CRC/Wiggle Customer Service issues Vitus specific - please post up problems you have had here

Jonny Chalk

New Member
Nov 10, 2020
1
0
United KIngdom
I purchased a Vitus e-sommet VR in January 2019. It came from Wiggle and as I already had the 5% discount the price was very good. It arrived without any damage (I realise that was quite fortunate) and I paid my LBS a trivial sum to set the tyres up as tubeless and give it a once over. After adding my pedals the XL bike tipped the scale at almost exactly 21 kilos.


On the first ride the cable to the dropper post snapped. Not a good start, but my LBS replaced it with "a proper cable" for fifteen pounds. Wiggle responded quickly to my emails but wouldn't give me the money, only a credit for that amount at their store. I thought that a bit poor, but as I regularly need various consumables it wasn't worth making an issue of it.


Riding for the first twelve months was great. I found that the range was less than I had hoped - but about what I expected. A full battery gave me about 25-30 miles with a climb of around 120 feet per mile, almost all off-road in eco. As this was about the range of a ride on one of my normal bikes I bought a second battery which pushed my ride range up to around fifty miles. Much better. I don't mind riding with a pack and bought an Ergon back-protect pack for the battery as well as my usual spares etc. I highly recommend the pack.

Autumn and Winter 2019 in the UK were wettest ever, I think. I ride all year round, and by January 2020 I had racked up close to 2,500 miles. Then the bike started to give me error messages; mainly E010. I'm pretty sure that the root cause of the issue will have been that it was so wet for so long - although the motor was never submerged or washed with a power washer. Wiggle suggested eventually that I either sent the bike back to them or took it to a Shimano service centre. My LBS had already had a look and told me that it was a motor fault according to the diagnostics. Given that it was an hour's drive to the nearest service centre I chose to send it back to them.

The bike was packaged in the box that they sent me for the return (kudos to them for sending the box), and collected by their courier. A couple of weeks after it went back to them they came back and told me that the bike had been damaged in transit. No mention of any repair, but I replied pointing out that I expected them to sort it out. They never responded regarding that. Many months later - July 2020, so that is six months after the fault was reported, and after about twenty emails, various FB direct messages and posting on their various FB adverts about how useless they were, they advised by email that the bike would soon be repaired. But then the next email said that they couldn't repair it as the replacement motor was "incorrectly programmed" - which I presume means set up for the wrong wheel size as I can't think of anything else that they could mean. The tone of my emails had become increasingly direct over the dozen or so emails leading up to this, and they would have been under no misunderstanding about what I thought about their lack of customer service.

I'd already decided that I didn't want the bike back after not having it for six months, and had decided to sell it if it came back repaired, so the final happy resolution was that they eventually agreed to refund the bike. So, finally I had by money back but no ebike. On the plus side, I then sold the spare battery and the charger for as much as the second battery had originally cost me, so I've ended up essentially hiring an ebike for zero cost for a year.

So now I have no ebike, but I still have my various traditional bikes and I'm having just as much fun on them. The e-sommet was an awesome bike when it worked, and if you have one without issues then you'll be very happy. But I'm not going to get another one, at least not until the reliability of the motors improves. Even if Wiggle had replaced the motor promptly then it seems most likely that it would have failed again after a year leaving me with the options of binning the bike or spending around a grand a year on replacement motors to keep it running after the second year's warranty expired. No thanks.

So this thread is about Wiggle/CRC's customer service. Six months to sort out a problem and then giving a refund? Whilst the refund was the best possible result, it shouldn't have to take twenty emails to get them to sort something out, and the time taken was a joke. I wouldn't recommend that anybody wastes their money buying from these companies.

Final point - I have a brand new replacement hangar. If anybody in the UK wants to send me a message with their address I'll stick it in the post to them - it's no use to me any more and I can't be bothered sticking it on ebay...
 

jpj. 92

New Member
Oct 13, 2020
22
11
Uk
I purchased a Vitus e-sommet VR in January 2019. It came from Wiggle and as I already had the 5% discount the price was very good. It arrived without any damage (I realise that was quite fortunate) and I paid my LBS a trivial sum to set the tyres up as tubeless and give it a once over. After adding my pedals the XL bike tipped the scale at almost exactly 21 kilos.


On the first ride the cable to the dropper post snapped. Not a good start, but my LBS replaced it with "a proper cable" for fifteen pounds. Wiggle responded quickly to my emails but wouldn't give me the money, only a credit for that amount at their store. I thought that a bit poor, but as I regularly need various consumables it wasn't worth making an issue of it.


