Cycle scheme bike gone wrong after barely 6 months advice needed

teddybear154

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice. My husband has always cycled to work as he loves cycling. Last year he had a accident at work and broke his hip.
He would have struggled to get on a normal bike so we decided to get a electric bike.

We were going to go and buy one straight from a bike shop and pay in full.

But I wanted to wait until he had finished his physio and was fit enough and recovered. Dr and physio said it was important he finished his physo and build strength before getting back on a bike. If we had got one straight away he would have just got on it straight away and ignored physio and Dr as he is stubbon.

He didn't like this so went behind my back and signed up to some cycle to work cycle scheme to get a electric bike quicker.

I don't know much about the scheme, which scheme it's is  or what it's is. I'm trying to find out from his work. All I know is he has money deducted from his wages each month.

He got Bike 6 months ago. Has all been working fine. 9 days ago the place he got bike from took it back for a service. It was just ment to be a service. Bike was working fine and he was meant to be getting bike back the next day.

But the next day they said a part of motor was broken and needs replacing.

How a piece could be broken when bike was fine and fully working before they took it I don't know.

They have had the bike 9 days now and still no part and bike not fixed.
They keep saying part is rare and hard to find and other excuses. They say it could take weeks to get part.

This electric bike is my husbands only mode of transport he needs it to get to work every day.

We have had to pay out so much in taxis the last week alone so he can get to work.

What are his rights. Can they leave him weeks and weeks with out a bike.

Does he have the right to ask for a replacement.

If  I go out and buy another electric bike from else where and pay in full is there any way to get out of cycle scheme and cancel it as they are failing to fix bike.

Any advice much appreciated 

Thanks in advance 

Aylesbury_Duck

The trouble with the scheme is that it breaks the link between the customer and the retailer.  Your husband's employer has purchased the bike and your husband is paying them back through salary deductions.

I think that leaves him with no consumer rights with the bike shop, so while he could ask for a loan bike, for example, I don't think he has a right to one.

Is he able to ride a normal bike, just for a few weeks?  If so, a cheap bike will mean he can continue to commute and could be kept as a backup, or sold later.  

teddybear154

No he can't ride a normal bike he tried, but it's Hurts and causes pain. The motor takes away some of the hard work and makes it easier on his hip

Aylesbury_Duck

Can his employer help?  Has he spoken to them?

Alderbank

As above, no consumer rights because there is no consumer purchase.

However the bike-to-work salary sacrifice scheme is covered by his contract of employment.

Because there are tax benefits for both employer and employees, HMRC sets some of the rules such as the price the employer is allowed to sell the bike to your husband at the end of the loan period, but the employer does have quite a bit of flexibility about how they administer their version of the scheme.

Hubby should talk to the scheme administrator where he works to see what they can do.

Okell

teddybear154 said:

No he can't ride a normal bike he tried, but it's Hurts and causes pain. The motor takes away some of the hard work and makes it easier on his hip

As per @Alderbank you husband needs to take it up with his employer.

My understanding is that his employer bought the bike and owns it, and they are leasing it to him.

So your husband has no consumer rights against the bike shop as he didn't buy it.

What rights the employer has against the bike shop are unclear as it will be a business to business contract and will depend on its T&Cs.

teddybear154

Thanks everyone for your replies.

He won't talk to his Employer he is too terrified, and I can't. 

He is the kind of person who won't stand up for him self and let's people walk all over him and treat him like dirt.

He is also very gullible and believes anything he is told. ( I should mention he has high functioning Autism). 

We are going to just go out and buy a new electric bike straight from a local bike shop in full.

It's costing us £20 each way £40 day in taxis to get my husband to work and back home. That's £200 per week. We have already wasted £400 now in taxis for the last 2 weeks. Can't afford to carry on for weeks and weeks, possibly months like that. He will end up with no wages as spending all in taxis.

Better to just put the money towards a electric bike that we actually own and have consumer rights over.

I don't believe my husband will ever see that bike again. It's just excuse after excuse.

These cycle schemes seem very bad and like a scam to me.

I'm shocked that the employee has no rights what so ever. So basically you could sign up to a cycle scheme, start having payments deducted from your wages and not get bike in end or it goes wrong and don't get it back but still have payments taken from your wages for nothing.

It seems like a scheme that just allows your employer to legally steal money from your wages and there is nothing you can do about it. Very wrong in my opinion.

