United City Bikes Reviews 

Update after they replied (since I can't reply to them):don't get fooled by their answer, they violated Indiegogo rules, they're just a reseller from Jauntybike/Golden Age Vehicles. They are making hundreds of customers fooled, delete their messages on every possible platform (except here since they can't), and refuse refund themselves. They could, but refuse. Nothing to see with Indiegogo (they'd loose IGG's comission on sales but would win legality and respect to their clients).

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Worst company ever. Since they manage after sales this way, don’t buy.
I nicely asked for refund because my mobility is the worst for more than 5 months since I needed it after moving to a much further place. They refused once. I asked again with legitimate arguments and didn’t answer back. I sent respectful messages and shared my experience on Facebook for others. They deleted all my messages and blocked me (which is forbidden by Facebook rules since I didn’t use any bad word and insulted them).
I then sent a message to the CEO on linkedin (dirk kochhan if you want to do the same) asking for a proper conversation. He checked my profile, read my message, but didn’t even reply.
What kind of company does that? I have a company for 10 years and my sole goal is to make my client happy, even if that implies stopping a relationship with him (in that case refund). For those that received it, I’m worried about your after sales. And those who bought, ask with me for refund or don’t buy…

Wow! I'm so glad I read this thread of reviews. I almost fell for their scam. I really wanted the product and company to be real. Thanks to everyone who left comments which saved me from $1200 USD.

I ordered a twin pack of the U3 model in July, expecting to get my bike at the end of August. Then I saw a comment of a US backer saying that he wouldn’t be getting the U3, and both the battery and components would be downgraded. I started inquiring about this on the website, and my comments were systematically deleted. I discovered that the bike was not a UCB design, but that of a Chinese company, and that UCB only added minor alterations to the model. After repeated censorship, I created a Facebook event to allow uncensored comments about experiences with UCB. At this point, they removed me from the campaign and issued a one-sided refund, so I could not post more info in the Indigogo page where they sell the One. I was one of the lucky ones, because It is common to see comments briefly posted on the page and then deleted, with people being denied a refund, and extorted for extra money. The product and the early bird discounts are so appealing, and it is so well marketed, but please don’t fall for this scam.

Hi. I have ordered and paid 899€ for an electric bike through Indiegogo from United City Bikes - a Swiss company - in June. Delivery was guaranteed in July from the owner (Dirk Kochhan) himself in a video. No additional costs were also guaranteed (screenshot is available) - they will assemble the bikes in the EU so there will be no extra costs and tax.

After four months of waiting - no bike was arrived - United City Bikes came up with a surprise. They send me an invoice, where taxes and customs fees happen to be 50% (!) of the bike price - and (only) after paying this I would get my bike. Will I be blackmailed?

As a result I asked for a cancellation and refund of the money since the order was not shipped, the rules have been changed and I'm not able to pay again, 422€.

Writing now them daily that I want a refund. Still yet,I get no answers anymore, instead, comments on Indiegogo and Facebook are deleted.

United City Bikes: I will still fight for my money.

UPDATE 09. Oct. 2019:
Another copy-and-past-message arrived me: "refunds aren't possible at this moment" - I should contact the customer service.
I did this a several times already.

UPDATE 10. Oct. 2019
"Sorry to hear that Tobias. I will forward this to the support team and ask them to get in touch with you asap. Regards, Kristian"
Okay. I'm awaiting your email now… again.

UPDATE 10.Oct. 2019 - 9:53AM
Just received another hot-air-email this morning.
NO refund because of Indiegogo policies and
they write me, that the money is paid to an agency and Indiegogo.
Are they running out of money now?

Like many others I ordered "The One" bike on Indiegogo, which was reasonably priced and promised to be shipped by July. This seemed plausible as they were already producing bikes. However, July came and went, then August and September. Finally they sent an email saying that the bikes were shipped, but what they mean is shipped from their factory in China to their distribution centres, so another 5-6 week wait.

