Rapha pricing and customer sevice -- VERY strange

MrOwkoob
MrOwkoob Posts: 213
edited January 2009 in Workshop
Well well a lot has been said about this brands image as a poser brand. I´m not getting into that.

A few friends and I want give a good friend of ours some Rapha kit for his birthday since he is an old school rider and prefers wool in all weather.

So I was given the chore of ordering everything.

Visited the rapha homepage and collected the items totalling a staggering 400 GBP for a few items but hell he´s a good friend and he´ll use it a lot. What better person to give it to?

Anyway. All selected out I went trught the purchasing process. Suddenly because my adress in in the European Union the price changed from 400 GBP to 600 Euros excluding postage! Considering the exchange rate betwwen the pound and the euro is almost identical this 200 Euro price jump took me by complete surprise.

Try it yourself at www.rapha.cc see the huge difference in price when comparing Euros and Pounds.

Turns out Raphas prices are different depending on where you live and ofcourse the pound has lost value to the Euro recently.

Since it is 2008 kit and Rapha claims their wool kit is made in Scotland well they should not be loosing money when selling to me in GBP.

So I contact their customer service telling them. Hi guys have an order want to pay in pounds and maybe you should correct your pricing.
Rapha then REFUSES!!!! to sell to me in GBP no I have to pay the higher Euro price. But if I lived in the UK I could without any problem order in GBP they tell me.

Anyway we decide not to order from Rapha because such pricing policies cant really be accepted by any customer, can it? At least they removed any inclination of mine to ever own a piece of Rapha clothing.

They must be a huge succes since they can treat customers this way in the middle of the financial crisis.

Comments

  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    So much for the EU single market and pricing then!
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • pbracing
    pbracing Posts: 231
    I guess they're ripping off people in mainland Europe who the think don't know any better. Not clever :(
    Why not? My bikes.
    Summer & dry days
    http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp47 ... /Trek1.jpg

    Wet winter days & going the shops runaround
    http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp47 ... rello1.jpg
  • softlad
    softlad Posts: 3,513
    pbracing wrote:
    I guess they're ripping off people in mainland Europe who the think don't know any better. Not clever :(

    as far as I can tell, that seems to be the main thrust of Rapha's marketing policy - ie 'sell to people who don't know any better'.....
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,558
    If I buy something from a company based in Europe I have to pay in Euros. I don't see why that is 'strange' when a company based in the UK does the same in it's local currency.
  • Blonde
    Blonde Posts: 3,188
    edited January 2009
    Rapha do have a few "local" distributers in the UK (Don't know about Denmark), although of course the stock may be more limited - but maybe you could try one of those and see if you can pay in GBP.

    I have bought things on-line form the US and was charged in US Dollars - until I read my bank statement of course where the amount appeared in GBP. I assume my bank did the conversion and applied the going rate at the time (without any additional charge). Most companies based in countries with the Euro don't convert to GBP either- they just charge you in Euros - perhaps Rapha think they are doing EU customers a favour by converting their UK prices into Euros. Did they start charging in Euros before or after the pound losing value? I suspect that their rate of conversion would never be very up to date though and of course they need to make money so you can assume that you will pay more for the added 'service' of paying in another currency. I can see why you're annoyed!
  • MrOwkoob
    MrOwkoob Posts: 213
    Honestly Rapha customer service has been so rude in my contact with them seriously expecting me to pay almost 50% more and talking down to me for asking to pay in GBP I dont really want to spend my money on them, ever. They diserve however to be mentioned on every cycling board avaiable for their "excellent" treatment of EU customers of which I doubt they have any at the moment.
  • crabstix
    crabstix Posts: 61
    Rapha charge £45 for a merino wool short sleeve T base-layer. I bought an identical one (sans label) from ALDI last week for £14.95!

    Do the maths... then discard the desire for the label. Save a fortune.
  • mrushton
    mrushton Posts: 5,182
    crabstix wrote:
    Rapha charge £45 for a merino wool short sleeve T base-layer. I bought an identical one (sans label) from ALDI last week for £14.95!

    Do the maths... then discard the desire for the label. Save a fortune.

    How was it identical? make, composition of material, country of manufacture? I ask this because I was looking at Icebreaker merino products and they are similar in price to Rapha.
    re Euros/Pounds. look at prices in eg Italy or belgium of Colnagos or Pinarellos. They were always cheaper in these countries. in fact someone on this forum actually flew to Treviso to buy/collect his Prince and still saved money vs the UK price.
    M.Rushton
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    That does seem a bit mad.

    Anyway - can I be your friend please ? I'd love to have £400 worth of kit for my birthday.
  • Philip S
    Philip S Posts: 398
    From Rapha's website:
    Rapha Pricing Policy
    Rapha is an international business, selling products throughout the world in US Dollars, Sterling and Euros. Although Rapha has its headquarters in the UK, Rapha products are manufactured in a number of countries and most products are bought in US Dollars and Euros. Consequently, the cost base of the business, as well as revenue, is affected by changing currency rates. Although Rapha monitors exchange rates carefully, prices are usually only adjusted seasonally to keep things simple and avoid instability for customers and the business.

