Evans cycles again!!

CarleyB

I am a retailer.. all be it not a bike or bike related one. and when you sign up to a wholesaler they can make you accept the terms and agreements set out by them. So, for instance I have to sell at RRP otherwise they will withdraw. i can only have 2 sales at a maximum of 10% a year lasting no more than a week.

This protects their brand and stops it from being devalued and as I signed up to it before carrying their stock I am happy to do this. TBH its great that I don't have to competitvley price.

bikegirl1

bikegirl1 wrote:

seems to be a time lag on here!
B.

have tried to delete them all, but no luck. sorry.

alfablue

CarleyB wrote:

I am a retailer.. all be it not a bike or bike related one. and when you sign up to a wholesaler they can make you accept the terms and agreements set out by them. So, for instance I have to sell at RRP otherwise they will withdraw. i can only have 2 sales at a maximum of 10% a year lasting no more than a week.

This protects their brand and stops it from being devalued and as I signed up to it before carrying their stock I am happy to do this. TBH its great that I don't have to competitvley price.

This is illegal! As you have knowledge of this anti-competitive pricing you have a legal duty to report this under the Competition Act 1998.

http://www.netlawman.co.uk/info/price-f ... titive.php

It may be "great" for you that you don't have to be competitive, but it is not good for the consumer, and you are participating in an illegal act.

jnr_h

bikegirl1 wrote:

I will pursue a complaint against Evans to get my money back, and compensation for all this trouble, since they should have just repaired the fault in the first place.

What was the question? What is wrong with Evans?

Maybe this is just a one-off, but that's not what I've heard... I certainly won't be dealing with them again... it's just not worth all the trouble!
B.

I had a similar problem with the rockshox tora sl on my sott scale 60. Had mechanics in the store i bought it from tell me that I should've bought a more expensive model, and another that it was meant to be wobbly - part of the bypass valve mechanism. Eventually , they changed the lockout mechanism. Same result. The day after the change I rode it into another Evans, with no explanation just asked them what was up with my fork, and the two guys at the desk straight up said that it was dodgy.

There followed much haggling and arguing with someone from head office customer service. Eventually they said they would swap it out for another. Phone the store manager to arrange it and he started giving me stories about which other forks are better and how theres no point changing it cos they all like that so I just let it slide. More hassle than it was worth. I kind of agreed with him - sh2t quality fork (with even sh2tter customer support.)
Over it! Couldn't be arsed!
Wouldn't buy another bike from them.

That said, I do occasionally buy bits from an Evans near my office, or the Wandsworth one (its on the way home), and have to say the staff in both are always really friendly and helpful. Also have done a few of their events and Dean and the ride-it okes seem to put a lot of effort into running their events so respect where respect is due.

CarleyB

alfablue wrote:

CarleyB wrote:

I am a retailer.. all be it not a bike or bike related one. and when you sign up to a wholesaler they can make you accept the terms and agreements set out by them. So, for instance I have to sell at RRP otherwise they will withdraw. i can only have 2 sales at a maximum of 10% a year lasting no more than a week.

This protects their brand and stops it from being devalued and as I signed up to it before carrying their stock I am happy to do this. TBH its great that I don't have to competitvley price.

This is illegal! As you have knowledge of this anti-competitive pricing you have a legal duty to report this under the Competition Act 1998.

http://www.netlawman.co.uk/info/price-f ... titive.php

It may be "great" for you that you don't have to be competitive, but it is not good for the consumer, and you are participating in an illegal act.

Well you learn something new every day.... going to look into this. Thanks for the heads up.

alfablue

You're welcome Carley - it is widespread! You're not alone. :?

gaspode

alfablue wrote:

CarleyB wrote:

I am a retailer.. all be it not a bike or bike related one. and when you sign up to a wholesaler they can make you accept the terms and agreements set out by them. So, for instance I have to sell at RRP otherwise they will withdraw. i can only have 2 sales at a maximum of 10% a year lasting no more than a week.

This protects their brand and stops it from being devalued and as I signed up to it before carrying their stock I am happy to do this. TBH its great that I don't have to competitvley price.

This is illegal! As you have knowledge of this anti-competitive pricing you have a legal duty to report this under the Competition Act 1998.

http://www.netlawman.co.uk/info/price-f ... titive.php

It may be "great" for you that you don't have to be competitive, but it is not good for the consumer, and you are participating in an illegal act.

