puma1552

In February I bought a set of wheels from Wiggle. Wheels arrived promptly, and looked good. Installed, and had problems with the brake tracks galling no matter what brake pad I tried (Shimano R55C4, SwissStop BXP, Kool Stop Salmon Dura 2). Bike was unrideable, couldn't go more than a couple minutes before the pads were trashed and there were horrible grinding sounds damaging the wheels. Was cleaning wheels constantly with isopropyl alcohol, etc. Something just wasn't right.

I opened a dialogue with the manufacturer's North America branch and sent them pictures. They said something definitely seemed wrong, and they had never seen the issue. They suggested that I send the wheels in. They told me I had two options:

1) Send the wheels directly to the NA branch for failure analysis, but this would need to be done through an official dealer (LBS) for insurance reasons
2) Send the wheels back to the retailer, which would ultimately end up going to the manufacturer's UK branch

Since I didn't buy the wheels from the LBS, I didn't think it was right to have them liaison with the manufacturer on my behalf. The correct path, to me, was to go back through the retailer I purchased them from, so that's what I did. That retailer was Wiggle in the UK.

I initiated a return on 4/5/19, packaged the wheels up, and dropped them off at the post office that same day.

I had to pay for the return shipping, of which I had no say in the method. While it's bad enough to pay for the return shipping, the real problem is that Wiggle uses two shipping companies just to get the package to the US return depot in Washington, D.C. They use USPS for the drop off, and then it gets handed off to UPS somewhere along the line for delivery to the US return depot. From there, it goes overseas. The tracking I am provided only provides tracking to the US return depot, nothing further. The use of two shipping companies just to move it within the US alone is important because...

...the wheels weren't seen for 20 days after dropping them off at the post office. There was an acceptance scan the day I dropped them off, and then 8 days later, still no further scan, at which point I started calling and investigating because something wasn't right. They weren't seen again until I physically went to the post office, for the second time to track them down, on 4/24, when they were finally found, still sitting in the back. They were only found after both USPS and UPS just constantly pointed fingers at each other. Nobody could give correct information, because nobody at either entity knew how to do their job. All they would do is give me the run around and point fingers at each other, ensuring me that it was the other company's fault the wheels were missing. I spent something like 8 hours total on the phone across multiple days with both USPS and UPS trying to find these wheels. Extremely stressful. In that time, I opened a case with USPS, and nobody there ever called me back; no, I had to constantly badger them to get any information. In that time, I was also speaking with Wiggle, and I mentioned that I had opened a case with USPS, and asked them to open a case with UPS. They said they would. They never provided an update. I followed up with Wiggle again, told them I had heard nothing, and they said they would email me with information. Again, I never heard anything, because nobody does their damn job. Eventually, I found the wheels myself at the post office and got the guy at the post office to scan them again on 4/24, and then they got moving.

If Wiggle had just used one company to move the wheels from MN to Washington, D.C., there would've been far fewer problems, blame, and stress for me. Wiggle did nothing here, I was left holding the bag to find my wheels. There is zero, and I mean zero reason for Wiggle to use two shipping companies to move a package within the United States. They should have made it to Washington D.C. entirely in the care of one shipping company so that they couldn't just point fingers at each other.

So the wheels finally got moving. They arrived in Washington, D.C, and they were last scanned on May 2, as "in transit to retailer" after a prior scan indicating they were being put on a pallet. I have no actual shipping company tracking to track them from their journey between the US and the UK. I've been told conflicting things by Wiggle, that they use Royal Mail, and that they use UPS. The actual tracking number(s) I have had are numbers that terminate in delivery to Washington, D.C. I have no actual tracking number from the US to the UK for this part of the journey. No, all I have is the secondary Wiggle return confirmation email with a generic tracking link. Don't know who is moving the wheels at all.

Today is May 14th. This is day 39 without my product, my money, or even the return shipping. And no resolution in sight.

I spoke with Wiggle again, and I've been firm in what I expect from them; I want a full refund for the wheels, and I want a full refund for the return shipping. I've made this crystal clear to them, and I've told them that this has been an awful process, that the customer service has left a lot to be desired, and that at this point I've been very patient and very reasonable, but "sorry I can't do anything, sorry for the delay" simply doesn't cut it anymore. I've made it clear to Wiggle that I am very unhappy and I've made it clear what I reasonably want/expect from them as an outcome. I've asked them to just provide me a refund and they can deal with the wheels in the background. They won't do it. All I get is "Sorry for the delay, sorry, but due to the high $ value of the item I nor my supervisor can provide you a refund until the wheels are analyzed for failure, sorry." Just more of the same garbage from them.

This morning, twelve days since they were last scanned, I was now told that it can take four weeks for the wheels to make it from the US return depot to the UK. Four weeks. So you are telling me that at 39 days in, and I still have 2-3 weeks to go just for you to RECEIVE the return? And then from there, no, you won't just provide a refund, no, you need to have your team liaison with the manufacturer to SEE if there's a failure and the wheels can be warrantied? So what are we looking at, realistically, July? I mean, is it going to be 75-90 days all said and done, and even then, I don't know if you're even going to give me a refund at all? Unlike any other company or manufacturer anywhere on the planet, Wiggle won't refund something if it's open, and all these UK discount retailers are the same. Once you open it, you own it unless there's a warranty failure, and whatever you send has to go through warranty failure analysis before they will even consider offering you a refund. "Easy 365 day returns" on their homepage is a scam. There's nothing, and I mean nothing easy about this.

This process has been a nightmare. I told them this morning again that I was unhappy with another worthless "sorry for the delay, can't do anything" and that I expected better from them. They simply closed the chat window, so here I am, feeling that I have provided them ample opportunity to make things right to no avail. So, now I'm here telling everyone about my experience and telling everyone to avoid them, and their co-company, Chain Reaction Cycles, like the plague.

Wiggle has good reviews online...unless you start looking at reviews of returns. Those are absolutely awful, and my experience mirrors this. 39 days, no product, no money, not even return shipping, and I have literally no end or resolution anywhere remotely in sight at this point. Don't even know if I'll even get a refund when it's all said and done. I will lose half of my riding season or more, all said and done, and Wiggle couldn't give two *****s.