Urban Mover UK - Rubbish Customer Service!

[jonathan75]

It seems then that the payment went to the company that went into administration almost exactly two years ago, so a PayPal claim is the best course now.
.

Paypal claim definitely best for the £500, as you say.

The thing is that Moisson says he bought the bike a year before January 2015, so January 2014, then. The company actually went into administration in March 2012 and came out of administration in March 2013 and entered liquidation, thus ceasing to trade. There is no way Urbanmover.com Ltd could have sold Moisson the bike in January 2014 (and even if it were January 2013, he would not have dealt with Keith Chamberlain I believe, but instead the administrator, who I believe would have been obliged to inform Moisson that the company was in administration and might not be able to fulfil its commitments). It had to be Urban Mover Eco Ltd he dealt with (there is no other entity which Keith is director of).

The reason this is important is because Urban Mover Eco Ltd is still liable to Moisson for the bike having failed. Moisson should not have to pay for a new battery so long as he has not abused it. He should be provided with a repair, replacement, or part-refund (at the discretion of the retailer) - provided he paid good money for the bike. That (reasonable durability) is what Urban Mover Eco Ltd have agreed, it's the basis of his contract with it, and as an agreement is binding on the company.

I would point out that Keith Chamberlain is the company director for a school with £23m total assets, see here http://www.endole.co.uk/profile/2246250/keith-chamberlain so if Moisson doesn't hear from Keith he could always threaten to email the Chair of Governors at the school to ask for Keith's contact details...

 

[trex]

@d8veh: Moisson's bike wasn't even cheap.
@jonathan75: paypal is responsible for handing over the funds to an account controlled by KC. If KC does not return the funds, I'd suggest Moisson to go after Paypal.

@Moisson:
I am no expert but may be you should file against the guy who took your money here:
https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

 

[jonathan75]

Hi all. Encouraging to see that this case is bringing so much attention and useful feedbacks. Thanks a lot for your precious advises and your time. To answer some of your questions, I just checked my paypal accountView attachment 10834
and I effectively paid on the 23rd Jan 2015to Urban Mover (http://www.urbanmover.com) £498.6. This is what is mentioned in my Paypal account. Now I am not sure who and which legal entity is effectively behind this URL but I would assume (naively may be) that PayPal is checking this before accepting and transferring payments from customers. To precise also something here, I am calling the unique number almost on a daily basis, and one day (about one month ago) someone picked up the phone and asked me to re send the mails, in which I was asking for an update on the delivery. Obviously no answer since then. I think best approach is to claim (if not too late) the payment from PayPal. I will keep you posted. In order to avoid this type of adventure o others, I will also advertise Urban Mover's aftersales more extensively. Would you know another platform than this foum , happy to use it. Kind Regards

Hi Moisson,

According to PayPal Switzerland you have 180 days to launch a buyer protection dispute through PayPal. It says so here at section 3.6.

I am certain that you bought your bike from Urban Mover Eco Ltd as Urbanmover.com ceased trading on 23 March 2013.

So long as you didn't pay a small price, Urban Mover Eco Ltd is obliged to ensure your original bike bought a year before your January battery purchase, is reasonably durable, for a reasonably period i.e. that it works (providing you did not abuse it). You should not have had to pay for the battery in January 2015, and you should tell them you are cancelling your order, and they should not send it. Instead you should ask them politely/kindly to please help you get your bike on the road again. If they refuse, then, inform them that they have agreed that the bike will be reasonably durable, per the Sale of Goods Act 1979 s 14, and that you may pursue them through the Swiss small claims courts, as is your right.

 

[jonathan75]

@d8veh: Moisson's bike wasn't even cheap.
@jonathan75: paypal is responsible for handing over the funds to an account controlled by KC. If KC does not return the funds, I'd suggest Moisson to go after Paypal.

@Moisson:
I am no expert but may be you should file against the guy who took your money here:
https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

No, moneyclaim isn't the correct stage now because PayPal have a 180 day buyer protection guarantee, even in Switzerland. I think it's an interesting idea about doing an online moneyclaim, but I think that should relate to the failed bike if KC refuses to fix it for free.

