Sick Salisbury

[flecc]

Sorry to hear that Falco, but it's not uncommon. The biggest of the lot, Giant Bicycle, gives no service, leaving it all to their cycle dealers, which is far from ok. Most electric bike suppliers are quite small scale businesses and are starved for resources, and having just one repair man who does other things as well is common, many companies having no repair man, the rest of their staff fumbling their way through.

At the root of the trouble is the sales and margins too low though. The Powacycle prices are very competitive and don't leave much margin for technical backup. You'll sometimes see comment in here and elsewhere about the higher prices of such as eZeebike, the bikes often appearing not very different but much more expensive. But the backup is there, with a full time qualified technical manager and a very good range of the spares in stock for the various models, the extra margin buying that.

Equally, if sales were very much larger, Powacycle dealers would learn more about the products and be able to give local support in the manner of the car industry, but as it stands, the low sales levels and competitive price market mean less than satisfactory support is almost unavoidable.
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[mastanlem]

I had a Powacycle Cambridge which developed a fault similar to yours. The cycle was a nifty mover but after having trouble after only a few weeks and all the hassle of my husband having to check for loose wiring etc. Also it was starting to rust. I sent it back and had a refund.

Glad I did.

Marina

 

[Falco]

Thanks for you comments, folks.
Mastanlem, your experience seems to have been a nightmare from beginning to end. I hope everything's going well for you now.
Flecc, despite your explanations, I still think this situation is unacceptable.
The bike was delivered to me on September 1 - a week late due to a breakdown of communications at PowaCycle.
Notwithstanding a week's holiday, I have had five days' use out of it, and it will be delivered back to me on October 22 if nothing else goes wrong.
Frankly, a company should be looking after their customers better than this.
Everyone I've spoken to or emailed has been very polite and apologetic, but that doesn't alter the fact that they've got my £500 and I've had five days' cycling.

 

[flecc]

I agree it's unacceptable, nothing less than the best service is good enough, I was just giving some of the reasons why this sort of thing happens. As the old saying goes, you can't get a quart out of a pint pot.
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[frank9755]

Falco,
I don't think Powacycle could complain if you contacted them and politely but firmly pointed out they had not fulfilled their obligations to you and insisted on a full refund. If you still had faith in them, you might agree to accept a new bike as a replacement.
Good luck
Frank

 

[UrbanPuma]

Falco, just out of curiousity, how many miles had you done when the battery cut out?

 

[Falco]

Altogether I'd covered maybe 60 miles. It wasn't the battery at fault, though, according to PowaCycle. It's been diagnosed as, and I quote, "a combination of a defective controller (box of electronics under the battery) plus either on/off switch and/or throttle on the handlebars."
I've since been told the throttle is the problem, which will be dealt with when they can get round to it.

 

[UrbanPuma]

Hi Falco, hope its fixed soon so you can get riding again. Keep your chin up

All the best!

UrbanPuma

 

[Falco]

Thanks for your kind good wishes.
I'm taking a leaf out of flecc's book and remaining calm and smiling as I hand over my bus fares!!!

 

[flecc]

Best way Falco, you'll live longer.
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[KidBriar]

It seems you are unlucky, but it doesn't help does it! I bought a new Salisbury a few weeks ago and have had no trouble at all! The only one criticism I have of the Salisbury is you cannot turn the battery completely off without stopping which is a shame, although if you freewhile downhill it doesn't drain the battery.

I don't think I'll be classed as a 'proper' e bike user because I go out as far as I can without battery assistance (stopping to turn on the battery if there is a hill or gradual gradient!) and mainly use it on the way back so I can't really say how far the battery goes without emptying!

Hope the people at powacycle help you to get mobile again!

 

[Jimblob]

I doubt there is much wrong with the bike and they should turn it around quickly. . . if you had bought the bike through us there is no way we would have allowed such delays to occur (and it would have been cheaper
Stick with it. . . I know it's annoying but you do actually have a decent bike on your hands. You are probably best off insisting that they send a replacement, if they can't fix it within a few days.
Good luck!

 

[Falco]

The chap I'm dealing with knows exactly what the problem is - it's just that he's off to a show and so there's no one available to fix my bike!

 

[Falco]

Hello everyone! Here's this week's update in the Sick Salisbury Saga.
The chap fixing my bike is now back at work and has discovered the wiring was all wrong.
"The delay in sorting your bike seems to have been down to confusion caused by the use of different coloured wiring (between the front of the bike and the controller under the battery) than on any other Salisbury I’ve yet seen. However, we’ve got that sorted now and I’m just finishing off the new connections."
Next day:
"I completed the re-wiring, but on carrying out the road test (under load) found there was a spasmodic response from the motor, which didn’t happen with a different battery.
"It seemed like you’d expect when the battery is flat. Therefore I put the battery on charge, but it ‘finished’ in about 30 minutes which was worrying.
"Testing the bike under load on a static trainer the battery only lasted eight minutes. I am now carrying out the same test with another battery which I know to be in good condition. So long as this lasts an hour or so (it’s done 40 mins so far) I’ll exchange your battery for a new one and get the bike shipped back tomorrow."

Well, he seems to be very thorough, for which I am grateful, and I agree with him that the last thing anyone wants is to ship back a bike that's less than 100%.

Let's hope I can stop buying bus tickets quite soon now!

 

[flecc]

I hope so Falco.

This problem with changes in colour coding is very common on Chinese production, and not just on e-bikes. I've previously sarcastically remarked that the assembly line workers probably think the colours are just there to make the product look pretty!

The Cyclone bike kit motors also suffer this, as has the motor used in the Torq and Quando which comes in at least three colour code variations.
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[Falco]

Good grief! That must make things difficult for the sorting-out boys at this end right enough!
Anyway, let's hope new wiring plus new battery means trouble-free e-biking like KidBriar!

 

[flecc]

True enough. This is common enough for me to have the most common alternative colour codings on my Torq site here.

Once running ok, that doesn't matter of course, so I think you'll be wearing a riding smile before too long.
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[richard]

I doubt if they carry out colour blindness tests in china. In my old profession, manufacturing electronics, we found 18% of males, much less of females failed the test with most having problems with the red green spectrum.
So I am would not be surprised if that contributes to the mistakes coupled with insufficient quality control.

richard

 

[UrbanPuma]

Hi Falco,

Have you got your Salisbury back and how are you finding it now?

Eagerly awaiting reply

UrbanPuma

 

[Falco]

It's back!

My Salisbury was waiting for me when I got home from work last night, so I was back in the saddle for the trip to work this morning. Hoorah!
The beautiful warm sunny day only served to highlight how much I'd missed it!
As I said before, the PowaCycle people were all very polite and got back to me when I emailed for news - but to my mind this still doesn't make up for the fact they had my bike for five weeks. I feel I've been cheated out of all that lovely autumn weather!
Anyway, that's my last moan on the subject! I'll just enjoy the bike now!