Customer Service Issues with Rad Power Bikes

[HMJ]

Has anyone else experienced a significant decline in Rad Power Bike's customer service? I've become so frustrated, I wrote a review. I sent this feedback to them directly, as well, hopefully that can integrate it and improve.

To start, I purchased my Rad Power Bike bike in 2022, and at that time, this was a great company to work with, but a lot of things have changed.

CUSTOMER SERVICE IS ACTUALLY TERRIBLE
Mainly, this company should not receive pro marks for customer service. I see that on a few online reviews from 2017 and before—I know this company built their brand on customer service, and when I first bought my bike, the customer service was an excellent selling point. I was more or less under the impression that I was paying for great customer support, because it was marketed as an on-going service that came with the e-bike.

The problem: something happened over the last two years, because I've had nothing but problems with customer service since July 2023.
+ They do not answer phone calls anymore, endless ringing, automated transfers, and hold times
+ Multiple customer service agents will reply to a single email thread/single issue, who fail to read the previous conversations, so they do not address the problem at hand and waste your time
+ Different customer service agents will offer different and sometimes conflicting information.*

*When I've mentioned in an email that the company has failed to deliver on a promise, a customer service agent often replies with an excuse as to why. This has happened more than once. I've had different customer service agents actually fail to read previous emails in a thread, so they are unaware of what has been stated before, and they then reply with differing excuses for the problem than the previous excuse. They do this rather than admitting a failure of mistake in their company, and doing what they can to arrive at a valuable solution.
+ It usually takes several weeks to resolve a problem, and some problems do not ever get resolved.

THE BATTERY ORDER INCIDENT
I ordered my friend a replacement battery for her birthday in July 2023. Rad Power Bikes failed to deliver the battery in the promised time frame, which interfered with my friend's birthday ride. I called Rad Power Bikes multiple times, and no one answered. When I contacted customer service via email to find out where the battery was, it turned out it was somehow mishandled in shipping. I guess? I still don’t know.

FOUR weeks later, I was still trying to find out where the battery was. One customer service agent had the audacity to tell me that they cannot ship batteries in the mail without special handling time and fees?! (although their entire company is based on shipping battery-equipt e-bikes via express mail, and their website lists several replacement battery options with expedited shipping), while another told me it was FedEx's fault that it was not delivered. Another one told me that it was because no one was there to sign for the package at delivery - which was a lie.

I saw via tracking that the battery was eventually returned to the sender. When “Rad” Power Bikes went to ship the battery again, it never got to me, and was returned to the sender, again. RPB eventually just refunded me for the battery. I never got what I paid for, was given the runaround, and a lot of my time was wasted. I got a gift card for the inconvenience that I haven’t used, because I’ve been hesitant to contact the company again. Not to mention the thing I really needed—a replacement battery—soon doubled in price after I never received mine.

THE F20 KEY REPLACEMENT INCIDENT
A month ago I went to order a replacement key for my Rad Power e-bike. The key I needed was not listed on their e-store. I contacted customer support, and the customer service agent was super friendly, told me I had a key from an older model bike (the Rad Mission), thus I needed an older model key not listed online, but he could issue me a special invoice for the key. He was even kind enough to waive shipping, since I was buying a bunch of other stuff in an order I could make myself online, so it all qualified for free shipping.

I went to check out with the invoice but decided to wait on finalizing it, awaiting payday. I go back one month later, and reopen the invoices— the special invoice for the key no longer works. I contacted customer support again: “invoice not working now, please resend?” And I am now being told that I cannot order the older keys via invoices online. I told them—but I was just issued one a few weeks ago and it worked, what's going on now? They told me I have to complete the order over the phone. When I reminded them that I've had bad experiences with calling in the past (eternal hold times), they offered to schedule for someone at Rad Power Bikes to call me and complete the order. We decide on 4p Friday, so I await the phone call. It never comes.

I contacted them via email AGAIN, “one customer service agent was able to issue an online invoice, but now you are telling me you can't do this anymore? And you're going to schedule a call to do so over the phone, you schedule it, and no one calls. I’m having to email you AGAIN."

It's been five days, I've spent all afternoon communicating with this company about how can I get this key made and sent to me? Still no solution. I was issued another invoice this morning that does not work. I am now communicating with management, who, hopefully, can resolve this issue, since I need another backup key for my e-bike, which I unfortunately can only buy through the manufacturer, Rad Power Bikes, and their terrible customer service team. Five days later, we still cannot figure this out.

Update: eight days later, the manager still has not responded to my last email requesting a time to discuss this issue. I still don’t have a key order in place.