When I was looking for a new bike for my son, we pretty much decided on a Specialized - unfortunately, I couldn't find one shop that would give any sort of discount (even those with employee discount schemes such as a blanket 15% discount would exclude Specialized from the offer). I was convinced that this was some form of price fixing and duly sent an enquiry to the Office of Fair Trading - they didn't want to know! - sent me some waffle about the market being price sensitive and retailers deciding to set their prices to be similar (i.e. identical!).....the OFT are a complete waste of time - they either know it's going on and don't want to rock the boat or else can't be bothered to investigate further - needless to say, we didn't buy a Specialized bike - we got a Scott with a 25% discount off the RRP....

alfablue

Yes, it is infuriating, it is clearly widespread, many dealers admit it (my LBS did!), but the OFT are toothless. I think they are under-resourced and just go for the occasional "big fish" (for instance a £270m judgement against BA http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6925397.stm ), meanwhile, ordinary consumers are being cheated on presumably 100's of types of product with little hope of redress. I think the OFT like to fudge the issue rather than start collecting statistics about their own failures!

There is a remote possibility that just by coincidence, Specialized dealers set their prices the same - extremely unlikely however. Far more likely is some collusion between distributor and dealers (often under threat of removing supplies). Less likely is collusion between dealers themselves, both would be illegal however, and individuals involved can be subject to criminal prosecution.

alfablue

Maybe one day I'll be a "mystery shopper" and go to various dealers and ask why brand (x y or z) isn't discounted. A proportion of the shops will admit the price is "set" by their distributors, and will state that they are at risk of losing their dealership if they go against this. Surely the OFT would have to take notice then . . . :? Of course, our wonderful cycling journals might wish to investigate . . . oh yeah, they depend on the advertising, so perhaps not :roll:

neilfitton

I think you may find that the reason is that most dealers sell all the stock they have and therefore dont really need to discount it you dont see Apple dealers doing big discounts on their products becasue demand outstrips supply, you will also find that most dealers will offer a dicount on accesories or something else.

All discounting does is drive down margin for teh dealer and therefore makes it harder to compete and ultimately drives people out of business reducing choice and options (what if everything goes online, where are you going to get test ride or get to look at those great bits of kit and get advice) sure as hell aint gonna be Halfords !!!

Money is tight for everyone but when all you can do is go to Tescasdafords for your bike bits then we are all in trouble !!!

rdt

neilfitton wrote:

I think you may find that the reason is that most dealers sell all the stock they have and therefore dont really need to discount it

"Discount" with respect to what? You obviously mean with respect to the price "set" by the distributor. Which is exactly the problem we're talking about.

Retailers should be setting their own prices based on the margins they can sustain or achieve consistent with the volume they can shift/obtain, not selling at a set price determined by the manufacturer/distributor.

But the reality is that many manufacturers/distributors call the shots, and won't supply to retailers who step out of line.

alfablue

neilfitton wrote:

I think you may find that the reason is that most dealers sell all the stock they have and therefore dont really need to discount it you dont see Apple dealers doing big discounts on their products becasue demand outstrips supply, you will also find that most dealers will offer a dicount on accesories or something else.

All discounting does is drive down margin for teh dealer and therefore makes it harder to compete and ultimately drives people out of business reducing choice and options (what if everything goes online, where are you going to get test ride or get to look at those great bits of kit and get advice) sure as hell aint gonna be Halfords !!!

Money is tight for everyone but when all you can do is go to Tescasdafords for your bike bits then we are all in trouble !!!

A few points: I think we find that price fixing does go on: one poster on this thread (in retail, albeit not bike trade) freely admitted it; others in the bike trade have admitted it on this forum; lbs proprietors have told me personally that they have limits on discounting set by their suppliers: to deny it goes on and to assume the uncanny alignment of prices is purely coincidental, is naive.

Lets get this straight: dealers independently setting prices - no problem; dealers colluding with each other to set prices - illegal - big problem (though I believe collusion between dealers is not the issue); distributors coercing dealers to control prices, under threat of withholding supplies - highly illegal - very big problem. Such acts are anti-competitive and perpetrators can face criminal conviction - it is just another kind of theft really, theft from consumers.

On your other point, the demise of the local bike shop - if there is a market for local bike shops (which there seems to be judging by the queues at mine) the good ones will thrive; if there is no market they won't. If your business model only works if you break the law and try and stack the odds in your favour (and at the same time hurting the honest competitors), then your LBS should go out of business. Harsh maybe, but I didn't invent capitalism, or the competition laws. I think announcements of the death of the LBS are somewhat premature!

bice

RichardSwt wrote:

Just a few words in favor of Evans...

I use them a lot, I live near the Wandsworth store and they have a far bigger range of decent clothing/parts than any local shop around (if anyone knows different I'd love to know ). The staff seem to be genuine bike geeks and polite and helpful....

Funny, as I found the Wandsworth store the worst when having to buy through Evans on cycle to work. Clapham, Fulham were better and I then bought through Spittalfields.

My experience is that there can be some good guys working there, but others are plonkers. I had a broken trek hybrid frame, covered under warranty, that I bought from Wandsworth Evans in 1995 (yes, I had still kept the receipt - to their evident annoyance!). I had to involve Trek to get them to stop them arsing about and honour what is, after all, Trek's marketing policy.