Cycle to Work Admin Costs

wandle1981

Hi, new to the fourm and my first post is after some information on admin charges in relation to the cycle to work scheme.

I have my eye on a Sensa Trentino from Merlin and because i want to purchase thorough the cycle to work scheme a £780 bike becomes £845 + £30 postage. The deal becomes less attractive.

Having spoken to my employer then do not understand the admin charge as my employer raises a cheque based upon one of their invoices and therefore does all the paperwork admin. Is their a charge for the cycle shop to redeem the voucher? if so why do they get invoved in the scheme if it is going to cost money which they pass down to the consumers? I was under the impressions that all cycle shops where given a financial incentive to be part of the scheme.

As an example, Evans do not charge extra for using the scheme, infact they give you £25, £50 of £100 extra of acecessories when you buy selected bikes through them, one extreme to the other.

I would realy like the Sensa but unless i can be convinved the admin charge is unavoidable i think my search will continue.

Sorry for the moan, starting off on the wrong foot but I just want to get out on the road and obstacles keep popping up.

supermurph09

That's madness. I bought my first bike through the scheme and didn't pay an admin charge at all. Postage I can understand. Tell them you'll take the bike if they wave the charge or go elsewhere. If they don't, you should.

Geo555

Will your employer be using a third party scheme like Cyclescheme or Cycle2Work, or will they be self administering? Most schemes charge the bike shop around 10% of the cost for using their vouchers, so some shops will add a charge for the sale of a discounted bike. If your company pays the shop direct, they probably wouldn't charge the admin fee. It's best if you speak to Merlin directly to clarify what this.

junglist_matty

Mate, don't bother, seriously, just don't..... I did it last year, I bought a road bike (for the missus) through the bike to work scheme, read here:

viewtopic.php?f=30005&t=12917315&p=18269512&hilit=www.cyclescheme.co.uk#p18268998

You'll get a far better deal buying a brand new bike somewhere that offers 0% finance

jordan_217

I can't see any benefit of using a 3rd voucher provider, e.g the savings for you, the employee are negligible, or even none existent. Our company self administer and pay the shop directly via BACS transfer. The shop have no additional over heads, and I've saved quite a bit in buying mine.

Grafham/Rutland Cycling, Merlin, Evans, Westbrooks and Ribble will allow your employer to pay directly via BACS. I'm sure others will too but these are the more popular stores we've dealt with.

It's a no brainer for all concerned IMO.

wandle1981

Merlin have said that the schemes charge them 10% comission for every sale and as they work on very tight margins they cannot accomodate the cost and have to pass it on to the customers.

I beleive that if this was worked into their business model the costs could be consumed and if not added to the sale at the checkeout at least added to the list pricing at a considerably lower rate.

I beleive the exclusivity of being the only UK seller of the brand is what they relay on in this case and if people realy realy what that brand and their only option is the cycle scheme then they know they will pay it.

It does however IMO go against the principals of encourgaing more people to ride bikes, the scheme is forcing sellers to either make a loss on each bike or increase the list price above the book price.

I have confirmed to them that my company self administer so i can pay by company cheque so waiting now to see if this makes a difference.

oxoman

The problem is that some companies Merlin and Ribble do their own bikes and as such don't normally discount their bike. A person comes along with C2W voucher and gets the bike, The voucher is then redeemed by retailer / manufacturer with C2W scheme and they the C2W scheme take their percentage of the voucher so the retailer is out of pocket. That is why most C2W scheme bikes are at retail and not sale prices, some places will do the bikes at sale prices but will add 5 to 10% on top. I was going to do the C2W scheme this year but didn't because Ribble wanted an extra £65 to process it and also a letter from my company as the bike was £200 over budget. IMHO dont bother if down to lack of funds try the 0% deals going around most bikeshops. Didn't buy the Ribble either, got a Moda instead.