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Wiggle sucks - again!

GSAstuto

Maximum Pace
Oct 11, 2009
974
253
Wanting to get some CX / snow tires I ordered from Wiggle a few weeks ago. Of course they only had 1 tire actually in stock, even though their system indicated 10+ . So BOTH my sets were 'backordered' and nothing has arrived after 2weeks.

By contrast - I order direct from the distributor here in Japan and they arrive within 3 days. Cost is 20% more - but 20% more of <something> is a hellalot better!
 
Not wanting to sound like a smarmy bastard, but I ordered something from Wiggle on the 22nd of Dec and it arrived yesterday. :p
 
I ordered myself a head warmer, toe earners and winter gloves and they arrived on Christmas eve. It was like Santa delivering presents.
 
My only (major) complaint is that they should have their ERP system functional enough to provide accurate inventory upon ordering. For small company I can understand the lags / issues - but they have millions injected into them and there is simply no excuse for such a shoddy ERP system. Especially when, really, that's all they offer.
 
Wanting to get some CX / snow tires I ordered from Wiggle a few weeks ago. Of course they only had 1 tire actually in stock, even though their system indicated 10+ .

Perhaps you got unlucky and 10+ people ordered at the same time!
 
Happened to me too. Twice. They're lucky the Yen is so strong now, so I tend to be more forgivable.
 
i had close to the opposite experience with wiggle earlier with week. i order a new set of bars on an order page that said there was one item remaining. i got a notice the next day that my bars had been placed on back order and would likely not be available for a few weeks. the bars showed up at my house around 2 days later.

i think the moral of this story isn't that wiggle is great, or that they suck, but that you can never be sure of when what you ordered will arrive. like you said, if you need a part or something by a specific date it's best to order locally.
 
Basically they are like every other online retailer. To be honest I really don't see why they are such a polariser of opinion.

I've often experienced the same issues at many high street retailers - they advertise they have the stock, you go in and they have the same model on display yet when you come to get it in the required size, colour etc you are told they are out of stock and they will order it for you - only to be called up a week later and told they have to wait for the distributor to order new in which will take a further 3 weeks.

same old, same old.
 
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vittoria-cross-evo-xg-cyclocross-tubular-tyre/

This is the kind of ilk that gets my irritation factor up. @Sikochi - notice the 'In Stock' notification - well, yes, it's STILL showing in stock - and no sign of any 'rush to the stands'.

I have very mixed results with Wiggle. Maybe the only reason I actually <care> about this order is that I was HOPING to use them this weekend. I have alternates - but it would have been nice. IF their stock notice WAS correct showing ZERO - I would have simply ordered from another vendor - or locally - paying a bit more and getting them in time for my trip.

So - I wonder - does Wiggle just randomly put stock info? Or is it actually coming from their inventory control?
 
Well they are , and they aren't. They are heavily invested by PE - they have plenty of capital and resources to 'do things right' and their business model is based wholly on supply chain management and nothing else. Other online retailers may not have nearly the system resources, logistics, warehousing, etc - and are mainly using the online to supplement or just gather more customers. Fair enough.

Especially in Japan, the online retailers are horrid in terms of accurately portraying stock availability, etc. And the distributors , who should be basing their bread and butter on this exactly, are the worst!

We all fall prey and it would just be nice to have accurate stock / availability counts from the mfg process all the way up the chain.

One thing for certain is that the tremendous growth in cycling has put a big burden on the mfg chain itself. Some raw materials are just simply 'unobtanium' at times. Like, currently I'm having a very difficult time to get spokes. The mfg has been sold out for more than 6mo! With no promise of catching up until later in 2012!! So - we smaller builders have to glean what we can from hidden pockets around the globe just to meet small orders.



Basically they are like every other online retailer. To be honest I really don't see why they are such a polariser of opinion.

I've often experienced the same issues at many high street retailers - they advertise they have the stock, you go in and they have the same model on display yet when you come to get it in the required size, colour etc you are told they are out of stock and they will order it for you - only to be called up a week later and told they have to wait for the distributor to order new in which will take a further 3 weeks.

same old, same old.
 
