A Cycles - online - any experience?

russello

As per the title, has anybody had any experience buying parts from these guys?

http://www.acycles.co.uk/

It all looks fairly legit, but I'm looking for some words of comfort/experience before parting with my hard earned.....

Thanks - Russ

gjcknocker

Never heard of them. Had a look on their site and did a price comparison with Wiggle......Felt F4 is £2290 compared to W's price of £1680 and a bigger selection of sizes!

russello

That may be, but the missus would kill me if I added Felt to the fleet......

Anyone else?

gjcknocker

I think you've missed the point........I'm suggesting it looks rather expensive given that their most expensive bike is £600 less elsewhere.

russello

Ah yes, but the parts I have seen are heavily discounted

cpeachey

Did you notice that they are French?
Scroll down and click "contact us"
Chris

carbonmanx

I took a chance on acycles as they had a big discount on the parts I wanted and offered paypal, so I figured it would be pretty safe.
And I'm glad to say everything worked out just fine :-)
As has been observed they are french, but there is an english guy on the phone if you have any issues, and comms are easy and fine - the only down side is because the gear is coming from france it takes a little longer to arrive, but you get a full courier tracking code so you can see it working its way through france :-)

Thumbs up from me.

Cllr Hodgen

Parts look to be top end and heavily discount. Was thinking about getting a chainset / wheels from them in the not too distant future, but I'd be opting to use Paypal and paying on a credit card as then there's TWO points of backup should anything happen...

Have you bought anything then RussellO?

russello

It's been a year since the original post. I've bought a lot of gear since then, probably far too much, but none from A Cycles.

C'est la vie !

michaelk2

I placed an order for a mid-range wheel on 2 April. It is now the 20 April and according to the parcel tracking service, it is still in France. I've sent them 2 emails without receiving a reply. Not pleased!!

thegreatdivide

Hmm - I placed an order for a couple of chain rings and haven’t heard anything back from them for 5 days now. Paid via PayPal so I’m covered, but this is a bit of a pain.

Grill

I've ordered from them no problem. Give them a call and they'll tell you what's up with your order (keep in mind they're a French shop so as per French law do nothing over the weekends).

Austin316

Yeah I've been tempted by them in the past as prices can be very competitive but have never pulled the trigger due to concerns about potential returns to France. Sure that's probably not a fair concern though and it'd be fine.

thegreatdivide

Update - they just got back to say they had to order me a Stronglight 34 so order off to me on Friday. Fine by me.

TheHound

Ordered a pair of Sidi shoes and they came a couple days later so no complaints here.

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

Just a quick reminder I hunted around Europe for the best price on a wheelset found the best price and then just asked Wiggle to price match it, 24 hours later I got a discount code for the price match. So I got the best price but with the comfort of dealing with a UK based seller. I am sure Chain Reaction would price match as well.

oola

Just bought some Mavic clothing from them, paid with CC for extra security but no issues. Took the free delivery and took 6 days which I'm happy with. Will defo order from them again.

Maxxypriest

Used Acycles a couple of times and very prompt delivery

I'm a happy customer

thegreatdivide

Used them twice now and going back for more. They had the best deal on Veloflex carbon tubs.

maddog 2

used them twice now, for tyres. Good prices and no probs.

apreading

They has GP4000S cheap before Christmas so asked for a pair from Mrs Santa - BIG mistake.

Their prices are shown in pounds but charged in Euros - so the Mrs had a charge for foreign currency transaction on her card, plus a not very favourable exchange rate, plus was charged postage (I never checked that). Worked out the most expensive pair of GP4000S you could possibly buy... If I had been buying, I would have realised but she didnt know how much they would be anywhere else.

Monty Dog

Anyone with recent experiences? Ordered previously from them - no problems.
Ordered some Mavic shoes 10 days ago that were in stock and the promise of 2-day despatch. Nothing since they took payment - no order status update and a despatch date that's long since passed. Two enquiry emails have gone unresponded.

dork_knight

What was the outcome Monty?

I'm after some tyres in the new year and they seem to be the only place I can find (so far) that stock them, they appear Ok if a little slow.

matt-h

ordered tyres last week and arrived today.
No probs at all

Matt

gregorian

Beware (lack of) returns procedure! I bought a couple of Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres from them just before Christmas. I paid about £4 carriage but it was still good value. They took over a week to arrive. Due to ambiguity in tyre size designations (there are six different possible diameters for tyres labelled as 26") they did not fit my rims so I wanted to exchange them. Their "returns policy" states that customers are responsible for paying postage/freight charges for returned goods which have to be returned to their shop in France (despite their .co.uk website address.) I suggested that goods could be returned under the same terms as they were sent but they were not interested in improving their service. I shopped around and found a carrier who charged "only" about £14 for goods of value less than £50.
Moral: If you think there may be a chance of having to return/exchange the goods, it could cost you a lot more than you think. Look around; you are likely to get stuff at least as cheaply, (try price-match) more quickly and with better customer service from a genuinely UK-based supplier.

Monty Dog

Stuff arrived after 10 days as they were on back-order. Recent order arrived promptly

mr-b

I'm still waiting for my order from 2 weeks ago that was apparentrly in stock. The order status is payment received with a delivery date of last Friday.
Phone calls to customer service go unanswered, and no response to the website form or email, so I'm a little concerned. I had no idea they were based in France until I started digging.
I paid by paypal so presume I'm covered. Interestingly in these days of EU membership debate, none of the UK consumer sites even mention rights for online EU purchases ...

Rodders30

I've waited a few days and my order has stayed as payment authorised. Guess I'll have to phone them.

dabber

I've only used them once but had to chase them on delivery. The (small) item turned up OK but delivery was longer than I'm used to from the likes of Wiggle, CR , Evans etc.

dinyull

I've used them for the first time this week and they were spot on. Ordered on the same day as I ordered bits from Wiggle and CRC, and all delivered on the same day.

rs6mra1

I used them and the order was supposed to be dispatched the same same day. It wasn't and i tried calling them umpteen times to cancel but to no avail, I sent emails cancelling the order but to no avail. Orders cancelled before dispatch are fully refunded. I raised a query with Paypal. The order got dispatched 3 days later by which time i had bought the shoes I wanted elsewhere. Paypal could not resolve and found in favour of A Cycles. I was going to reject the item when i turned up but thought better as I do not think I would have got a refund. Would you buy from them? I wouldn't make that mistake a second time and i must say my guard was down at the time as I normally check out sites I have next bought from before ordering.