"Difficult" cycling market hits profits at Evans Cycles

Never had any issues with them, have got some great deals from them in their sales

Shoes are the only thing I don't buy online. When I bought my last pair of shoes from Evans (Trafford centre), the assistant was barely interested.

I've bought 4 bikes and numerous other bits and pieces from Evans and have found the service and knowledge to be great. I use either the Gatwick or Lakeside stores, and yes there can be a wait at Gatwick but then they are very busy at certain times of the day. It is also their main warehouse so availability of parts isn't a problem.

As with most people I will price compare against the other main retailers and Evans will price match if required. They are much better than Halfords and it's nice to be able to talk face to face with a human being if required which you can't do with Wiggle/Chain Reaction.

never had any problems with Evans myself and Id probably use them alot more if they had a better nationwide presence, they may have 60 stores but half of those feel like they are inside the M25 and London and I think thats their real problem.

Where their stores are based you might say understandably in traditional strong cycling areas, but that means they are usually surrounded by any number of good quality competing stores/LBS. If Evans expanded, or more likely refocused on areas less well served by their main competitors, theyd probably do alot better, as certainly Ive found without that level of competition you tend to find LBS become interested only in selling new bikes, and dont offer anywhere like the service, knowledge, parts or kit that an Evans can deliver.

Too expensive compared to online retailers and the shop experience isn't good enough compared to a local bike shop. Has anyone bought anything in their Gatwick store without being sat there for 30 minutes?

Oddly enough I've just bought something from Evans. Bkool smart trainer for £225. Bargain. Looks like it was a one off I'm afraid. 

My experiences have been very positive, and have got some stonking deals from Evans on certain clothing items, Exposure lights, as well as parts.  Latest good experience was I ordered some Oakleys but tried to change the delivery address to where I was staying on holiday last week.  However,  I didn't change the default delivery address so the courier emailed to say they would deliver to my home.  Tried to contact the courier, who refused to deal with me direct. Contacted Evans who sorted, suggesting posting me another pair of glasses whilst they retrieved the originals from the courier, and upgraded me to free next day delivery for my trouble!  Still need to write to them to say thanks, but slightly concerned could get the customer services guy into trouble as it was my "stuff up" to start with....

I only use them out of desperation or if they are doing a sale. They are the PC World of bike shops. 

I've never really been a fan of Evans and they messed me about on a component a couple of months ago. It was in-stock on their web site so I ordered it, but after a couple of weeks I eventually received an email telling me that I'd been refunded because the item was now out of stock.

I emailed them asking if they would be getting any more in a couple of times and they never responded.

I understand that errors can happen, but just say sorry we made a boo-boo in our stock system, but If they can't be arsed to drop me a simple email they can fek off,  plenty of other places to shop.

On the other side of things, I've had a few issues with items purchased from Wiggle lately and those buggers can't do enough for you. I bought a bike from them end of last year and the wheels that came on it were shite. I know that standard wheels are normally shite, but I kept breaking spokes and it pissed me off. I spoke to one of their customer service people who called me after I dropped them an email. He said that they don't normally do this but would I accept a set of low end Campag wheels as a gesture of goodwill. I obviously said yes please, thank you very much. Not only that, but he chucked a pair of tubes and £70 worth of continental tyres in to the box with them! You can't knock that.

Also they are one of few retailers to charge your card at the point of ordering rather than the point of despatch... Which can be very off-putting for a preorder situation (like the one I'm in... Initial availability date was 1/July, slipped to 7/August and is now 1/November...)

They are caught inbetween, the halfords and the local bike shop market. Stock when you drop in seems to be all commuter level...but they can get it.....but we are all spoilt kids and want it now.

My local has lost core , knowledgable staff so I dont go there anymore. 

Actually carrying stock rather than expecting people to click and collect everything might help.