Poor response to Babboe cargo bike recall

Alderbank

Okell said:

Alderbank said:

Inbetweeners said:

Where did you buy it from. If from a 3rd party then Babboe potentially have no obligation to offer you anything.

I agree they have no obligations under consumer legislation.

However this is a safety issue and the manufacturers do have a responsibility to all who might be affected by product safety. It is a statutory duty which they cannot avoid...

Fair enough.  The manufacturer might have a statutory duty of care to recall the bikes, but after that, what other obligations do they have to first or second-hand owners?

Repair, replace, refund (full or partial)?

I

That's a great question!

There is clear protocol between manufacturers/importers and the government about obligations when motor vehicles are recalled but bikes are not considered in the same way under the Road Traffic Act so I don't think those protocols would apply.

There was a very similar thread earlier this year (to which you contributed, @Okell!) which just seemed to fizzle out without a conclusion.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6506490/legal-rights-during-recall-electric-bike/p2

Babboe's brand owners also own several other bike brands including Raleigh. They say they have appointed Raleigh to handle the Babboe recall issue in the UK.

OP, if you have so far been dealing with Babboe in the Netherlands (you just refer to 'they' and 'them') you might get better answers if you raise your issue with Raleigh here in the UK 
https://www.raleigh.co.uk/gb/en/contact/

Grumpy_chap

Aylesbury_Duck said:

The £533 offered is just that: an offer.  What would be the approximate value of the bike if it wasn't affected by the safety issue?  RRP was £6000, you bought it four years ago for £2500, so what might it be worth now?  £1500?  £1000, perhaps?  Go back and ask for £1500 cash and see what they say.

What value is the used bike really worth now, ignoring any devaluation from the safety issue?

NE_dad said:

We bought a second hand Babboe cargo bike in 2020 for £2500 (~£6000 new). In February 2024 Babboe started a mass recall of many cargo bikes of which our is one. Six months later we got an email offering only £533 (20% of the RRP of the model in 2015) in vouchers for a new bike which we can only spend on their website. The bike is from after 2015 but they claim not to know when the bike was made (despite us giving them the frame number) and we don’t have records as the bike is second hand - we think the bike was made in 2018/9.

2015 model bike but thought to be a 2018 original sale.
Brand new price £6k
OP paid £2.5k, so that is a saving of £3.5k (~60%) from new price for being 2 yo.
Bike is now 6yo.
Residual value is going to be towards the "notional" end TBH.  The £500 ish doesn't seem wholly unreasonable.
The £1.5k suggested seems optimistic IMO (but I am not knowledgeable on these types of bike).

The manufacturer won't have a supply of 6yo bikes available so cannot offer a direct replacement.
The manufacturer is not going to offer a brand new bike to swap out against a 6yo bike.
The manufacturer can offer to undertake some repair to the bike, but won't if the cost of repair exceeds current value of the used bike which seems to be the case here.  Not much of a repair can be had for £500, especially considering transport costs and such like.
That leaves the manufacturer with the option to offer a "cash-like" refund for the current value of the bike.  An offer as a discount against the new bike is obviously attractive to the manufacturer, less so for the OP.

The possible discussion is around how large that "cash-like" offer should be and whether that "cash-like" offer can be a discount voucher or has to be offered in cash.
What would the OP accept as a "cash-like" offer value?  What would the OP accept as a cash offer value?
If the manufacturer increased the offer to £600 discount voucher, or £300 in cash, would the OP find that acceptable?

Okell

@Grumpy_chap -  not being funny, but is the Dutch manufacturer under any legal obligation to offer the OP anything?

Grumpy_chap

Okell said:

@Grumpy_chap -  not being funny, but is the Dutch manufacturer under any legal obligation to offer the OP anything?

Probably not, certainly under consumer rights / law as there is no relationship.

However, there may be under safety laws.  The best analogy is a car with a safety recall - the manufacturer could not simply ignore all cars that have been sold on via the second hand market.
The applicable rules seem to be within this lot somewhere:
https://www.hse.gov.uk/work-equipment-machinery/uk-law-design-supply-products.htm

If there is a legal obligation, then that will, presumably, still be informed by the value-assessment in a similar manner as would be the case for normal consumer issues.

If the manufacturer is simply offering some "goodwill" that is their commercial decision and brand-value assessment.  The similar depreciated value consideration would still seem appropriate.

Arunmor

I note that it is only two models that are being recalled and 55 others that they are offering to repair. 

Which is yours?