Tuesday 16 November 2010

Buying online bikes

Would you buy a bike on-line?.....well I did despite the dire predictions of friends and fellow commuter cyclists. I took my chances with http://www.hilderthorpecycles.co.uk/ who offered me a good deal on a Pashley Sovereign Roadster..... what other sort of bike would a gentleman be seen on?

I did this after visiting various London bike shops most of whom:-
a) looked down their nose at me for buying such a beast of a cycle (....the very idea!)...."why not go for the super lightweight single speed no handlebar option with gel brakes and underseat soda stream Sir?"
b) refused to offer anything like a "deal" on the bike and associated products despite considerable sums of cash in my grubby little hand.
c) had the audacity to tell me that the bike would not be delivered for six weeks at the very earliest! Six weeks!....."I can get a suit at Anderson & Sheppard's earlier than that Man!" ....I cried!

Suffice to say Hilderthorpecycles were willing to take me seriously, do me a deal, and deliver the bike within 36hours.....

The big concern about buying on-line is the quality of service, how to get things sorted that don't quite work right, setting the bike up and a host of other factors.

Well having suffered at the hands of a very poor courier service who seemed to believe a bike is an item that can be thrown from vehicles and delivered upside-down I was delivered of a bike in less than perfect condition. Woe is me I cried.

Happily I can state without fear of contradiction that James at Hilderthorpe Cycles could not have been more attentive or have delivered a better quality of service had I been standing over him with an unholstered Colt 45. To say he went the extra mile would be something of an understatement, putting the faults right, sending me an additional light just in case I had trouble fitting the damaged one and offering me the sort of attention that I thought had gone out with the 1920's and was simply unavailable in the internet age.

So I wondered is the last repository of service in cyberland?

What experience has anyone else had with on-line delivery? Are their bastions of cycling service in London or anywhere else in the UK? Any other recommendations gentle fellow travellers?

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