Spa Cycles (Harrogate)

Please be fair and thoughtful in your opinions. No rants please.
JohnW
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Re: Spa Cycles (Harrogate)

Post by JohnW »

mike1543 wrote:Rural wales,i,m loking for mail order/onlne wheels. Why?


Ah, well, if you'd been local to me I could have given you a few good wheelbuilders to have a look at, but I'm in West Yorkshire...........I've never had any Spa wheels, but I know several cycling colleagues who have and non of them have been disappointed.
mike1543
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Re: Spa Cycles (Harrogate)

Post by mike1543 »

Ah I see,well the info about your friends being happy with their wheels is helpful,thanks john.
JohnW
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Re: Spa Cycles (Harrogate)

Post by JohnW »

mike1543 wrote:Ah I see,well the info about your friends being happy with their wheels is helpful,thanks john.


My pleasure Mike - I hope that you get fixed up with your wheels and that you're very happy with them.
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Spinners
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Re: Spa Cycles (Harrogate)

Post by Spinners »

Hats off to Spa for not doing 'Black Friday' promotions :wink:
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mike1543
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Re: Spa Cycles (Harrogate)

Post by mike1543 »

Spa didn't seem fit to reply to my email regarding a set of wheels wanted,guess three emails in a week when you are looking to spend £250 on a set of wheels is to much for the poor dabs,so I went to sjs and the wheels are great,very pleased.oh and spa cycles- [ expletive removed ] :D
Last edited by Graham on 16 Dec 2014, 6:44pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: wow! - rudeness removed
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Paulatic
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Re: Spa Cycles (Harrogate)

Post by Paulatic »

Hehe I made an inquiry regarding a front derailleur got an email back selling me a chainset. I sent an email pointing out their mistake. That was the end of correspondence no further interest.

A shop which, many years ago, sent out parts with an invoice. You paid or sent them back. Ah the good old days [emoji3]
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leftpoole
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Re: Spa Cycles (Harrogate)

Post by leftpoole »

Emailed Monday, received a reply Tuesday. Items delivered-Wednesday!
Personal response from John (owner) and told to pay by cheque as usual.
Regards,
John
JohnW
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Re: Spa Cycles (Harrogate)

Post by JohnW »

This is to join the throng of reports of good service.

I ordered £125 worth of parts just before Christmas - I posted on 21st December. I received an e-mail on 22nd December confirming receipt of my (posted) order and cheque.

The goods arrived on the first Royal Mail delivery (as far as I know) after Christmas, on 30th December.
pwa
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Re: Spa Cycles (Harrogate)

Post by pwa »

My experiences with Spa have all been good. Yesterday I had a call to let me know that a chainring I had ordered was out of stock and it might take a while for it to arrive from France. An alternative was suggested and agreed, and it arrived in the post the next day. Life made simple!
boblo
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Re: Spa Cycles (Harrogate)

Post by boblo »

Well I was subjected to extreme abuse recently and had the phone slammed down on me. Why? I was asking about the CTC discount... Other than that, I've always been pleased with them.
Last edited by Graham on 24 Jan 2015, 9:03pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: specific abusive phrase removed
stuartg
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Re: Spa Cycles (Harrogate)

Post by stuartg »

I have bought quite a few things from Spa cycles recently. They have been a bit forgetful in putting everything in the box, but a quick call and everything has been issued the following day. However, I have had a few queries regarding wheels, spokes and self builds and Dave has been absolutely awesome.

Very, very pleased with the SP dyno and the the B&M lights and when I ordered the wrong spoke lengths, Dave picked this up and phoned me to let me know he would send the correct size! Most other bike shops wouldn't have a clue, so thanks for the service and the goods.
JohnW
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Re: Spa Cycles (Harrogate)

Post by JohnW »

boblo wrote:Well I was subjected to extreme abuse recently and had the phone slammed down on me. Why? I was asking about the CTC discount... Other than that, I've always been pleased with them.


Whilst there is no excuse for behaving in an abusive way towards you, maybe I can put this from a different perspective.

