No Bike - Bike to Work Dilemma!

vickser

Looking for some advice. Long story short between the time I got the quote for the BTW Scheme and actually receiving the voucher from work last week, it turns out that the bike is no longer available as the bike shop is waiting on 2015 stock. They've told me it will be late September at the earliest before they have the new stock in.

So do I wait til the end of September with no bike or do I go back to work and try to start the process all over again with a different shop that has the stock?

Has anyone had a similar issue?

TIA.

Raam

Do you want to wait or do you want a bike quicker than that?

Kinet1c

vickser wrote: »

Has anyone had a similar issue?

Going through the exact same thing myself. Shop provided quote, I chased them up several times to actually get it built so I could fit on it. Eventually told it was sold out. As I want a big frame, ~64cm, I've no option but to wait for the new season stuff to come in and I'll be going elsewhere when it does start arriving to shops.

New season will be a wait but you'll most likely get some new stuff added on to the bike at the price you were likely going to pay (possibly lower price if no stuff is added on) for old season gear (unless you were getting a deal). It's a pita particularly as I'm keen to pick up the pace on a proper road bike compared to the Giant Bowery I'm currently on.

Cianmcliam

I had similar problems selecting my bike, pretty much every shop wanted to sell me the one or two bikes that they had in my size and none except the Giant store on the Longmile Road were considering ordering a bike in. I found a great deal eventually after a few days as they really wanted to shift their stock.

Seems a lot of brands are introducing hydraulic disc brakes in their road bikes for 2015 too, I think I would be more nervous of the wheels locking and skidding with disc brakes so was happy enough to go with 2012/2013 stock.

vickser

Raam wrote: »

Do you want to wait or do you want a bike quicker than that?

I know the sensible thing to do would be to wait but I'd like to have some use before the dark evenings/bad weather sets in. I know I can't have my cake but it is frustrating!

Like Kinet1c, I've had to chase and chase to finally be told this evening why the bike wasn't ready for collection yet.

ZiabR

Cianmcliam wrote: »

Seems a lot of brands are introducing hydraulic disc brakes in their road bikes for 2015 too, I think I would be more nervous of the wheels locking and skidding with disc brakes so was happy enough to go with 2012/2013 stock.

Yeah, you are correct here. I know Giant are making the move to disk brakes on their road bikes alright. Not sure if everyone else is following suit just yet. The UCI need to decide on what to do for the coming 2015 season. The GCN guys did a nice video on them and the general consensus is that disk brakes are better for countries like Ireland, England, Wales etc but don't really offer anything for the warmer climates like Spain, Italy etc.

Cianmcliam

German brand Focus were showcasing their 2015 range this week and the road bikes have disc brakes, I was looking at a 2014 Orbea bike and the frame could take either type.

ZiabR

What we might end up seeing is a large amount of high end second hand bikes come onto the market in the coming 12 months and people start to upgrade to the disk brake bikes.

hudo

Same issue here, bike shop said I have to wait around 4 weeks (harrys bike, for giant defy 4 xl). But since I got the voucher from my company, that's specifically for this bike shop, I can't change my mind now and go to some other bike shop that has some other bike?
Well, if we'll get 2015 series of giant, waiting will be little bit easier:)

ted1

I'm kind of the same position.

starting new job on Monday and will be getting the bike to work.

some shop shave told me that they have stopped dealing with Giant because they are so flakey on orders to Ireland. and that they always end up with pissed of customers.

I had decided on a felt 85 or Giant Defy 2 but my LBS reckon that the Fuji Sportive 1.3 is better than than the two.

i guess it'll come down to who has what in stock.

hudo

Definitely check the stock, and the shop will not reserve that bike for you! Some companies process voucher once per month, so they can sell all of them meanwhile. Ask if you can reserve it, leave few € which you will get back anyway when they get the money from bike scheme.

vickser

Just an update on this one guys. After weeks of "I should have an update on your bike this week" and never receiving a call, ending up with me having to chase relentlessly, I finally got news that the bike was delivered last week!!!

BUT I had ordered accessories also and now they are waiting on the Pannier bags to be delivered! To say I'm pee'd off is an understatement. The accessories were ordered at the same time as the bike - their design hasn't changed so why didn't they order these and just hold them?!! I had to call this week twice already to find out if they would be delivered by Saturday (supposed to have collected the bike & accessories yesterday) to be told Friday evening that they hadn't arrived.

The answer I got was "Well I have emailed Giant and I'm waiting to hear back". I told the guy I've been dealing with since the start of this ordeal that I wasn't happy and the best I got was "Sher, maybe I can try another supplier and see if I can get them in for early next week".

Customer Service is certainly not this crowds strong point!! I'm sorry I decided to go with them. If I had my time over I would avoid them like the plague.

So my question is, can I collect what's there and ask them for the cash price of the Pannier Bags and just buy them somewhere else? I just want to end this sorry mess and never deal with these guys again!

hudo

Went to harrys bike (bike paid and ordered 1st Aug), because they didnt respond to 3 emails last week. They said that giant defy 4 will be delivered in 3-5 weeks, but they have one defy 5 xl so I agreed to take that one. Picked it up next day, and lady working there was really nice, she felt really bad i'm waiting for so long, but of course that doesnt help...

Now, don't know if that's my fault (this is my first racer), but gears are shifting up and down on its own, it's very difficult to shift to a gear, without problems and sudden jumping up/down!
I'm taking the bike back to shop for a service, because I couldn't drive for 10m without shifting issues ...

vickser

Think this BTW scheme is like money for jam for these bike shops. They don't seem to place any value in these customers and dish out leftovers!

ted1

I went for a Cube, got the cheque from the finance department went to collect the bike. They turned me away as the cheque was made payable to cycle surgery ( the name of the bike shop) but they only take cheques mad payable to snow and Rock their parent company . Hopefully I can get the cheque cancelled and a new one reissued ASAP.
Fairly pissed off about this. But in fairness to the shop they did hold the bike for me and will hold it till I get a new cheque
It's never easy.....