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Primo Cycles Cambridge - Not Impressed

I'm sure some people will have had very different experiences, but I wanted to share mine, particularly as they have been so poor with my girlfriend.

In November last year my other half saw Primo (www.primocycles.co.uk) advertising some Brooks Alpe D'Huez saddles on their website. She knew I had been after one for a while (I missed out when they first came out) and so ordered me one as a Christmas present.

December came and went, and no saddle showed up. Primo had already taken the payment via Paypal, and had sent an order confirmation email but she had received no communication aside from that.

Having been away overseas over Christmas we came back to the UK and she called them a number of times to be told that they were tracking one down, and that if they couldn't find one they would contact her. They also claimed that they had sent her further emails to the same address, but mysteriously these never came through (as it was her work email address she also spoke to the Head of IT who confirmed that the emails had never hit their servers).

It's now March, and I have spoken to them today to receive a "oh, sounds like that should have been refunded. I'll try and sort something out" from a chap on the other end of the telephone.

When there are some many examples of good customer service, particularly in the cycling industry (I draw attention to Ritte, Rapha, CRC, Wiggle, Planet X, Putney Cycles, Ribble and On Yer Bike - a chap at Rapha once deducted my postage and dropped my jersey off as he worked out I lived nearby to him) I am surprised at the poor service delivered by Primo, and the sheer lack of communication.

My girlfriend has yet to receive a refund, but I assume that they are doing something now. In the meantime I just wanted to let my fellow cyclists know about our experience.

Enjoy the sunshine.

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keef66 | 12 years ago
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Oddly enough I had a similar experience ordering a Brooks saddle from Fatbirds (a lowly B17 special in honey; none of your Alpe finery!). Payment was taken straight away but after a couple of weeks I chased them to find none in stock despite what their website was saying, and no prospect of any arriving. I hadan't had the emails they claimed I should have had. Order cancelled and refund appeared promptly; got one from Wiggle instead.

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notfastenough | 12 years ago
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Hope you get it sorted. I think there is a marked difference between bike shops that happen to do a bit of online trade because it's a 'necessary evil to stay in the black' and those that embrace it properly, either exclusively (wiggle) or as part of a bigger operation (CRC). Rutland cycles may be great in person, but were a little bemused when I cancelled an order because it hadn't been dispatched after 48 hours. When going up against wiggle or rapha, that's just not competitive.

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