THE MOBILE SERVICING IS NOT READILY AVAILABLE AND THEY CANNOT ALWAYS REFER A BIKE SHOP PARTNER
Getting "certified" repairs for this bike can be hard. They advertise mobile help with assembly and repairs. But this is not available in AUSTIN, TX nor ASHEVILLE, NC. Two big outdoor-centered bike-centered cities. I think the mobile service is only available in San Francisco, if I’m not mistaken. An over promise in their advertising. They could not ever refer me to a partnered shop in Asheville–I had to drive 45 min to get my bike serviced when I lived there.

THE AFFORDABILITY COSTS YOU - THE BRAKES ARE NOT WELL BUILT
These bikes are equipped with a pretty lousy breaking system. For safety, an e-bike should have hydraulic brakes, or rim brakes, not standard cable disc brakes. Because the bikes go faster using more force, disc brakes can be slow and unresponsive – I experienced that when I first got this bike, and I occasionally feel fearful riding it. Also, the brake pads wear down in no time, and I'm constantly replacing them. I would pay extra to find a bike that has hydraulic brakes, or replace the ones on your Rad Power Bike when you can afford it.

But ultimately, just don't buy Rad Power Bikes. The company is dishonest with the customer communications, unreliable, frustrating and overpromises waaaaay too much for it to be worth any kind of affordability they may offer.

 

[tomjasz]

Shipping a device with battery is easier than shipping just the battery. Rad didn't make that idiotic rule. But it's a reality.

You bought a bike and were able to see the brakes used. I just upgraded cable disc brakes and they perform very well with excellent panic braking. Rim brakes over cable disc is silly.

As always when we buy from factory direct saving $$ puts us in charge of servicing. Which is why I build and purchased a eBike from my local bike shop.

 

[spokewrench]

Has anyone else experienced a significant decline in Rad Power Bike's customer service? I've become so frustrated, I wrote a review. I sent this feedback to them directly, as well, hopefully that can integrate it and improve.

To start, I purchased my Rad Power Bike bike in 2022, and at that time, this was a great company to work with, but a lot of things have changed.

The problem: something happened over the last two years, because I've had nothing but problems with customer service since July 2023.
+ They do not answer phone calls anymore, endless ringing, automated transfers, and hold times
+ Multiple customer service agents will reply to a single email thread/single issue, who fail to read the previous conversations, so they do not address the problem at hand and waste your time
+ Different customer service agents will offer different and sometimes conflicting information.*

THE BATTERY ORDER INCIDENT

I saw via tracking that the battery was eventually returned to the sender. When “Rad” Power Bikes went to ship the battery again, it never got to me, and was returned to the sender, again. RPB eventually just refunded me for the battery. I never got what I paid for, was given the runaround, and a lot of my time was wasted. I got a gift card for the inconvenience that I haven’t used, because I’ve been hesitant to contact the company again. Not to mention the thing I really needed—a replacement battery—soon doubled in price after I never received mine.


THE AFFORDABILITY COSTS YOU - THE BRAKES ARE NOT WELL BUILT
These bikes are equipped with a pretty lousy breaking system. For safety, an e-bike should have hydraulic brakes, or rim brakes, not standard cable disc brakes. Because the bikes go faster using more force, disc brakes can be slow and unresponsive – I experienced that when I first got this bike, and I occasionally feel fearful riding it. Also, the brake pads wear down in no time, and I'm constantly replacing them. I would pay extra to find a bike that has hydraulic brakes, or replace the ones on your Rad Power Bike when you can afford it.

But ultimately, just don't buy Rad Power Bikes. The company is dishonest with the customer communications, unreliable, frustrating and overpromises waaaaay too much for it to be worth any kind of affordability they may offer.

In 2020 I bought a Radrunner because I trusted a video review made by the founder of this forum and the founder of radpower. The first thing I found was that, contrary to the video, handling was so dangerously bad that I might fail to make a u-turn in the width of a street, edge to edge.

The manual said that safety required inflating the tires to 30 psi, no more or less. In the video, the reviewer said he'd let air out of the tires for comfort. He didn't give numbers, but the founder did. Vastly overloading the bike with the reviewer on the back, he said his pressure was 18 psi. The safety of customers didn't seem to matter to him. "There's a sucker born every minute."

Contrary to the reviewer's praise of the smooth ride of those soft fat tires, they rode very rough at 30 psi.

The power, about 500 watts, and torque, about 53 newton meters, were about a third less than advertised. The reviewer gave his weight. In one segment, I could calculate the grade and his speed. He would have needed over 1,000 mechanical watts just to climb. That would have taken a 35 amp controller, twice the programmed limit of the stock unit. In addition, his underpressure tires would have required significant power, and he was going fast enough for air drag to be significant. He was demonstrating a souped-up model that may have had three times the power of what they were selling.

