Wiggle - disappointing experience

Recreation Cycling
1

I’ll try to keep it as short as possible.

I ordered crankset, cassette, chain and a wheelset from them on 6th. They split the order into two packages, one for the wheelset and another for the other stuff. although I could have enjoyed the free delivery service, I paid extra 30 pounds for tracking the items and getting them ASAP. Both packages were delayed and it wasn’t possible to track them until they arrived my door. Estimated TOA was Monday 12th.

First package to arrive (friday 17th) was the cassette, chain and crankset. I had the latter installed in a coffee-bicycle shop near my place, 200 NT, friendly guy. Nice.

Wheels arrived on Sunday 19th, late evening. The crappy cardboard box looked pretty beaten, with holes where the hubs are located. Hubs came with 2 small plastic cups protecting them on the sides, one of them was cracked, presumably because of the pressure or weight the box had been under. BAD. I reported the situation to Wiggle though.

They looked fine at first glance, so I had the cassette installed and put 2 new tubes for 400 NT and installed all on the bike, Tuesday evening. When I made the wheels spin I noticed that:

  1. both rims were slightly out of true
  2. the front hub was making a funny noise, due to some friction: one lateral plastic cover wasn’t well plugged into the hub, and it seemed to touch the hub somewhere where it shouldn’t.

I informed Wiggle again, and asked them why they didn’t replied my previous emails with pictures. they said they didn’t received them, and this was because the mail was stuck in my phone. I fordward the original email and sent an additional email with same pictures + 2. That was 2 days ago, still no answer whatsoever.

I’m getting very pissed off with the poor service: delivery times, packaging, very deficient customer support. Apparently they didn’t even put a piece of cardboard for separating the wheels that they usually use in their deliveries. If the rims are adjustable/fixable, I would keep them, but I have no idea on what they will offer as compensation for the bad service (6 days of delay, bad packaging, items NG). And I don’t want to spend more time sending emails back and forth…

  • should I just tell them to fuck off and try to cancel the payment until they give me answers? not sure if this is an option, but I really feel like doing so
  • should I unmount the wheels and send them back? if so, should I wait for them to arrange the items pick up?
    *should I ask them for a partial refund that covers the truing, fixing the hub noise, and compensates for the delay and annoyance?
  • should I do something else online, in addition to posting this thread, for making public how crappy their service can get?
2

Never had a problem with Wiggle, either when buying in the UK or when I’ve had stuff sent here. Packaging has always been top notch.

Was your stuff sent from the UK?

3

I think so, although it passed also by Spain xD

Did you ever buy wheels? how where they packaged?

4

I’ve been ordering stuff from Wiggle for ages and I’ve never had a problem, though I never dared buying wheels there because I’m too worried about potential damage during the shipping process.

5

I had the same concern. I was right :smiley:

Seriously… if they packed this shit correctly, with some Styrofoam, there shouldn’t be any problem. But they don’t. They just put them on a cardboard box, wrapped in these bubbles plastic bags or whatever you call them.

I’ve watched 2 youtubes: one of them was an unbox of a mess of a package, all parts mixed or coming out of their original wrapping, and the other one was a wheelset that had no problems… and it had a bit more protection than my package. Something for separating the wheels one from another.

6

Well, the first thing I would say is that I am terribly spoiled with reply-time since living and working with / in Asia for the last 25 years.
Where Asian companies reply within hours or a day, European companies still think a week is rather fast.
Perhaps you should give it a little bit more of time?

Then, how you did you pay?
I do pay my internet purchases mostly with Paypal.
They have a dispute option, which you are automatically entitled to use.
I think credit card companies have the same provisions.

After years of problem-free international shopping (I buy all my classic car parts mostly in Japan, USA and the UK), I had a problem with Yahoo / Buyee in Japan.
Their technical description was auto translated in English by them, and the model exclusion was basically lost in the process.

Buyee refused to find a solution, and the way they informed me pissed me off so much that I filed a claim through Paypal.
Within 5 days I got confirmation that the price for the item, the additional price for painting, Buyee’s fee, the fee for extra protection and large item, and the express costs were to be reimbursed without further discussion.
Mind you, no little money!
All I had to do was a registered return (at my costs, fair enough) to the supplier.
With them cornered, I made them an renewed offer ‘they could not refuse’ and they accepted :).

Maybe helpful if you decide to settle with Wiggle?

7

If there’s proof you’ve already installed your cassette and ridden the wheels, it will be very tough to claim that the wheels showed up at your door poorly packaged. Wiggle may claim that you had an accident of some sort on your first ride out. I’m hoping that’s not the case, but just playing the other side.

However, their still lies the issue that you received the parcels late and you couldn’t track them even though you paid for parcel tracking and a speedy delivery. Those are things you can think about disputing and can be backed up with the tracking number.

I would highly suggest calling their customer service. You can use Google to make outbound international calls that don’t cost money, I used that service to call the states, but not sure if it’s free form TW to UK.

Good luck.

8

Thanks for the info. I decided to disregard PayPal this time, for after a bit of research revealed that their currency conversion rates are totally abusive, so I paid with my DEBT card.

