[Closed] CRC's crap website

It used to be my go to first web site for bike bits shopping. Now it's almost last.

Ah, not just me then. I thought it was an age thing - I don't do change 😕 but I must admit it's not my first port of call any more. Superstar too - despite the bashing on here I use them loads and find them helpful and quick but that new site . . . noooooo! . . . just can't find anything any more.

I`ve also given up...
my last choice now..

yep - terrible utterly terrible.

Why use one or two clicks when you can use 7

Yep. Sucks in all manner of ways.

Me too, effen hate it, was my no one choice. I just wish they had left it the way it was, rather than letting some junior coder wethimself over his implementation of the latest xhtml5xxcssstossfest.
Also they have lost all my old orders.
Never go there now.

And before you say it, I have told chainreaction.com my feelings many many times.

(Mamadirt, I agree, superstar too, total rubbish)

CRC website wasn't working at all for me yesterday, all I got was a blank screen.

It has got proper annoying, I used to use it to browse and check up on stuff before ordering from my LBS.

@Simon I'm getting exactly the same thing today and last night. Ive tried windows, android and iOS machines to no avail and I'm looking for a set of 29er forks so I'm well frustrated!! 🙂

It almost as bad as when Cotswold Outdoor commissioned a completely flash based website. I can only assume someone got the bullet for that.

Awful on Safari, given up on it in that browser. Works a lot better on Chrome though.

Haven't been there in agaes, so I thought I'd go and see what you lot were moaning about, and...

WOW !! 😯

You were right. That should be a sacking offence whoever let that site go live.

No wonder they're losing customers left, right and centre. What a cluster***k

at the bottom of this page is an advert for chain reaction cycles extra 10% off accessories. If you click it you get

"No items match your search for "Extra 10% off Accessories"

This says it all! I don't use CRC anymore, its too much like hard work, while plenty of small, real world shops are offering good prices and easy to navigate websites!

I get the feeling that everything being designed as if optimised for tablets now - Its all gone like blimmin netflix, hundreds of crappy swipey lists completely destroying the ability to find anything.

I always thought Wiggle was by far the better website. The CRC site seems to have got really slow and annoying.

Previously used CRC for all my spares etc and have bought frames/forks from them but haven't used them once this year...last order was Autumn last year. Merlin & OnOne seem to be getting my money this year

It was rubbish when they first introduced it last year(?) and nothing seems to have been improved or sorted since.
I've bought loads from them over the years and used to spend some time just browsing. Now I simply can't be bothered.
Interesting to hear what CRC think of these comments.

designed as if optimised for tablets now

Except the crc website which is appaling on a phone or tablet.

It's not great, but it is use-able.

One thing that grinds my gears about it is when you click on the filter boxes the page refreshes and you have to scroll down and find the next box you want. So to filter shoes by say "shimano" and "mavic" takes quite a bit of faff. Small thing but just annoying.

I like the game they've made where you click a series of options and eventually you find out if it's in stock. Great fun!
I used to hate the way you could instantly see if what you wanted was available.
Well done crc.
😉

it seems to be back up and running now but i still can't find any forks !

cp - Member

designed as if optimised for tablets now

Except the crc website which is appaling on a phone or tablet.

Yep, I won't use it at all on my tablet.

Not used CRC for a while, when did the free postage stop?

(edit) ah, £9 and over.....

I must be in the minority of people who don't mind it.

If they keep knocking out deals like Saints pedals for 32 quid who cares if it goes a bit slow now and again.

I find myself in the clear minority of people who love the new design, it's so crisp and clean and easy to use. I reckon wiggle and merlin have pretty ugly websites, that don't really offer any better functionality.

Yep. Thats what everyone wants from a good user experience, pretty icons and pages, which.dont support the user journey, and give a very poor functional response.

Its like an episode from the Simpsons where Homer creates a website that has all the things he likes on it, dancing jesus, flashy words.... its horrific.

