Renting a Bike

I hosted my California friends on the Loveland bike trail yesterday, renting one bike from Going Mobile Bicycles in Norwood.

NEVER GO THERE.

I appreciate the attention, but it took 40 minutes to get out of the place. And at the very end of this ordeal the guy says, "If you break it, you buy it" and pulls out a form I had to sign, taking yet another 10 minutes.

This made me uneasy, but by this point in time I was desperate to leave the place.

We did the trail from Loveland to Morrow, 11 miles each way. It was uneventful. Out of the entire stretch only a 20 foot section had some mud on it. It was a wonderful, easy, controlled environment.

A few hours later we return the bike. The owner of the shop wants to inspect it and immediately finds a scratch on it and wants to charge me another $40.

Ok. This is a rental. We should be considered the perfect customers and did absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever. There was speculation that the scratch occurred on the bike rack because it could not have possibly occurred on the trail.

The owner's logic was that he couldn't possibly sell the bike as new because of the scratch. To which we replied, he couldn't possibly sell the bike as new because we rode it 22 miles.

He offered to sell me the bike for $100 off.

On a subsequent phone call, my friend was accused of riding the bike in the grass and mud (we didn't) and taking the free spare innertube out of the carton (we didn't). Then the owner (a former navy guy) threatened to call my friend's command.

I was never told beforehand of any charges for incidental scratches under normal usage. Nor did we check the bike beforehand for any scratches.

The owner of Going Mobile - I think his name is Steve Casagrande - is a nut.

Opinions or suggestions on how to handle this situation?

<font color="#FFFFAA" size="1">[ July 07, 2005 07:52 AM: Message edited by: Captain Whizbang ]</font>

How can he sell a bike as new, if it's been ridden as a rental (probably more than once) That's kinda like turning back the odometer on a used car.

Maybe you should call one of the local news stations people who do stories on this to try and help people who feel they've been scammed.
Or, there is always the BBB!

I would tell the guy that if he intended to check the bike for scratches afterwards, he has to check for them beforehand. That is what they do when you rent a car. YOU and the rental co. check for them together.

And you are correct, he can't sell it as new, b/c it was used as a rental. Rental cars aren't sold as new.

How much did you pay for the rental?

Quote:

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Originally posted by d_squared:
I would tell the guy that if he intended to check the bike for scratches afterwards, he has to check for them beforehand. That is what they do when you rent a car. YOU and the rental co. check for them together.

And you are correct, he can't sell it as new, b/c it was used as a rental. Rental cars aren't sold as new.

How much did you pay for the rental?

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">$40. Which is cheaper than the rental place by the trail.

If you are going to rent a bike, eventually you are going to get scratches. Which makes me wonder why he didn't advise us of this policy ahead of time.

Interestingly, the rider of the bike didn't want to borrow from someone and preferred the rental because she didn't want to accidentally mess up someone's bike.

Y'know, I'd be more than willing to pay up if I thought the bike was abused in any way. But it wasn't. It was put on the bike rack, we took it to the trail, rode it for several hours and brought it back. Whatever happened to it - if in fact anything happened to the bike - occurred under nothing but normal usage.

<font color="#FFFFAA" size="1">[ July 07, 2005 09:01 AM: Message edited by: Captain Whizbang ]</font>

Quote:

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Originally posted by cincygreg:
[QB]How can he sell a bike as new, if it's been ridden as a rental (probably more than once) That's kinda like turning back the odometer on a used car.

[QB]

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I asked the same question, but my friend says the bike was probably new and seems to think the scratch did occur while in our possession, probably on the bike rack.

But I was taken aback when the guy insisted we pay the fee because he couldn't sell it as new. Later, he changed his wording to "he couldn't sell if for as much."

Either way, I'm disconcerted about the sale of a bike he's using as a rental. I want to know if he's selling used bikes as new. I dunno. Or if he is in fact selling bikes that are used is he adequately divulging the usage?

Then there's the charge for a scratch on a rental. There seriously was no mention of any charges for such damage, nor was there any mutual examination of the bike before we left. Are we to expect the rental to always be returned in perfect condition? And should this issue have been brought to our attention beforehand?

My friend got him to take $20 off the damage, but I would have to go into his store and give the guy $20 so he can do a credit. I don't want to do this, plus it sounds really fishy.

<font color="#FFFFAA" size="1">[ July 07, 2005 04:06 PM: Message edited by: Captain Whizbang ]</font>

Your position is the scratch was there when you received the rental. Period. He has no evidence to dispute it. Tell him if he calls again, you'll call BBB and escalate from there...

I think we should shoot him. He's obviously not a REAL American. What kind of name is Steve Casagrande? FOREIGN.

Next time, just give me the $40 and borrow my bike. I am a poor grad student! and I don't have the time nor energy to harrass you about a scratch!

Quote:

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Originally posted by d_squared:
Next time, just give me the $40 and borrow my bike. I am a poor grad student! and I don't have the time nor energy to harrass you about a scratch!

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">And you wouldn't be concerned about selling it as new.

Nope...don't plan on selling it! And if I did, I would be selling it as used...or almost new...minus the scratches from Cap'n and his crazy friends! [img]smile.gif[/img]