Before I take any action like returning or trying to cancel the payment, I want to know what options they offer. But the problem is that they never told me what my options were re delivery delay or problems with the packaging… Still waiting to see what they say.

I will try to return the wheels if the silence persists.

I have NOT ridden them yet (and God knows I want!!!). I just put them on my bike and saw that both of them are a bit out of true. And that the front hub has that noise. I sent them pictures (well, i tried) next morning or even same day I received the wheels. But you can not know if they are perfectly true until you spin them between your brake pads or something similar.

I tihnk I saw their contact info in some random forum, will need to try to call I guess. Thanks.

9

Right… still no emails from them. I just sent them a 90% copy&paste of the original post to them via some order form. I have the bike at home waiting to be ridden, and I don’t know what to do…

I guess I should put back the old wheels and show the new ones to some skilled mechanic to get a valid opinion on the wheels. Interestingly enough, Wiggle does not have this wheelset on stock anymore.

10

Update: Wiggle will refund the extra money I paid for the special delivery. Is this good? yes, but not good enough. I mean, I paid for something I kinda needed (to get the parts quick, within a predictable time, and being able to track the delivery) and I did not get the service I paid for.

As for the rims being out of true and the hub noise… she’s passed over the case to some technicians, who will contact me within the next 6 hours. Let’s see what they say. In the meanwhile, may be I should inspect more closely what’s up with that plastic rubbering the hub… I have read similar reports of the same model (Ultegra).

I really regret buying the wheels online.

11

Wiggle refunding you the extra money you paid for the express delivery was a must. When you choose a certain type of delivery and expect it to arrive within the expected time, it should arrive in that time frame! This isn’t Wiggle exclusive, I assume most online companies are like this.

Have they gotten back to you about the wheels? I’m curious about the hub noise, you’re sure it’s not the free hub?

12

I was attended by a nice lady who promised me to hand over the case to some technician. She waited until the end of her working time to send me another email asking me to go to a LBS to have the wheels checked to see if there’s a cheap fix, and that she couldn’t tell me more because the problems I reported could be a “number of things”. LOL. Rims out of true are what they are.

So she didn’t tell me my options, although I asked 100 times. And they want me to take it to a shop. I replied her if she plans to pay for the fix AND my time or what.

I told her that if Wiggle doesn’t tell me what the options are, I’m just sending it back. Probably in their broken box.

As for the noise, there are some reports on internet from people with supposedly the same problem. It seems that one of the dust covers might be rubbing the hub or something. At this point, I’m a bit tired of it all, and I would pay a bit more for a pair of “good” wheels here if I can find a good deal. They can stick the wheelset and the broken package up their ass.

13

Can you just pack them up and send them back for a refund, and get some wheels locally?

14

That’s what I said :smiley:

The thing is… in what package? in their crappy package which has at lest 3 holes? xD

15

If they accept it. Patch up the box and send it back.

There’s good deals on wheels here and I a few guys with a room full of wheels. That’s if you don’t mind them being second hand and slightly used.

LINE me and we can talk about it.

16

Yeah, too right. If they send stuff out in shitty packaging, send it back in the same stuff. Just cover the holes with some tape.

17

TBH, it’s not their fault that the packages were delayed (I think… although they have to take responsibility for it). The problems I can complain about are basically 1) crappy packaging and more importantly 2) really poor service. I guess they just want to wait for the client to make some movement before trying to compensate him, or informing about the options they have.

18

Wiggle sent an email saying that they think that the best thing to do then is to return the wheels. Now, they asked me the dimensions of the “order I’m returning”, and didn’t answer my question about what package to use for returning the wheels.

So… we need more and more emails, which is what I did NOT want.

What dimensions do they mean? the wheels? their broken package? a new package provided my me? O_o

I took the wheels to a shop and the laoban said that he could true the rims, and that he thinks that the noise is OK and might fade with the use… but he doesn’t know.

I’m heading to Hualien this evening for riding to Taitung and probably Kenting if the weather is OK, and my stupid me wants to true the rims and ride them in the South. Problem with this is that I already told them to send them the wheels because I spent too much time waiting for their explanations / proposal. And for more money I could get something that I can make sure that is in good condition before purchasing it, and about 100 grs lighter. But…

Fucking Wiggle morons. Fucking stupid me too!

19

Jesus, have a good ride to Taitung. I am sending positive vibes out for you.
Thanks for posting, I have been following your affair and will take heed of your dire experience. :slight_smile:

All the best,
Geoff
PS. Post a trip report when you get back, I am planning to follow your route soon.

20

Hey, thanks for the vibes… so it was you! Haha

The route is an easy one in many ways, the only thing is that even though we woke up and start the ride very early in the morning (11:00 AM), we have been riding in the dark too much for my taste. Really nice hills (I mean the views) around here :slight_smile:

https://www.strava.com/activities/880533233

Don’t look at the altitude, it has about 90 extra meters all the way long because of my stupid GPS.

Wiggle has sent a couple of emails and i’ll be explaining their offer soon.