TFL charging me £94 per day to rent a bike despite advertising £2 a DAY aibu

[jobbinggogger]

So TFL state you can hire a bike for £2 for 24 hours. I've read their T and C and seen nothing to state anything other than this. I took out a bike last week, returned it within hours and was shocked to see a completely unexpected £76 charge on my account. When I called, they explained that the £2 is for access and that cyclists are then charged £2 every half hour thereafter unless they return the bike to the docking area every half hour. So a cyclist would have to stay awake all night and travel back and forth to the docking area in order to get the bike for £2. The terms and conditions are extremely waffly and difficult to understand.

Soo AIBU that £96 for 24 hours of bike hire is A)daylight robbery
and that B) very different to the advertised rate of £2 per day!!!

TFL also do not care and are not sorry. The blame is solely on the customer for not understanding their contradictory and at time batshit rules. Am I the only person to be horrified and much poorer?

That's horrendous!! A couple of days of that batshit craziness and you could BUY a bike outright. Have you tried Twitter? Some companies bow to the pressure of a tweet and offer to refund you to keep the peace. I guess if most people use the bike for a short half hour journey then they won't notice the ridiculous charges, but there really should be a day rate for those who want the flexibility to keep the bike a bit longer. Madness.

I just looked on the website and under what you pay it says £2, then if over 30 mins £2 for every 30 mins. Not sure how it cost so much I guess most regular users return the bike to a doc for overnight.

But it's not advertised at £2 per day .

Santander Cycles explains how it works pretty clearly in point 2.

It seems pretty clear to me:
tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/santander-cycles/what-you-pay?intcmp=2315

It does say £2 gives you access for 24 hours. It then says:

You can make as many journeys as you like. Ifyour journey isless than 30 minutes, you won't pay more. If it's longerthan 30 minutes, you pay £2 for every 30 minutes.

How did it get to £76 if you returned it within a few hours?

It's 24 hours use of the bike in a similar way to the fact that I went to the Leonardo exhibition and now have a 365 day ticket to go back.

The rules on charging are very well publicised at all the bike stops, and here:
tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/santander-cycles/how-it-works
where is says:
Santander Cycles is for short trips so, once you have paid the £2 bike access fee for 24 hours, you can make as many journeys as you like within that time and the first 30 minutes of each journey is included. Longer journeys cost £2 for each extra 30 minutes or less.

Another one who’s just looked at the website...

All seems pretty obvious to me, access to bikes £2, rides under 30 mins - no more charge

Rides over 30 mins charged at £2 per half hour

It’s pretty clear...

I'm sorry you had such a big charge but they really don't advertise it as £2 a day so I think you're being unreasonable. Like the PP said, it's pretty clear on the website and on all of the bike stations dotted around so I would chalk this one up to experience.

YABU. It’s not complicated

YABU. It is blindingly obvious from the terms.

Ahh it's me then. OK I will take the YABU on the chin. Never using them again though!!!

How many hours did you have it for? And were you cycling for all of them?

£76-£2 (access charge) = £74
£74÷2 = 37 half hours
37 ÷ 2 = 16.5 hours

More than a few hours.

oh cmon OP, if it was £2 to get the bike for a whole day no bugger would buy their own ever, or go on the bus, use your common sense.

The bikes are intended for short trips from a-b. Their charging model is Very clear on their website. If you want a bike solely at your disposal, but one

*buy one

I've used similar systems and the £2 for 30mins use sounds more realistic (and clear on website). They are for sharing, not your own personal bike for the day.

Sounds like an issue for the advertising standards agency.

Seems fairly clear to me, not sure how you managed to reach 76 quid in just a few hrs thou, that looks more like 19hrs.

"Tip: Santander Cycles is for short trips so, once you have paid the £2 bike access fee for 24 hours, you can make as many journeys as you like within that time and the first 30 minutes of each journey is included. Longer journeys cost £2 for each extra 30 minutes or less."

"Remember, if you're not using the bike, dock it back!"

Sounds like an issue for the advertising standards agency.

It's an issue for reading-and-comprehension classes.

Sniggering at @FiddlesticksAkimbo
Yabu op

In my defence it was 7.30pm I was rushing home from work got it for a teenager who assured me it was £2 per day. When it said £2 bearing in mind it was dark I didn't read the minutae of the t and C's at the docking bay. I will say I didn't notice anything at all about it being £2 per half hour. When I was told about the docking every half hour bit I decided it was totally bananas!

I am questioning how clear their Terms and Conditions are at night, in the docking bays. They didn't seem clear to me at all! I do have a Master's you know! Clearly not in reading Terms and Conditions!

Also I had to pay because although over 14's can ride, they can't pay until they are 18. So I was not physically with the teenager, who in turn could not dock and then reuse the bike.