ComplaintsforBen's Bikes Sequim Incorporated

• Initial Complaint

  05/31/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  My wife and I visited the bike shop at least three times before deciding on a purchase. My wife was diagnosed with Alzheimers last year and has Osteopenia and is now 70. I wanted to get her off of her two wheel bicycle due to my fear if she fell she could sustain a substantial injury and I communicated all of that more than once. I made the person who worked with us each time we went there aware of her special needs. It looked like we were settling on an I.C.E. Adventure ** Trike which was the most expensive in the store. Before deciding on the purchase I asked the person working with us if there was anything new that I.C.E had come out with for 2023 that might be better for her? I referenced as to how car company's will change or upgrade a vehicle and I was told "NO" that bikes don't work like cars in that way. The person that helped us to decide on a purchase was their top bike mechanic also from what we were told by the owner *** in the past. I also asked what the ** meant in the Adventure ** tag and I was told heavy duty and I said that was great does that mean it was built stronger and the answer was yes. That turned out to be not true as well. We wound up putting down a 30% deposit and the receipt said no returns, that struck me as no one mentioned it before. Then after the deposit was made another mechanic warned us that you have to be careful to let pressure off of the pedals when shifting as it can shorten the life of the Hub by grinding the gears. No one mentioned this either before the purchase. After her first ride of only ********************************** grinding while shifting and I found out online when trying to learn all I could about her bike that they did have a better system with a newly developed hub that you can shift under load and is fully automatic. My wife had problem with the controls on her ride as there was 6 buttons and none were labeled, she got confused as to what each button did and would forget. The newly improved only has two buttons only and to raise or lower the assist level. I went back to the store to return this for the better upgrade and they said no returns, I worked it but they would only take the first bike back with a $4,000 charge or 30% return fee. The owner said if I buy another trike he would give us $2,000 off that one. These are 12- 13 thousand dollar trikes. Also it turned out that the ** Adventure trike was for taller heavier people and did not fit my wife's body properly and the seat was so high the head rest could not be adjusted properly. We feel real strongly that they wanted to sell us what was on the floor and mislead us or cared little about insuring she got the best trike for "HER" needs. We both went in at a later date to talk to the owner to no resolution. He even said they gave us a $2,000 credit on the second one which was not true and the person handling the second purchase made it clear that there was no credit until we purchase a second *********** only and that is the only bike we would get a credit on and only $2,000 back or a credit meaning they keep $2,000. We would like our $4,000 return fee back to our credit card. The trike only had 21 miles on it when we returned it. I had cleaned it and ******** when it first came home to us. People go on demo's and put more miles on a bike. They did not put us into the best trike for my wife....seems like all they wanted to do was sell us what was on the floor. Since then people have asked us a lot about her trike and we have had several negative references as to how they treat people.

  Customer response

  06/22/2023

  Complaint is still open and we want it proceed. Have not heard from Bens bikes

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