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Rapha Nadal wrote:
I don’t think that vouchers can be exchanged for cash and any refunds must be issued in the same way they were paid. A voucher in this case.
Agreed, but the point is I kept goods costing £85, so they should have applied the voucher and charged £35 to my credit card. That’s what they would have done if I’d just ordered the one pair of shoes and not had to do a return. Its sharp practice on their part and means they’re guaranteed a further purchase from me – so they’ll end up selling goods worth £135. I’ve lost my freedom to make my next purchase from the retailer of my choosing. Crazy thing is, if I’d sent back all three pairs and re-ordered one pair I wouldn’t be in this situation. They weren’t even the cheapest for the shoes, the only reason I bought from them was the free delivery and free returns.
What you have done is create an expensive and time-consuming exercise for Wiggle so I don’t blame them at all. If you are a customer who not only regularly returns items but makes multiple orders with the express intention of returning most of them then it is highly likely the retailer will decide it is not in their interests to serve you any more.Not Wiggle, or cycling for that matter, but quite a few years ago my daughter phoned in an order for a pair of shoes and wanted advice re sizing. The assistant recommended buying multiple sizes to get the right fit, as returns were free of charge.
It’s a business model.
Only if they say so.
Which they do – homepage, third line down – free delivery, free returns, right alongside a price guarantee.
Pretty much every online retailer of clothing/footwear does it. Catalogues have done it for as long as I can remember (Freemans catalogue, early 80s for example). Then you had the famous Argos 14-day no quibble guarantee, admittedly that was a return to store.
It’s basically a battle between the Sales Teams and Logistics Teams. Free returns increase sales, but increase logistics costs. Everything gets priced accordingly, which is why bigger the better wins in online sales – because they can negotiate the deep discounts with Collect+, DPD, Yodel, etc.
I don’t think they’ve done anything illegall, or indeed unethical. They want your money and that’s the best way to ensure that you spend another £50 quid with them.The retailer must pay you back in the way that you paid and that is exactly what they have done. I don’t understand how you arrive at paying £35 as someone has paid £50 for the voucher. The shoes were £85.
I’m nowhere near siding with large retailers who rip people off, but here you would appear to be the one who wants to play the system to your advantage, both in ordering three sizes, then expecting to “only” pay £35.
As for chargeback! Are you kidding? Learn a lesson ffrom your mistakes and move on.
Next time I suggest you tell the retailer to apply the voucher to the shoes that you are keeping in advance or go to the fucking High Street and stop being a tight arse!
EDIT: If I were Wiggle I’d be charging you a premium of 50% for this service as you’ve taken stock out of there system for a few days which they can’t sell and have lost income for.
Shoes weren’t available on the High Street – checked all LBS round here and even checked a few shops when I was up in London last week.
Ordering multiple sizes in one go actually reduces their costs (because they offer free delivery/free returns) and when it comes to shoes/clothing there’s really very little option but to do it. You’ve also got to factor in Shimano’s esoteric approach to shoe sizing – usually need to go up a size in road shoes but that didn’t apply here (SPD touring shoes) but had no way of knowing until I tried them.
Cost should be £35 to me because the voucher was actually a leaving gift from work.
What you have done is create an expensive and time-consuming exercise for Wiggle so I don’t blame them at all. If you are a customer who not only regularly returns items but makes multiple orders with the express intention of returning most of them then it is highly likely the retailer will decide it is not in their interests to serve you any more.Not Wiggle, or cycling for that matter, but quite a few years ago my daughter phoned in an order for a pair of shoes and wanted advice re sizing. The assistant recommended buying multiple sizes to get the right fit, as returns were free of charge.
It’s a business model.
Yep, they’re all set up to do returns, its the cost of not having a high-street storefront. I’m not a fan of the process but when it comes to shoes how else are you going to be able to get the right fit? Most of these shoes aren’t in stock in LBS/Evans/Halfords – certainly the ones I wanted weren’t. It’s why they offer free returns in the first place – they were among the first to do it in online retail and its got them the market position they’ve got today.
Not sure I can return the other pair as I’ve worn them on rides and attached cleats.
The cost to me is £35 because the gift voucher was actually a gift – and now I’ve got an £85 charge on my credit card rather than £35. Maybe this is slightly odd but I also wanted to buy the shoes with the voucher because it was a leaving present from work and I wanted to have something a bit more permanent and personal than pissing it away on spares. Last pair of shoes lasted me 4 years and I expect these to do the same.
They’re dreadful here since
They’re dreadful here since the big freeze (by softy Southern standards). Down through three layers of patching to what I’d imagine is original 1930s tarmac in some places. Hants Highways seem to be flat out trying to patch them and understandably little rural forest roads aren’t a priority. Loving the 32mm tyres I’ve got on my tourer, although the 25s on the fast bike aren’t too bad. For the first time in 40 years of cycling I got simultaneous punctures recently from a lovely flinty pothole.
The main change is the hood
The main change is the hood shape for the hydro discs and the front mech – and if you’re going with rim brakes then you could always upgrade the front mech on 5800 and get that (small) benefit. Front shifting is definitely improved, particularly going up from little to big, and the install is neater.
Yep, hate crime. On the basis
Yep, hate crime. On the basis of the GMP response to the Sophie Lancaster murder case
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sophie_Lancaster
Pretty sure the case could be argued that “bloody cyclists” are an alternative group.