 

[jonathan75]

The company address of Urban Mover Eco Ltd is here:

URBAN MOVER ECO LTD
5 PULLMAN COURT
GREAT WESTERN ROAD
GLOUCESTER
GLOUCESTERSHIRE
GL1 3ND
Company No. 07997258

It is probably best to write to them by letter from now on concerning the broken bike (although you can email and ring them to cancel the battery purchase - the cancellation is effective as soon as they would ordinarily receive it during ordinary office hours, whether or not they acknowledge it). You can go after the £500 through PayPal buyer protection.

For the bike, if you write them at the above address (by recorded post), and they fail to respond, send them another letter saying if they don't fulfil their contract you will take them to court.

 

[Kudoscycles]

I don't think that there's anything wrong with buying a cheap Chinese bike, but you must make sure that it has a standard battery and other parts. As soon as there's some special parts, they will cost a fortune to replace. If I had an Urban Mover UM36 with a shagged battery, I'd replace the battery with a standard bottle battery, which would be a lot better as well as a lot cheaper. You only need two wires to connect it. You could get two of them with chargers for the same price as the UM replacement one.

Dave,I am very respectful of your posting but you are a person who is very knowledgeable about these batteries and have the ability to replace with a close alternative but so many have to have the identical product even a strange connector would throw them.
However as you say try buying a bike with as popular items as possible,I must say the bottle style battery is not the prettiest in the world but it is the most popular,almost the only style which has become standard.
KudosDave

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Dave,I am very respectful of your posting but you are a person who is very knowledgeable about these batteries and have the ability to replace with a close alternative but so many have to have the identical product even a strange connector would throw them.
However as you say try buying a bike with as popular items as possible,I must say the bottle style battery is not the prettiest in the world but it is the most popular,almost the only style which has become standard.
KudosDave

You're right. People get put off because they don't know how, but all the information is here on this forum. I used to teach electronics to 11 year old kids of mixed ability. They could all solder and wire things - even the dunderheads. You only need to show them how.

It's not exactly difficult to put in two screws and join two wires to change from a behind the seatpost battery to a bottle type. I would have trusted that to any of the 11 year olds that I used to teach. Most things are not difficult if you know how to do it.

 

[trex]

The priority is for Moisson to get his money back.
Then there is plenty of room inside the old casing to replace the cellpack.
It will look neater and does not require messing about with the electrocnics.
Cost for a 26V 10AH cell pack: about £140.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bike-Battery-24-V-26-v-10-Ah-Prophete-from-LionTec-without-Charger-/251866467694

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Isn't the UM36 36v?

 

[flecc]

No, it is a Panasonic 26V 9Ah Lithium Battery on the UM36.
.

 

[Moisson]

Hi everybody
It took a while but good news. I have been totally refunded by Paypal. Sufficiently rare to be noticed and rewarded. Now I am left with my UM36 without battery. Would someone know how I get around that ? I see above that Trex posted a solution . I don't know anything in electronic and I am leaving in Switzerland so I am not sure It would a solution for me but happy to learn. Thanks for your past precious help and your future feedback.

 

[Moisson]

No, it is a Panasonic 26V 9Ah Lithium Battery on the UM36.
.

Hi I have actually a UM44, is it the same battery than the UM36 and is it as simple to replace as you say it ? Any specific advises ?

 

[flecc]

Hi I have actually a UM44, is it the same battery than the UM36 and is it as simple to replace as you say it ? Any specific advises ?

There have been different UM44 models having different batteries and I don't know which one you have. The current model is the UM44S as sold by Halfords.

I have no personal experience of these, but a non-standard battery could be added to the carrier with suitable fastening or a bag, and then wired to the in-frame terminal points. A switch or a connector to disconnect will be necessary in the positive lead.
.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You can use any 24v lithium battery. If it were my bike, I would open up the case and take everything out, leaving a bit of length on the two wires attached to the ouput terminals on the bottom. I'd then join some longer pieces of 14g wire to them, drill a hole and run them out to a convenient location where you can fit a replacement battery. I would fit a bottle battery on the downtube. If you don't have bottle fixing screws, you can use two of these with two jubilee clips strapping each one to the frame. The clamp piece is removable, you can chuck them. Just use the black pieces with the threads in. Alternatively, you can jubilee clip the bottle holder directly to the frame.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=311383700384&alt=web

http://www.greenbikekit.com/24v-panasonic-bottle-battery.html