Evans Cycles and Tax Break

Sniper8052(L96A1) said:

wanted and was told that he would have to pay the full price for
the bike and bits if he used the scheme as they would not be
eligable for the marked discounts because "he would be saving too
much with them and his tax savings" !

Is there anything in the scheme that would make this statement
correct?

Well, the tax break only applies to bicycles and safety equipment for
said bicycle. So, if the equipment was not safety equipment (suppose
he'd picked out nice tassells for the ends of his handlebars, or a seat
to carry a teddy bear on the back, both of which my daughter fancies)
it wouldn't be eligible.

However, there's nothing in the scheme that says you can't buy the
stuff at sale prices - my company's 'scheme' lets you buy anything
(subject to caveat above and the 1000gbp limit due to credit licence
restrictions) from anyone at any price you negotiate with them,
provided the supplier will accept a company cheque or company credit
card. The last person to buy got a previous-years-model which was
discounted from 1500-ish to 990 quid (thus scraping under the limit)
with a helmet, some lights and some bits-n-bobs thrown in free.

However, I think ours is more liberal than most. I believe some
companies and especially some of the ready-made schemes do have such
restrictions (eg, must buy at list price). It's one of the ways the
scheme operators make their money, I expect. The only grouse I've got
with ours is that the company insists you buy a helmet. It used to
require you to wear said helmet when riding the bike too, but I got
that removed eventually.

So, it might be Evans' policy, but it's not HMRC's policy.

regards, Ian SMith
--
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Sniper8052(L96A1) said the following on 25/01/2007 21:04:

Quoted message said:

Of course it may just be one sales person trying to pad their commission
but I have to say it does nothing for their reputation.

I guess like many people I got the Evans sale blurb in the post
yesterday. There were a couple of things I was interested in, but quite
frankly that fact that it was Evans put me off ordering them. They're
just not worth the hassle of dealing with when there are plenty of other
shops who are worth dealing with!

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Paul Boyd said:

frankly that fact that it was Evans put me off ordering them.

I can only speak for the Manchester store, but I've had two bikes off
them (one through Ride to Work scheme) and a few bits and pieces and to
be honest they are now my shop of choice - all the staff seem to be
ex-pat Aussies and they are cheery, helpful and knowledgeable. They all
seem to ride/race a lot too, fairly seriously in some cases.

Staff make the difference...

bfn,

Tony B

Tony B said:

Paul Boyd said:

frankly that fact that it was Evans put me off ordering them.

I can only speak for the Manchester store, but I've had two bikes off
them (one through Ride to Work scheme) and a few bits and pieces and to
be honest they are now my shop of choice - all the staff seem to be
ex-pat Aussies and they are cheery, helpful and knowledgeable. They all
seem to ride/race a lot too, fairly seriously in some cases.

Staff make the difference...

Indeed and I would judge a chain on the minimum standards they set
themselves.

I bought an Evans bike, after 2 days I noticed the handlebars had come
loose and the bike was the proverbial death trap. I phone Evans telling
them this and requested I could return the bike so the safety check
could actually be performed rather than someone just ticking some boxes.
I was told to return it later in the week as they were quite busy at
the time.

A decent bike shop would have immediately asked who did the check,
removed them from the job for at best retraining and recalled all bikes
sent our by them and stopped them signing out new bikes until the
identity we at least discovered.

Alas, Evans did not see fit to do anything.

Staff do make the difference as does commission schemes, pressume from
head office etc.

Sniper8052(L96A1)' of said:

My friends company has recently set up a scheme for them to purchase
bicycles through Evans using the tax break scheme. Said friend went to
a local branch and picked out a small folding bike, not a Brommie but a
reasonable bike with a good pedigree. Went thru the bits and bobs he
wanted and was told that he would have to pay the full price for the
bike and bits if he used the scheme as they would not be eligable for
the marked discounts because "he would be saving too much with them and
his tax savings" !

Is there anything in the scheme that would make this statement correct?

I investigated the scheme in depth to get it set up by my employer. There
is absolutely nothing in the Inland Revenue rules about paying any
particular type of price. Nor in the terms of the Cyclescheme agreement. So
if Evans want to offer a scheme where full price must be paid, then they
could do. Beats me why anyone would go for such a scheme though.
--
Steph Peters
Chorlton Wanderers Cycling Group
Monthly slow and easy rides from South Manchester
http://www.sandbenders.demon.co.uk/cycling/chwan.htm

In article <[email hidden]>, Steph Peters
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Sniper8052(L96A1)' of said:

My friends company has recently set up a scheme for them to purchase
bicycles through Evans using the tax break scheme. Said friend went to
a local branch and picked out a small folding bike, not a Brommie but a
reasonable bike with a good pedigree. Went thru the bits and bobs he
wanted and was told that he would have to pay the full price for the
bike and bits if he used the scheme as they would not be eligable for
the marked discounts because "he would be saving too much with them and
his tax savings" !

Is there anything in the scheme that would make this statement correct?

I investigated the scheme in depth to get it set up by my employer. There
is absolutely nothing in the Inland Revenue rules about paying any
particular type of price. Nor in the terms of the Cyclescheme agreement. So
if Evans want to offer a scheme where full price must be paid, then they
could do. Beats me why anyone would go for such a scheme though.

Sounds like somebody might be getting a backhander.

stevo said:

I bought an Evans bike, after 2 days I noticed the handlebars had come
loose and the bike was the proverbial death trap.

Would that be mail order? My experiences were actually in-store, which
of course is OK for me as it's not too far away. I appreciate there are
plenty of people for whom a local cycle shop is not an option; but I
think it's much better to go to the shop than buy unseen. I can imagine
there are plenty of warehouses around, staffed by people that would
rather be somewhere else, doing something else... which is not too much
of a problem if one is willing to do the PDI oneself. I guess you need
to be willing to take on a bit of the responsibility or else suffer the
[censored] of sending stuff back via couriers.

I must admit though, I'm amazed that Evans Manchester is anything other
than [censored]; that they are actually pretty switched on is a proper surprise.

bfn,

Tony B

Tony B said:

stevo said:

I bought an Evans bike, after 2 days I noticed the handlebars had come
loose and the bike was the proverbial death trap.

Would that be mail order? My experiences were actually in-store, which
of course is OK for me as it's not too far away. I appreciate there are
plenty of people for whom a local cycle shop is not an option; but I
think it's much better to go to the shop than buy unseen. I can imagine
there are plenty of warehouses around, staffed by people that would
rather be somewhere else, doing something else... which is not too much
of a problem if one is willing to do the PDI oneself. I guess you need
to be willing to take on a bit of the responsibility or else suffer the
[censored] of sending stuff back via couriers.

No in store, I phoned to arrange for it to be safety checked again and
rather than the expected "can you give us the name on the signature" -
i.e. stop him issuing new bikes until his grave error had been
investigated I was told it was kind on inconvenient as they were very busy.

I am sure not all Evans engineers just tick boxes and send out death
traps, I just needed to counter the post that suggested all from Evans
is okay.

I passed on the 1 month free check as I am reasonably capable and would
never ever put my safety in the hands of Evans, ymmmv.

Quoted message said:

I must admit though, I'm amazed that Evans Manchester is anything other
than [censored]; that they are actually pretty switched on is a proper surprise.

bfn,

Tony B

stevo said:

I passed on the 1 month free check

With you on that one, seems a lot of faff to get the bike back there for
the sake of a simple check...

Tony B