Anyone used bromptonbikehire.com ?

[matticus]

I wonder if any dishonest people wait until they find a spanking new hire bike, report it as "stolen" and pay the £650 to get a cheap Brompton? I imagine a crime reference number is required, but that's not much of a deterrent given the police's well-known "do nothing" attitude to bike theft. Are the bikes fitted with tracking technology?

RZ mate, do you think it's normal to always be looking for this kind of ... "opportunity"? Is there anything you want to, you know, share with the group at this point? You know we'll still love you!

p.s. the tracking is a sticker with the bike's name on. Mine was called "Chippenham". Seemed pretty secure to me.

 

[rogerzilla]

Ha! I have too many bikes already!

Also, I've been to Chippenham and I didn't think it was worth stealing. I expect they use names like Swindon, Slough, Peterborough and Great Yarmouth in high-risk areas.

 

[matticus]

Ah, yeah. While it wasn't that bad, I do remember they had to wait to confirm initial payment hit their bank account, which was a PITA the first time I'd hoped to pick one up.... they didn't mention to maybe sign up on a weekday, in working hours, etc. It did feel a little one-woman-band operation... lovely, very helpful woman, but not a fleshed out operation. But after that, it was fine, and she continued to be very helpful the couple of times I'd needed to call the helpline. I don't remember any ID scans being involved.

I don't think I had the best use-case for this service! Overall it was worth doing (as it meant I could do a nice ride with family, and get a long test-ride, for not absurd money), but the admin was a disaster.
I've talked about the sign-up process. Waited 3 days (multiple checks) before I could reserve a bike from BTM. Then I couldn't return it due to no empty docks, so it's now in my home station's dock, 60 miles away :P Now that could be due to a huge sunny weekend surge in demand for the exact weekend I wanted it, c'est la vie.
Returning it required extensive telephone support, due to a dodgy keypad (and probably other IT-type issues at their end). Stressful process, hanging around a station at night (well away from the entrance), and worried I'd be lumbered with the thing for an indefinite/costly period.

CANNOT FAULT their telephone support - short waiting times, very helpful. But I shouldn't have needed them as much as I did ...

As I said, I'm sure I wasn't using the service as intended. Lesson learned.

So I'm curious to know how happy customers use them. @mitchibob ? I assume you use them in London, so experience might be very different? (e.g. how many docks are close to you?) I think I've got 360 days membership left, so I'm not ruling out using it again.

 

[mitchibob]

So I'm curious to know how happy customers use them. @mitchibob ? I assume you use them in London, so experience might be very different? (e.g. how many docks are close to you?) I think I've got 360 days membership left, so I'm not ruling out using it again.

While I am in London, easiest dock for me to get to was actually entirely other side of London. Later, after I'd got my own bike, but wanted to get one for a friend for the day, was definitely bit of a trek to find dock with one available. But for most of the time I used it, I just kept the same bike for ages, so finding docks wasn't really much of an issue once I had the bike. I think I only swapped once due to having a puncture and not having the tools to sort it out myself at the time. I think at the time it was only £1.50 per day or something too, so an excellent value way to find out if you can live with a Brompton.

 

[Fab Foodie]

How was the bicycle though Matt, did you enjoy the ride?

 

[Kell]

While I am in London, easiest dock for me to get to was actually entirely other side of London. Later, after I'd got my own bike, but wanted to get one for a friend for the day, was definitely bit of a trek to find dock with one available. But for most of the time I used it, I just kept the same bike for ages, so finding docks wasn't really much of an issue once I had the bike. I think I only swapped once due to having a puncture and not having the tools to sort it out myself at the time. I think at the time it was only £1.50 per day or something too, so an excellent value way to find out if you can live with a Brompton.

I have to say - I'm shocked that it's gone up to a fiver a day - it was also £1.50 a day when I hired one for a month while I debated ordering one (back in 2015). Which at the time was comfortably less than a Boris Bike. I think it would be a toss up now as to which was cheaper (depends how you use the bike), but the TFL bikes are more usable as a service.

Although just looking now, I'm sure the charging structure of Boris bikes has also changed. I guess the benefit of the Brompton service is that you pay for the day, rather than by each half hour of use.

I also don't remember it being as officious as you've described. Yes, there was a sign up process, but I don't remember it being a PITA particularly.

What was a pain was that the first bike I had had a wonky pedal and that seemed pretty hard to report and get it replaced.

 

[PaulRoberts]

p.s. the tracking is a sticker with the bike's name on. Mine was called "Chippenham". Seemed pretty secure to me.

Think there is something in the saddle as well as the dock detects the bike. (and it's the only bit with a security bolt)