Several years ago the CTC changed it's policy on the CTC shop. Previously the CTC shop had supplied CTC specific and badged items (metal badges, beakers, sew-on badges, jerseys etc) and a very few general cycling components and items. The CTC were not duplicating or competing with general bike shops.

CTC policy changed, and they went into some kind of 'partnership' with a larger retailer and the so-called "CTC Shop" sold everything. Members were given a genuine discount. This met with disapproval and dismay from many Local Bike Shops - certainly my LBSs were upset by this. I may be wrong about this, my memory isn't clear, but I don't think that the first 'partner' in this venture were an on-line dealer. The first 'partner' were an already well established and respected bona fide outfit, and certainly I had previously dealt with them by post.

However, CTC changed it's partner to one of the big new-kids-on-the-block and the CTC Shop went on-line. Many members weren't happy with this, and more than one of my local bike shops complained that in contradiction to a claimed and stated policy of supporting LBSs, CTC was actively competing with them - the big national outfit could successfully compete in matters of range of stock, and price.........and worst of all (as my most local of LBSs saw it) they supposedly offered a member-discount.

Somehow the consternation of the LBSs and the unease of some members filtered through to CTC, and I recall our section committee (and as far as I know this was circulated to all section committees) were asked to go around our LBSs, asking what discount they would offer to CTC members, in return for being put on a list. To many of us, this was an insensitive way of rubbing salt into a wound. Our section secretary went around the LBSs in our area to ask the question - and I asked the question of my favourite LBS proprietor. My LBS proprietor told me that, on the basis of CTC's behaviour in this matter, he would not be offering members a discount, and he took it as an insult that we'd ask. Our section secretary received similar replies from all but one of the LBSs that she went to, and from the other one she was told in no uncertain manner that there would certainly NOT be a discount for CTC members, he considered it a damned cheek for us to ask, and the friendly relationship we enjoyed was not quite the same for a while.......in fact BC is still flavour of the month in that establishment.

Spa are not in our section's area (although I shop there from time to time) so I don't know how they reacted to the request. Spa already offer discounted prices (off recommended retail price) on most of the items they sell - and their knowledge and advice are given freely. I don't know what happened on the occasion of your visit, but seen in the light of history, and of them being asked for discount from a member of an organisation which is in competition with them one can understand the reason for them being upset.

For the record, one of our LBSs, since learning that I was a member, has given me a 10% discount without asking.
boblo
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Re: Spa Cycles (Harrogate)

Post by boblo »

They were advertising the CTC discount in the CTC rag...
JohnW
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Location: Yorkshire

Re: Spa Cycles (Harrogate)

Post by JohnW »

boblo wrote:They were advertising the CTC discount in the CTC rag...


............really? - that's amazing - I always look in detail at the Spa advert but I'd missed that. I see the Spa advert as a kind of catalogue of the things I use.......is it just for the Endura products, as advertised in the current edition? I hadn't realised it was there.

I may not be remembering correctly, but I seem to recall a similar discount for CTC members related to some Dawes bikes.........but it was a long time ago.

There's no excuse for abuse though; I've neither experienced nor witnessed that myself. From my own experience, I'm all in favour of Spa.
AndyK
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Re: Spa Cycles (Harrogate)

Post by AndyK »

JohnW wrote:Several years ago the CTC changed it's policy on the CTC shop. Previously the CTC shop had supplied CTC specific and badged items (metal badges, beakers, sew-on badges, jerseys etc) and a very few general cycling components and items. The CTC were not duplicating or competing with general bike shops..

Not quite. Towards the end, the in-house CTC shop carried a much wider range of cycletouring-related goods - a range that put it into direct competition with touring specialists like Spa Cycles, who nonetheless continued advertising in the mag. At one point I remember getting a photocopied catalogue from the in-house shop: many of the illustrations in it had been badly cut-and-pasted from the catalogue of a well-known retailer (Evans, IIRC) without permission. It was shortly after this that it was contracted out for the first time.
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