Sigma Sports........thier product review policy is so BAD!!!

[jay clock]

I rang Sigma to get bike advice (budget £1500) and they said they were busy but to email them. Which I did. Six months has gone by and no reply. Not impressive

 

[Pale Rider]

It's a matter of class.

Sigma is a posh shop for nice, well-brought up ladies who lunch (and shop) from Surrey, such as @vickster.

It is not for thickos from the north west such as @Dave7.

What does he want with cycling shorts anyway?

He's no time to ride a bike when there's his whippet to walk and flat cap to wear.

 

[rideswithmoobs]

The less I have to speak to sales people the better, especially when they are behind automated routing on have queues etc...

Perhaps Sigma are good on the phone, if so they should be good with email too, it shouldn't matter but I prefer to cut to the chase and its email than sit through people waffling on the phone at me and don't take kindly to being derided because of it.

Never derided you, merely gave an opposing view.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

@vickster. You seem very keen on the telephone, your choice and you imply upthread you seem to work in an industry where an artisans word is their bond and a phone call can be trusted to be accurate, the recipient gets both the nuance and detail from it without the other person backtracking or forgetting or engaging in plausible deniability, I wish all businesses and services acted in the same manner but they don't.

If @Dave7 had been approached by telephone for his review, or if someone had phoned him to advise his review was not going to be published and why or he had received a phone call in response to his email asking for the criteria used maybe his thoughts would have turned to the telephone more readily. Telephones work both ways.

Also things like criteria tend to be written down somewhere and often far easier to attach a document or to do a ctrl x & ctrl v of the relevant piece into an electronic communication than read it off a screen or recite it from memory and dictate it back to someone.

It is Sigma that has instigated and continued into an electronic means of communication, why would it not be appropriate to expect them to honour that commitment to its mutually satisfactory conclusion?

 

[vickster]

We often follow up call with clients by email. We email mostly but have regular catch up by phone. The amount our clients are spending, it's expected. As often are face to face meetings and presentations which they pay for. Big Pharma is like that

Did Dave provide his phone number? Are the review criteria on the website? Don't know. I never complete reviews of online purchases. I'm a market researcher, I avoid completing questionnaires if I possibly can

 

[Ajax Bay]

don't take kindly to being derided because of it [wanting to rely on e-mail]

I can see from the tone of your comment (extract above) that you would find it irksome to speak to a real person, and probably likewise, though I'm sure the guys and girls at SigmaSport would nevertheless be polite.

after 2 rides I realised the padding was not as comfortable as my Endura.........so I emailed Sigma in the vain hope they would do something

When the OP phones up about the cycle shorts that fit but don't give him 'satisfaction' he'd be forced to come to terms with the inadequacy of his 'complaint', because he'd have to explain just what the issue is to a real person. As would @Wafer in similar circumstances. But the OP's subsidiary point is valid: if you go to the trouble of writing a review, you'd expect it not to be censored.

 

[Wafer]

Never derided you, merely gave an opposing view.

Your post

Way of the world Vickster. Email and live chat stuff is the norm. Gone have the days of communication for real. Just look at this forum for example or any forum. Many years ago this would take place round a table in a coffee shop/pub/chippy after a long rideout

Is very much looking down upon the Internet and the way it's used. Thankfully this kind of viewpoint is easing off over time but as someone who has been online for a long time at this point, I'm pretty fed up of the sneers I've had because of it.

That's got nothing to do with how good Sigma may or may not be themselves, I just distrust most sales people and just want them to deal with the issue and not talk around it. Even outside of talking to sales people, I'd rather email or see people in person than speak to them on the phone.

 

[rideswithmoobs]

Your post

Is very much looking down upon the Internet and the way it's used. Thankfully this kind of viewpoint is easing off over time but as someone who has been online for a long time at this point, I'm pretty fed up of the sneers I've had because of it..

Break it down for me. How is that deriding you ? I commented that the world has moved on and email, Internet, forums, chat rooms, Facebook etc. Are the norm rather than the traditional methods of phone, writing & posting a letter etc. Many years ago if you wanted a bike you went to a shop and bought it. Now you can order it online. I made an observation and commented on it. I DONT look down on it for that would make me a hipocrit as I'm here, posting on a modern forum
Now let's talk about you 'generalising' & 'deriding' people who work in sales.

 

[Wafer]

Gone have the days of communication for real.

 

[rideswithmoobs]

Again, break it down and explain how that's deriding you.

 

[mythste]

I just distrust most sales people and just want them to deal with the issue and not talk around it. Even outside of talking to sales people, I'd rather email or see people in person than speak to them on the phone.

Without going too far off topic, this is an interesting point with regards to the industry I'm in and I thought we were well on the way to accepting a "sales through service" ethos in most places these days. Most companies know that customers are savvy and gone are the days of talking at 100 miles an hour then taking all your money if they think they heard you mutter yes.

Is your distrust your problem, or theirs?

 

[jefmcg]

I agreed and said that 1) I do have a 'sit bone/pain' problem 2) wearing my Endura shorts I can do 50-70 milers with no pain 3) I have done 2 rides in these **** shorts and after 30 miles I was in pain............if I could get my money back I would. I also said......I contacted Sigma after 2 rides but they failed to respond.

I don't see the mystery here. @Dave7 has even highlighted the problematic passage. They very likely have a policy that the review has to be about the product that is being reviewed. They probably have another policy not to edit a review. As a customer, I support this. When I am reading reviews of a pair of shorts, I want to know about the shorts, not the delivery issues, customer services or how I can make up to $800 each week working part time. If I am interested in finding out about a customer service, I'm not going to start reading reviews of shorts to see if it's there; I'll go to a third party review site, google, or come to CC and search or ask.

so I emailed Sigma in the vain hope they would do something (worth a try)

so you had practically zero expectation they would be able to resolve your issue, yet you feel miffed they didn't?

 

[Dave7]

so you had practically zero expectation they would be able to resolve your issue, yet you feel miffed they didn't?

I am going dizzy ..................Again, I was not "miffed" that they did not resolve my issue.............I was "miffed" that they wouldn't publish my negative review.

 

[rideswithmoobs]

I don't see the mystery here. @Dave7 has even highlighted the problematic passage. They very likely have a policy that the review has to be about the product that is being reviewed. They probably have another policy not to edit a review. As a customer, I support this. When I am reading reviews of a pair of shorts, I want to know about the shorts, not the delivery issues, customer services or how I can make up to $800 each week working part time. If I am interested in finding out about a customer service, I'm not going to start reading reviews of shorts to see if it's there; I'll go to a third party review site, google, or come to CC and search or ask.?

If I rode a bike and then reviewed it saying the frame is very compact and cramped over long distances and aggravates my back problem but the other bike I rode was more relaxed geometry, suited me better and didn't aggravate my back problem, how is this different to the quote above ? One bike suits short distance and one suits long. One pair of shorts was on for 30 mile ish and the other over 70. How is that not a useful review ?

Agreed, finding out the companies review policy would settle this and most likely there is a simple answer but taking the above quote alone I feel it's a perfectly reasonable review.

 

[Dave7]

It's a matter of class.

Sigma is a posh shop for nice, well-brought up ladies who lunch (and shop) from Surrey, such as @vickster.

It is not for thickos from the north west such as @Dave7.

What does he want with cycling shorts anyway?

He's no time to ride a bike when there's his whippet to walk and flat cap to wear.

I want cycling shorts because last time I rode without them I got arrested. They have standards up north you know