Wiggle... no longer offering price match

redvision

Just spotted wiggle no longer offer price matching.

Guess the current demand for products mean they no longer have to try as hard to compete with rival stores.

ugo.santalucia

... indeed.
Some of the competition are no longer there too.. CRC is part of the group, Ribble don't sell paraphernalia anymore... they really have a dominant position in the market

ibr17xvii

I used to order literally everything from Wiggle. Their prices & customer service were 2nd to none.

In the last couple of years they've really gone downhill.

webboo

Their service is appalling, the last thing I bought from them arrived before it had been dispatched.

shirley_basso

I've never had an issue with any online retailer but I don't buy that much stuff.

carbonclem

I guess it was always the long term plan. Crush the competition and then you don't have to be so aggressive on pricing.
I think the service has got better this year - the standard delivery seems to have got much faster.

skooter

I used to be a Wiggle fan but they have gone down hill that's for sure the last 3 things i bought from them had problems.

Sutton_Rider

I too used to be a Wiggle fan, but now they never seem to have stock of anything these days, so my go to store is Sigma.

MattFalle

Merlin all the way here - always found Wiggle a tad expensive compared tbh.

But can fully understand why they don’t price match though - if they don’t have to why should they?

elbowloh

MattFalle said:

Merlin all the way here - always found Wiggle a tad expensive compared tbh.

But can fully understand why they don’t price match though - if they don’t have to why should they?

Yeah, Merlin is my go-to online bike shop now too.

Always the cheapest when it comes to whole groupsets and components (well for me any way). Also seem to have great deals on full bikes.

parmos

ordered a few things from Wiggle recently didn't have any issues with them the best bit about them is they can deliver local to were you are located as i work away quite a bit and it comes in very handy.

daniel_b

Same here, CRC and Wiggle used to be my first port of call.

Other ones I no longer use anymore really are Evans, and Ribble - Ribble used to have a good variety of parts, and good deals on clothes on occasions.

Merlin and Sigma for me primarily.

joe_totale-2

Merlin mainly for me. Wiggle/CRC use Hermes for deliveries which basically means that anything I order from them won't turn up.

I used to use Sigma a lot but they stopped their price matching and their pricing is definitely not as competitive as it used to be. Shame as their service is very good.

me-109

WCRC still a go-to for me and our Hermes service is excellent (and not worth paying extra on the off-chance it might get here a day earlier). Have used ProBikeKit quite a bit over the past year. Great after sales when I had a sizing issue with a top or two bought in an offer.

RedClip

I agreed about Wiggle going down hill. Sometimes they don't even any sweets.
Bastards 🤬

shirley_basso

We are lucky we have the same Hermes guy who delivers most days and delivered my CRC order on a Sunday.

webboo

Recently got a delivery from ups. It turned within the time frame it said it would. However I tried for an hour to register on the their site to try and arrange my parcel to be left in same place. It would freeze, tell my name was previously registered. However when I clicked on forgot password or user Id and it said it would send me an email nothing arrived. There is a help Bot but I ended up just repeating myself. They have a telephone help line but this is a Bot as well. Give me Hermes or DPD any day.

jimmocrates

I've spent a small fortune over the years with Wiggle, but bad service has put me off using them since. I try Merlin in the first instance now. Prices and service have been alright and it's fairly local to me.

rwoofer

I used to be mainly Sigma and while their service continues to be good, the prices aren't as competitive as they used to be. I'm now ordering far more from continential sites such as bike-discount.de and Lordgun. Very competitive prices in places and no issues to report.

thecycleclinic

Price matching is a silly idea anyway. Do that and you fall into the trap of never making money. Perhaps wiggle have figured this out. If you model is always to be the lowest price, the cost of that has to fall somewhere.

First.Aspect

I start with Google shopping. Prices seem to largely follow who wants to ditch which stock, or else is basically the same everywhere or out of stock everywhere. It is not as though you get rewards for loyalty is it?

cookeeemonster

I’ve used price match in store before....makes sense as you can look at it in person and take it home then and there without waiting for delivery.

