C2W scheme -shop recommendations please!

I have purchased two px bikes through c2w and the fee put me off initially. Glad that I did. Cracking bikes for the money, nothing comes close. Light, stiff with good groupsets. They let me pay over the c2w voucher and on bikes that are already discounted. I got a TT bike with full carbon cockpit/wheels/SRAM force for £1280 with their bonfire sale on November 5th, +£100- £400, a £1500 bike for under a grand on interest free tick.

Built to my spec for size/cranks chainrings ect and supplied fully built (in a massive box)

I tried around the local shops for a TT bike, and the only bike I could see was £1500 with shit wheels, tiagra/fsa mix and very basic extensions/base bars. The desicion was made for me. 

We got suck with cycle solutions which tied us into using wheelies direct.

We were told that they were all the same company as tredz and the wheelies shop in the town and that we could take our bikes to any of these places for service and warranty issues. This turned out to be a total load of crap as apparently although they are all linked they all run as independent ventures so to get anything done required complex negotiations through cycle solutions.

They offered no proper fitting service, didn't set the bike up correctly, didn't apply carbon assembly paste to parts like the seat tube and at the end of it I paid ~£870 for a £1000 bike that i could have probably found on sale for £900 and got a proper fit/service with that. so a total waste of time.

I was going to buy a bike from Planet x on the c2w scheme but as others have said they charge a 10% fee for c2w users

It was a 1k bike which means i would of saved £300 via the scheme

But with the planet x 10% fee (£100 on 1k) that saving would then only be £200

Then take into account the one off fee for the extended user aggreement which you pay once you have paid the bike off (this transfers ownership to you but its not legally yours for 36 months)

The fee for transferring ownership for a 1k bike would be around £75

Which means overall i only actually save £125 using the c2w scheme

In the end i just bought the bike outright rather than faff around with c2w vouchers and all the aggreement stuff to save £125

The scheme used to be much better when after a year the bike was legally yours with no fees to pay but the goverment changed this a few years ago

Whatever shop you use check that they dont charge a admin fee, build fee or anything similarly  worded that only affects people who buy on the c2w scheme

I think planet x only pass on the fee that cycle scheme charge them to process the voucher. There used to be some sort of statement saying their profit margins were too tight to take the 10% hit themselves.

I used Wiggle. They have a special section on their website for cyclescheme purchases which made the whole process really, really simple. The bike was delivered almost fully assembled, all I had to do was put the handlebars and pedals on (tools supplied!). Seat height was set as per my fitting instructions/measurements (once again on the website form). No admin fees (unlike Planet X) and I got a great deal on a 'last year's model' bike. Highly recommended if you have a good idea of what you want and don't mind turning a couple of hex bolts.

Hi Neil

We're a Membership based retailer and we offer numerous C2W schemes to our Members.

We do things a little differently that actually enables Members to effectively boost their C2W scheme voucher whilst also providing full advice and support both pre and after sales.

If you'd like to discuss it further, you can call me on 020 8133 6432 if you like.

Planet X do seem intent on becoming the Ryan Air of the cycle trade.

I've twice bought a bike through C2W. Once through Swift Cycles of Spitalfields, London https://www.swiftcycles.co.uk/and once from Transition Cycles of Bedford https://www.transitioncycles.co.uk/.

In both cases I found their overall service to be excellent.

I was put off Planet X as they would only allow 90% of the voucher value in the bike as they take 10% as admin fee. If you consider the same admin will occur whatever the price of the bike is a rip off.

Evans were great - let me test ride loads and were only happy when I was happy. They also let me do this before I got my voucher, offered some great advice and were generally brill. That's the Sheffield store and I keep going back. So far for another 3 bikes for me and family. Also recommended them to friends who have also bought from there.
This was my experience.