UKC

I know Wiggle & CRC are in trouble.

I've had adverts on my FB feed for Wiggle sales, with some crazy discounts.

Anyone know if this is genuine, or whether it's yet another scam? Admittedly, such scams are usually for a particular manufacturer (e.g. TNF), rather than a vendor.

I got a nice mountain bike off them for £300. They were claiming £1000 RRP however I suspect no one ever paid that for one. I reckoned £600-£700 would be more typical for a similar spec so a pretty good deal really.

As far as I know they are selling off stock they have.

So not a scam but depends if you want to risk them closing before you get your delivery.

I'm tempted by a new saddle.

I'd only pay by credit card....

Reading the cycle press, they have made most everyone redundant.  So who is left of manage and ship orders, maintain the website and so on is interesting.  It seems risky to buy from them and I wouldn’t fancy my chances at get a refund or replacement, in the event of an issue.  But I don’t know what the odds of things going well are.

Recently bought a part from them that i had to return,  customer service team still very good through email and received refund today

Same, bought and returned some stuff early feb, no problems at all. I see no reason not to continue buying from them 

Genuine. I got a nukeproof bike for 500 instead of 1250. Took 2 weeks to arrive but was decently built (compared with the efforts of Evans for the other bargain I picked up).

I got burned by Wiggle recently. I had purchased Wiggle+ last spring, one of the benefits being 12 month return period.

Lo and behold, when I tried to arrange a return for an item I bought last year they refused to honour it (even thought they are still advertising Wiggle+ on their site!) "We retain the right to modify this policy at any time" was the line given...

In short, pay your money and take your chance. Don't rely on there being any after sales service.

I think you'd probably get the item but I would be very nervous returning anything, or sorting out a warranty replacement if there were problems.

When VanMoof went bankrupt recently, a big problem was customers that had bikes in for warranty repairs and suddenly no one was answering the phone and they couldn't get their bike back at all. I think that got sorted eventually, but it would make me nervous buying any significant item from Wiggle/CRC.

I've just ordered some stuff, delivery due on Weds 6 March, so I'll post here re whether it arrives or not.

I got one of these from Ali-Express for 28€ posted. I've had it since June last year, it's unbelievable.

E

Just visit their website direct if you suspect a scam. It’s not by the way. Selling off neoprene toe covers for £5.

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2024/03/wiggle-frasers-group/

I panic-bought a few bits a couple of weeks ago to use up a gift voucher, before they stop accepting them.

The bits arrived without issue - although turns out the Hollowtech BB I bought as a spare requires yet another tool to the 2 other Hollowtech BB tools I've got!

In short, yes, I'd buy from them, but do use a credit card.

That hollow tech thing with multiple sizes annoys the hell out of me... 

Along with disc brake rotor centerlock sockets that don't fit in because of axle size.. 

I ordered two cassettes from Wiggle last week - at a good price - and they were delivered within two or three days

Good luck to you if that breaks. If it does break, it'll be catastrophic and likely with no warning.

I'm all for using AliExpress, but a carbon saddle would be my last choice!

Only bike in our fleet with centre lock disks is my wife's mountain bike - and she's in no danger of wearing them out any time soon, as she hardly rides it. They'll probably be cold welded to the hubs by the time they need replacing!

I have 4 (yes 4) broken genuine Selle Italia saddles in my garage, one plastic, two titanium and one carbon. (Not sure how a broken saddle can be catastrophic on a road bike) So I've said enough is enough. I paid 28 euros for it inc postage just to have a look, a friend of mine in the carbon game had a look at it too and just shook his head when I showed him a 200€ version.

You carry on being conned. I've had enough. I'm not the only one, no wonder the big suppliers are going out of business. 

E

Ordered a bunch of heavily discounted clothing from Wiggle on Thursday, arrived Saturday... 

Their prices seem all over the place! Annoyingly the tool I bought last week has gone down £5 - on the other hand, a part I bought has gone UP £11!

A bottom bracket I bought last year was hovering at £35, I got lucky and bought at ~£25, it was back at £35 up to last week and is now at £42!

Yes, mine came yesterday, so all good.

Forgot to say, no Haribo in the package.

But we know why that is.

Apparently when Wiggle went into administration they owed £20k to Haribo!

Yes, that's what we know.

Looks like Wiggle and CR websites are now shut down. All outstanding orders to be fulfilled in next ten days.

Presumably they'll now come back as a branded version of the Evans or Sports Direct site with all the dedicated staff losing their jobs?  Sad.

You will be sure when it breaks and the seat post inserts itself into your rectum. "Sure" your 28 euro saddle is the same quality and has passed the same safety approvals as the 200 euro one.

Bugger - should have ordered that bearing press last week!

Like two of the authentic ones almost did?

E

Key word being almost. And in all honesty, if you've broken four saddles... I would guess you are fitting them wrong or something. 

What are you talking about?

E

So, what the alternative to Wiggle/CRC if not LBS?

Wiggle were always cheap and reliable anywhere else going to pick up the reins?  Sigma Sport?

Personally always had good service and felt good value from Merlin. Sure there are others too. 

Merlin,
Ribble,
LeisureLakes,
AllTerrainCycles,
etc

That would be quite the feat.

If you include the rental bikes I probably fitted 100+ saddles last season .

E

I remember going for a ride on a brand new bike, and the saddle kept tilting. I kept stopping and trying to tighten the grip on the bars. I had no idea that carbon bars had a different profile to aluminium ones. Didn't matter how tight I did it, the saddle would not stay fixed in place. Felt foolish when I was told why and changed the seatpost clamp

Sigh... so many saddles destined for the bin due to your incompetence.  

Final Wiggle order arrived on time and in good order.

Ah well, procrastination got me again...

Thanks all.

Yes well, to sort of balance it out, you caused at least person who wasn't going go to buy anything to buy something, which might be the opposite of procrastination. For the record, of the three bits, one's good, one's OK, one's of uncertain quality as of yet but probably OK, so just about a positive totalled up.

E

Glad you got the joke.  

I did! 

E