Son's dad powder coated his bike

Small claims court isn’t free. It does vary by size of claim but I am Going through a £3k case now which has cost £750ish in court fees.

its also tbh, not a great system to make a claim like this from. It’s not judge Judy. I don’t think it will really work.

I don't know why you find this so hard to believe.

I am a lawyer and you'd better believe that if I were in the OP's position I'd make them cough up.

You damage someone's property, you pay. Why is this so difficult to understand?

Not that it would be likely to get to the small claims court because I'd make them regret the day they were born long before it got to that stage.

So this has to be the last time his dad gets to take him to training or to a race.

I mean you’re not seriously asking that are you? 🤞

Can you contact the company to buy more stickers, show them the receipt for the bike and explain what happened, if you contact the right person and write a carefully worded e-mail maybe they could send you some, ( possibly a small fee) they are only stickers after all so surely they shouldn’t have an issue with that

If dad is taking him training or to a race - he can't not turn up with the bike to race on - its not as easy as not letting the other parent not have the decent stuff unfortunately

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ops son is 8

he is stuck in the middle, will try and please both mum and dad

I think the truth is, there is nothing you can do about it! No point, he wont give you the money back, taking him to the small claim court will only result in more friction and your son being in the middle of it!
I think the rule here is not to allow expensive items to go with him, when he sees his father.
Its probably a game to him, my ex husband used to do the same, deliberately ruin the kids items, Or just keep them for the fun of it. Problem is the poor child/s get stuck in the middle of it. The only thing you can do is only send him with old items, not send him with anything unnecessary and certainly not send him with a lovely bike. This is all sbout control on his side, dont give him the means to do it.

Ugh they are quite clever these abusers … another way to control, just about on the side of plausible deniability and doing something nice for the son. I feel your pain 😫

OP. I am with you.
I know about BMX and I know about domestic abuse.

Speak to the chairman as he has offered to help and take it from there. Bite your tongue with your ex until you understand whether it's fixable. If it is, and there is a cost, do not hesitate to pass this on. You are doing the right thing not being cross with your DS. He was obviously trying to please his dad whose motives we don't know for sure.

In the meantime, perhaps a carefully worded text to the ex.

Hi XXX
I'm not sure if you are aware that we try to keep DS bikes as authentic as possible for resale purposes. The respray you did has proved problematic on this front as well as compromising the handlebar which will probably have to be replaced now. I know DS told you that he wanted it lime green, but I wish you would have checked with me first because there will now be costs incurred in rectifying it to a raceable state, and we certainly won't recoup as much when he outgrows it. I'll keep you posted on the costs.

If your son is delighted with it then I'd just get the ex to pay for new handlebars and get the stickers and lacquer done professionally (at his cost).

What does your son think of it and what age is he?

I feel your pain...

ffs

can you access any grants local to you?

I needed a track bike and managed to get one through a shop on loan - it helped me considerably, kept it in the house for the entire time and the shop had the bike back after 18months

And how will that make the son feel? As adults we should be able to prioritise our children's wellbeing. Conflict between parents is very traumatising for children.

That was my advice and, as you can see, it was not well-received.

As much as you want to, don’t do this. (For your sons sake)

small claims court is the way to go.

He should have asked your permission, no question.

I'd be pissed, but my first concern would be to get the bike race-worthy again, do you really need to buy new handle bars? Surely they can just be sanded back where the grips need to go? Another hack is to spray a bit of hairspray in the new grips, it helps to slip them on, then the glue in the hairspray sets and sticks them on (done this many times on my bikes and never had the grips slip).

As for having a go at your ex, I think you definitely need to have words with him, but also think how your son might feel. Since he asked his dad to re-spray the bike you'll have to be careful he doesn't feel responsible for how pissed off you are.. kids have a habit of absorbing blame for things that aren't their responsibility, so make sure he knows you're not angry with him.

Bet he did it out of pure spite. I would take him to the small claims court.

Obviously

No, my advice was what to do to get the bike back on the road, as quickly and cheaply as possible. Try going back and re-reading it.

Your advice was basically "lump it".

So yes, if you can even call that advice, it's bad advice.

Unless the frame was hand-built in the UK (not at £800 it wasn't) it will have been manufactured and painted overseas, probably in China. So, the UK firm that assembled the bike won't be stripping it down to the bare metal and repainting it. Even if they have the facilities, there are plenty of other places that can also do this work.