Riding for the first twelve months was great. I found that the range was less than I had hoped - but about what I expected. A full battery gave me about 25-30 miles with a climb of around 120 feet per mile, almost all off-road in eco. As this was about the range of a ride on one of my normal bikes I bought a second battery which pushed my ride range up to around fifty miles. Much better. I don't mind riding with a pack and bought an Ergon back-protect pack for the battery as well as my usual spares etc. I highly recommend the pack.

Autumn and Winter 2019 in the UK were wettest ever, I think. I ride all year round, and by January 2020 I had racked up close to 2,500 miles. Then the bike started to give me error messages; mainly E010. I'm pretty sure that the root cause of the issue will have been that it was so wet for so long - although the motor was never submerged or washed with a power washer. Wiggle suggested eventually that I either sent the bike back to them or took it to a Shimano service centre. My LBS had already had a look and told me that it was a motor fault according to the diagnostics. Given that it was an hour's drive to the nearest service centre I chose to send it back to them.

The bike was packaged in the box that they sent me for the return (kudos to them for sending the box), and collected by their courier. A couple of weeks after it went back to them they came back and told me that the bike had been damaged in transit. No mention of any repair, but I replied pointing out that I expected them to sort it out. They never responded regarding that. Many months later - July 2020, so that is six months after the fault was reported, and after about twenty emails, various FB direct messages and posting on their various FB adverts about how useless they were, they advised by email that the bike would soon be repaired. But then the next email said that they couldn't repair it as the replacement motor was "incorrectly programmed" - which I presume means set up for the wrong wheel size as I can't think of anything else that they could mean. The tone of my emails had become increasingly direct over the dozen or so emails leading up to this, and they would have been under no misunderstanding about what I thought about their lack of customer service.

I'd already decided that I didn't want the bike back after not having it for six months, and had decided to sell it if it came back repaired, so the final happy resolution was that they eventually agreed to refund the bike. So, finally I had by money back but no ebike. On the plus side, I then sold the spare battery and the charger for as much as the second battery had originally cost me, so I've ended up essentially hiring an ebike for zero cost for a year.

So now I have no ebike, but I still have my various traditional bikes and I'm having just as much fun on them. The e-sommet was an awesome bike when it worked, and if you have one without issues then you'll be very happy. But I'm not going to get another one, at least not until the reliability of the motors improves. Even if Wiggle had replaced the motor promptly then it seems most likely that it would have failed again after a year leaving me with the options of binning the bike or spending around a grand a year on replacement motors to keep it running after the second year's warranty expired. No thanks.

So this thread is about Wiggle/CRC's customer service. Six months to sort out a problem and then giving a refund? Whilst the refund was the best possible result, it shouldn't have to take twenty emails to get them to sort something out, and the time taken was a joke. I wouldn't recommend that anybody wastes their money buying from these companies.

Final point - I have a brand new replacement hangar. If anybody in the UK wants to send me a message with their address I'll stick it in the post to them - it's no use to me any more and I can't be bothered sticking it on ebay...
Wow that is whole lot of bad times..! Hoping mine doesn't give me the same problem as I ride in pretty minging conditions a fair bit..! Any issues I think I will Pay my local bike shop to directly deal with shimano on motor or battery issues. On another note I would be very grateful for the spare hanger if still available!
All the best for the future ebike when you get one!
 

R120

Moderator
Subscriber
Apr 13, 2018
7,819
9,185
Surrey
Thanks for sharing, that is plumbing the depths of customer service! I would remind anyone on reading though that you can get your local Shimano Service centre (most LBS's) to warranty the motor, and avoid going via CRC.
 

Randy

Member
Apr 23, 2020
56
37
Henley on Thames
So I chased my broken screen again today after getting no response from an email two days ago and got this:

"Hey Chris,

I have heard back from the service centre and they have confirmed that your display unit is covered under warranty but they do not have stock of a replacement item. In this case for the quickest resolution I would advise you to purchase a replacement from the link below:

Shimano SC-E8000 Steps Display | Shimano System Shop

If you then send me the receipt for this I can refund it to your original payment method.
Thanks,"
So, great, a resolution but why takes 5 weeks to get there. New screen is ordered and fingers crossed I'll be back on it by the weekend. Next time something Shimano related goes tits up I'm definitely going to a service centre and not CRC. What I have found previously with CRC is that their returns policies on components is really good, they just don't seem to be nearly as equipped to deal with complete bikes. They should point returns back to Vitus instead of using their own customer service team who just aren't close enough to the bikes themselves to be helpful (just my 2p anyway).
 

