Hi,
I have an 18 year old son who has saved up for a very long time as he's still in full time education, to get a scooter for the first time.
He went to direct scooters. and bought a 125cc scooter.
He didn't go to the bottom of page and click terms and conditions etc and read all the small print.
The bike came around 11 days ago the day before we were due to go to London for the week.
It arrived by lorry and
when it came out it was in a huge cardboard box much like you get a bicycle in.
It was dumped on the pavement and the lorry left.
We couldn't budge it and found inside the box a very heavy large metal crate which the bike was inside.
We managed with three male neighbours to get the crate onto my patio and went to London.
When we came back it took 3 people to get the crate off etc.
When we saw the bike we found a huge dent in the exhaust pipe,
the matting that you put your feet on was covered in mud
and was damaged
and was not clipped down as two of the clips were broken.
It had been ridden for 4km by someone.
There were some scratches on it but nothing major.
No license plate and the wing mirrors, battery etc all had to be put on by us although we haven't done that yet.
Nobody has even sat on it.
Firstly discovering it was a chinese import was worrying but after looking it does say in one of the pages of terms etc that they import from china and india.
I contacted the company via email as soon as we saw the damage and they asked us for photos.
I had to wait for 2 days for my son to come home from a trip and this morning we sent the photos.
the email back i got was:
DIRECT BIKES
You received your bike on 21st February 2014.
You first informed us of any issue with damage etc over a week later on 1st March 2014.
The terms and conditions of sale clearly state:
12.1 If the goods we deliver are not what you ordered you shall be deemed to accept the alternative goods delivered to you instead of the goods as ordered unless you notify us of the problem in writing by recorded delivery to our contact address set out in clause 1 or email to in each case sending that notification within 24 hours of the delivery of the goods in question.
12.2 If the goods have been damaged or shortage upon receipt you agree to notify us of that damage/shortage in writing by recorded delivery to our contact address set out in clause 1 or by email to and in each case you agree to send that notification within 24 hours of the delivery of the goods in question.
You have not adhered to the terms and condition reporting the alleged issue within 24 hours of receipt. Under the circumstances we are unable to assist.
In turn, any such chargeback will be unsuccessful and are more than happy to pass this supportive information directly to your card company if required.
This is our final position regarding this matter.
Is there nothing we can do at all?
I realise there probably isn't but we didn't see the 'have to contact us within 24hours' part and wouldn't have even seen the damage in that time as it had not been taken out of its crate.
Is there any law in this country that wipe out the 24hour part of their terms if the bike is damaged and not as described?
The response in itself is odd coming from a supposed reputable company.
They asked us for proof and as soon as we sent it we get the rude response.
Also stating that they will tell my bank the rules of chargeback peeved me.
Hope someone can help
Thanks
Forgot to add that the reason they give for no license plate is that if they were to register it themselves and put on license plate it becomes second hand.