When I told Customer Service I was getting only 500 watts, they said I was supposed to pedal. When I said I wanted to put on a 35 amp controller to get as much power as advertised, they said I'd lose my warranty. Their warranty didn't seem to matter, so I put on a more powerful controller.

I found two broken spokes and saw that the heads were defective. Two more were failing. I asked Customer Service where to get new ones. There was no answer. I had to wait weeks for spokes to come from China. Then Customer Service replied to say they had spokes for sale.

When I got rid of my Radrunner after 3 years, the battery showed no loss of capacity. Often, a radpower battery that seems to be failing just needs balancing. If it fails suddenly, it is often the fuse. (A cheap fuse can fail from fatigue.) I never had to replace one, but it would have been simple. They redesigned their batteries to make it difficult.

The handlebars of the Radrunner were hazardous. One had to be careful not to adjust them too far forward or aft because the wrong hand position can mean clumsy control and even deadly oscillations.

The mechanical brakes had plenty of power and long-lasting pads, but maintenance was a bigger hassle than with hydraulics. Radpower's instructions made alignment and adjustment needlessly complicated. A big problem with mechanical brakes is stretching of the rear cable housing, which results in a spongy brake and rapid wear. Periodically, I recompress the springy housing by lashing the lever to the hand grip overnight.

In many companies nowadays, the function of customer service is to give the customer the brushoff. Aventon did that to me in an email exchange where I sought advice about failed bearings in my month-old bike. A couple of months ago I phoned Tracfone for a neighbor whose prepaid service had been cut off. With a Spanish accent, the woman would speak rapidly in several sentences at a time, and she seemed to have a pillow over the mic. Each time I said I didn't understand what she was saying, she ignored me and continued as before. After more than an hour, I gave up. When I went online for a refund, I found that I couldn't log in, and they kept the payment.

The same thing happened when I called to cancel Ooma service that I hadn't used in a year. Muffled voice, Spanish accent, several rapid sentences at a time. I did get the service stopped, though, unlike with Tracfone.

 

[BlackHand]

The power, about 500 watts, and torque, about 53 newton meters, were about a third less than advertised. The reviewer gave his weight. In one segment, I could calculate the grade and his speed. He would have needed over 1,000 mechanical watts just to climb. That would have taken a 35 amp controller, twice the programmed limit of the stock unit. In addition, his underpressure tires would have required significant power, and he was going fast enough for air drag to be significant. He was demonstrating a souped-up model that may have had three times the power of what they were selling.

Look, I don't want to dissuade you from your opinion of RPB or deny your experience with your own Rad but, FYI, the street in the video review is about a 9% grade according to city data and that is consistent with my personal experience riding there.

Maybe it tops out at 10 or 11% mid block but no way it is even close to the 17% you posted when you've made this assertion before.

 

[spokewrench]

Look, I don't want to dissuade you from your opinion of RPB or deny your experience with your own Rad but, FYI, the street in the video review is about a 9% grade according to city data and that is consistent with my personal experience riding there.

Maybe it tops out at 10 or 11% mid block but no way it is even close to the 17% you posted when you've made this assertion before.

Look? I did look. As he overtook them, he turned his head, panning directly to his right, showing a lawn and the eave along the front of the house. The lawn was in the same plane as the street, and its slope was 17%.

How do you know what street he was on when he throttled past the pedalers? I saw few street signs, and the video was edited. Do you know that house? Do you know the name of the street? Above all, do you know the name of the municipality? I didn't see any of that in the video.

Shortly before he passed the other riders, he pointed his camera at a sign warning of 13 degree grades ahead. I'd never before seen a road grade expressed in degrees. The purpose of a warning sign would be to tell a driver how much pulling power, braking power, and traction he would need. The sine of the angle tells him exactly. The percent grade is the tangent of the angle, which even as steep as 13 degrees, differs from the sine by only 2.5%. On the other hand, the deviation between degrees and sine is so wide that a motorist would have to go home and get his slide rule to make sense of a degree warning.

A municipality that would post a warning sign in degrees would probably list street data in degrees. Nine degrees is 16%, which is almost exactly what I observed.

You say 9% is consistent with your experience. It's good to know I'm not the only one who measures grades. How do you do it? I bring a laser level, a tripod, a 5m steel tape, a 100m fiberglass tape, and for steep grades, a small step ladder, all of which fit in a box on my bike.

