Rad Power Bikes good customer service?

igotcoolhair

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I am new to ebikes, still trying to decide which one to buy. I was previously set on getting a Trek Allant+ 8S or Cannondale Tesoro Neo X 1 ebike because of the local support available as well as the reputations of the companies. I have decided to cut back the budget a bit and am wondering if Rad Power Bikes have good customer support if I was to experience problems. I have heard horror stories about Aventon and I am pretty sure I won’t be getting one of those. I don’t know much about ebikes and if anyone has any other recommendations in the $1000 - $2000 range I would greatly appreciate it. I’m just hoping for something I can use for commuting (maybe 40 miles) that will be reliable, from a reliable company.
 
I'm in the same as the original poster. I am very new to ebikes and would like to purchase a pair of bike this coming spring for my wife and I. Any help or direction would be GREATLY appreciated.
 
RAD has a had a good customer service record from all accounts I have read. Please remember these and most other e bikes are mass produced products and as such there are issues that pop up.

This is complicated by the fact that nearly 100% of the current e bikes on the market here in the US are manufactured in Asia. This includes the "brand" named products normally sold by local bike shops at premium prices.

Because of this all brands have suffered over the last year or so with issues getting replacement parts should they be needed.

To sum it up RAD does have bikes in your price range for sure, are they the best buy for the $ that question will have you doing your own research to make that determination.
 
I am new to ebikes, still trying to decide which one to buy. I was previously set on getting a Trek Allant+ 8S or Cannondale Tesoro Neo X 1 ebike because of the local support available as well as the reputations of the companies. I have decided to cut back the budget a bit and am wondering if Rad Power Bikes have good customer support if I was to experience problems. I have heard horror stories about Aventon and I am pretty sure I won’t be getting one of those. I don’t know much about ebikes and if anyone has any other recommendations in the $1000 - $2000 range I would greatly appreciate it. I’m just hoping for something I can use for commuting (maybe 40 miles) that will be reliable, from a reliable company.
Hi, and welcome to the wonderful world of e-biking! Since you are in the research stage of your adventure, this might be helpful: https://www.magicycle.org/choosing-your-electric-bike/
 
I am new to ebikes, still trying to decide which one to buy. I was previously set on getting a Trek Allant+ 8S or Cannondale Tesoro Neo X 1 ebike because of the local support available as well as the reputations of the companies. I have decided to cut back the budget a bit and am wondering if Rad Power Bikes have good customer support if I was to experience problems. I have heard horror stories about Aventon and I am pretty sure I won’t be getting one of those. I don’t know much about ebikes and if anyone has any other recommendations in the $1000 - $2000 range I would greatly appreciate it. I’m just hoping for something I can use for commuting (maybe 40 miles) that will be reliable, from a reliable company.
Try to avoid online ebikes. Try to buy a reliable brand from you local dealer. Pedego is good as a proprietary dealer. It is very high quality and excellent service. You pay for quality and future expert service. In the scheme of things, prices are in line with high quality. I checked with my non-Pedego dealer's prices.

With a local dealer you will always have face to face service and support which is very comforting beyond words.

Otherwise, you risk a lot by buying online. You buy a disposable bike at will.
 
For bang for your buck for a less expensive hub drive ebike. Rad is not a bad way to go. I would say. You should try a hub drive and an mid-drive of any brand before buying something. They are a very different ride.
 
Try to avoid online ebikes. Try to buy a reliable brand from you local dealer. Pedego is good as a proprietary dealer. It is very high quality and excellent service. You pay for quality and future expert service. In the scheme of things, prices are in line with high quality. I checked with my non-Pedego dealer's prices.

With a local dealer you will always have face to face service and support which is very comforting beyond words.

