I purchased an ebike from ebay nearly a year ago in October 2024, its been difficult to maintain and always needing repair/fixing. punctures, leaky hydraulic brakes, brake pads wearing down, squeaky disc brakes, heavy, and now the handlebars have snapped off completely!
I was riding it, the handlebars seemed to be turning in the opposite direction to the front wheel and i thought that was strange. In about a second I stopped the bike (fortunately i was on a straight road and not a roundabout otherwise i could have easily been killed in busy traffic).
Having put my feet down the handlebars came off completely in my hands.
I'm investigating currently, but I think I have enough to start a strong complaint against the company.
It turns out the company is based in china selling on ebay and I'm unsure of my warranty or consumer rights to return/repair at this late stage.
They appear to have stopped selling these bikes now and I have found evidence of other similar ones that have been recalled in a telegraph article i have saved think are the types of bike that may not be safe to use in the UK.
My inspection of the damage is that the bike forks where the handlebars attach have sheared off/ snapped completely rendering the bike useless in month11/12 of my first year of ownership.
This was my user experience, and my goal is to:
1. refund would be nice (in a fantasy world) 2. a repair/replacement of the forks on the bike which i think is a reasonable request since (just) under 12 months of purchase.
I would think that this would be a fair complaint under consumer protection laws and I'm looking to find someone who has some success/experience in writing to a company and achieving a favourable outcome under UK law.
I'm pretty sure a modified good template letter or similar one from another job could be used to contact the company, raise a formal complaint, and require remedy of some sort for shoddy bike parts.
I don't seem to be able to track down any additional warranty information provided from the company itself or from ebay(the order details have expired there) or in my email inbox at all unfortunately), its possible I may have some paperwork but i'll have to try and find it somewhere in the house.
However i do have some downloaded "certifications" that i requested the seller send me. All saying tests have been conducted, performed and pass, pass, pass etc.. with signatures.
I do realise now in hindsight that this is a Chinese company selling to the UK and they will say or sign anything in order to make a sale.
I'd just like some basic advice and an effective letter really to send to the company via email from someone with experience.
Please feel free to bid/contact me as I'm on a pretty tight schedule now to try and conclude this matter.
The bike cost me nearly £800 which is money I can't afford to lose on a shoddy asset that's failed.
It looks like I've bought a right lemon.
Best regards,
Bob.
NOTES: Example of a very similar bike and safety concerns: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/26/mps-urge-amazon-and-ebay-to-tighten-controls-on-ebike-and-charger-sales
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