Be interesting to hear if any Manchester area cyclists have tried this approach.
Its a safety issue, and as
Its a safety issue, and as they’ve had your bike in for a service they should have done the replacement then. Once a recall is issued they tend not to have a time limit (Kinesis are still replacing forks for example).
Pretty much any part failing on a bike is a safety issue, and a rear mech going through the wheel certainly is. They could argue that it was your own fault for not following up the recall or even that it was damaged by a previous crash but the fact they’ve touched your bike since the recall and not replaced it is the important thing here. Question is, is it worth Small Claims? A Pinnacle rear wheel is going to be £60 plus your train fares, that’s about the limit of liability.
Do you cover self-builds? All
Do you cover self-builds? All of my bikes apart from my e-bike have been built up from framesets.
If I haven’t commuted by bike
If I haven’t commuted by bike for a while I’ve found it takes me a while to switch mindsets from car-mode to cycling. Mostly that’s a question of absolutely never amber-gambling and switching the default behaviour from “go” to “stop” at roundabouts and junctions.
Then, once I’ve been racking up the rides on the bike I find I end up driving too cautiously and, somewhat perversely, taking smaller gaps on roundabouts in the car. I’ve always found when cycling that I rarely have to stop at a roundabout – if visibility is good it’s generally quite easy to time your entry because you’re approaching at a slower speed than you would do in a car, and you can see more without that dirty great A-pillar in the way.
However, seeing as this is a rant about fairweather cyclists I’ll add “no mudguards” to the list, particularly this time of year. Yesterday down here was bone dry and glorious in the morning, and absolutely hooning it down for the ride home in the afternoon. OK, so you’re already soaked within a few minutes but being stuck in the rooster tail of spray off the back of a mudguardless bike is still horrible. On the plus side, you’ve been riding all winter so you can probably pile past quick enough 🙂
I’m so pleased that’s too big
I’m so pleased that’s too big for me.
There was a report last year
There was a report last year which showed that e-bike riders got most of the fitness benefits of unassisted riders so its really not a free ride. If I still had a long commute and I had charging facilities at work I would give one serious consideration. When I was commuting the most direct/safest route included a couple of decent hills that I avoided, which I wouldn’t necessarily do with eAssist. Typically I’d average just under 15mph, mainly due to the amount of traffic lights in the last couple of miles and potentially a eBike would help with the stop/start bits of my commute. Ultimately though I think the real benefit is for those days where you’re commuting and you’re feeling under the weather, or carrying a minor injury, or just CBA – much more likely to still cycle if you have an eBike. I think I would also have been more likely to commute the full 22 miles each way with an eBike rather than driving part of the way. I live in a valley so had a pretty steep hill to overcome on the way to work about a mile from home that I always hated riding because its a narrow S-bend with a crap road surface and poor sight lines.
Give it a couple of years and if I’m back commuting and technology has progressed I can certainly see a bike like the Focus Project Y in my life – potentially replacing one of our cars.
I only went clipless (SPDs)
I only went clipless (SPDs) because I’d had one too many issues with feet slipping off pedals in the wet. The solution would have been to go for flats with offroad pins at that point but I went SPD and have run them for 5 years. Just recently got a set of flats for my tourer because I use it with a tagalong and like to be able to get my foot down quicker with an unpredictable 8yo on the back.
I’m now used to both types of pedal but prefer the security of the SPDs. I’m not claiming or expecting any performance gain from them as I’m not honking up hills but I do like knowing that my foot is never going to slip off them, particularly on uphill sections.
I’ve been toying with the idea of getting some Speedplays for my “fast” bike but it looks like a cleat repositioning has sorted the foot issue I had, just need to get out for a 40-miler to confirm that.
Sympathise with the cramp, I mostly get it in my calves (easy to stretch out) and hamstrings (not so easy). After a bad bout I can barely walk next day (usually get it in bed…). Properly horrible sensation. I’ve found that keeping hydrated after exercise reduces the incidence, as does using magnesium spray and massaging my calves. I also get crawling/twitching muscles for hours after exercise – completely benign but looks dead weird and is useful for freaking people out…
Speedplays have a reputation
Speedplays have a reputation for being the most comfortable if you have foot issues as they are basically free float (movemement) once in. Expensive though…
SPDs (mountain bike cleats) offer a fair bit of rotation around the cleat but I started to find them uncomfortable – a lot will depend on the shoe and the pedal you use as they range from no platform to big touring platforms that offer more support
I haven’t ridden road SPD-SLs so can’t comment
I’ve got flats on one bike with offroad pins – these are seriously grippy but obviously you can’t pull up against the pedal if that’s your riding style. You’ll get a big platform and you can place your foot naturally where you want, but it will be planted which can be an issue for lateral knee rotation.
Possibly worth having a cleat fitting done as my LBS has sorted out my SPDs to solve a numbness problem I was having in my left foot.
Condor Italia or Fratello
Condor Italia or Fratello self-build?
The Faran will be too heavy for the chain gang, unless you’re speccing some seriously light wheels. If you can make it to London they include a free fit to get you the right frame.
I can also strongly recommend the Merida Cyclocross 500 – ’15, ’16, or ’17 model years were all brilliant do it all bikes. Good brakes, loads of clearance for guards, fast enough and pointy enough for sportives – I did Ride London on mine. The only reason I sold mine was that it didn’t have rack mounts and I didn’t like that the trade team was sponsored by Bahrain.
