european imports

[paddy 260]

I am currently considering buying an sduro haibike costing £1850. there is a dealer in france called alpeshop who can deliver a new one to me for less than £1350. quite a saving !
has anyone any experience of importing in this way or in particular dealing with alpeshop.
does anyone know if the warranty is compromised?
paddy

 

[Wander]

Few threads on here already Paddy.

General view is manufacturer's warranty (legally) applies throughout the EU but the practicality is that the bike has to be returned to the dealer you bought it from for warranty work to be carried out.

You will find people on here fall into two camps:-

1. Those after a 'deal' who are price concious who will buy from Europe.
2. Those who like the idea of buying off a UK dealer with UK support & warranty.

 

[paddy 260]

thanks, yes I have just found the thread.
it feels like we are being overcharged. I think Raleigh are the importers, is this where the extra cost comes in? most dealers seem very helpful and enthusiastic and I would prefer to support them but I thought the European Union was supposed to level prices out as eventually happened in the car industry.

 

[trex]

can you post a link to the offer?

 

[Wander]

One of the problems currently is the weakness of the Euro / strength of the £.

Have you thought about buying via one of the new bike to work schemes which don't appear to have the £1,000 limit that most schemes do. This seems to be a way of bringing the UK price down & retains the UK warranty & support for UK dealers.

 

[shemozzle999]

can you post a link to the offer?

might be this:

http://www.ebay.fr/itm/HAIBIKE-SDURO-Hardseven-SL-27-5-/262004383661?var=&hash=item3d00ad9fad

 

[soundwave]

1 thing to note is bar ebike shop if you use a dongle most uk dealers will void all warranty if 1 is used on the bike.

also not 1 uk or eu dealers can service a bosch motor and has to be sent back to bosch germany for a replacement if needed.

you cant even buy a new motor unless you send ur old 1 back first for a new motor.

 

[Kinninvie]

You should check out the price of your bike here as well.
http://www.mhw-bike.com/ebikes/mountainbikes-hardtail/

As pointed out above it does make the warranty a bit awkward if you have to return the whole bike but at the end of the day if your budget is limited it may be the only way of getting what you really want .
Personally I think there is not much to go wrong on an ebike and plenty of help on here if something does go wrong.

At the end of the day its down to personal choice.

 

[Croxden]

Was I glad to have the dealer & importer I had when my Grace MX was playing silly devils. No hesitation, I had a refund and was then able to buy the Delite from them. They didn't know I had this in mind but they were well deserving of more business.

It's a risk you are taking buying from overseas, I would prefer to pay the extra for the assurance of a proper back-up. But it's you money and your choice, if you can afford to write it off if it goes wrong, go for it.

 

[mike killay]

After 4 faultless years, my Tonaro suddenly packed up.
It was a relief to be able to take it back to Phil at Powerpedals for repairs. I would not have been able to repair it myself.
Best to buy locally.

 

[SteveRuss]

After 4 faultless years, my Tonaro suddenly packed up.
It was a relief to be able to take it back to Phil at Powerpedals for repairs. I would not have been able to repair it myself.
Best to buy locally.

I think anyone's fear should be what do you do when/if it fails within it's period of warranty. Kalkhoff have a 2 year warranty (limited in some way, I forget) but what for the Haibike? If it's one year then it's one year of nail biting (with £500 notes in your pocket).

Outside of that warranty we're all in the same boat. Searching around the country for someone that knows how to fix an ebike.

You could look at it as the £500 saving is your warranty, if you chose not to send it back to France. Or it's some money to spend on it when it fails outside of the warranty period.

A risk I would seriously have to think hard about. I am always confused as to why there is such a difference in these two prices.

 

[Wander]

I think anyone's fear should be what do you do when/if it fails within it's period of warranty. Kalkhoff have a 2 year warranty (limited in some way, I forget) but what for the Haibike? If it's one year then it's one year of nail biting (with £500 notes in your pocket).

Outside of that warranty we're all in the same boat. Searching around the country for someone that knows how to fix an ebike.

Looks like up to five year's of nailbiting!

5yr warranty on the frame, 2yr warranty on all the electrics & 1yr warranty on the components.

I'm with the buy locally brigade. I've been very pleased that I've had a UK warranty on occasions.

 

[jonathan75]

Two penn'orth

1) sending a bike around Europe doesn't cost that much I suspect -maybe as little as £30 each way -check (although insuring it during outward carriage may be another question -return insurance will be the responsibility of the retailer).

2) I don't believe any EU consumer facing business can charge a consumer for the costs associated with servicing a defective product, eg shipping, when the product has been sold to the customer in the latter's home state - even if a contract said so. That's a risk I believe the business is aware of and willingly taking. "Warranty conditions" would have to be "conditions of sale" to defeat your rights to a reasonably durable product,and then I simply don't see how such a term could have effect. It would be like saying "if I breach my main obligation under this contract, you have to pay before I remedy that".

I mean that could be a fair term but I can see problems with it being fair enough to be enforceable. Maybe I'm wrong in law. Not sure.

3) pay at least partly by credit card and enjoy SOGA rights against your card provider.

4) consumers in the EU can do cross border small claims in their local small claims court.

5) pretty sure it's illegal state aid for any EU ms govt to restrict cycle to work subsidy schemes to buying only in the home state. So you might be able to use the grant to buy in eg France? Again maybe I'm wrong.

6) yeah I buy local too,same reasons ;-)