Complaint Against Green Commute Initiative Escalated to Trading Standards & Court Claim Filed

Herzlos

Good luck in court then, please let us know how you get on. 

Okell

CycleClaimant said:

Herzlos said:

The way I see it from here, your alleging that:

Their negligence in not vetting your puchase properly means they provided you with an illegal bike, and as such when it was stolen the insurer won't pay out the cost of a new replacement. Thus you are owed £3000. 

They will likely claim that:

The onus was on you to ensure the bike was legal and that you breached their contract by selecting an illegal bike. 

That you didn't inform them of this until 18 months later at which point the rental part of the contract was due and the agreed nominal value was £1. So at most that's all they owe. 
That giving you £3000 would amount to betterment and that at worst they should be providing you with (or the cost of) an 18 month old equivalent bike. 

That the contract was with your employer and not you, so you've no standing to even bring it up. 

I think even if a judge did side with you, they couldn't attribute 100% blame to them since you picked an illegal bike, so you'd be awarded some proportion of the figure, at a percetage decided by the judge. 50:50 maybe?

... their Managing Director admitted to me in a private email that their internal checking process should have rejected the non-compliant model, but failed...

What exactly do you mean by a "private" email in this context?

Why is it "private"?

If they've admitted that they were wrong, I don't understand why they are refusing to reach some sort of mutually agreeables settlement with you...

CycleClaimant

Okell said:

What exactly do you mean by a "private" email in this context?

Why is it "private"?

If they've admitted that they were wrong, I don't understand why they are refusing to reach some sort of mutually agreeables settlement with you...

It was in the very first email I received from GCI after I got in touch with them to tell them what had happened with the theft and rejected insurance claim etc.

He said, and this is a direct quote, I've just added the bold, "If you can provide me with your order number I can investigate what was actually entered into your order. If you had entered “WAU X Plus Tourer (Off-Road Derestricted)” the order would have been rejected."

In my response I attached the Hire Agreement and Salary Sacrifice Agreement, both of which were written up and issued by GCI, and both of which use that exact wording for the bike in the "Description of goods" sections.

Like you, I thought that would then surely lead to them offering some sort of settlement or resolution. Instead, he didn't even acknowledge or reference this in his response, and still hasn't in any correspondence since. 

QrizB

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81678135#Comment_81678135

It's ben six months now. Wonder how the OP is getting on with their claim?

Grumpy_chap

Back in August 2022, I used my employer's scheme with GCI to get an e-bike package worth over £3,000. I chose a model from a GCI-approved supplier, WAU Bikes. Fast forward to this year, the bike was stolen. I went to claim on my home insurance and was shocked when they rejected it for a single reason: the bike wasn't road-legal in the UK.

You are correct that I did not own the bike. However, that does not mean I have no claim. My claim is for my direct financial loss – the over £3,000 taken from my salary. 

Why?

Why have you had over £3k taken from your salary?

The bike was £3k when brand new.

You have leased and used the bike for nearly 4 years.

The amount of loss suffered by anyone can only be the depreciated value of a second hand bike, bit the full original cost of the bike. The lease company cannot get betterment / enrichment from the theft.

Herzlos

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81963209#Comment_81963209

They haven't been back since November, so I guess either nothings happened with the claim or it hasn't gone the way they wanted.