Otherwise, you risk a lot by buying online. You buy a disposable bike at will.
Thank you! This is something I have been concerned about. That’s why originally I was looking at Trek, since they have several shops in my local area I felt like I could easily go to a shop if I needed something. I have not heard of Pedego, I’ll look into that one next. I was wondering if there was reason to be concerned about purchasing online bikes rather than some of the bigger brands found in bike shops and it sounds like there are some downsides to the online ones
 
For bang for your buck for a less expensive hub drive ebike. Rad is not a bad way to go. I would say. You should try a hub drive and an mid-drive of any brand before buying something. They are a very different ride.
Thank you, this actually isn’t something I was aware of so I’m glad you said this. I was aware Rad was a hub drive motor, but I didn’t really think about how it may feel different to me. I test rode the Cannondale Tesoro Neo X 1 as well as the Trek Allant +8s, which are both mid-drive motors, and I liked the way they felt. If I end up going with a hub motor I should test it out before actually putting down the money for it
 
The downside to online bikes is customer service. As I mentioned previously the overwhelming majority of all the bikes in today's market or from either Taiwan more expensive bikes or mainland China for the others.

If you have priced "name brand" bikes at local bike dealers you already know how pricey they are. I suppose that's all right if you have the money and are willing to spend it but don't be fooled thinking that will solve issues of supply of replacement parts for these bikes. Because as I mention they're all from offshore. So the question ask yourself is how much are you willing to pay for a possible benefit of having a local dealer to run interference for you.
 
We have had fantastic experiences with RAD. It's a long story, but it took us a while to find the right bikes for us. We've returned a couple bikes and sold a couple. The returns were easy because we live near Seattle and they asked NO questions why. I don't know about how you return bikes from other places, but it's probably easy as they offer a 15-day trial period.

We had trouble with receiving one of the bikes, but the customer service people at RAD were pretty responsive there as well.

Lastly, one of the controllers on one of our bikes failed to track mileage and we had a replacement within a week. All we needed to do is show them a video of the bike running and not registering mileage.

The bikes are made in China but the US customer service is excellent.
 
There are pros and cons to every decision.

I Would Very Strongly urge you to spend some considerable time browsing for the VERY LARGE number of threads of people trying to obtain replacement parts for NAME BRAND ebikes, where either the company has gone out of business, they no longer make that model, they still make the model but no longer use that part, or the parts are absolutely Ungodly expensive. Look up how many critical parts, which frequently need replacement, like batteries and controllers, for which there is NO generic replacement that will work at all, and you either can not get one or it costs 4-5 times as much as it should.

The bike is specifically engineered to use ONLY factory replacement parts.

SFAIK, Rad uses no proprietary parts. Any battery of matching spec can be used, same with controllers and displays. Know several owners and read numerous more, none of what I would call major problems. Their pricing is towards the lower end of the spectrum, and have several models.

Note that there are well-known retailers about which you will read nothing but good things, there is one in particular you will hear people rave about. This is because the owner pays multiple people to post fake nice stories, does this himself under fake names, offers 5-figure bribes to site admins to delete negative posts, and has personally put a bounty on my head for telling the truth about his company. I have multiple horror stories about the owner, his products, and his customer service and business practices. He also owns a website somewhat like this one which supposedly looks at many brands of ebike, but amazingly enough only has complaint posts about other brands and only glowing reviews about his own.

I could tell you who it is but I have gotten tired of having my account and all my posts deleted, on multiple sites, so you will have to watch out for the loon.

So you need to sift your information carefully, and realize there are shysters aplenty in this industry.

Also, if you choose your own donor bike and choose your own motor kit you can have it any way you want it.
 
My local bike shop carried three different brands of Ebike, over a three year period, each of them for 1-2 years, stopped handling them altogether, then went out of business 2-3 years later. 2 of the 3 were of European origin, one of exceptional quality.

I chose my performance, abilities, accessories, style, and capability to match what I wanted. What other people thought was "cool" was simply not a factor, as my wants, needs, and desires were unique to me. Also, "most people" are dumber than a box of rocks.

$325 for motor, controller, and display. Latest battery was $225. Mounting the rear rack was the most difficult part of the entire installation. Motor is still available. Controller and display can be replaced with multiple models using same connections, originals are still available. Battery has no special connections or mounts, numerous replacements available. Original model still available. That is over a period of 8 years. Most commercial bikes no longer carry parts or provide service for bikes over 3-4 years old, often much, much less. Most of their replacement parts are more expensive than my entire kit. Substituting non-brand parts is sometimes just not possible, and if it is, requires significant re-wiring and configuration, often with significant loss of function.