I would warn any one who is thinking of signing up for one of these cycle schemes to not do it. Avoid at all costs it's not worth it.

Guess my husband is stuck now having payments deducted for nothing, as there is no way to get out of scheme as you have no rights. Expensive lesson learned.

Okell

Hold on!

You don't want to pay up for a new bike privately and still have to pay for the Cycle to Work bike.  

I don't know the deatils of the cycle to work scheme, but it seems daft to do what you are suggesting.  See what @Alderbank says.  I seem to recall they know a lot about the scheme.

There's really no reason at all why your husband shouldn't raise it at work.  If his employer can't deal with these issues they shouldn't offer the scheme

Aylesbury_Duck

teddybear154 said:

Thanks everyone for your replies.

He won't talk to his Employer he is too terrified, and I can't. 

He is the kind of person who won't stand up for him self and let's people walk all over him and treat him like dirt.

He is also very gullible and believes anything he is told. ( I should mention he has high functioning Autism). 

We are going to just go out and buy a new electric bike straight from a local bike shop in full.

It's costing us £20 each way £40 day in taxis to get my husband to work and back home. That's £200 per week. We have already wasted £400 now in taxis for the last 2 weeks. Can't afford to carry on for weeks and weeks, possibly months like that. He will end up with no wages as spending all in taxis.

Better to just put the money towards a electric bike that we actually own and have consumer rights over.

I don't believe my husband will ever see that bike again. It's just excuse after excuse.

These cycle schemes seem very bad and like a scam to me.

I'm shocked that the employee has no rights what so ever. So basically you could sign up to a cycle scheme, start having payments deducted from your wages and not get bike in end or it goes wrong and don't get it back but still have payments taken from your wages for nothing.

It seems like a scheme that just allows your employer to legally steal money from your wages and there is nothing you can do about it. Very wrong in my opinion.

I would warn any one who is thinking of signing up for one of these cycle schemes to not do it. Avoid at all costs it's not worth it.

Guess my husband is stuck now having payments deducted for nothing, as there is no way to get out of scheme as you have no rights. Expensive lesson learned.

I'm afraid that's a misrepresentation of the scheme.  It's not like a scam, no one is stealing money and the employee does have rights.  That your husband doesn't want to exercise those rights isn't the fault of the scheme.  

Don't forget that there is a VAT benefit, along with the ability to pay interest-free in instalments.  For many people, that makes it an attractive option.  That's a trade-off for the slightly convoluted consumer rights chain that's involved when things go wrong.

Okell

Is your husband in a union at work?  Can't he get someone to help him raise this with whoever adminiters the scheme at his employer?

What your suggesting is just chucking money away.

(Whilst I agree with @Aylesbury_Duck that it isn't a scam, it isn't a scheme I'd ever have anything to do with.  But now your husband's in it you need to work with it.  Unless he can negotiate some way of getting out of it with this employer.  But he'll have to speak to his employer about it)

teddybear154

We are already throwing money away £200 a week in Taxis, getting a new bike is are only choice right now as our main concern is him beginning able to get to and from work. In the long run a new bike will be cheaper than taxis.  I don't see us having any other choice.

I'm sorry if I'm wrong or you think I'm misinterpreting the scheme, as far as I'm concerned, that's how I see it. I don't see any benefits to it. The tax benefits are not worth it and in the end it ends up more expensive than buying a bike out right.

Our local bike shop has some good electric bikes in the sale at a very good price right now. Even if wasn't in sale it would still work out way cheaper than buying through cycle scheme. Plus you don't even own bike after, once you finish paying installments you have to pay another amount if you want to own it, with the scheme.

It should be made clear that its basically a bike hire/rental scheme. So your paying out all that money on a bike that won't even be yours unless you pay out even more money.

What else would you call it apart from theft if employer is taking money from you pay each month for nothing as you don't have bike. It's theft plain and simple.

When I first asked this question, I asked if my husband had any rights and you all said no. He has no rights. Everything I've researched says he has no rights. Now your saying he does have rights.

You can't blame us for being confused it can't be both ways. Either he has rights or he doesn't. How can he exercise his rights if he has no rights?

Appologies if I'm coming across rude or if I have upset any we are just very frustrated with the situation.

Sorry for venting and thanks again for your replies, they are appreciated.