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news
Evans Cycles, Manchester (CC BY 2.0 Smabs Sputzer:Flickr)Evans Cycles voucher-holders left in lurch after Sports Direct buyout
Staff at Evans are telling customers that it is unclear whether they will be able to redeem gift tokens or discount vouchers obtained prior to the chain going into administration and its subsequent purchase by retailer Sports Direct.
The stack-it-high-sell-it-cheap retail group founded and run by Mike Ashley bought troubled Evans Cycles in what is known is known as a pre-pack administration at the end of last month.
According to Begbies Traynor, the UK’s leading firm of chartered insolvency practitioners, the process “is a powerful tool which facilitates the sale of an insolvent business to existing directors, a trade buyer or a third party.”
Among other things, the firm says that the procedure means that “The image and business ‘brand’ is unlikely to be compromised by adverse publicity, leading to the increased likelihood of jobs being saved and suppliers being paid under the new ownership.”
That will be of little comfort to the Evans staff currently unsure about their jobs – Ashley has said that around half the 62 stores will close – nor customers who hold gift tokens with the retailer, or discount vouchers available under schemes such as Tesco Rewards or British Cycling membership.
At road.cc, we have had reports of signs on the door of Evans stores stating that vouchers will not be accepted, as well as other problems, especially with the fulfilment of Cyclescheme bikes ordered under the government’s Cycle to Work scheme.
Other people have told us that Evans Cycles has been removed from employee benefits pages, which is unsurprising since that would generally be a voucher-based benefit.
On Twitter, the company has told people who have vouchers to phone a telephone helpline and register their details, and that it will get back to them once the situation becomes clearer.
@askevanscycles what’s going on - I have got vouchers to spend and the shop won’t accept them ?#goodmoneyspent
— briefcase (@clapperdavies) November 3, 2018
Some expressed doubt, however, whether vouchers would ever be redeemed following the change in ownership.
Christmas comes but once a year, we're giving away a free helmet with every kids bike until Christmas. https://t.co/ODnwkch1TX pic.twitter.com/hhlnIRtj2X
— Evans Cycles (@EvansCycles) November 6, 2018
It seems that even if you have the same first initial and surname as the retailer, which started trading in south London in 1921, you’re currently out of luck.
Good afternoon, thank you for the post. We are sorry for this issue and can understand the disappointment caused. Due to the sale of the business, these are suspended for now. If you could please call us on 01293 574900 we can take some details to let you know when it is back.
— Ask Evans Cycles (@askevanscycles) November 6, 2018
Subscribers to the Evans Cycles email mailing list, meanwhile, will have received a message informing them that following the acquisition by Sports Direct Group of the business and assets of FW Evans Cycles Limited, “Your personal data as held by Evans Cycles has now been transferred to that company, which is now the data controller of your personal data.”
The email concludes with Evans Cycles’ long-standing slogan, “Enjoy the ride,” which may now have acquired a double-meaning for voucher holders.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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24 comments
GDPR: ends a thread more surely than Godwin's Law.
Oh, I could wax lyrical on the 7 pillars of GDPR and why your organisation should hire my organisation to help you comply ... but I won't, it bores me to sleep
Brilliant idea Just posted on facebook by Spokes of Bagshot :
"
Do you have an Evans gift card? Can’t spend it anymore? Come see us and we’ll let you spend that gift card in our store!
We were frustrated to hear that many Evans customers cannot use their gift cards since the firm went into administration.
We want to help and show you some proper service in the bike industry!
...
Conditions- Voucher must represent no more than 10% of the total purchase/sale amount, not applicable to finance or Cycle
scheme purchases.
Give us a call or pop in today on 01276 536777
www.spokesofbagshot.com "
Link: https://en-gb.facebook.com/spokesbagshot/
Vouchers are never honoured when stores go bust, it's always been that way, with some exceptions which are down to goodwill rather than any legal obligation
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/giftcards/
Yeah, you're an unsecured creditor, and are right at the bottom of the pecking order for being paid back out of any liquidation proceeds. Best option is, if purchased with a credit card, to try to claim against the card issuer.
Indeed - a store voucher can be thought of as a short-term unsecured loan to the company. If you don't think it's a good idea lending a company £50 and trusting that they'll give it back, you shouldn't buy a £50 voucher from them.
