Recent content by ESM

Funnily enough, yes, the thought had briefly occurred to me at the time during a longer conversation about the state of the industry in general and more specifically about his workload. Logistics/practicalities quickly put an end to that. As I say, thankfully my LBS had opportunities. Perhaps...

Brilliant posts @kermisking and @Tsundere , couldn't have said it better. Bonus points to you both for saving me time enough to finish off putting my Zeus 2000 back on the road 😁👍! Also, apologies to @Canuk if I touched a nerve, it wasn't my intention. FWIW, I'm not carping from the sidelines...

In principle, I agree with you. However, in the case of EB, there are a couple of salient distinctions. Firstly, re: the frame-building side, I can't speak about the custom aspect since I haven't experienced that process, however the EB course website states "At the end of the course you will...

Speaking of: they never once got in contact with an update either way. Even if they'd concluded he was legit, would have been nice to have at least known they'd investigated. Makes you wonder what the point of them is TBH.

Funny you should mention that. He advertises his frame building course as 'an invitation to craft your own bicycle masterpiece', yet when I explained what I wanted out of the frame (a modern lugged all-rounder), he instead tried to direct me towards building something like the dedicated...

That's more or less the gist of it, albeit very much one side of the story (and an incomplete one at that). Only Paul knows his intentions but the more you dig, the less it looks like the simple narrative of a passionate craftsman in over his head, overwhelmed and burned out. So yes, 'pretty...

I would encourage you to leave a Google Review. It's effective; I suggest (at least part of) the reason he's changed the name to 'Ives Works' there is because he knows most folk searching for Ellis Briggs are likely to be using Google, which automatically includes Google Review in the sidebar...

An intriguing development: FWIW, he never responded to legal warnings. CCJ was eventually awarded. Other people as well, I believe. Companies House says his last submitted accounts (2024) he was in the order of £20k+ in debt (£14.5k in 2023). This year's statement was overdue with a...

Well, if you do things electronically, you go through Citizens Advice to get to Trading Standards. You can also phone your local Trading Standards office directly, however it was easier for me to list things chronologically using the online form. Citizens Advice helped with the legal side...

Quick update for any interested parties/people stumbling upon this thread via Google searches: 10th of October conveniently marked 1-year to the day I last left his shop having finally completed the frame, so I sent one last round of warning/correspondence and predictably got no response...

No worries. A common theme in the Google reviews of folk who got somewhere with him seems to be the threat of (or actual final judgment in) Small Claims Court. I really didn't want it to come to that but options are running out now. If I do end up having to fork out for civil court fees then...

He's still not responded to me via personal comms since my last message in this thread. I posted a public 1-star Google review and got no response. A bloke after me also posted a negative review but bizarrely not only got a response from Paul but got his frame back with works completed. As...

I'm genuinely perplexed at this point, so that's as good an explanation as any! Though I would say he seemed sharp as a tack whenever we got chatting therefore it would have to be a very selective pottiness 😅 ... Hopefully that's not me in 5 years' time! :LOL:

Well, this is the curious thing, isn't it? From what I can gather he's phoenixed the company once already, since when he's ostensibly had this habit of arbitrarily holding customers' bikes/frames (ghosting for months on end); had it been just the once, the creditor explanation would have been...

Much obliged - I'll try to remember to post in here if/when it reaches a conclusion 👍 Until then, anyone reading this considering dealing with EB, take heed and proceed with utmost caution!