I purchased an electric bike from an ebay seller 123 scooter and I have had nothing but trouble with the thing and 123 scooter. The initial purchase took place on 23 Sep 07; I rode the bike six times in a month and it packed up on me, leaving me stranded on top of a local mountain.
My first contact with 123 scooter was not promising as they said it was theyre supplier I had to deal with and not them; when I insisted that the contract of buyer and seller was to do with me and "them" they pulled theyre horns in slightly...They went on to say that I had to pay the return costs of the bike and I had no other option in the matter; You guessed it when I dug my heels in they said they would pay the return carriage (they wanted 60). I contacted my credit card company who said I should take a repair; so when I accepted a repair on the 7th of Nov they got back to me and said they would arrange collection. I had heard nowt since...
I must mention the fact that between me refusing to pay 60 for a faulty bike that they sold me and getting in touch with my card company I told them (123 scooter) that the goods were not fit for purpose under the Sale of Goods Act; the reply which I received was they were fit for purpose as I had owned the bike for at least 14 days...mmm!
The electric bike in question is the Synergie Futuro; I paid 349 for it carriage free with my card. When the bike arrived it was in good condition but the (so called) user manual is hopeless. The Futuro model is not even shown. The mudguard bracket (front) had to be bent from 45 degrees to 90 as the guard would not fit on to the bike. The seat continually goes out of adjustment; you tighten it up and it just comes loose no matter how tight you do it. There is a basket carrier on the front and the bracket which holds everything in place is so badly thought out that I did notice the top of the front suspension getting marked ; this was due to the bracket repeatedly slamming down on this bike as the free range of travel is not enough and consequently had to take the bracket off, which did not help really as it was the weld point that were causing the damage and not directly the bracket. There is a little white box on the downtube under the saddle and the top of the plastic box fell off; it was not glued to good when I received the bike. When the bike did pack up on me on top of the mountain it made a terrible grinding noise and the rear hub just packed up.
I did join a electric bike user forum on Yahoo and someone did mention identical problems that they had had with a synergie bike (ie seat and everything going out of adjustment) and eventually it made a terrible grinding noise and finally packed up; the person did mention using a credit card if you were thinking of buying a bike off synergie as it would make it easier to recoup you money.
To this day I have got the bike stuck out the shed waiting to see how things pan out in my attempts to get my cash back; I am aware that 349 is cheap for an electric bike but is expensive when it just sits outside the house doing nothing.
Be very cautious when buying chinese make electric bike as I have had no joy; as others have had no joy but I have heard that some others have been lucky.
I think the reason for me not hearing anything off 123 scooter is they are dragging things out to make it more difficult for me to get my cash back. I have just contacted Paypal with a desire to raise a dispute about the purchase but as its gone 45 days it may be harder for me to get Paypal to take on my cause...never mind I have got back to my card company and they told me after my initial enquirey that they could keep looking into the matter until mid Jan 08; so there is hope for me yet to get my cash back.
The few times that the bike worked it was great but it did not last for long and I don't really want a repair now as 123 scooter customer support is so bad that I hate to think the job I would have getting any co-operation a few months down the line. BUYER BEWARE.
I hope this has been of help to someone out there thinking of getting a electric bike.
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