[Closed] J E James, Any Good.

Yup good outfit.

Got some tyres this week in less than 48 hours. SO happy with that - especially at the price.

bought a few bits and pieces off em, no problems at all.

Yep, good solid company, been around for ages.
Bought loads from them over the years.

Stay away that's my advice

they used to have quite a poor reputation. but that was years ago, perhaps they heard about it & did something about it

Bought a pair of wheels from them - took longer to arrive than i hoped but it was something to do with needing to be ordered in especially (or something a bit confusing along those lines). Either way they arrived in a reasonable time and no other snags - would use them again.

Yep, good with returns too. Posted something back Tues and the refund was being processed Weds.
Stock levels on the website seem prtty accurate these days too.

It's my lbs

Very good, tend to stock lots of strange odds and sods, once posted me something for nowt as it was cheaper/easier than processing a new card payment.

If you're female, don't bother going in to their shops, they're not interested!

Ordered a freehub off them last week, the wrong one turned up (photo wrong on their website), phoned up to tell them and they emailed me a freepost label to send it back with. Refund gone into Paypal account today, so nothing to worry about if are considering purchasing from them.

Mail order is ok. Their in store price match guarantee is bollocks as they never have anything in stock...

Only one experience, and that was bad. 6 weeks to sort a warranty replacement castelli jersey, and them only a credit because they refused to send a 2013 top in replacement for a 2012 out of stock top. No proactive communication either - we had to email them.

I spent the cash in Evans instead.

Good mail order experience and customer service in Sheffield shop. But unbelievably poor in the chesterfield shop. Was so bad i vowed never to use them ever again!

Anyone got a code?

Only bad experiences here. stopped using them a long time ago

Brought loads of stuff off them and always found them great.

Sheffield shop, they were one of the only local stockists at the time when i got my kuota road bike. Bought the frame from them. Lobbed in carbon stem for free as i bought monococ carbon handle bars from them. Decided to get chorus groupset off them and they sold me the carbon chorus groupset for the same price as the alloy chorus groupset. Think it was a saving of around 300 quiz or so. Zero complaints.

As above, had a lesser reputation 2-3 yrs ago but seem to have improved on all counts since. Yes they're cheap, but some items aren't boxed and IME may not be 100% genuine.

This week has sold J E James to me as my number one choice from now on! Ordered twice from CRC once on Saturday and then Sunday, ordered from Wiggle Saturday and used Buy It Now on Ebay on some well known shop sellers Friday, bit's for a build I'm doing.

Then Monday I realise I have forgotten tyres, what's this, £14.99 for conty 29er race kings. 2 please! Here Wednesday morning by DPD and regular texts from J E James about the status of my order, Wednesday our roads round here were trecherous...

And the reason I like them most, well It's Thursday night and I'm yet to see any CRC, Wiggle, Ebay orders!

Can't fault JEJames.

Sheffield branch let me try out a few bikes without any problems.

Rotherham don't let you try due to thefts and one of the managers is a bit of a prat. In general brilliant store like Sheffield too.

Were able to help me with most of my questions.

I've had good experiences with them. Their website is a bit of a mess. Could do with a proper menu, it's a pain to navigate through. Same as Leisure Lakes website. Awful to use.

Ordered a few bit and pieces over the years, no problems.

To be fair i've never had a problem with Merlin, On-One or Chain Reaction either.

but some items aren't boxed and IME may not be 100% genuine.

That is some accusation! Stuff from CRC doesn't come boxed either.

I've used JE a couple of times recently without issue.

Ive use the Rotherham branch for years and have never had a problem.

I ordered a mech hanger that didn't get dispatched for over a week despite showing in stock. I rang to speak to someone who appologised, found the item himself and posted it first class recorded. Not ideal but these things happen and they did their best to resolve. That was quite a few years ago mind.

Recently ordered a pair of GP4000s plus a couple of tubes, cheapest place I could find and quick delivery via courier.

EDIT: Would use again. But never had any issue with CRC, Merlin, Wiggle or Evans either - so it comes down to price (or highest % cashback if the same price)

If you're [s]female[/s] interested in spending some money, don't bother going in to their shops, they're not interested

FTFY

More than once I've tried to buy a bike from there (Chesterfield), but I've never felt welcome or valued as a customer and EVERY TIME I've had to go and ask for help rather than being offered help. Not pleasant experiences.

To balance this out, I have ordered from their website before now and have no complaints. Quite the opposite in fact. I bought some Revelations and had some questions about them. The mail order chap on the end of the telephone couldn't be more friendly and helpful. Maybe there's just something in the water at Chesterfield.

2 experiences with them. First was bad. Ordered a bike from them they had at a good price. All paid for, confirmation email received as expected. Heard nothing for a week. Gave them a call to ask when I could expect to receive it. Waited on the phone as I got passed from the shop floor to the warehouse back to the shop floor and finally back to the warehouse. Spoke to someone in the warehouse then checked my order and said it was due to be dispatched and would I hold for 2 minutes so he could go and double check. Waited 5 minutes at which point they hung up on me.

Re-called them, got through to shop floor explained what had happened and that I was a bit annoyed being on the phone for the best part of 20 minutes with still no information. He didn't apologies and just said "we might be having phone line problems". Eventually he explained that the ordered had been received (no sh!t) and it would be dispatched immediately.

