Thumbs up for Decathalon

bigharj

I bought a pair of Shimano clipless pedals and a child's helmet from Decathalon (Wednesbury) last week. I was told for safety reasons the helmet was not returnable on safety grounds and that may be I should bring my child in first. But I bought it anyway.

Got home and the helmet was too small. Three days later and I managed to round off one the hex screws on the pedals whilst trying to adjust them. I took them back to Decathalon expecting to be told sorry 'no go'. But a rather nice 'cycle chap' said it was easliy done and that although there was nothing wrong with the pedals on purchase, he would exchange them anyway. He even told me to get another helmet and tell the cashier to put the original helmet in the bin in line with the company's safety policy.

That's customer service above and beyond the norm. It will certainly make me shop there more often than my LBS, who whilst very informative where £10 more expensive on the pedals. However there is a place for both with my wallet.

Well done Decathalon!

Drumlin

^ I'm impressed ! I've become a regular customer of the Hermiston Gait Decathlon in Edinburgh, I've bought loads of clothing and have been really pleased with its value for money. I haven't had to return anything yet but it's good to hear of your experience.
But I have to say I'm still some way away from ever asking them to do any bike maintenance for me, for that I think I'll stick to my more specialist LBS.

Ride hard

Same here.

I've been going to Decathlon in Surrey Quays for many a year. I've bought everything ranging from pedals, shifters, clothes and other bits and bobs and have always been impressed by the quality of their stuff and the price.

Another big bonus for me is that they let you take in your bike so you don't need to lock it up outside- which in S.E London is no bad thing!

3Bears

The Surrey Quays store is good, I always go there after the Lakside store has told me to piss off. Avoid the lakeside store if you can.

Ride hard

3Bears wrote:

The Surrey Quays store is good, I always go there after the Lakside store has told me to wee-wee off. Avoid the lakeside store if you can.

I've never been to that one, but dare I ask what you did? I hope you weren't tearing around the store on a kiddies bmx with scant disregard for anyone's safety?

Actually on that front, they might need to get traffic lights in the Surrey Quays store. There's been loads of times I've walked around a blind corner into an aisle and almost had a little-un crash into me as they speed about on a bike. I might write to my local MP!

bilsea159

Another good tip if you use decathlon is to sign up for the free Decathlon Card as I bought a pair of bibshorts from them that the stitching came away after 11 months, my wife said fair wear and tear as far as she was concerened but I took them back with no receipt and showed the cashier my card so that they could see the purchase history and I got an exchange. Great service.

Herbsman

Decathlon card is a f--king joke. I used it in France ONE TIME and now all of the emails I recieve from them are in French. There appears to be no way of getting in touch with them to fix this.

binsted

Great customer service but they need a big better stock control, certainly with cycling gear they always have masses of small and XXXl but always seem short of M and L, not just 1 item, it seems across their range.

3Bears

Ride hard wrote:

3Bears wrote:

The Surrey Quays store is good, I always go there after the Lakside store has told me to wee-wee off. Avoid the lakeside store if you can.

I've never been to that one, but dare I ask what you did? I hope you weren't tearing around the store on a kiddies bmx with scant disregard for anyone's safety?

No, always with warranty problems with my old rockrider 8.1. The 'mechanic' they had was never there, and when he was he was just awful. He admitted he rarely worked on bikes in store and that most of his time was spent on the machine which prints names on sport shirts. He said he had never bled brakes and wouldn't know where to start when my Elixir brakes needed work. My front wheel was misaligned in the forks to the point where it was rubbing despite being seated correctly in the dropouts - I suggested it was a dishing issue which he didn't understand, and then he quickly 'fixed' the issue by seating the wheel crooked in the dropouts. :roll:

I've also had issues with the bike manager, who refused to replace a saddle under warranty. He was incredibly rude. Went to Surrey Quays and there was no issue.