cyclescheme whee;ies

gwillis

My employer has just signed up for the above scheme.... great I thought now at last I can buy that dream bike... nope because they dont allow anything over £1k .

Gutted so do I leave it as im buying the bike elsewhere or buy some nice kit instead.

Just sounding off guys sorry

mcflyss

You sure? When I have done it... 3 times now, If i got a voucher for say £1000 i could buy a bike for say £1500 and just pay £500 on top... speak with the shop involved.. sure they will allow this

gwillis

I rang them twice yesterday to confirm it. Of all the schemes they could have used wheelies are the only one that caps the tota; you can spend. I can of course use the scheme to get pedals etc and buy the bike elsewhere . Its a real shame given my £2.5k budget but that beiing said the Bianchi Infinito deal still works out a better prospect from Epic Cycles due to the wheel upgrade offer.

Still a little annoying though

glauciaregina9

The C2W scheme is not aimed at people wanting to spend loads of money on a bike.

Its main purpose is to encourage more employees to cycle, and £1000 is sufficient for a perfectly decent bike.

There seems to be a lot of cyclists out there who just want to use the scheme to get massive savings on their dream machine ...

gwillis

Im not disputing that. However if this was only the case then no other C2W scheme would offer different. At the end of the day yes £1000 id enough for a bike to cycle to work on, but then again so is £250 .

Butterd2

I had the same issue with Halfords as I was interested in the £1500 Boardman however they had a strict limit of £1000 total. Evans on the other hand bent over backwards and I even rode of on the Scott before the voucher arrived. When I did get the voucher they simply credited me £1000 back against the total bill. ( I have to say the post sales service has been average at best but that's another story).

I get that the scheme is not really designed to be used as I did but I figured a certain Mr. Brown had taken and squandered enough tax off me over the last 10 years that this was just a little bit of payback. My current scheme finishes in Oct and I have to start deciding what to add to my stable next year!

gwillis

I had hung on until our scheme was signed off but given the deal that epic are offering there is very little diference apart from a far better quality of service with epic. I can use my voucher to do a few things . I can get new pedals and cycle kit or maybe get a new winter bike such as a caad 8

Wheelies im sure are a very good company but the 1k cap stops me from buying the Bianchi from them.

Still £1000 of kit for £600 is not to be sniffed at either I guess

ris

the limit may be your employer requiring a consumer credit licence to loan more than a grand. some shops may allow you to add to the value of the voucher but i'm not sure how strictly legal it is (and in theory you are risking that money if your employer bizarrely decides not to let you have the bike at the end!)

gwillis

I seem to recall the sales staff mentioning that when I questioned the maximum I could spend.

gwillis

I seem to recall the sales staff mentioning that when I questioned the maximum I could spend.

rjh299

Paid an extra £600 on top of my £1000 voucher twice now. Speak to your shop, the £1000 limit is set by cyclescheme, most bike shops will be happy to take more money off you. As mentioned above, the only problem could be if your company don't want to sell you the bike at the end. Extremely unlikely though.
My current cyclescheme runs out end of July. Do I go with a winter bike or new wheels? Decisions

Wulz

Has enyone actuallly heard of an employer actually refusing to sell the bike to the employee at the end of the lease hire term?

Just curious.

Ben6899

Butterd2 wrote:

I get that the scheme is not really designed to be used as I did but I figured a certain Mr. Brown had taken and squandered enough tax off me over the last 10 years that this was just a little bit of payback.

This.

If my money's good enough to feed and water scroungers, then I'm also quite happy playing the system for my own gains. If my organisation ever gets involved with C2W again, I will use it to buy pedals, clothes, wheels etc.

bompington

Your employer owns the bike, not you, and so if the shop do top-up payments, either you are becoming part owner of the bike, which is is specifically forbidden in the scheme, or you are effectively giving them a gift in return for them agreeing to sell the bike at a discount to your employer - which the revenue might not be impressed by.

Like a lot of things in C2W, what actually happens does not always tally with the rules (are you expecting to pay the genuine value of a 1yo bike for your final payment at the end?) but you can't really complain if a retailer does actually play by the book.

rake

bikes 0% vat. problem gone makes everyone healthy.

pilot_pete

Or just do as I did. Spend your 2.5K on a bike of your choice, which you own outright and be happy. Even better than that, negotiate, as I did and get £650 of RRP as it was last years model. If you think about it, £650 saving is more than you will get through the Cyclescheme for a £1k bike.

Quids in. Plus, my employer, an FTSE 100 company seemed to be charging quite a bit for the last payment and making some money for themselves! Many employees have complained. Better off out of it IMHO. Hope others employers are better.

PP

gwillis

Bit the bullet today. Order placed for a Bianchi Infinito which worked out a better deal than the C2W scheme . The C2W will come in handy for bits and bobs.