    For these reasons, the recent depreciation of Sterling has not led to price changes at Rapha. Similarly, US Dollar price levels were not increased in the last 12 months when the US Dollar weakened significantly. We will continue to watch exchange rates closely and will review all prices for the next season.
  • MrOwkoob
    MrOwkoob Posts: 213
    Well read that text again will you? I mean the dollar has increased it´s value substantially not decreased. They dont know what they are talking about obviously.

    In Raphas defence it has to be said that they now have offered me to make a phone order in GPB. Saying they cant reprogram their homepage. But I think they should atleast just post one price. I cant be the first customer ever to notice the differences in price and noone likes to pay more than they can see others can pay especially for a high end product or any product for that matter.

    The way they are set up now can but annoy a lot of potential customers except you brits ;-)
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,558
    MrOwkoob wrote:
    Well read that text again will you? I mean the dollar has increased it´s value substantially not decreased. They dont know what they are talking about obviously.
    I think you may be the one who doesn't know what they are talking about. The dollar has significantly lost value in the last 6 months, as has the pound.
  • MrOwkoob
    MrOwkoob Posts: 213
    Here´s the dollar to euro rate in the last 120 days. mainly the dollar has gone up:

    http://www.x-rates.com/d/EUR/USD/graph120.html


    Here´s the dollar to pound rate. Where the dollar only has gone up up and UP


    http://www.x-rates.com/d/GBP/USD/graph120.html
  • softlad
    softlad Posts: 3,513
    andyp wrote:
    MrOwkoob wrote:
    Well read that text again will you? I mean the dollar has increased it´s value substantially not decreased. They dont know what they are talking about obviously.
    I think you may be the one who doesn't know what they are talking about. The dollar has significantly lost value in the last 6 months, as has the pound.

    I think he means there is now closer parity between the two currencies than there used to be...
  • MrOwkoob
    MrOwkoob Posts: 213
    softlad wrote:
    andyp wrote:
    MrOwkoob wrote:
    Well read that text again will you? I mean the dollar has increased it´s value substantially not decreased. They dont know what they are talking about obviously.
    I think you may be the one who doesn't know what they are talking about. The dollar has significantly lost value in the last 6 months, as has the pound.

    I think he means there is now closer parity between the two currencies than there used to be...

    I think his mathteacher did not do his job very well ;-)
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,558
    The Dollar versus the Euro over for the past year.

    77+X_SEURUSD+bbc-big_thick-line+twelve_month.png

    My math's teacher did a very good job thanks.
  • MrOwkoob
    MrOwkoob Posts: 213
    Funny guy. Go back to school.
  • Philip S
    Philip S Posts: 398
    softlad wrote:
    andyp wrote:
    MrOwkoob wrote:
    Well read that text again will you? I mean the dollar has increased it´s value substantially not decreased. They dont know what they are talking about obviously.
    I think you may be the one who doesn't know what they are talking about. The dollar has significantly lost value in the last 6 months, as has the pound.

    I think he means there is now closer parity between the two currencies than there used to be...

    I think Rapha are referring to when the dollar had weakened to the $2 = £1 level, which wasn't all that long ago and does kind of illustrate the exchange rate exposure issue that Rapha are facing...
  • andy_wrx
    andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
    MrOwkoob wrote:
    ...
    because my adress in in the European Union the price changed from 400 GBP to 600 Euros excluding postage!
    ...
    Rapha then REFUSES!!!! to sell to me in GBP no I have to pay the higher Euro price. But if I lived in the UK I could without any problem order in GBP they tell me.
    ...

    I'd be interested to see if this is legal under EU legislation re. free movement of goods and services.

    It's not as though they are saying that they have a Danish distributor and they won't supply to you direct, you must buy from your local distributor - I think that would be illegal under EU law - and it's not an issue regading payment for carriage or a local VAT/distance selling issue.

    They are saying that they will only supply to you in EUR prices and those prices are considerably higher than GBP prices.

    Hmmm !
  • mrushton
    mrushton Posts: 5,182
    I'd be interested to see if this is legal under EU legislation re. free movement of goods and services.

    They are saying that they will only supply to you in EUR prices and those prices are considerably higher than GBP prices.

    Hmmm ![/quote]

    Still no different to what Colnago et al have been up to (oh and Mercedes/Audi/Fiat) have ben up to. Maestro have had this issue for years of Colnago fixing the price, so Rapha are just going with what the market will bear/what's best for their business
    M.Rushton
  • keef_zip
    keef_zip Posts: 295
    andy_wrx wrote:
    MrOwkoob wrote:
    ...
    because my adress in in the European Union the price changed from 400 GBP to 600 Euros excluding postage!
    ...
    Rapha then REFUSES!!!! to sell to me in GBP no I have to pay the higher Euro price. But if I lived in the UK I could without any problem order in GBP they tell me.
    ...

    I'd be interested to see if this is legal under EU legislation re. free movement of goods and services.

    It's not as though they are saying that they have a Danish distributor and they won't supply to you direct, you must buy from your local distributor - I think that would be illegal under EU law - and it's not an issue regading payment for carriage or a local VAT/distance selling issue.

    They are saying that they will only supply to you in EUR prices and those prices are considerably higher than GBP prices.

    Hmmm !

    Of course it isn't illegal!

    They can decided who they want to sell products to, and they can also decide what currency they will charge that person in.
  • superlightweight
    superlightweight Posts: 130
    buy your friend some Solo kit

    http://www.solocc.com/

    lots of merino wool in there, and better value than Rapha.......

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