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Halfords to honour Wiggle Chain Reaction warranties on parts and accessories

"As the leading cycling retailers, we have a responsibility to support the whole market"...

Halfords and Tredz have announced support for Wiggle Chain Reaction customers following the online retail giant entering administration and being put up for sale, with Halfords pledging to honour warranties on parts and accessories.

The news, first reported by Cycling Industry News, was announced by Halfords chief executive Graham Stapleton who said his company has a "responsibility to support the whole market" and that where possible customers who bought parts and accessories with Wiggle Chain Reaction would have their warranties honoured.

halfords social distancing - june 2020

Tredz has also said it will offer Wiggle+ customers a voucher worth £15 to cover the £15 fee for Wiggle's premium service that offers unlimited, free next-day delivery and returns.

> "I hope anyone who bought recently used a credit card": Black Friday begins at Wiggle Chain Reaction Cycles… but is it safe to spend with the troubled retail giant?

Halfords is the UK's largest cycling retailer, with more than 30 per cent of the market alongside Tredz, chief executive Stapleton highlighting the "responsibility" of the "leading cycling retailers to support the whole market".

"The cycling market is fundamentally sound and is ahead of where it was in 2019, but the extraordinary distortion caused by the pandemic and the volatility of the past three years has resulted in the closure of many independent bike shops, and now we are seeing large online retailers calling time too," he said.

halfords fix your bike 2.PNG

"We pledge that across Halfords and Tredz there is always a full range of children's, adult and speciality bikes available, plus parts, accessories and clothing."

> What the hell is going on in the bike industry? Wiggle Chain Reaction turmoil discussed on the road.cc Podcast

In September, we reported that cycling sales were down at Halfords as the retailer shifted its focus to car repairs amid a cycling-related sales slump of 2.7 per cent during the 20 weeks to 18 August, with cycling representing just 25 per cent of the company's business.

In June, Stapleton said the company remains "very confident" about the cycling market, despite the UK's largest retailer of cycling products and services suffering a 55 per cent fall in pre-tax profits as the bike industry continued to struggle due to inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.

The support for Wiggle Chain Reaction customers comes after the company entered administration and announced 105 redundancies as administrators attempt to find new buyers for the beleaguered cycling retailer, with reported interest from Mike Ashley's Frasers Group.

> Wiggle Chain Reaction put up for sale by administrators, as expert warns collapse is "just the start of big changes" across bike industry

In September, Wiggle Chain Reaction was reported to have recorded £97 million losses, blaming Brexit, Covid and economic uncertainty. A month later and things got worse, Wiggle Chain Reaction's parent company Signa Sports United losing a €150m funding commitment from its parent company, thrusting subsidiaries into uncertainty.

Wiggle Black Friday sale

Signa Sports United then closed its United States offices and filed for insolvency, unable to continue without the funding commitment, Wiggle Chain Reaction entering administration on October 27.

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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6 comments

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ajuk.uk@gmail.com | 11 months ago
0 likes

How did they go out of business? I've been buying stuff from them for 20 years instead of buying it from Halfords.

Avatar
wtjs | 12 months ago
0 likes

"We pledge that across Halfords and Tredz there is always a full range of children's, adult and speciality bikes available, plus parts, accessories and clothing."

Except, as I found out over a year ago, tyres for the bikes they sell. I see that you still can't buy 20" tyres from them because they don't tell you the ERTO size (presumably because  nobody there knows what that is)

Avatar
RoubaixCube | 12 months ago
1 like

I have always read a lot of negative opinions from people about halfords and some of it is probably well deserved as they can often be hit and miss depending on their staff but they genuinely did something good here by stepping in so I have to applaud them for doing something positive for a change.

Hopefully their customer service will improve and they'll bring in a wider and varied range of goods like wiggle and CR did becase both Wiggle and CR disappearing leaves a massive gap that needs to be filled. Wiggle and CR had an absolutely massive range of goods but while I live fairly local to a halfords, They have never really have anything that id be interested in buying. They'll sell all the basics and the essentials but nothing much beyond that.

It would be worth them also catering to the enthusiasts and not just the mainstream market.

Avatar
thax1 replied to RoubaixCube | 12 months ago
2 likes

RoubaixCube wrote:

... Wiggle and CR had an absolutely massive range of goods but while I live fairly local to a halfords, They have never really have anything that id be interested in buying. They'll sell all the basics and the essentials but nothing much beyond that.

It would be worth them also catering to the enthusiasts and not just the mainstream market.

Worth having a look at what they offer online vs in-store. The 'on-line exclusive' range is much larger and esoteric. I saw some SRAM Eagle cassettes, various power meters from SRAM and 4i, Di2 sprint blips etc.

Remember the BC discount too!

Avatar
OnYerBike replied to RoubaixCube | 12 months ago
3 likes

I would note that Tredz is owned by Halfords and is much more focused on the enthusiast market (albeit with very few physical stores).

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Freddy56 | 12 months ago
2 likes

Fair play halfords.

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