TG1971

Member
Nov 14, 2020
47
15
Yorkshire
I’m new on here but thought I’d share my experience I bought two vitus E-Escarpe vrx for me and the wife from CRC delivery was ok but the wife’s bike the chain guide was incorrectly set up took a chunk out of rear stay so adjusted it and sent an email to the customer services had no reply, my bike arrived I had issue with chain guide but adjusted as soon as it arrived but the steerer top cap was damaged and the dropper external cable was in a real mess and the post didn’t work because of the cable routing. again I sent email no reply, we love the bikes and in only a few of Months have done over 1000 miles had no problems with bike or motors but my bike is now doing far less miles than when i got it, My battery says 22 cycles and 89% and my wife’s is 26 cycles and 99%. Used st Unlocker to get these fig don’t know how accurate this is, was thinking of emailing CRC to ask about range but don’t hold much hope for reply.
 

MikeAxles

Member
Jul 4, 2020
13
10
Bridgend
Currently on Day 37 with no end in sight.

Crunchy E7000 on 2020 E-Sommet VR
New video by Mike Ayles

1609331859116.png
 

Gary

Old Tartan Bollocks
Author
Subscriber
Mar 29, 2018
10,496
10,688
the internet
How long had you had the bike?
If more than 30 days that's a serious win for you.
 

MikeAxles

Member
Jul 4, 2020
13
10
Bridgend
I put about 6 months riding (1500km) on it before it packed in.There were a few bits that weren't compensated for, like a decent set of ergon grips, tyre inserts and the suspension was recently rebuilt, but I can't complain with the outcome.

I am struggling to find a cost effective replacement without adding another £1500 to the budget, although I do have a couple of BT-e8010's to go towards it.
 

jpj. 92

New Member
Oct 13, 2020
22
11
Uk
I put about 6 months riding (1500km) on it before it packed in.There were a few bits that weren't compensated for, like a decent set of ergon grips, tyre inserts and the suspension was recently rebuilt, but I can't complain with the outcome.

I am struggling to find a cost effective replacement without adding another £1500 to the budget, although I do have a couple of BT-e8010's to go towards it.
How much are you selling the batteries for and will you post them UK?
 

cjm_wales

Member
Mar 19, 2019
102
86
Cardiff
I purchased a Vitus e-sommet VR in January 2019. It came from Wiggle and as I already had the 5% discount the price was very good. It arrived without any damage (I realise that was quite fortunate) and I paid my LBS a trivial sum to set the tyres up as tubeless and give it a once over. After adding my pedals the XL bike tipped the scale at almost exactly 21 kilos.


On the first ride the cable to the dropper post snapped. Not a good start, but my LBS replaced it with "a proper cable" for fifteen pounds. Wiggle responded quickly to my emails but wouldn't give me the money, only a credit for that amount at their store. I thought that a bit poor, but as I regularly need various consumables it wasn't worth making an issue of it.


Riding for the first twelve months was great. I found that the range was less than I had hoped - but about what I expected. A full battery gave me about 25-30 miles with a climb of around 120 feet per mile, almost all off-road in eco. As this was about the range of a ride on one of my normal bikes I bought a second battery which pushed my ride range up to around fifty miles. Much better. I don't mind riding with a pack and bought an Ergon back-protect pack for the battery as well as my usual spares etc. I highly recommend the pack.

Autumn and Winter 2019 in the UK were wettest ever, I think. I ride all year round, and by January 2020 I had racked up close to 2,500 miles. Then the bike started to give me error messages; mainly E010. I'm pretty sure that the root cause of the issue will have been that it was so wet for so long - although the motor was never submerged or washed with a power washer. Wiggle suggested eventually that I either sent the bike back to them or took it to a Shimano service centre. My LBS had already had a look and told me that it was a motor fault according to the diagnostics. Given that it was an hour's drive to the nearest service centre I chose to send it back to them.

The bike was packaged in the box that they sent me for the return (kudos to them for sending the box), and collected by their courier. A couple of weeks after it went back to them they came back and told me that the bike had been damaged in transit. No mention of any repair, but I replied pointing out that I expected them to sort it out. They never responded regarding that. Many months later - July 2020, so that is six months after the fault was reported, and after about twenty emails, various FB direct messages and posting on their various FB adverts about how useless they were, they advised by email that the bike would soon be repaired. But then the next email said that they couldn't repair it as the replacement motor was "incorrectly programmed" - which I presume means set up for the wrong wheel size as I can't think of anything else that they could mean. The tone of my emails had become increasingly direct over the dozen or so emails leading up to this, and they would have been under no misunderstanding about what I thought about their lack of customer service.