Its worse than an unsecured loan - at least with a loan you give money now on the promise of receiving the original capital plus interest back over time.
I've never understood why people convert a voucher (e.g. a nice crisp £20 note) that can be exchanged in any store in the land for goods and services, which has no time limit and no special conditions on what items it can be redeemed against
for another voucher for the same face value but which is only 'good' in one particular shop chain, may have time limits and other conditions all in favour of the retailer, not you.
That said, try these pages for advice if you found yourself holding an Evans voucher:
https://www.money.co.uk/guides/gift-vouchers-for-companies-in-administra...
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/can-i-use-my-vouchers-if-...
Your agreement will be with cyclescheme, not Evans, I’m pretty sure.
Yep, agreement is with Cyclescheme - it's potentially Cyclescheme on the hook here if they've paid Evans for bikes not yet delivered. The agreement between the purchaser and CycleScheme is just a standard Consumer Credit Agreement and as such is covered by that law.
As I understand it from my LBS the bike is delivered to the customer before Cyclescheme pay them so hopefully the only issue here is people not getting the bike they were expecting and having to go through the whole process again.
Every bike I've bought on C2W has been provided to me there and then by my LBS - they just credit my credit card when the voucher is issued.
Usually if you are buying on credit then you are covered by the credit provider if the retailer goes bust. Not sure if that applies to cyclescheme too, but the credit part is why it is usually restricted to £1k (need a licence above that). Worth checking out I think if you're in that situation.
Thinking about it: stopping accepting gift vouchers etc is (as I've said upthread) just SD business as usual. But not fulfilling Cyclescheme orders? Surely thats much more serious- that's not just buying a House of Fraser sofa on credit, yhat involves you, your employer, and a government backed scheme. How come the govt isn't getting involved??
That’s theft - but I’m sure there are weasel-words, small print and sub-clauses that says it isn’t.
Got given £200 in Evans vouchers by the wife only 3 weeks ago. Tried to spend them but was directed to a page with a phone number on which I called and they have taken the numbers of the cards, the value and my contact details. The guy I spoke to was very helpfull and he said that the scheme should be back up and running in a week or 2 and that it was suspended due to the change of accounting systems. Not sure how true all that is, but hopefully it will be sorted soon. Still no comfort for those employees who are wondering if they will still have a job in a few weeks time.
Did she buy them on a credit card and is it a single amount or say 4 x £50 vouchers? If on a credit card she might be able to claim against her card issuer.
Surely this surprised exactly nobody? Isn’t this the same as how they (Sports DIrect) behaved when they bought House of Fraser?
Exactly.
While the voucher thing truly sucks, I feel even more for the staff.
I hope it doesn't get dumbed down under Sports Direct. I wonder what went wrong?
I know of quite a few people who have gone in store to spend money (decent sums in some cases) and had no interest from staff so have left the items on the counter and walked out to buy the gear elsewhere inc online and never to return.
Shame really because I've always had a good experience of staff at the branches I've been in (Preston, Velodrome, Manchester Deansgate).
our company cyclescheme is through Evans - I wonder how that'll be effected..?
I had a £30 voucher, but made sure to spend it as soon as I heard Evans were in trouble.
I unsubscribed from their mailing list today - simply don't trust the Sports Direct group to keep my info safe.
Feel really sorry for those who have bought vouchers. I reckon the sales of these might have been especially high recently too, as people often buy them as Christmas gifts for family members etc.
Unsubscribing will only unsubscribe you.
I have submitted GDPR requests to have my data expunged. I sent my request to:
cs [at] sportsdirect.com and contactcentreteam [at] evanscycles.com (not published on the FW Evans website)
Is there some sort of formal wording that is needed to have the data expunged or is it simply a case of asking? Do they have to confirm compliance with the request?
The right to erasure is one of the GDPR rights. You don't have to submit a request in any formal wording but it's best to be clear about what you're asking for (an organisation might request that you fill in a form to help them deal with it, but you don't have to).
They have a month to comply and a response is part of complying. In certain cases they don't have to comply (eg. where they're legally obliged to keep hold of your data) but they should let you know. If you hear nothing or they fob you off, and you complain to the ICO, the ICO will want to see that they made an effort - just ignoring a request won't look good.
I've lost my discount on Evans stores through my work benefits package now
Pretty annoying as I was going to use it for buying a frameset.