To make things worse, their original statement was that all bikes to the EU would be assembled and sent within the EU to avoid high customs fees. Now they say that this isn't possible, and we have to stump up over 50% of the original cost in order to receive the bike. Some people may be OK with this, but I asked for a refund which they have refused.

UPDATE: I applied for a refund from my credit card company under the UK "Section 75" regulations, which was successful. I definitely recommend doing this if you paid with a UK credit card.

As for any potential buyers, please read all the reviews and buy something else! The bikes have finally started to arrive, but most people are not happy with them. Poor performance and controller issues (display locked to km/h) are common, and UCB are not doing anything about them. Given their track record for customer service, I would hate to have one of these bikes that develops a fault!

Bought a bike for around 900 dollars. First they want 100 dollars more for the shipping. They promise that we get it by July. They send out rapports often about "this week we did this and that, we are making good time!", messages in that fashion. No one is getting their bikes.

They wrote that they will assemble the bikes in the EU so there will be no tax. And then I get a email after 4 months delay that they have raised the price with 50%(!) I ask for my money back, they say no. I think this is either a scam company or a very unserious one that just come up with false claim after false claim.

EDIT 2020-01-19 (My original message was written in october 2019.):
I do a edit in the end of the message because I got a reply from the company.
And what they write is, to be blunt, untrue. I have several screen-shots that I got from other backers that also got scammed. The company wrote clear as water in their marketing that there would be no extra fees or need to pay extra for taxes. The product is also not cheap. In their marketing they claimed it would be high quality shimano bike-components. But they changed that to cheap chinese. The bike is highly overpriced.

09/10/19: update on previous review : I received an email yesterday that I was refunded from indiegogo. I checked my account today and yes I got refunded which is a positif point for them. I probably got a refund because I made that review and told them through different messages that I will update this review based on their actions. They also know that a bad review on such platform affect their businesses. At least they did what they legally should do when they deliver a bike that is downgraded, different to thr one ordered and with a price 50 % higher than announced (they were supposed to assemble the bike in Europe to avoid those high fees). What I didn't like is that they deleted my comments on Facebook and I can no longer post on their website. They are controlling and cleaning their Facebook page and deleted most of all nasty comments of unhappy users on facebook. By talking to many unhappy user I saw that many got their comment deleted and cannot post any longer which shows to me that they have something to hide. In any case what they did was totally incorrect and the minimum was to refund peoe that wanted to cancel their order. They did refund me but I had to really fight and thay should not be the case. In the end they did it which give them a '+' out of the many '-'

Hi There. I have ordered an electric bike through Indiegogo from this Swiss company in May. Delivery was guaranteed in July from the owner himself in a video. Of course this did not happen... They specified on Indiegogo that taxes and customs fee were not included. I finally received an email stating that bike was ready to ship (more than 3 month later than original delivery date) but on the invoice :

1- They gave me a small credit could not supply the battery that was originally ordered and the one sent will be a downgraded of to a smaller battery - I have been downgraded from a XL battery to a L battery (without asking me if i was ok with it )- I ordered an extra battery which means i will receive 2 downgraded ones.

2- Originally Bike was announced with Shimano hydraulic disc brake but in the end coming with Asian manufacturer (Lanxie Jieke Sports) - Again without asking me if i was ok with it.

3 - Taxes and Customs fees happen to be 50 % of the bike price which make the price much higher than the original deal - I do not have today that money in hands and find it very high

As a result i asked for a cancellation and refund of the money since the order was not shipped and the bike is not the original bike I ordered given the difference with Batteries (downgraded) and break.

I sent 3 emails and got the same reply on the first 3 saying that bike is shipped (which is not true as waiting for the tax and Customs to be paid to be sent) and that it was clearly mentioned on Indiegogo that the tax and Customs are not included (which is true but was never expected to be over 50 % of the total bike price !) - Also were saying that this is still a good price for an electric bike (which can be true but the bike that they want to delivered has been downgraded, without asking me if i was ok with it)
Since I sent 2 more emails and did not get any reply

Very bad and frustrating experience !

Laurent