I'd already decided that I didn't want the bike back after not having it for six months, and had decided to sell it if it came back repaired, so the final happy resolution was that they eventually agreed to refund the bike. So, finally I had by money back but no ebike. On the plus side, I then sold the spare battery and the charger for as much as the second battery had originally cost me, so I've ended up essentially hiring an ebike for zero cost for a year.

So now I have no ebike, but I still have my various traditional bikes and I'm having just as much fun on them. The e-sommet was an awesome bike when it worked, and if you have one without issues then you'll be very happy. But I'm not going to get another one, at least not until the reliability of the motors improves. Even if Wiggle had replaced the motor promptly then it seems most likely that it would have failed again after a year leaving me with the options of binning the bike or spending around a grand a year on replacement motors to keep it running after the second year's warranty expired. No thanks.

So this thread is about Wiggle/CRC's customer service. Six months to sort out a problem and then giving a refund? Whilst the refund was the best possible result, it shouldn't have to take twenty emails to get them to sort something out, and the time taken was a joke. I wouldn't recommend that anybody wastes their money buying from these companies.

Final point - I have a brand new replacement hangar. If anybody in the UK wants to send me a message with their address I'll stick it in the post to them - it's no use to me any more and I can't be bothered sticking it on ebay...

This was shocking to read... I hope I have a better experience (same bike, same fault).

If I can cut out CRC & deal with shimano directly that would be awesome. I might try that today.
 

cjm_wales

Member
Mar 19, 2019
102
86
Cardiff
update:

I ended up taking my Vitus to my local Shimano dealership. They removed the motor & sent it to Madison. I was billed £40 for this, which was reimbursed by CRC.

Madison had the motor for 3 weeks, and it came back with a 'firmware fix' - which, I assume, is a tweak to handle erroneous signals from a heavily corroded sensor.

I managed to get about 60km on my bike before it became unrideable with E010 errors again. Currently my bike is back at the Shimano dealer, and the motor is back with Madison (another weeks' riding lost).

I am now in direct contact with Madison & I've told them that the only thing I'll accept is a replacement motor; the guy in the warranty team that I spoke to on the phone indicated that they'd be replacing it anyway as the initial fix failed. If they're unwilling to fit a new motor, it'll be refund time.
 

Afly

New Member
Jun 21, 2021
4
4
Campbeltown
I had a very good experience with CRC. My 2018 Vitus Esommet, came up with the dreaded E010 code (around May) it was 1 year 10 months old with 1900 miles. I requested a warranty fix online. Two days later they were sending me a box to collect the bike, box arrived sent away and was back with CRC a few days later. After four days CRC replied and stated: We cannot fix the bike nor give a replacement, so we will issue a full refund. I was a bit shocked as I expected my bike back, however as it was a full refund after all that time, I could put the money towards a new bike. So another two days pass, instructed CRC to issue my refund, they refunded within a day.

I then remembered I had put new Ergon grips, seat on the bike along with my Garmin mount and pedals. CRC kindly removed them from the bike and sent the items back to me.

All in all I cannot fault CRC, from the initial communication to the refund. Very fast and had a better outcome than I expected. (maybe i was just lucky)


I think the issue was the motor supply, bit strange but I recon they could not find a replacement motor.

I would have bought another Vitus, but they are out of stock.
 

STATO

Active member
Feb 18, 2020
193
123
North
I had a very good experience with CRC. My 2018 Vitus Esommet, came up with the dreaded E010 code (around May) it was 1 year 10 months old with 1900 miles. I requested a warranty fix online. Two days later they were sending me a box to collect the bike, box arrived sent away and was back with CRC a few days later. After four days CRC replied and stated: We cannot fix the bike nor give a replacement, so we will issue a full refund. I was a bit shocked as I expected my bike back, however as it was a full refund after all that time, I could put the money towards a new bike. So another two days pass, instructed CRC to issue my refund, they refunded within a day.

I then remembered I had put new Ergon grips, seat on the bike along with my Garmin mount and pedals. CRC kindly removed them from the bike and sent the items back to me.

All in all I cannot fault CRC, from the initial communication to the refund. Very fast and had a better outcome than I expected. (maybe i was just lucky)


I think the issue was the motor supply, bit strange but I recon they could not find a replacement motor.

I would have bought another Vitus, but they are out of stock.

Was yours equipped with an E7000 or E8000 motor? I think 2018 were all E8000 but not sure.
 

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