 

[BlackHand]

How do you know what street he was on when he throttled past the pedalers? I saw few street signs, and the video was edited. Do you know that house? Do you know the name of the street? Above all, do you know the name of the municipality? I didn't see any of that in the video.

Because I ride in that neighborhood all the time. That's what I meant when I typed "my personal experience riding there." As mentioned multiple times in the video, it is in Seattle. Specifically, the part you mention is on NW 65th St between 36th Ave NW and 34th Ave NW.

I'm sure you can find it on this map. The slope is listed by the city engineers in the SLOPE_PCT field after you click on the correct block.(Hint: I don't think PCT stand for degrees)

Seattle Streets

SDOT maintained data about streets in Seattle.

data-seattlecitygis.opendata.arcgis.com

You say 9% is consistent with your experience. It's good to know I'm not the only one who measures grades. How do you do it? I bring a laser level, a tripod, a 5m steel tape, a 100m fiberglass tape, and for steep grades, a small step ladder, all of which fit in a box on my bike.

You should consider using an astrolabe. Personally, I prefer to ride. If I want to know during a ride I can look at that display field on my bike computer and it is reasonably accurate. Inclinometer apps on a phone are handy for a specific spot check especially in the city where most blocks are graded consistently.

 

[spokewrench]

Because I ride in that neighborhood all the time. That's what I meant when I typed "my personal experience riding there." As mentioned multiple times in the video, it is in Seattle. Specifically, the part you mention is on NW 65th St between 36th Ave NW and 34th Ave NW.

Hey, I lived in Seattle in 1975-76! Did you see me on my bike? It was black and white, which I repainted to black and yellow. I wore a tan goretex parka from REI, if you remember. White helmet, WWII tempered, laminated glass aviator goggles. I remember it rained, but I can't remember which day that was...

That can't be the place. Those houses are right along the street with hardly room for a driveway between. The house he filmed was at least 50 feet back in a yard so wide I didn't see other houses.

Do you know where the 13-degree warning sign is?

 

[BlackHand]

Hey, I lived in Seattle in 1975-76! Did you see me on my bike? It was black and white, which I repainted to black and yellow. I wore a tan goretex parka from REI, if you remember. White helmet, aviator goggles. I remember it rained, but I can't remember which day that was...

That can't be the place. Those houses are right along the street with hardly room for a driveway between. The house he filmed was at least 50 feet back in a yard so wide I didn't see other houses.

That was a couple decades before I got here. I probably didn't even know Seattle existed until Mount St Helens blew.

This is where he passes the other 2 on a hill and pans to the right like you described. It's about midblock between 36th and 34th Ave's NW.

Do you know where the 13-degree warning sign is?

You're talking about this moment, right before he has each person start from a dead stop on NW 61st St, which the city lists as having an 8% grade. Probably a bit more where they start mid block, because the road has just a slight grade under the tracks.

Court is mistaken. The sign he refers to is down around the bend and is the clearance sign for the railroad overpass, 13' 0". Maybe he was thinking degrees, minutes, seconds?

Here's the street view from Google.

 

[spokewrench]

That was a couple decades before I got here. I probably didn't even know Seattle existed until Mount St Helens blew.

This is where he passes the other 2 on a hill and pans to the right like you described. It's about midblock between 36th and 34th Ave's NW.

I'm delighted! He talked about the hill-climbing ability of the motor, but this was the the only visual indication of how steep a hill was, and I was impressed. When the bike I received had nothing like that power, I went back and measured. I came up with 17%. Before seeing your reply, I measured again. This time I came up with 15%. (I saw that I remembered the description of the house wrongly and that in fact I hadn't seen the 13 degree sign. I saw that they mentioned Seattle at least three times. I guess I assumed Cor meant only the Seattle area.)

On your photo I noticed that the roof line is almost exactly parallel with the top of the frame. (Maybe Cor's camera has a device to keep it horizontally level.) Measuring from the top of the frame to the curb, I came up with 13%. That makes sense. I think a 139 pound rider could have achieved his speed with a 35-amp controller. (The stock setup seemed to be limited to 16 amps.)

At 27:14 they started on a hill. At 27:39 they made a left turn from NW 61 at a road it did not cross. Would that be 36th Ave NW? At 28:00 they crossed NW 62. Because of editing, I don't know from the video where they turned right. NW 64th St. fits.

I found the number of feet on that block (550) from a street map and the rise (58 feet) from a topographic map and came up with 10.6%. The elevations lines get closer as one moves toward 34th Ave, so that doesn't necessarily contradict an apparent 13% where he passed the pedalers.

Thank you.