We're off to Center Parcs (yes I know I know it's not camping but bear with me) and when  we looked at the price of hiring bikes it came to around £75. Well for that we could get a cycle carrier and take our own bikes. So after some research we decided on the Thule 9705 Tow Bar mounted carrier. I'll go into why we chose that carrier in another post and post a review too once we've used it. This post is about the saga that I went through buying the carrier.

I ordered the carrier online 10 days before we were due to go. I know a bit tight but it should have been OK. Then 8 days before I get an email to say it's out of stock. So I looked for another supplier and as it was getting close time-wise I looked for somewhere local so I could go and pick it up. I found a supplier 12 miles away (according to the address on their website). I emailed them to ask if they had it in stock and if I could collect it in person. They emailed back and said yes it's in stock but no I can't collect it. I was out all the next day but when I got back in the evening I emailed them back saying again that I needed to definitely have it for the following weekend and there offices were relatively close to where I lived. They emailed back the following day (it's now 6 days to go) and said they're not actually based at that address, actually they're based about 12 miles up the road from there ... you guessed it they are based about a mile from my house. So I emailed back pointing out that they would save the postage (it was free P&P) if I collected it but they were adamant. I relented and ordered it online. Later that day I got an email to say DHL had collected it and giving me the tracking number. The tracking showed it's been taken about 13 miles to a depot. In the meantime I emailed the original supplier and canceled the order, with no reply.

The next day, 5 days to go, the carrier arrived (it's great). The DHL delivery guy said as he dropped it off "I picked this up yesterday from up the road". We had a little chat about how crazy it is that it's been on a 25+ mile round trip and I thought that was the end of it.

Then later that day I got an email from the original supplier (I had emailed them twice more to cancel the order in between with no reply) The email said that they have sent me the carrier and if I don't want it I will have to pay for the return carriage. I phoned them up and rather strongly explained that I had cancelled the order and there is no way I was going to pay for the return carriage. The guy on the phone said "OK, just refuse to take it when the courier delivers it". Which is exactly what we did the next day when it arrived.

So after all this one carrier had needlessly go on a 25+ mile jaunt and the other one had gone about 3 or 4 times far.

I had a look at fitting the plate on to the towbar that evening, it was 'just' a matter of unbolting the towball from the towbar and then bolting the them back together with the plate between them. Unbolt the towball from the towbar ... easy huh? Well no is the answer. Unless that is you have the right tools, a 24mm socket, large torque wrench (the bolts have to tightened to 24 Nm) and 24mm spanner. I don't have the socket or spanner (although I do have a toque wrench). I emailed Anglia Towbars about how best to get it off and they told me to bring it in and they'd show me.

So a week after the saga began I drove down, the guy fixed the plate in about 2 minutes flat and the saga ended. The carrier fits the car and the bikes fit the carrier. Phew.