Waited another 4 days, nothing. Called back again to find out what was going on when they told me they didn't actually have the bike in stock but might be able to get one from the supplier. Again no real apology just a matter of fact explanation. I cancelled the order and asked when I would received my refund, they advised it would be done immediately and would show in my bank account within 48hrs. 1 week later after a strongly worded email to store manager I received my refund and an apology.

Vowed never to use them again but ordered some very cheap inner tubes from them a couple of weeks ago. They arrived in 3 days which is basically what I expect and would have liked when I ordered a 2.5k bike from them.

I've found in the shops that unless you are spending £1k + on a complete new bike or are a cliquey LBS chum then they look down their nose at you.

Never ordered online as they are rarely the cheapest and when they are the don't have stock.

they are the don't have stock

Great Service For me ! Ordered a Madison hammerhead sledge online with them at 9.30pm sunday night and was out sledging on it at 10am tuesday
now that is service considering the country is covered in snow !!! 😆

One hundred quid for a sledge. Blimey, can you do the Cresta Run on it?

I've had good service from them - recently returned 3 years old Sram shifters and they dealt with Fisher and got me a replacement in a week.

I've found in the shops that unless you are spending £1k + on a complete new bike or are a cliquey LBS chum then they look down their nose at you.

What's always puzzled me is how do they know just by looking at you? I've gone in there with bigger budgets than £1k to spend and no one seems bothered. I ask for help and still no enthusiasm. I can't always be unlucky enough to go in when someone's having a bad day, can I??

Angus .... Sledge for life ! Fed up buying 9.99 plastic ones that break every five minutes ! 😉

I've posted this before, but seeing as you asked:

I'll never go back to JE James in Sheffield after my experience looking for a bike for my 5 year-old son. The woman who served us couldn't have been less helpful if she'd tried.

I had to ask her if she could possibly bother to get the bike off the display so he could sit on it, which she did after rolling her eyes like it was all too much trouble. Then, when the seat was a bit too low I asked her if she would mind adjusting it so he could try it for size. She sighed loudly and went to get a spanner, which she then gave to ME to make the adjustment.

Anyway, as soon as he'd sat on it and was off looking at another one (as 5 year-olds do), she immediately dropped the seat and put it back on the display and walked away. My son inevitably came back wanting to sit on the bike again, at which point we decided we'd had enough of being treated like an annoyance and took a tearful little boy out of the shop to look elsewhere.

I genuinely don't think I've ever been made to feel so angry at customer 'service' in my life before.

The mail roder website is a bit crap IMO. The stuff seems to arrive Ok once ordered though. I've found the type of things I tend to order are just as cheap at Merlin etc, so given the rubbish website I don't bother with JE J.

The shop at Rotherham has some really good bargains though, especially posh roadie gear. If i'm in the area I always call in and find myself parted from some loot

Thanks everyone for there advice, Ill go ahead and order the wheels 😀

Agree with the comments about Chesterfield branch. The attitude of the staff is really poor. I only go in if I absolutely have to. Would never buy anything big off them.

I regularly go into the Chesterfield branch for a browse. Bought some stuff from them but generally just mooch around. Have always found the staff friendly and helpful. They leave you to wander round without hassling you (I hate shops where the assistant is constantly by my side). When I have a question I simply go over to the desk and they are more than happy to spend time helping.

I would happily buy from there if they had what I wanted. Agree about the web site though - awful.

No problem with the Chesterfield store or the online service. Had a TCR from Chesterfield, £250 cheaper than everywhere else (inc on-line)and they had stock in various sizes.

I've always got on with the staff there, then again I'm not afraid to be quite assertive if I think someone could try harder (after too many years in retail management).

Interestingly, I have received an email from the Chesterfield store manager. Some of his comments follow :-

[i]"I have been trying to put more emphasis on giving female customers that extra customer service because in a male dominated store I can understand why ladies would feel uneasy. I employed Clare in our road department last year and she has been great and I have ordered more ladies clothing as we know it is a growing area.

We are also getting involved more with ladies cycling clubs hopefully to build the profile and in the hope that more females will feel welcome."[/i]

I have to give them credit for bothering to contact me, but unfortunately I'm now too far away to go in the store and check it out.

I work in Rotherham so can easily pop in to get bits. I've bought a bike, 2 groupsets etc without issues, and had a warranty claim dealt with efficiently, but sometimes things take time and seem a bit chaotic. Today I decided I wouldn't risk stock in branch issues, difference between online and shop price etc so ordered my ghetto tubeless bits online. Ordered lunchtime, despatched 16:00. Not bad so far!

I have just received my first order from them.

I ordered yesterday at midday, received email updates, then text updates from their courier, DPD, including a one hour delivery window. The DPD driver arrived 8 minutes into this window!

I am very happy with the service, and the forks were the cheapest I could find on the net!!

Finally, a year after starting, my summer bike will be completed very soon 🙂

And delivered today. That's 24hrs from order to delivery, including the Royal Mail influence. I know there's been issues in the past but the new combination of prices and delivery could well make giving them another go worth while.

Credit due to the manager at Chesterfield, he has been in contact with me also. If the result of this thread is that JE James becomes a better bike shop then it'll have been worthwhile having a grumble. Fingers crossed

same here too. I had an email from Dean at the Chesterfield store. he got in touch to ask if I minded discussing the poor experience I'd had there.

When we spoke he sounded genuinely put out about what I told him and seemed like a good bloke. I was impressed that he'd gone to the trouble to get in touch to be honest.

Email from Jonathan who's looking into my issue too.

Been a couple of days but give him time. Good to see they are taking positive action.