support your local bike shop?

trevtherev

Bit of a dilemma...what would you do. In December my place of work is introducing a BTW scheme and we can only use a supplier in Swansea (don't ask me why) Everyone even my local bike shop does the bike to work scheme and I had always said to him that once the scheme came in I would buy from him...but I can't i must use this supplier in Swansea. However my local bike shop is invaluable! he will always take my bike in, sometimes not even charging me....should I therefore buy from him ( and not get the saving on the BTW scheme) or go the BTW scheme and use him to service the bike etc. I have already told him this, he would naturally prefer for me to buy direct from him....I suspect my service may not be as good from now on yet he would fix the bike...So stick by my loyalities..or go for the cheap option...what would youj do???

redvee

I suspect the supplier in Swansea is named after a manoevre where you ride along with the front wheel in the air, they also deal with a fair majority of insurance companies too.

trevtherev

spot on redvee they must have some sort of monopoly.

Slob-Sister

Two things came to mind on reading your post:

Have you tried asking your company to re-consider their rules so you can buy from the LBS?

Exactly how much money would you be losing using the LBS?

Only you can judge whether the amount you'd lose is significant or not. It's a tough decision, good luck.

chaley

I'm in the same boat work say I have to buy from halfaurds :x I've spoken to lbs and they say I'd be mad not to save the cash, but I'd better get my spares and any work done there to make up for it Sounds like a plan!
Chaley

trevtherev

Slob-Sister wrote:

Two things came to mind on reading your post:

Have you tried asking your company to re-consider their rules so you can buy from the LBS?

Exactly how much money would you be losing using the LBS?

Only you can judge whether the amount you'd lose is significant or not. It's a tough decision, good luck.

I work in a lowly paid civil servant role( but i'm not boring honestly ) and I was finally able to track down the people within our organization who administer the scheme....however they could do little for me as they did not "initiate" the scheme and could only quote me the rules which are as follows:
The scheme was introduced to us only this year and the first time it was available was 1st June to mid July...then it closed?? and we were only allowed to use this supplier in Swansea. After mid July you could not get a bike under the scheme until the next run which I now understand to be from Dec 1st to mid Jan. What about the bikes you say? how can you try them out? The suppliers in Swansea have given me the name of 3 shops (2 in Swansea 1 in Cardiff) where I can go and try out any bike I fancy prior to purchase. I rang the shop in Cardiff and said towards the end of Nov/early Dec I would be coming over the try some of their bikes...but I could not purchase from them as I had to use this supplier in Swansea etc..... They acknowledged this fact and knew that I would only be viewing....what a ridiculous scheme!!! This does not appear to be a great way for the government to be encouraging us to bike to work....still it's better than nothing...so i'll not complain...it seems to me it would have been much simpler to give me a little "chit" of paper and I then go along to any bike shop ie my LBS ( as they do the scheme) and hey presto i am happy and my local LBS is happy and more importantly they will happily to repairs/servicing etc......does this sound too complicated to you?

downfader

If your BTW scheme is anything like my local Trust's then you wont save much. Ours worked out as about 20 quid for bleeps sake. :?

So I've always supported the LBS using my own money. They do good deals as well. They're chosen suppliers do not.

Kieran_Burns

The crying shame is that my employers who are a huge FTSE-100 company will not do the CTW scheme. This is due to them losing out so heavily on the Home Computer Initiative.

Too many people left owing money, and the company ended up down 100's of thousands. I can't see why they couldn't write a clause stating that all monies owed would be reclaimed on final salary.

It's a real shame for me as there is a CX bike I would love to buy but £750 for the bike is stretching my budget to breaking limit.

downfader

Kieran_Burns wrote:

It's a real shame for me as there is a CX bike I would love to buy but £750 for the bike is stretching my budget to breaking limit.

Just keep saving. I've been saving for a year for a camera.

GEPC

If the saving you will make is substantial then go with the company scheme ans save the money. Times are tight so do the right thing by your own bank ballance. At the same time, go and explain the situation to your LBS. Tell them its nothing personal and that you would much rather have spent the money with then but its out of your hands. At the same time you can assure him that all servicing, and extras etc will continue to be spent with him.

I would be surprised if they weren't understanding. Just be honest, it ususlly works.

The Chingford Skinhead

As others have said - if the savings are signifiatnt (and if you are low paid any savings will be) then your LBS will understand. Just reassure them that any servincing will be done by them and that you regularly mention their good names to your colleagues.

On you particular scheme - it isn't the Govt but your employer who decides how to administer the scheme. They could have gone for cyclescheme which uses a neetwork of LBSs or they go with a big company like Halfords, evans or your swansea one. It makes it easier for the employer to deal with one scheme only and most of the work - creidit agreements etc - is done for them.

The reason the scheme opens and closes is again internal. It's a way for them to reduce the administration on the scheme by doing batch processing twice a year rather than a constant drip throughout the year even when they are busy (e.g. around performance management / bonus nomination periods.

