Do I have to accept a repair

nannyjul

I bought an e-bike for my husband for Xmas, he has rode it 4 times with a total of 50miles. There are numerous faults including rust. Do I have to accept a repair or could we ask for a replacement

Aylesbury_Duck

That very much depends on the nature of the faults and how the rust was caused.

mattyprice4004

It's been 3+ months; legally you have to allow them once chance to repair before you can reject for a refund / replacement. 
If the rust was caused by negligence, expect a pushback on that though (leaving outside / damp areas etc) 

nannyjul

It’s been ridden 4 times, a total of 50 miles and kept indoors. It cost £1000, surely you wouldn’t expect problems with oil, brakes, pedals, rust after such a short time

neilmcl

nannyjul said:

It’s been ridden 4 times, a total of 50 miles and kept indoors. It cost £1000, surely you wouldn’t expect problems with oil, brakes, pedals, rust after such a short time

The amount of miles he's put on it is irrelevant in terms of deciding what remedy you are offered. The bike was purchased prior to Xmas and therefore beyond the 30 days in which you can legally reject for a full refund. After this period the retailer can offer a repair or replacement but the choice is theirs.

Can you tell us exactly what these faults are?

As far as rust is concerned any unprotected metal components can start to rust after a single ride during winter months with salt on the road if not subsequently cleaned properly afterwards. So, as already mentioned, it very much depends on the specific nature of the rust on your bike.

Aylesbury_Duck

What has been offered by the retailer or asked for by you, so far?

Ultimately, if it's faulty, whether they repair or replace will be down to the timescales involved.  What date was it purchased and on what date did you report the faults?

If they deem it not faulty and the problems down to the way it's been used, you're banking on goodwill.  50 miles over 4 rides is indeed very limited use, but if those rides were on a trail or a salted road in winter rain, and the bike wasn't cleaned and lubricated afterwards, it'll be in a much poorer state than a bike riding 500 miles that's been properly looked after.

Fosterdog

Aylesbury_Duck said:

What has been offered by the retailer or asked for by you, so far?

Ultimately, if it's faulty, whether they repair or replace will be down to the timescales involved.  What date was it purchased and on what date did you report the faults?

If they deem it not faulty and the problems down to the way it's been used, you're banking on goodwill.  50 miles over 4 rides is indeed very limited use, but if those rides were on a trail or a salted road in winter rain, and the bike wasn't cleaned and lubricated afterwards, it'll be in a much poorer state than a bike riding 500 miles that's been properly looked after.

I don't ride a bike so can't speak from my own experience but around 10 people in work cycle in most days, their bikes range from mountain bikes, to ebikes, to road bikes and every one of them arrives early to wash their bikes before work, there has even been a tap and hose installed just outside the bike lockup for them. Every one of them washes their bikes after every single ride even if it's just a couple of miles whatever the weather and road conditions. That just tells me that if I did ever get a bike that is the level of maintenance I'd expect to have to do to keep it in good condition. They don't all do a full deep clean each day, most of them seem to favour the muc off products and some days it's just a quick spray down and rinse and other days it's a full wash with a protectant added after.


Of course in OPs case that could be a potential reason for the rust, the oil, brakes, and peddles I have no idea what sort of maintenance and faults would involve them.

Keep_pedalling

Fosterdog said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

What has been offered by the retailer or asked for by you, so far?

Ultimately, if it's faulty, whether they repair or replace will be down to the timescales involved.  What date was it purchased and on what date did you report the faults?

If they deem it not faulty and the problems down to the way it's been used, you're banking on goodwill.  50 miles over 4 rides is indeed very limited use, but if those rides were on a trail or a salted road in winter rain, and the bike wasn't cleaned and lubricated afterwards, it'll be in a much poorer state than a bike riding 500 miles that's been properly looked after.

I don't ride a bike so can't speak from my own experience but around 10 people in work cycle in most days, their bikes range from mountain bikes, to ebikes, to road bikes and every one of them arrives early to wash their bikes before work, there has even been a tap and hose installed just outside the bike lockup for them. Every one of them washes their bikes after every single ride even if it's just a couple of miles whatever the weather and road conditions. That just tells me that if I did ever get a bike that is the level of maintenance I'd expect to have to do to keep it in good condition. They don't all do a full deep clean each day, most of them seem to favour the muc off products and some days it's just a quick spray down and rinse and other days it's a full wash with a protectant added after.


Of course in OPs case that could be a potential reason for the rust, the oil, brakes, and peddles I have no idea what sort of maintenance and faults would involve them.

That has got to be a wind up! I know and have known lots of cyclists, but I have yet to meet any OCD ones, and you seem have 10 of them at your place of work. 

Fosterdog

Keep_pedalling said:

Fosterdog said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

What has been offered by the retailer or asked for by you, so far?

Ultimately, if it's faulty, whether they repair or replace will be down to the timescales involved.  What date was it purchased and on what date did you report the faults?

If they deem it not faulty and the problems down to the way it's been used, you're banking on goodwill.  50 miles over 4 rides is indeed very limited use, but if those rides were on a trail or a salted road in winter rain, and the bike wasn't cleaned and lubricated afterwards, it'll be in a much poorer state than a bike riding 500 miles that's been properly looked after.

I don't ride a bike so can't speak from my own experience but around 10 people in work cycle in most days, their bikes range from mountain bikes, to ebikes, to road bikes and every one of them arrives early to wash their bikes before work, there has even been a tap and hose installed just outside the bike lockup for them. Every one of them washes their bikes after every single ride even if it's just a couple of miles whatever the weather and road conditions. That just tells me that if I did ever get a bike that is the level of maintenance I'd expect to have to do to keep it in good condition. They don't all do a full deep clean each day, most of them seem to favour the muc off products and some days it's just a quick spray down and rinse and other days it's a full wash with a protectant added after.


Of course in OPs case that could be a potential reason for the rust, the oil, brakes, and peddles I have no idea what sort of maintenance and faults would involve them.

That has got to be a wind up! I know and have known lots of cyclists, but I have yet to meet any OCD ones, and you seem have 10 of them at your place of work. 

Not a wind up at all, previous work places this hasn't been done but where I am now there are quite a few keen cyclists and they seem to treat it as some sort of competition of who can clean their bikes most often, cycling and football are probably the two most discussed topics and they are always trying to one up each other on latest upgrades, fastest times, furthest distances, most extreme mountain biking course etc. It's almost a religion to them.

burlingtonfl6

nannyjul said:

It’s been ridden 4 times, a total of 50 miles and kept indoors. It cost £1000, surely you wouldn’t expect problems with oil, brakes, pedals, rust after such a short time

Depends on the E bike. The batteries on a Bosch powered one can cost around £750 so you could have basically bought a £250 bike with cheap parts

Aylesbury_Duck

burlingtonfl6 said:

nannyjul said:

It’s been ridden 4 times, a total of 50 miles and kept indoors. It cost £1000, surely you wouldn’t expect problems with oil, brakes, pedals, rust after such a short time

Depends on the E bike. The batteries on a Bosch powered one can cost around £750 so you could have basically bought a £250 bike with cheap parts

Indeed. I rode a couple of e-bike prototypes back in around 2004.  They were awful, a combination of a heavy battery pack and the cheapest, heaviest bike frame on the market to keep the cost down.  Junk, basically.  There are a lot of substandard bikes out there to serve a price point.  They're known as BSOs in the trade - Bicycle Shaped Objects.