Evans price match is a joke

sturmey

Things used to be ok with their price match promise.I remember buying a pair of wheels (RS80's) from them a couple of years ago and they matched the cheapest internet price. Now it seems they have moved the goalposts and if you try to get them to pricematch a pair of wheels they point to the fact that they sell their wheels singly, not as a wheelset and therefore claim ' it is not the same product so we're sorry but we won't match it'.
Yet when i bought those RS80's as a front and rear they were happy to oblige and match a wheelset price elsewhere. i also recently tried to pricematch some Shimano brake calipers and again they refused to pricematch claiming their calipers were sold singly and not as a pair. Wtf? Which other major retailers sell brake calipers singly?- i know a few do, but the cheaper retailers, Merlin, Ribble and Wiggle generally don't. i believe Evans are seeing this as a way of dodging their pricematch promise. What are they going to do next- start selling shoes,gloves and socks in a left or right to avoid it in the same way? Wouldn't be surprised.

Also, i have noticed that it is hard to find an exact equivalent pair of factory road wheels on the Evans website that you could pricematch with, say ,athe Merlin website. Merlin have Fulcrum and Mavic wheelsets in 2012 versions yet Evans do not have ANY Fulcrums or Mavic wheelsets in 2012 as far as i can see- they are all either 2011 or supposedly 2013!(didn't even know these were out yet!) What a load of bollox I say. Again I suspect they are trying to evade the pricematch. I won't be shopping at Evans any time soon as i think they are cr*p anyway and always come away from their shops with a bad experience these days usually having spoken to someone in their early 20's who wouldn't know what a downtube lever or a quill stem looks like and knows fark all about cycling or how to fix a bike. Some tool i spoke to in there recently shouted me down and said that Shimano made two versions of the Ultegra brake caliper in long reach and short reach and I had better know which version I wanted or I was basically wasting their time.. I didn't have the time to stand there and argue but knew he was an MTB'er talking through his a*se.
Anyway, only reason I was going to spend money there was to get rid of a gift voucher. I might give it to someone else now.

TheEnglishman

sturmey wrote:

I might give it to someone else now.

Hello

chilling

Dibs on the voucher.

moonshine

sturmey wrote:

i also recently tried to pricematch some Shimano brake calipers and again they refused to pricematch claiming their calipers were sold singly and not as a pair. Wtf? Which other major retailers sell brake calipers singly?- i know a few do, but the cheaper retailers, Merlin, Ribble and Wiggle generally don't.

chain reaction do. http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=67225. next?.... :roll:
to be honest, in the era consumers being able to trawl the internet for a best deal, it doesn't really make sense to price match. If a retailer does, then good for them. but it is no surprise there are strings attached. Evens carry in-store stock and retail overheads, so they need to make money from walk in custom as well.

Get over it. It is a gift voucher, probably given to you by some one who loves you, so you can buy something you need or like.... so view it as such and be happy / grateful. Its better than a pair of socks.

spasypaddy

actually the staff member was correct. shimano do make 2 ultegra standard brakes one branded ultegra 6700 for the normal drop and one named shimano R650 which is the same brake but with the longer drop.

explain why evans should price match something that isnt like for like? s
omething that isnt in stock?
or something from a supplier who buys off the black traders list and rips off every other reseller in the country (no names mentioned). These suppliers actually sell some products CHEAPER than standard trade price in this country. So explain why someone like Evans should make a loss because you want over the counter service instead of waiting 2 days for royal mail?

edited as i made a typo with the long drop reference number

moonshine

spasypaddy wrote:

actually the staff member was correct. shimano do make 2 ultegra standard brakes one branded ultegra 6700 for the normal drop and one named shimano R6750 which is the same brake but with the longer drop.
?

If I'm not mistaken the long drop version of the ultegra caliper is the R650 http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mobi ... 50&x=0&y=0
With the R450 the 105 equivalent;) but your point stands.

spasypaddy

sorry typo

keef66

BR650's may be Ultegra quality, but they don't have Ultegra written on them. On Shimano tech docs they are listed under Non Series components.

So according to Shimano, all Ultegra calipers are short reach, and they show tech docs for BR6500, BR6600 and BR6700.

So your Evans chappie wasn't strictly correct.

Slow day at work

spasypaddy

depends which way you want to argue it i guess. in fairness if someone said to me i want some ultegra brakes i wouldnt ask if they wanted short or long drop i'd assume they wanted short drop and the normal. however this staff member was trying to be clever and although he is technically correct hes also being awkward for the sake of being awkward.

moonshine

spasypaddy wrote:

depends which way you want to argue it i guess. in fairness if someone said to me i want some ultegra brakes i wouldnt ask if they wanted short or long drop i'd assume they wanted short drop and the normal. however this staff member was trying to be clever and although he is technically correct hes also being awkward for the sake of being awkward.

Or he was being conciensious and making sure the customer bought the right item. Many arn't aware of the existance of LD brakes and it was a check to make sure the customer bought the right one for the job.?

mroli

Sturmey - I don't understand your concern here. Evans price match and you buy from them. If you don't - why not buy it from the cheaper retailer? If they were offering to sell things for cheaper than the price match, then I understand, but you get nothing (apart from the convenience of a physical retailer) in a price match. I for one don't really like it when the larger retailers start putting the squeeze on - there have been a number of instances where Halfords opened up "Bike Huts" in areas where LBS filled the need (and thankfully where they have closed again).

spasypaddy

moonshine wrote:

spasypaddy wrote:

depends which way you want to argue it i guess. in fairness if someone said to me i want some ultegra brakes i wouldnt ask if they wanted short or long drop i'd assume they wanted short drop and the normal. however this staff member was trying to be clever and although he is technically correct hes also being awkward for the sake of being awkward.

