Evans Cycles

I just told them the website it was on and they searched it on the till

I did this and the manager was a bit pissed off
about it .

It's usually the manager that , is the worst at customer service as he can get away with.
The assistants , even though they may no very little about bikes a mostly polite.

evans london bridge, swifly sold me a tyre,tube and rim tape after blowing my gator apart on the bridge due to glass, lent me tools and were even smiley :)

cycle surgery great portland st: I have a 1" carbon fork that needed carbon expander (as its a carbon steerer a star nut is no no) searched everywhere; condor, evans, fitzrovia, velorution the conclusion was they are rare or a back ordered item. Went to CS they checked and didn't have it the guy working in store recalled of having one at the back of a workshop. He said he will give me a call in half hr if he finds it. He did find it in 20 mins and gave me a call and I could ride back home :) 1" FTW

+1 Cycle surgery Great Portland St - always had good/polite + helpful service there. Sales staff @ Evans on Mortimer street are good as well, especially the Spanish? lady - very helpful

Went to the British Museum today with a timed entry ticket only to realise I'd forgot my lock. The BM security guards were very unhelpful, firstly laughing at me when I asked if they had a room or something I could keep it in, then telling me the racks outside were safe enough for me to leave my bike there without locking it.

I went to Evans on Rathbone Place with the intention of borrowing or buying another lock and they just told me to leave my bike there and pick it up later. Impressed by them again, I felt bad that they had no metal toe clips in stock as I felt I really should buy something to repay them. Ah well!

Personally, Dudu in Evans central served me last week. Really good conversation and sharp with knowledge. Not everyone in any shop gives the energy this guy does. Completely different to gateshead Evans, you could wander in waving 50 notes and still get ignored while they canter around the newbie female starter. Cheers, Dudu, a pleasure.

Birmingham is particularly shite for bike shops, lacking any good independants that have a good range of stock. Evans is probably the better shop there, and I've had a good couple of experiences.

They replaced a spoke in a Fulcrum and re-trued it for 50p (the cost of the spoke) while I waited. On Your Bike in contrast wanted to charge me for a full box of spokes (they didn't have any in) and about £10 labour on top.

Went in yesterday looking at getting something on cyclescheme, and they spent a long time doing a cycle fit and then letting me go out on a demo ride despite knowing I wouldn't be buying bike then. Something even my favourite independant elsewhere hasn't done. They did seem rather keen on selling me a BMC rather than a Cannondale though - I suspect they get better mark up on BMC as they're the sole UK agents ?

You got that right about the BMC, but go for the one that fit you the best and the most comfortable.

Be a bit more assertive thought.

Be a bit more assertive thought.

Eh ?

Another quality example of bike assembly from the experts at Evans.

Rack snapped? Is that actually their fault?

It is, quite transparently, the fault of Tom's panniers. :)

It is, quite transparently, the fault of Tom's overloaded panniers. :)

.

Didn't snap, those tubes go into a clamp which wasn't properly tightened on either side. The panniers were fairly heavily loaded - 8 bottles of beer, change of clothes and tools, but nothing like the rack's rated limit of 40kg. Glad I discovered this on a one day jaunt to Cambridge rather than somewhere more remote.

ETA: And it's a lucky the rack caught the mudguard rather than swinging all the way off and hitting the floor, which would probably have been no fun at all.

Look like they've tightened the bolt on the top but not for the arm, go back to the Evans that bike was build, and explain to them what happened.

Generally the builder signed the bike out before handling it to the customer, so it's vital to let them know to prevent such error from happening again.

Bump!

Something's taken a chunk out of my carbon seat stays, and so I'm planning on making a claim on my Evans / JLT / Cycleguard insurance.

On the claims form, one of the questions is "Accidental / Malicious damage?", so I'll be putting Accidental. But then it asks who was responsible, and I don't know. Should I put "n/a"?

Anyway, my main question is what is likely to happen? Will they replace the entire bike? Or just the frame? Or give me money? Or vouchers?

When I insured the bike, I said it was worth £1k. Will this have any influence on how much they will pay out for a replacement, or will they go entirely on the recommendation of the bike shop that takes a look at the frame?

generally if its under 1year they will likely replace with like for like (depends on level of insurance, only some offer this), if more than a year, they will take an excess from you and do the bare minimum (likely a change of frame if that is cheaper).

What do you reckon the chances of it being a scumbag failing at nicking it thats caused the stay damage (if you lock it there, or another rider has locked to your bike and theirs has gone, leaving damage to yours?).

the nearest/only evans near me is about 40/50miles away. They have some decent deals on low/mid level bikes occasionally, but thats it, the mechanics seem knowledgeable but aren't allowed to talk to customers, and the shop floor kids, are just that, kids, paid about £4/hr who know very little, and don't care for much. I feel sorry for the (decent!) independent bike shop that went under when they set up shop in that town.

Thanks for the info.

The bike is about 5 years old, so I guess they'll just switch the frame.

I wonder if I'll get much say in the replacement. I spent a long time getting that specific frame and now it's probably going to get replaced with some random frame that I don't like :(

if it was a spesh you probably have no hope, they change the design on everything seemingly several times a year. When I worked in a shop we had a customer with an enduro FSR (just before they changed massively in ~2005) that had failed, and finding a replacement in same colour/size/model year took us about 3months and probably 30+ man hours minimum on the phone/chasing/distributor hell. One turned up from a welsh bike shop (complete bike, pulled back by spesh into stock, then re-issued to us as a whole bike, then we swapped parts over on our own time), total ball ache but customer was well pleased (he'd had a decent loaner bike, think it was a comencal meta, in mean time too).
I can tell you right now evans won't bother beyond 10minutes to find you what you want.

Just a heads up to anyone who might have some old Evans Cycles gift vouchers sitting around waiting to be used - I was in their Holborn shop yesterday and was told that they won't be accepting the old style vouchers after 31st March 2012.

have evans gone strict on their price match policy?

They have, as well as discount sadly, basically we have to logged it as well to keep track on price matching.

Apparently was "out of control" back in late '11

They only price match with certain sites. I'm not sure I understand the point, but whatever.

They have, as well as discount sadly, basically we have to logged it as well to keep track on price matching.

ha! i remember that bollocks. putting a copy of a receipt for every discounted purchase in a book with a justification as well as an initial from a key holder or above. what a load of shite. the amount of bullshit i put up with there is actually unbelievable when i think back. its now run by a bunch of morons too who have come from B&Q and similar non bike related companies. i was told by an area manager once that he wanted to make evans "the tesco of the bike industry" and "staff are disposable, there are always more kids who want to work in a bike shop" its no wonder the majority of the staff dont give a fuck, and that they only made 1% profit last year