Buzzbike enforced follow-on contract

newtoys

Hello,

I have a six month fixed term bike rental contract with Buzzbike that expires on 12th July. I have been happy with my bike but don't wish to extend the contract, however when trying to cancel buzzbike have informed me that i need to give 30 days notice, and therefore need to pay pro-rata a portion of the next month's rental, even though i will not have a bike beyond my initial 6 month period. I have never come across conditions that enforce a follow-on contract that cannot be opted out of in advance, do I have any consumer rights here? 

Buzzbike's position is that I should have cancelled my subscription 30 days before the end of my fixed term, however this would have left me without a bike for even longer for a period that I had already paid for. 

tl;dr - I have not completed a fixed term contract, but am already committed to a follow-on, is this legal?

DullGreyGuy

Sounds like a rolling contract with a minimum term and notice... plenty of ways the contract could be constructed for this to be perfectly "legal"

From what you are saying you simply didnt give notice early enough else you could have ended at the end of the minimum term.

Are you sure you dont get the bike for the pro-rata part of the following month?

newtoys

You're probably right that it is written as a rolling contract, but as the contract was advertised as 'fixed term', I read it to be limited to 6 months. Their communication has also indicated that I will be moved onto a new rolling contract, which I would naively expect to be non-binding until that new contract starts, or have some cooling-off period.

In theory I could keep the bike for the pro-rata element, in practice however the cancellation needs to be tied to a bike return date, and to drop the bike off at a location these are only available a few days in advance, which enforces a gap between period of paid service, and period of service provided.

Alderbank

This is a consumer contract. 
If as you say it is worded such that it is impossible for you to comply with a particular term then that is an Unfair Contract Term and it can be ignored.

Have you asked them directly how to manage the return in a way which would comply with the contract?

km1500

not sure if your read these or not

https://www.buzzbike.cc/terms-of-use

born_again

newtoys said:

Hello,

I have a six month fixed term bike rental contract with Buzzbike that expires on 12th July. I have been happy with my bike but don't wish to extend the contract, however when trying to cancel buzzbike have informed me that i need to give 30 days notice, and therefore need to pay pro-rata a portion of the next month's rental, even though i will not have a bike beyond my initial 6 month period. I have never come across conditions that enforce a follow-on contract that cannot be opted out of in advance, do I have any consumer rights here? 

Buzzbike's position is that I should have cancelled my subscription 30 days before the end of my fixed term, however this would have left me without a bike for even longer for a period that I had already paid for. 

tl;dr - I have not completed a fixed term contract, but am already committed to a follow-on, is this legal?

Why?
You give them 30 days notice of cancelation before the end of the 6 months. Then hand it back at the end of the fixed term contract.

This is just the same as contracts with many Mobile & ISP, who have the same 30 day cancellation notice period for the fixed term contracts, as if not cancelled they simply roll into a monthly rolling contract.

eskbanker

km1500 said:

not sure if your read these or not

https://www.buzzbike.cc/terms-of-use

The relevant clause doesn't look particularly unusual to me, i.e. it'll roll over if less than 30 days termination notice is given, but if anyone believes that there are reasons to challenge it as unfair then that would obviously be worth sharing:

2.3.2 If you choose a Fixed Plan of greater than thirty (30) days then, unless (i) you give us not less than thirty (30) days’ notice of termination in accordance with these Terms, such notice to expire at the end of the Fixed Plan, or (ii) your Membership is terminated by us at any time in accordance with these Terms, then your Membership will automatically transfer to our Standard Plan at the end of the Fixed Plan and your Membership Period will be as outlined in clause 2.3.1 above.

HillStreetBlues

Sounds to me like an auto renewal, so they show have given you notice.