Or he was being conciensious and making sure the customer bought the right item. Many arn't aware of the existance of LD brakes and it was a check to make sure the customer bought the right one for the job.?

i cant win

asprilla

In fairness, least year the R650s were marketed as Ultegra Long Drop and had Ultegra written on them.

moonshine

spasypaddy wrote:

moonshine wrote:

spasypaddy wrote:

depends which way you want to argue it i guess. in fairness if someone said to me i want some ultegra brakes i wouldnt ask if they wanted short or long drop i'd assume they wanted short drop and the normal. however this staff member was trying to be clever and although he is technically correct hes also being awkward for the sake of being awkward.

Or he was being conciensious and making sure the customer bought the right item. Many arn't aware of the existance of LD brakes and it was a check to make sure the customer bought the right one for the job.?

i cant win

:oops:

smidsy

Price match is no good anyway - if you can get the product somewhere else cheaper just go there.

Fo a deal to be any good they need to beat the price not just match it.

They either want the sale or they don't. If they don't go elsewhere.

sturmey

Llike I said in my post I wanted them to price match because I have a voucher to spend otherwise I would have gone somewhere else believe me. and it seems fairly apparent to me that there is only one ultegra 6700 caliper listed on Shimano's tech docs. this guy wouldn't have a clue about r650 calipers he was just bullsh*tting.

moonshine

Their price match policy is on their website http://www.evanscycles.com/help/price-match
It is pretty clear & self explanatory.
If you don't like it, tough.
Yo are not getting much sympathy here, so maybe it is your attitude which needs looking at?
Feel free to shop elsewhere. That is your perogative.

sturmey

Yeah,their price match policy is pretty clear to me as well,but thanks for tediously labouring the point.And if you don't like my supposed attitude stop whingeing about it and go and post your sanctimonious drivel elsewhere.

ajb72

sturmey wrote:

Yeah,their price match policy is pretty clear to me as well,but thanks for tediously labouring the point.And if you don't like my supposed attitude stop whingeing about it and go and post your sanctimonious drivel elsewhere.

….he said, sanctimoniously.

moonshine

sturmey wrote:

Yeah,their price match policy is pretty clear to me as well,but thanks for tediously labouring the point.And if you don't like my supposed attitude stop whingeing about it and go and post your sanctimonious drivel elsewhere.

hey buddy.... Take the moral high ground if you wish & bin your voucher. That will teach them! :shock:



oh wait... they have already got the money for it...
:roll:

DavidJB

It used to be good. Now it's censored and they have a million t&c to get out of it. I try not to use Evans since they monumentally fecked up delivering some wheels to me.

spasypaddy

you seem angry. did someone not get their weetabix this morning?

Anonymous

Never had an issue with Pricematching (from all kinds of retailers) and excellent customer services. Ill take the voucher.

Gladiator

Its easier shopping online mate. Evans isnt the cheapest bike store anyway and its rare to get a bargain in there.

Agree the shop staff know f*ck all and also agree on the wheelsets, can confirm i had the same problem.

Anonymous

My staff member was very knowledgable when asking about changing wheel bearings etc.

Sometimes you get a nitwit, but that happens everywhere (incl specialist bikeshops). The fact that they didn't pricematch you because it was outside their conditions, and you go ranting about it makes you look like a fool.

Now hand over the vouchers

skinnyT

if you are that annoyed try reporting evans to trading standards, you might get even or not...

derbygrimpeur

Evans price-matched a pair of Campag Vento Reaction wheels for me in November last year.

They can price match what they wamt, providing their T's & C's are clear.

northpole

I recall Evans advertising a special price on line for a Garmin 800. Happens that I was looking for the same nav unit at the time so I called up my nearest Evans. Only to be told that the offer was only available on line, despite their price match claims. So I called up my local Cycle Surgery who also offer price match who were more than happy to sell the unit for the advertised Evans price.

Can't see what positive business this kind of approach gains Evans. If you want to advertise a price match policy, in my opinion you should price match, not introduce weasel word get out qualifications. Much cleaner to not offer the price match in the first instance.

Peter

MattC59

northpole wrote:

I recall Evans advertising a special price on line for a Garmin 800. Happens that I was looking for the same nav unit at the time so I called up my nearest Evans. Only to be told that the offer was only available on line, despite their price match claims. So I called up my local Cycle Surgery who also offer price match who were more than happy to sell the unit for the advertised Evans price.

Can't see what positive business this kind of approach gains Evans. If you want to advertise a price match policy, in my opinion you should price match, not introduce weasel word get out qualifications. Much cleaner to not offer the price match in the first instance.

Peter

Well, When I bought my Edge800, Evans had the best price out there, so I went into the Reading store and where it was considerably more expensive. I asked them for the web price and they had no issue matching it.

Personally, I see no issue with price match T&Cs. Other than the OP, who had a voucher, so was somwhat tied to Evans, if you don't like the T&Cs of the price match, buy the goods where you found them cheapest and stop moaning.

Zingzang

northpole wrote:

Can't see what positive business this kind of approach gains Evans.

Neither can I, but there still seem to be a number of screwball apologists for them knocking around on bike forums; I thought only religion and football could inspire this kind of blind devotion.

northpole wrote:

If you want to advertise a price match policy, in my opinion you should price match, not introduce weasel word get out qualifications. Much cleaner to not offer the price match in the first instance.

+1
The thing is, not everyone is good with words, and some people can actually find it impossible to make sense of them if they are written down. This is why Evans can continue to tout their now virtually worthless price-match policy whilst raising comparatively few eyebrows, and why the tools who haven't sussed the price-match policy for what it is can't follow the thread of an argument long enough even to make sense of it, let alone respond to it in an intelligent fashion.