Rutland Cycles & Turbo Levo SL - A Cautionary Tale

ant0

Active member
Feb 25, 2021
74
173
Aviemore, Scotland
Some of you may have ready my sorry saga thread on the Specialized forum here about the faults on my wife's new Turbo Levo SL and the huge timeframes quoted for getting it looked at. Well things escalated today and I thought I'd share to warn others. That said I fully realise many/most people may have excellent service from Rutland and that they are a well respected shop, but my experience tells otherwise. I've pasted below, names removed, my latest email to them today and as you'll guess, I'm fairly livid right now, as is my wife.

Hi [email support] & Nottingham Store,

I've now spoken to someone at the store (XXXX & XXXX on holiday) and given I'm currently £11k out of pocket, with no working bike here for my wife, and apparently having been lied to by your store staff re the new bike dispatch date, I am now furious. I had been fairly patient until now but this is the final straw.

1. First bike stopped working due to a fault less than 30 days from delivery - eventually agreed return for full refund - still awaiting box for return and £5,500 refund.

2. Empty box from you for that return to obtain the £5,500 refund will have taken nearly 2 weeks to arrive from request, 'if' it arrives this monday!

3. I have no idea then how long it will take for you to arrange collection, receive the bike, and process my refund (likely an excessively long time by the experience thus far)

4. Due to the excessively long time it was taking for you to get the return box out, I PAID FOR a new bike to be dispatched pending the other bike return and refund, or order to speed things up and my wife have a working bike (now £11k out of pocket at this stage).

4. Both XXXX and XXXX at the Nottingham store had confirmed the new bike was in stock, allocated to me, and PDI'd at the end of LAST week.

5. On paying for the bike last Sunday 29th I personally spoke to XXXX and asked if the bike would be dispatched to me Monday, he said it was ready but due to the bank holiday Monday it would be dispatched Tuesday 24th.

6. On Tuesday 24th I received a dispatch confirmation with tracking, which I naturally assumed was the bike being dispatched and so would be here today or Monday (based on the timescales of the first bike sent).

7. Today via the customer service email when asking where the empty return box was, I found that dispatch was only the empty box and not the bike as promised!

8. That same customer service email tells me that the bike has not been dispatched on Tuesday 24th as promised by XXXX, and the bike won't even be in your depot until next Tuesday!

From the above saga, there seems to be a mixture of incompetence and lies as far as I'm concerned with promises not met.

As result my wife and I have reluctantly decided we cannot trust Rutland and Specialized support and so I request:

1. An immediate refund of the £5,500 paid for the new bike on Sunday 29th Sept (you confirmed today not dispatched)
2. Swift action and refund of the £5,500 for the original faulty bike - please ensure the return is handled quicker than issue of the return box to allow me to be refunded.

Thank you.
Regards,

[EDITED FROM ITALIC TEXT SINCE SOME ON THE FORUM COULDN'T SEEIT/READ IT]
 
Last edited:

Burnsey

New Member
Aug 27, 2021
27
78
North West UK
I feel your pain and experienced the same with CRC. A friend had the same with another 'closet retail' supplier. All have part, if not all, decent ratings online.

Unfortunately, I consider this is widespread and the common denominator being a sale completed online.

No, it shouldn't be the case, but I decided to travel to a well respected bike shop and the whole experience was multiple times better. It seems decent service does not reflect the amount paid either - it could be a grand or twenty.
 
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mak

🦷
Dec 27, 2019
445
493
uk
I cannot see any of the emails listed but it may have been edited. To be honest i looked at your other thread. What a bunch of cu%ts.
It doesn't surprise me :rolleyes:

From my short 2 year experience involved with the push bike trade it seems unregulated and totally incompetent .
I think they have had it easy over the years.

There is a new breed of buyers spending 4-10k on e bikes and expecting there consumer rites to be honoured, most of these buyers expect some kind of knowledge and warranty assistance along with consumer rights.

To be honest I gave up asking for a simple light activation on my bosch motor equipped bike after being told 3 months waiting list in a shop that has 1 customer a week :confused:
God help me if I get a major fault on my bike .
 

steve_sordy

Wedding Crasher
Nov 5, 2018
9,018
9,458
Lincolnshire, UK
@ant0 I too cannot see any of the emails listed.

I have been dealing with Rutland Cycles for 13 years (Whitwell store) and I cannot fault their customer service at all. Not one bit. They have been very helpful whenever I have asked for help or needed something. (Actually, there was that one arse'ole.... but I never saw him again).

Have you been dealing with them on line? If so, it may be beneficial to you to try just ringing them up or visiting the nearest store. Once you get talking to a real person, the "corporate line" falls away, (probably because there is no written evidence of what they are saying, but that is just my guess).
 
Last edited:

ant0

Active member
Feb 25, 2021
74
173
Aviemore, Scotland
@ant0 I too cannot see any of the emails listed.

I have been dealing with Rutland Cycles for 13 years (Whitwell store) and I cannot fault their customer service at all. Not one bit. They have been very helpful whenever I have asked for help or needed something. (Actually, there was that one arse'ole.... but I never saw him again).

Have you been dealing with them on line? If so, it may be beneficial to you to try just ringing them up or visiting the nearest store. Once you get talking to a real person, the "corporate line" falls away, (probably because there is no written evidence of what they are saying, but that is just my guess).
Been on the phone multiple times per week to the two guys dealing with it, still ended up in this mess.
 

mak

🦷
Dec 27, 2019
445
493
uk
Some of my sympathy is slightly lost on you telling me you live in Aviemore and purchasing from Nottingham, I live in Nottinghamshire and am still dreaming about my holiday in Aviemore :) Good luck with the outcome and don't forget email is your friend, it documents all your correspondence .
 

ant0

Active member
Feb 25, 2021
74
173
Aviemore, Scotland
Some of my sympathy is slightly lost on you telling me you live in Aviemore and purchasing from Nottingham, I live in Nottinghamshire and am still dreaming about my holiday in Aviemore :) Good luck with the outcome and don't forget email is your friend, it documents all your correspondence .
? Apologies for my ideallic MTB location.
Yes all calls were then confirmed in detail in emails and support tickets with them. Just want my £11k back and to be done with the sorry mess. Plus actually get my wife a reliable ebike!
 

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