If they keep knocking out deals like Saints pedals for 32 quid who cares if it goes a bit slow now and again.

In the old days I would have found/stumbled across that deal and bought the pedals.... now days I find it hard to even spend my money there.

I imagine drunken purchases have almost been eradicated by the changes they've made. So well done CRC.

Ive gone to wiggle now. prices used to make me put up with crc's evr decreasingly slow and non working website but wiggle are just as cheap now.

AND their website works perfectly.

Same here given up options thingy doesn't work slow as hell and filters are shite.

its actually improved (quicker and no longer uses stock images of a single bed for half the catalogue) but its still fault-ridden; search and filters dont find stuff (I looked for something as exotic as a "32T chainring" and all it gave me were 2 full triple-ring cranksets to choose from), you click on all the options you want (sizes, colour, etc) click 'buy' and it takes you to a menu of all the variations again as if the previous stage hadnt existed.

I stayed completely away for 6-9 months after the revamp (even Halfords took more of my business), theyve only got some return business by including vouchers in with delivered orders which they need to make their prices competitive (eg. XT brakes need their SH10 shimano discount to match Ribble's stock price, except Ribble also have a discount code on).

What Earl and muggo said, I used to idly surf CRC when I was bored looking for bargains and I bet plenty of such "tyrekicking" turned into orders- its too difficult to do that now.

Same as Earl, muggo, and crastest. I just cannot be bothered clicking around that site any more! It's painstaking. If I am looking for a specific part I put up with it just to get a price.
Also agree with the comments about Superstar site. That is a ball ache to navigate round now! Tried selecting brake pads, 4 pack. It just took ages to select them all.. I'm sure it never used to take that long!!

I looked at 3 different things today and the descriptions were wrong on all of them! Like grips - description said something like " 32teeth for slicker shifts". that sorta thing. I did buy stuff cos they were,cheapest, but it took a while!

I hate how if you put something in the basket you get emails every 8 hrs saying that you forgot to buy it, or you load the basket up with stuff, then log in and the basket is empty. Totally annoying 🙁

they also facebook you to go back to what you have been looking at.

On the subject of CRC vs Wiggle. I live in Shanghai, and I've been amazed by the amount of people here that order kit from Wiggle. I see a lot of roadies riding about (European and Chinese) wearing DHB kit. I asked some of them them "Why Wiggle and not CRC" and they said "Who's CRC?..." Wiggle are definitely doing something right.

^that would send me over, thank goodness they don't have my FB details!

Just to place a different view. I ordered some mudguards Friday afternoon about 3ish. With free posting it was signed for at 9.01 at the office this morning.

I don't mind the site, although it is hardwork...

One thing that really annoyed me though is when they sent out my new forks last week. I ordered some REBA SL 29er forks, non-poplock version.

I got a pair of poplock forks with the poplock removed from the box! 👿 Not an issue you may think, but the damping unit returns to the lock out position on a spring for the poplock specific forks. I only noticed this after cutting the steerer and installing the forks, so I had no choice but to take the damping unit to bits and remove the spring, on a brand new set of forks. 👿

Surely part of the reason is probably the way google searches their site?

Type 27.2 thompson post into google shopping and click on the CRC link if it's cheepest. They don't really need a front page anymore, just a load of product pages.

Just to place a different view. I ordered some mudguards Friday afternoon about 3ish. With free posting it was signed for at 9.01 at the office this morning.

which would be impressive if it werent for the fact CRC used to have [i]de-facto[/i] next day free delivery, they were so quick at turning orders around. As a long-term customer I've lost count of the number of orders that I've had from them next-day, I also cant remember the last time this happened it was so long ago.

The cynic would say theyve slowed the process down to push paid-for next-day, except that service seems chaotic and worse than free, and I think its partly down to them now having multiple warehouse locations. Again, they are better than a year ago but not back to their best; my last order (single item) was ordered monday afternoon received wednesday morning, last year they were taking 5 days just to dispatch.