Happens on Rakuten all the time. A lot of Rakuten affiliates have to pretend they have stock to get the order...

They then order in after they get the order. Sometimes having a 3rd party deliver direct.

:cool:
 
I had the same experience once - needed some tyres prior to a tour. They were listed as in stock, but then suddenly were out of stock. The order took ages to arrive, even though I needed them quickly.

I complained to them about this,


Dear Sir or Madam,

Order number: XXXX

At the time of ordering (Monday) all the goods were listed as being in
stock. Given priority dispatch I expected the goods to be sent out as
soon as possible.

After waiting several days (until Thursday) for confirmation of the
dispatch I began to personally check the stock status of my order. It
was from this that I realised that my order would be delayed as in the
intervening period some goods had become out of stock. I contacted you
to have these out of stock items removed so that the order could be
dispatched.

I think that under similar circumstances, Wiggle should make it a
policy to notify customers that some stock is unavailable and that
this will delay the order.

If I hadn't contacted you to remove some of the goods I might still
have been waiting. In the end, my order did not arrive in time and I
had to buy some essential things locally that were already in my
Wiggle order.

I am quite disappointed with this and frankly will hesitate to order
multiple goods that I need quite urgently from Wiggle again.

Yours sincerely,




to which they responded that "We are currently looking into a more convenient way of notifying customers directly when goods ordered become out of stock". This was in August 2010.

For the inconvenience, they gave me a 15 GBP voucher. It lessened the blow, but it was still a bit of an inconvenience.

The lesson for me was to place my orders pretty far in advance, and not to rely on or expect immediate delivery.
 
They certainly don't seem to lack for resources in spamming customers. So - what's hard about notification by email of information that is actually useful?
 
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/vittoria-cross-evo-xg-cyclocross-tubular-tyre/

This is the kind of ilk that gets my irritation factor up. @Sikochi - notice the 'In Stock' notification - well, yes, it's STILL showing in stock - and no sign of any 'rush to the stands'.

Sorry, I was being frivolous. If that`s the case, then yes it is annoying. Perhaps they were waiting on a delivery and figured by the time they processed any order it would have arrived. But I am always curious about this 10+ stock...why not post the actual amount? Like FarEast says, same old, same old.

On this subject, I have been searching where best to source my trainer from - the model isn`t available in Japan (I wanted to buy it here as return of such a bulky item will be a problem if it is faulty) and the main Asian distributor is in Taiwan - and noticed that JensonUSA actually give you a guaranteed delivery date (no additional charge) and will give you an automatic $10 voucher if late.

https://www.jensonusa.com/help_desk/ordermethods.aspx#ontime
On-Time Guarantee

Jenson USA is the only online bike shop to guarantee the delivery date of your purchase. We show the precise delivery date at checkout based on the availability of the items, time of day, shipping method, and delivery address - make a note of it. (If your order will be delivered in more than one shipment, we'll even show a date for each individual box.)

If Jenson USA fails to meet our promised date(s), we'll give you a $10 Jenson USA gift card as our apology – just ask.

What is covered under the On-Time Guarantee?
Just about everything! Including:

Jenson USA didn't ship your order on time
A supplier didn't ship items to Jenson USA on time
An item is unexpectedly out of stock
Box arrived on time, but Jenson USA shipped the wrong item
Jenson USA shipped on time, but a shipping company (UPS, etc.) made a late delivery

What is NOT covered under the On-Time Guarantee?

Orders that show a delivery date of "Unknown" at checkout. One or more of the items you've selected is out of stock with no ETA, so we can't provide a firm date in this instance.
Delays related to payment method. For example, if you give us a credit card that comes up "declined", or provide incorrect billing address information at checkout, this could delay the processing of your order.
Additions/changes to your order after it was placed online. Stopping the shipping process to change an order could affect the delivery date. We'll do our best to keep you appraised of such changes.
 
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