of course.

It's 2017, just tweet them and collect your coupons.

"collect"?

They'll be delivered by hover-robot, it's 2017 mate!

Does anyone here work at Evans?

I have a big chunk of vouchers but want a custom Brompton (long seatpost, Dynamo etc). Looking to find out if I can spec one and order online with these vouchers. In-store no good, unless I can use these codes.

Website not being very helpful.

I work at Evans.
You can do it but it would have to be done via a custom/special order. This takes a while to come in, since it is ordered directly from Brompton, but certainly can be done. The only downside to this is that you would have to leave either a very large deposit on the bike, or buy outright with the vouchers (In either scenario, you are still free to claim a refund as normal).

Best to do it in-store in a store where the staff know what they’re doing. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but sometimes a certain member of staff needs to be present to put through such an order.

Also work at Evans - the process for ordering a custom Brompton cannot be done online. The bike cannot be home delivered either, you must collect from the store.
The Bespoke process does take ~6 weeks from ordering.
There should not be an issue with paying on vouchers in-store. You will have to pay the full value up front, and it is non-refundable.

What's your most local store?

Sell the vouchers, order from Compton Cycles local to you who’ll probably deliver in less than a week?

I'm happy to be corrected here, but I am pretty sure nobody can get a bespoke build from Brompton in less than a week.

If there's a spec that Evans keep in stock in theory it should be available in a couple of working days to any store. If it is just the longer seatpost/dynamo and not a non-stock colour option then it may be quicker to get the parts seperately and add them, although this would not be cheaper...

You are correct but some shops (other than Evans) have different spec'd Bromptons, evans decides annually (I think) what specs sell the best and have them ordered and in stock at their stores.

The best quickest bet is Brompton Junction but obviously they wont take Evans Vouchers.

What value are the vouchers, soon to be making a large purchase from Evans, could be interested in swapping them for cash.

I can only report on my experience, but Compton Cycles have a decent stock of Bromptons and can reconfigure what they have to fit your requirements. I went in, told them the model I wanted, picked a colour and they swapped the configuration and onto a frame of that colour. The bike was ready in under an hour.

Fair enough, I guess that is the kind of flexibility Evans just cannot offer!

I am helping a work colleague sort her bike out for winter.

Yesterday I have some free time over lunch, and as I was in the area, popped into Evans at Spitalfields.

Obviously, as it was lunchtime (presumably a relatively busy period), there seemed to be nobody on the shop floor.

After about 5 minutes being completely ignored, I left.

I walked straight to Cycle Surgery, which is virtually opposite. As I walked through the door, a member of staff smiled at me and said 'Hi, can I help you'?

Five minutes and £200.00 later I walked out with tyres, mudguards and lights.

I notice that on this thread some people justify Evans' shit service on the basis that the pay is shit and the hours are long. I can only assume that the conditions of employment at Cycle Surgery are roughly comparable to those at Evans. The guy that served me in Cycle Surgery was excellent. I can't really comment of the service I got from Evans, 'cos they didn't even bother to give it a try.

I cannot get my head around the logic of a company that (presumably) pays top dollar to be located in an area rammed with individuals with relatively high disposable income, and then just let's its staff ignore the fuck out of them. Maybe it's a tax-dodge thing?

Often found the same when I worked round there. That Cycle Surgery is ace. Wanted a Brompton, went to Evans, walked out and 10 minutes later CS had all my money.

Ah, basically a custom order that’s done in shop rather than from Brompton directly which make sense.

To contrast that, I stupidly forgot my tools today and of course found I had a slow puncture in Kensington. Unfortunately, I don't know where the bike shops are around there, so pumped the tyre up a bit and limped as far as the Evans on High Holborn. I asked them if I could borrow a spanner and tyre levers and one member of staff gave them to me immediately, very friendly demeanour. I put a new inner tube in and bought something in gratitude (as I believe is good etiquette). I'm sure it's different from shop to shop. I don't go to that one often (try to go to my local bike shops and smaller businesses), but when I've needed something in that area I've always had very good service there.

I've done exactly the same thing after being ignored for quite a while in the Spitalfields Evans.

It seems to be a special part of their customer service offering. They won't bother you. Ever. Even when you are trying to buy something.

Mirrors my experience too. Back in the day when they had a monopoly on Cycle2Work (well, they did at my firms scheme), was especially galling to see them give as little fucks as humanly possible, knowing you had no choice but to throw your cheque at them.

Cycle Surgery (at all the ones I've used) are like a parallel universe of customer service.

...some people justify Evans' shit service on the basis that the pay is shit and the hours are long. I can only assume that the conditions of employment at Cycle Surgery are roughly comparable to those at Evans.

I imagine people mention pay and hours on here as they are easy things to talk about. Things like management structure and training programs/staff development probably do more for moral (and hence the customer experience) than a couple extra quid per day on the pay cheque.

Since I am on a roll bitching about Evans, I am also pissed off that they seem to have removed almost all decent accessories, and replaced them with 'own brand' shit.

As far as I recall, the Spitalfields branch used to carry a fairly decent selection of Park Tools in the maintenance section, now just about all they've got is a handful of crappy FWE multi tools.

Yesterday, whilst being ignored, I wanted to buy some decent lights - maybe USE or Cateye - but oh-no, it's FWE lights, or Jack shit. Similarly, I recently tried to get some Finish Line Ceramic Lubricant ('cos it's good stuff and I look after my bikes). Do Evans stock it, or any other decent lubricant? Do they fuck.

What pisses me off in sum, is that they have used their economic power to dominate the market (certainly in London), and have then eliminated both customer service and, effectively, choice.

I don't have a problem at all with them being a big firm, as opposed to an independent, I just have a problem with them being shite.

FWE is such rubbish. Had 3 of their lights break in as many months.

.

I've got a few FWE bits that have been ok and reasonable vfm.

I've also noticed that the stock has declined; they seem to be pushing towards "click and collect" for anything other than basic items.

~ Removed due to advice that such public comments about Evans Cycles are inappropriate ~

TL;DR: It’s not the people, it’s the organisation. (Though if you do have to visit Evans Cycles Spitalfields, I can help you out 😉)