Nothing in my kit requires any kind of setup, dealer diagnostics, or configuration, zero, zilch, zip, nada. It continues to function as intended, over 20,000 miles, mostly because it was chosen to do WELL, what I do with it.

Donor bike was chosen using same criteria and methods. I have replaced brake pads, tires, tubes, and changed the seat. All parts I could get at my local hardware store.

FIRST, define the job, THEN, carefully choose the correct tool for the job. If you have ever actually used one of the "tools" on a swiss army knife, ponder that experience for some considerable time.
 
I am looking for my first ebike also and my research has me leaning to the Ride1up 700 st. Many great reviews on YouTube and forums..you can take off on it without peddling . good customer service reports..
If you check out the Ride1up 700, please let me know what you think about it.
 
Rad has excellent customer service. I think they have a quality control issue though because it does seem like a lot of people have problems with them. Of course that could be because they're one of the top sellers if not the top seller of e-bikes. The more product you sell means more people will have problems. I had an issue with my RadCity 5 speedometer going to 0 while coasting. It turned out to be the controller. The bike was still fully functional and worked perfectly except the speedometer glitch.

Would I recommend Rad? Yes but if you're someone who's not capable of servicing or replacing parts you should have a local bike shop nearby that will do this. If you live in a big city this shouldn't be a problem. I don't regret buying my Rad and would buy another bike from them if they had something I wanted.
 
I was excited to join the E-bike world and specifically the Rad E- Bike community. I ordered Rad city 5 bike online had it sent via our local barge company, because Rad Bike won’t ship to Alaska. I assumed this was because of the battery. I was ok paying the extra $150 to have it shipped to me, because of all the good things I read and heard about Rad E-bikes, and I really wanted one.

I picked up my bike from the barge company and dropped it off immediately to the local bike mechanic to assemble. I picked up my bike a day later and rode it the next morning to the firehall where I work (3 miles away). The very next morning, as my shift at the firehall ended, I was excited to take my new bike out for a ride, but it was dead. Nothing would turn on - the bike simply stopped working.

This was on a Saturday morning so I emailed rad bikes and was happy to get a quick response as they sent me a trouble guide. I worked my way through it, but in the end the bike was still not working - It would not even turn on. I followed up via email I got e email immediately back saying it’s all under warranty and they would ship a replacement controller and wiring harness immediately free to me and pay for a hour of labor at the bike mechanic to get it working. I was really impressed with the response and thought they really care about the customer and they stand behind the product but I was wrong.

Three weeks have gone by and there’d been zero follow up and no replacement parts had arrived. I emailed RAD bikes asking for update or tracking number and got a reply back at the parts never left the factory because they will not ship them to Alaska. At this point I called and asked why was I not informed that the order has been canceled. I was then told not only will they not ship to Alaska they will require me to pay for it to go by barge – this is the most expensive yet slowest shipping method to Alaska. We receive mail using USPS, FedEx, and UPS but none of these were options they gave me.

I tried to explain I already paid for shipping when I bought the bike and that the part should’ve worked and was only used once since purchased and under warranty. The only option provided is for me to pay for shipping the part, with no guarantee this will fix the bike. I have called and emailed several times over the last week and have made no progress in finding the right person to talk with to resolve this. I’m sorry to say this company seems interested only maximizing the profit margins, with no interest in offering an exception to their ‘no shipping to Alaska’ policy and do the right thing for the individual customer. They are not supporting their products or their customers by this rigid inflexibility. At this point I want to just return the bike and have told customer service this. I’m working to get the bike sent back to them but waiting for a reply for the return department because customer service wants me to pay a bike shop to take the bike apart, buy a new bike box (I had the bike shop throw the original one away assuming the product would work), and pay for shipping the bike back down to RAD bikes. If I pay for the return, as they have instructed, I will have $700 in shipping costs alone invested into a bike that does not work and I want nothing to do with now. I wish I would never have got involved with Rad E- bikes – their lack of customer support in this situation means they have lost this customer for life. I would strongly recommend finding another company with better customer support.
 
I suppose it would apply to customers that live in remote area where most companies cannot supply reliable shipping service or in-person service.
It's a bummer when you live in remote area.
 
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