How long is reasonable?

[Oldgit66]

Bought a premium Riese and Muller e-bike from an authorised R&M dealer in early February 2023. Just over a year later it failed with error code 550 (excessive electrical load detected). I took it back to the dealer on 14th February for a warranty repair and it is still with them six weeks later. Is this reasonable? The dealer has been less than candid with an explanation, blaming R&M for repeatedly sending the wrong parts, although I suspect they have made a series of wrong diagnosis and are struggling to identify the root cause. I’m beyond frustration and despair as that e-bike was my saviour in many ways as only a cyclist would understand. So far R&M have avoided being dragged into the conversation so I’m only hearing what my dealer wants me to hear but I really don’t care who is responsible, I just want my bike back. Any suggestions on the next steps I should take?

[Jdsk]

Your statutory rights may be greater than what's in the warranty.

They're well described by Citizens Advice and Which?:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about ... -act-2015/
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights

As always: keep contemporaneous written records.

Jonathan

[Nearholmer]

Consumer Rights Act 2015, Section 23, I think.

I’d write a formal letter, recorded delivery, setting out the history and your request (repair by fixed date, or full refund), stating that you consider the delay unreasonable, copy to Trading Standards, copy to R&M, and see whether that gets things moving.

[80s_kid]

What might be the best way forward, do you think, if OP was in the same situation, but with a bike that was out of warranty (i.e. it was understood that the repair would not be free)?

[Nearholmer]

It depends on the nature of the failure.

If the failure is one that shouldn’t reasonably have occurred by the date in question, the position is exactly the same, because the law provides protection for a duration that can reasonably be expected given use and maintenance in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations.

The clutch in my car died completely about six months beyond the 3yr warranty, and after only a tiny bit of politely pointing out that that was unreasonable, I got a new clutch supplied and fitted, and warranty on that for a further year. VW-central reimbursed the dealer too, because they accepted that it was a manufacturing fault, but that wasn’t really “my business”, because the customer’s relationship is with the supplier, not the OEM.

My feeling about this case is that maybe the dealer has got themselves out of their depth, taking on liabilities that they aren’t financially prepared for, which is a bit different from a VW main dealer.

[plancashire]

The German original does not use the word "excessive" but more like "improper". According to this document Betriebsanleitung Bosch Modelle mit Intuvia-Display the solution is to disconnect the improper load and restart the system. If that fails contact your R&M or Bosch dealer. I suspect from a small sample that all Bosch e-bike systems have the same code and meaning, which is confirmed here.

I did see someone suggesting in English that it means a short-circuit, but this is not what the German original says and there is no other code with that meaning.

Did you connect any additional or alternative load to the bike, such as lighting - which I saw mentioned in one discussion?

[Pinhead]

Consumer Rights Act 2015, Section 23, I think.

I’d write a formal letter, recorded delivery, setting out the history and your request (repair by fixed date, or full refund), stating that you consider the delay unreasonable, copy to Trading Standards, copy to R&M, and see whether that gets things moving.

100% what I would do, you need to give a deadline, I would say now you insist on the bike back or a refund in 14 days.

[axel_knutt]

The dealer has been less than candid with an explanation, blaming R&M for repeatedly sending the wrong parts, although I suspect they have made a series of wrong diagnosis and are struggling to identify the root cause.

That's the way it goes with most things these days because they're too complex to service in the field, "repair" men often have no more ability than it takes to remove a PCB or some such module and replace it with one that's been refurbished at a central facility. Currys replaced one PCB after another in my TV before giving up and replacing the whole telly.