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JaQ

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, but really don't understand the Bike Addict business model - if they still exist.

I view BA more as a lbs with an internet presence rather than an online store.

Comms from BA used to be really good, so not sure what's going on.

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Evobikes - excellent

Puremotion - excellent

Bike Market - 50/50

Wahoo - excellent

CWC - avoid

Buycycle - excellent

Trailtech - excellent

Lyne Components - excellent

strongly disagree about CWC... I think the bigger you are, the more hate you're going to attract...

 

I order from them all the time, online and offline, they are great (as a shop, as a workshop I wouldn't ever go again). I've had more issues with evobikes and bikeaddict than with CWC and I've done A LOT more orders through CWC. but all the shops mentionned are great, just call Evobikes and Bikeaddict before placing your order because if you buy something they don't have in stock you might wait anything between a couple days to more than two weeks (one of my orders I eventually canceled after 2 weeks waiting to end up buying the same product from CWC). Not moaning as all three of these shop always were communicating pretty well and sorted things quickly with a refund when needed.

Edited by Jbr
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Suffice to say there'll good and bad experiences.

But some are just more consistently better than others, while others are just consistently poor.

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strongly disagree about CWC... I think the bigger you are, the more hate you're going to attract...

 

I order from them all the time, online and offline, they are great (as a shop, as a workshop I wouldn't ever go again). I've had more issues with evobikes and bikeaddict than with CWC and I've done A LOT more orders through CWC. but all the shops mentionned are great, just call Evobikes and Bikeaddict before placing your order because if you buy something they don't have in stock you might wait anything between a couple days to more than two weeks (one of my orders I eventually canceled after 2 weeks waiting to end up buying the same product from CWC). Not moaning as all three of these shop always were communicating pretty well and sorted things quickly with a refund when needed.

 

I've never had Evobikes sell me a secondhand fork claiming it is brand new because "it came off a bike on the floor"

 

I'm not the only person who's had that happen. In-store service is also not great. 

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I've never had Evobikes sell me a secondhand fork claiming it is brand new because "it came off a bike on the floor"

 

I'm not the only person who's had that happen. In-store service is also not great. 

Your personnal experience vs mine. I've had dozens of orders with CWC and never an issue. I've had more issues over way less orders with the other shops and I still don't tell people to avoid them.

With your fork I'm assuming you sent it back and got a refund ?

Edited by Jbr
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Bike Addict's prices are usually a bit lower than my LBS or most other online shops, but I had a hiccup with after-sales service from them a few years ago. After forking out R100k+ and then being treated as a liar/chancer over a R600 part that wasn't installed properly by them, and then got damaged, I now avoid them like the plaque. I much rather spend a bit more at my LBS, and have built a relationship with the guys over the last few years. To me that is worth much more than the few bucks I could've saved by using an online shop. The only time I use an online shop(CWC, Evo, Bikmob, Csixx, Lyne etc.) is when I need a part that my LBS can't source.

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I view BA more as a lbs with an internet presence rather than an online store.

Comms from BA used to be really good, so not sure what's going on.

 

I also waited for a quote for quite a while from BA but did eventually get an email reply to apologise for the slow response and ask if I still required assistance. Appreciated that and the fact that they explained they were very busy and thus very delayed in responding because of Covid. However, first getting quote and then ordering - not your standard online business model and thus also quite hard to understand.

 

However, Evobikes on the other hand - top rate service every time. Also, I personally have not yet had a bad CWC experience...

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Your personnal experience vs mine. I've had dozens of orders with CWC and never an issue. I've had more issues over way less orders with the other shops and I still don't tell people to avoid them.

With your fork I'm assuming you sent it back and got a refund ?

 

After a long argument on what the concept of "brand new" is. 

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After a long argument on what the concept of "brand new" is. 

yeah that's not normal, you shouldn't have to give any reason for returning a product ordered online within a few days after receiving the item. In europe you can legally return it up to 7 days after receiving your item, isn't it the same here ? I mean even if you buy something in the stores you can still change your mind and return it, not sure why you had to argue but I can understand you are cross with them

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yeah that's not normal, you shouldn't have to give any reason for returning a product ordered online within a few days after receiving the item. In europe you can legally return it up to 7 days after receiving your item, isn't it the same here ? I mean even if you buy something in the stores you can still change your mind and return it, not sure why you had to argue but I can understand you are cross with them

here its the same "if returned unopened and in original packaging"....but i see why that could be a problem if it gets shipped....opened and not in original packaging from the get go lol.

 

I've also bought a "brand new" brake-set from them that was not a retail version.....in plastic bags and DEFO came off a OEM bike....as the front hose was too short....and it was missing all the bleeding bits and pieces, olives etc.  They do it...especially with those 'super crazy blowout' sales of theirs. 

 

they've burnt themselves in that regard. 

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here its the same "if returned unopened and in original packaging"....but i see why that could be a problem if it gets shipped....opened and not in original packaging from the get go lol.

 

I've also bought a "brand new" brake-set from them that was not a retail version.....in plastic bags and DEFO came off a OEM bike....as the front hose was too short....and it was missing all the bleeding bits and pieces, olives etc.  They do it...especially with those 'super crazy blowout' sales of theirs. 

 

they've burnt themselves in that regard. 

yeah that one feedback I remember reading about it was a bit shocking. I did buy an EOM cassette from them in a plastic bag, much cheaper than the packaged one, but nothing wrong with it, it was clean and looked brand new.. I mean for the price I wouldn't have minded if it had been around the shop a couple times but it's easier to make a decision in store when you can see the product. Not cool indeed to ship used stuff advertised as new

Edited by Jbr
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I view BA more as a lbs with an internet presence rather than an online store.

Comms from BA used to be really good, so not sure what's going on.

 

 

Uhm .... In 2019 I had business in Malmesbury, and popped in at BikeAddict a few times ....

 

The one time I asked for something that I saw on-line .... NOPE, can only be ordered on-line, not available in the shop ....

 

 

On another occasion I queried a price on the shelf .... NO sir, it is always cheaper ON-LINE ...  They made it very clear that they wanted me to buy ON-LINE and not in-store .....

 

 

Over these various visits the service varied from excellent to lack-luster to non-existent ....

 

 

During one of these visits (I did call ahead to check first) I bought a road bike for the trainer.  On another I came CLOSE to buying an ebike ... bought at another shop a few days later .... lack-luster service on the day cost them a sale ....

 

 

So even though they are a physical store, there "in-store" experiences is not in line with what I would expect from a LBS

 

 

If their price is right, and IF they have stock, by all means buy from them ... but enough feedback on various threads to make sure they have stock before paying money over ...... (though lately this is true of many on-line traders)

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Snip ....

 

 

If their price is right, and IF they have stock, by all means buy from them ... but enough feedback on various threads to make sure they have stock before paying money over ...... (though lately this is true of many on-line traders)

 

This is why I won't use them. How would I know whether they have stock as the site shows they have, but then they take weeks to respond with an actual quote - IF they do. Can probably phone them, but then I might as well ignore the whole online thing and start phoning all the cycle shops when I want/need something.

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