I kinow all this as I'm working hard to get my employer to set a scheme up and HR have cried about it being too resource intensive - and one of the lead directors is frightened that my org will be liable for any accidents if it is seen to "encourage something as dangerous as cycling" FFS!!!!

downfader

The Chingford Skinhead wrote:

one of the lead directors is frightened that my org will be liable for any accidents if it is seen to "encourage something as dangerous as cycling" FFS!!!!

Rediculous. Are they liable for car driver's accidents? I thought not. They can minimise the risks involved obviously by supporting or offering cycle training.Dont see what else they could do.

Specialized Needs

The Chingford Skinhead wrote:

I kinow all this as I'm working hard to get my employer to set a scheme up and HR have cried about it being too resource intensive - and one of the lead directors is frightened that my org will be liable for any accidents if it is seen to "encourage something as dangerous as cycling" FFS!!!!

Sounds like an HR section that wants to minimise their workload - lots of smoke screens. Is there any way to find other businesses of a similar type/size that do it relatively locally? Point out that they can do it, so why can't yours? As DF said - suggest they offer cycle training (perhaps the local council would provide it on site for free?). Push the green credentials and healthy workforce angles?

Kieran: If you haven't already done so (I'm sure you've tried), is there any way to find out if other competitor companies offer it? Point out that they do. Play the competitive streak. Perhaps contact the local media ansd see whether they waqnt to do a piece on how local businesses are helpping the environment (might be an easy filler).

Stuart

The Chingford Skinhead

downfader wrote:

The Chingford Skinhead wrote:

one of the lead directors is frightened that my org will be liable for any accidents if it is seen to "encourage something as dangerous as cycling" FFS!!!!

Rediculous. Are they liable for car driver's accidents? I thought not. They can minimise the risks involved obviously by supporting or offering cycle training.Dont see what else they could do.

Downfader and dunce dunce - I'm on the case and know what the game is HR have promised to look at the case in six months when they have some time - I've therefore set up a bicycle user group and threee of us are going to do the research for HR and present it to them - that way they won't be able to wriggle out of it....I hope.

huggy

I've heard you can organise CTW thru your local tax office - is this true?

trevtherev

The Chingford Skinhead wrote:

As others have said - if the savings are signifiatnt (and if you are low paid any savings will be) then your LBS will understand. Just reassure them that any servincing will be done by them and that you regularly mention their good names to your colleagues.

On you particular scheme - it isn't the Govt but your employer who decides how to administer the scheme. They could have gone for cyclescheme which uses a neetwork of LBSs or they go with a big company like Halfords, evans or your swansea one. It makes it easier for the employer to deal with one scheme only and most of the work - creidit agreements etc - is done for them.

The reason the scheme opens and closes is again internal. It's a way for them to reduce the administration on the scheme by doing batch processing twice a year rather than a constant drip throughout the year even when they are busy (e.g. around performance management / bonus nomination periods.

I kinow all this as I'm working hard to get my employer to set a scheme up and HR have cried about it being too resource intensive - and one of the lead directors is frightened that my org will be liable for any accidents if it is seen to "encourage something as dangerous as cycling" FFS!!!!

thanks for that chingford makes sense...doesn't make it any easier...but makes sense.

No accidents yet, touch w

This thread is quite confusing in places with seemingly conflicting information and I'm wondering whether everyone is referring to the same scheme. I used the Cycle to Work scheme from my employer which benefits from the VAT and Tax concessions offered by the Government. A basic rate tax payer would typically see a reduction of around 1/3 of the cost as well as only paying the loan back over 12 or 18 months.

There was no restriction on which retailer I could use, and nor should there be - unless someone somewhere is taking a backhander?

One limitation is that you can only purchase full price models in the scheme. So you should compare the savings on CTW with likely savings at sale time.

Also if you consider it likely you will leave your employment before paying back the debt, you are no longer eligible for the concessions above (at least in respect of the payments yet to make.) I'd imagine the VAT/tax would get very messy then.

girv73

The tax saving and value limit rules are set by HMRC, most of everything else is up to the individual company. Your employer can decide to "open" the scheme all year, for a few weeks twice a year, every third tuesday or whatever. They can specify suppliers that must be used and what types of bikes and equipment can be purchased. This is why there are so many different "schemes" being reported.

We are a 50-ish strong company and we run a scheme through a 3rd party facilitator. It opens for a month twice a year and you have to buy from Halfords, though, if you ask nicely, the local Halfords in particular will order a bike from any shop/interweb you like so long as the paperwork goes through them.

spen666

downfader wrote:

The Chingford Skinhead wrote:

one of the lead directors is frightened that my org will be liable for any accidents if it is seen to "encourage something as dangerous as cycling" FFS!!!!

Rediculous. Are they liable for car driver's accidents? I thought not.

Actually, they can be!!!!!!

Perhaps a better analogy would be with the provision of season ticket loans to purchase train tickets- they are not liable for negligence of railways in those circumstances

They can minimise the risks involved obviously by supporting or offering cycle training.Dont see what else they could do.