But online? What’s the problem? Just order it from the place that is cheapest

daniel_b

I can think of several logical reasons you might want to shop with a certain retailer over another:

- They have a loyalty discount scheme reliant on how much you have spent within a rolling 12 month period - if you are planning to buy something big at full rrp, a bike for example, then maintaining a top tier of loyalty discount would reap dividends in the near future for you.
- They give cashback through topcashback or quidco etc, when their competitor does not
- They offer free returns
- They offer returns for an entire year - a lot of places only let you return items within a fairly short time period, where as Tredz, CRC/Wiggle are all 365 days - in the past this has been a real boon for me.
- The retailer you have chosen may deliver through a courier who is reliable in your area, when their competitor may use one that is terrible, in your area.
- Your chosen retailer may deliver faster, and or offer a reliable tracking service
- Your chosen retailer may have physical stores, giving you the option of collecting in person, and perhaps more usefully, the ability to return in person with no postage charges - I utilised this in days gone by when I used to shop at Evans.
- You may have another item you want to order as well that does not qualify for free postage on it's own, that the competitor does either not stock or is more expensive, this way you get it lumped in as part of the order, and also only have to accept one delivery - not an issue currently with almost everyone wfh 5 days a week, but in the olden days a lot of people would want to minimise delivereis to home in case it then entailed a trip, or trips to a parcel pick up place.
- If both items are not right, you only have one parcel to return, instead of two.
- They may accept a credit card that gives you cashback which their competitor does not, Amex Platinum etc etc

I'm sure there are others, but those sprang to mind, and after a bit of wine, both mulled and unmulled.

But apart from the above, I can see no reasons for price match being a benefit to the consumer.

daniel_b

rwoofer said:

I'm now ordering far more from continential sites such as bike-discount.de and Lordgun. Very competitive prices in places and no issues to report.

I have done as well, spent a fair amount of cash with mantel, bob, all4cycling, bike de, bike discount like you, and others that slip my mind right now, but places in Germany, France and Italy predominantly.

However, unless I am not understanding things correctly, from Jan 1st, these orders will all incur import duty and I would assume that delightful admin charge that various couriers slap on as well, so I think it unlikely that will be a logical route for more than a further 3-4 weeks.

MattFalle

Yup - you're gonna get hit with import charges which will sorta negate any savings.

But hey, you got blue passports....

Ben6899

I'll keep using the German sites - get the bits delivered to family and collect when visiting or have them forwarded on with Die Post.

shortfall

A quick plug for Cycle Clinic because I know he's donated a chunk of the money from his black Friday sale to his local food bank. If a small independent retailer can do something so selfless as this in the current climate then he deserves our admiration and support.

flasher

MattFalle said:

Yup - you're gonna get hit with import charges which will sorta negate any savings.

But hey, you got blue passports....

Assuming that there's no deal, there'll be Import VAT and possibly Customs and Excise Duty (depending on the order value) to pay along with courier handling charges (Royal Mail charged me £12 clearance fee last time I bought outside of the EU).

The only good news is the retailer will sell minus their own country's VAT.

ed1973

Why did wiggle stop putting haribo’s in?? That was it for me, off to Merlin I went and they now throw in energy bars!

MattFalle

Oh God no. No no no.

I ordered from Merlin, got their energy chew (Clif I think).

Riding along, stuck a lump or two in my mouth and nearly died of not being able to breath or chew disease. Friggin' awful.

I only carried on eating them because they were free and I'm tight.

Viva los Haribo

womack

Quite new to the forum so excuse my impertinence of joining in conversation.

My go to, like some others on here, is Merlin although as I haven't spent a lot lately looks as if I have dropped from the Gold Discount level.

My second choice of supplier ( dons hard hat) is actually Halfords on line service.

Whilst I realise there can be something of an elitist attitude towards Halfords they tend to hold good stocks, offer reasonable prices and not too shoddy delivery.