Sondors causes headaches

[eyeshack]

Hi everyone. this is eyeshack. this is my first post and unfortunately it’s about negative experiences with Sondors . we were one of the early buyers on Sondors. bought two bikes and other than a long wait all was good. Then i got an offer from them for their step folding bikes on what they called an open box. but after buying two. we had to wait months. and then got the first one and apparently from what they told us it was aCostco return. and the person w tech support was able to see the battery got jammed in way beyond the place and the. damaged the battery connections trying to get it out. they asked me to get it out so they could swap it out. i got it out but now they don’t respond to emails or calls. the second bike came in and no reflectors. which again they don’t answer. next for me is to dispute p as un ed nt with credit card company v which is only way to go now. just not worth the hassle. terrible customer service.

 

[keithj69]

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. How do you dispute p as un ed nt with credit card company v?

 

[tomjasz]

That’s Sondors. A long sordid history of wildly vacillating customer service experiences.

But a Costco versions weren’t early Sondors but maybe I’m misunderstanding?

Who sold the bikes to you?

I’d immediately alert my credit card company.

 

[PedalUma]

I believe that 'p as un ed nt = v' is an algorithm used within voice recognition to create text dictation. Unfortunately it is still not very good with punctuation. Reflectors are worth $3. The wires can use automotive crimp/shrink connectors worth fifty-cents. There is probably a reason for paying $550 for $1200 bikes. Sounds like substantial compliance to me. The bikes are 99.5%. It is easier to fix than to pickup a phone.

 

[keithj69]

'p as un ed nt = v' Maybe it is like the good ole days when Captain Crunch used a whistle from the cereal to hack phones, but now they are trying to hack a website. Or it could be an accidental mis-swipe on the keyboard and no proofreading.

 

[PedalUma]

months. and

the. damaged

return. and

out. i

reflectors. which

answer. next

now. just

. the

The implementation of periods and capitals has not yet been perfected with 'p as un ed nt = v'. Maybe he should hold Sondors to the same L3VEL of perfection. That said, I had to order a ton of expensive parts this week to correct a known Sondors design flaw.

 

[rich c]

I doubt if your credit card company will help you with a reflector. Why did you accept a used eBike from them? Do you know that Sondors uses their customers as their bank? The don't place an order until they have a container sold. With the mid drives, they didn't even design them until they had a container sold. No one knew the weight or other specs until the container was sold.

 

[rob feature]

You can have all my reflectors

 

[PedalUma]

You can have all my reflectors

But what about your Dork Disc?

 

[rob feature]

Yep, dork disc too

And the bell

 

[PedalUma]

Who need a bell when you can have a horn?

 

[rob feature]

So true story - I mounted a little horn like that on my motorcycle for a campout. Along the way I ran across some cows in the road that wouldn't move out of the way even using my obnoxious air horn. Didn't faze them at all. But when I hit the little pink & blue squeaky horn they freaked out and ran off

 

[PedalUma]

So true story - I mounted a little horn like that on my motorcycle for a campout. Along the way I ran across some cows in the road that wouldn't move out of the way even using my obnoxious air horn. Didn't faze them at all. But when I hit the little pink & blue squeaky horn they freaked out and ran off

I just posted about a real Sondors problem with the Cruiser and one solution. Check it out. Yes, that horn sounds like a poodle squeaky toy! Dogs love it and wag. I put it on that guy's bike as a sign of affection. A joke can do that if it is harmless. It shows that someone went to some effort and that you are not being ignored.

 

[keithj69]

It's a shame to keep bringing a post like this to the front when the original poster came in complaining and then decided it wasn't worth following up.

 

[tomjasz]

the original poster came in complaining and then decided it wasn't worth following up.

That's Sondors!

 

[harryS]

For several thousand bucks, it's worth the hassle to do the dispute pas_un_ed_nt with the credit card company for the first bike. Pix of the good battery and bad battery should win the argument and you probably get a full refund and keep the bike.

Missing reflectors on the second one, if they gave you a bid discount, what's 2 bucks per wheel?

 

[m@Robertson]

Why did you accept a used eBike from them?

They were sold that way. Costco sells the Sondors bikes in their warehouses. Costco accepts returns for any reason and sent the returns back to Sondors, who then sold them as used, as-is for only $500. Myself personally as a consumer, I would have never touched a deal like that as there's no telling what some jackass has done to the bike. While it seems that many were fine excepting a minor niggle here and there, others had significant flaws. If it was my decision I certainly would have tried to do more investigation. Maybe they did and some things were not readily obvious? I have no idea. I don't work for them but I have been an admin on the main Sondors discussion group for many years, so I see quite a bit behind the scenes.

Do you know that Sondors uses their customers as their bank? The don't place an order until they have a container sold. With the mid drives, they didn't even design them until they had a container sold. No one knew the weight or other specs until the container was sold.

This is all patently false. You made all this up.

The don't place an order until they have a container sold

False. The bikes are queue'd into a factory build list as the online orders come in. What is true is they don't ship until there is a full container. Sondors will fill a container thats only partially full with supplemental, unsold orders so the container will go out and not sit. Those bikes will be sold as in-stock on the Sondors site, which means near-immediate ship once an order is placed. But there aren't many of these so it is a mighty short window to get in on that, and there's no warning for when it happens. My own Sondors Original was one of these and I waited 7 whole days from ordering to delivery (I had no connection with them at that time I just got lucky).

With the mid drives, they didn't even design them until they had a container sold

False. The Facebook group was made aware of the mid drives and shown early and later prototypes for what must have been a 2 year period during their lonnnng gestation. I personally saw evolving, behind-the-scenes prototypes as they were delivered to Southern California and tested. Along with the rest of the FB staff, I was given a detailed look at what was thought to be the production-ready final design. I went ape over its use of a freewheel, made my case as to why it was bad and pitched hard for a 9s cassette, which at the time was the de facto DIY standard vs. a strong motor like the Ultra. Sondors ended up taking this and other suggestions to heart and stopped the release of the Rockstar to upgrade that bike to a SRAM 11s cassette, which in hindsight is a better drivetrain. Because that change involved completely changing the dropout spacing, the entire rear frame assembly had to be redesigned, which is why that model arrived on US shores months after the Cruiser and LX.

This is a publicly-released pic of the first prototype of the Rockstar. Quite a difference even from the later prototypes. Thats a BBS02 (based on the chainring) buttoned up inside of a frame case if I'm not mistaken.

This is a very late prototype. So late that this render was done for sales use on the web site as a production model, and it was missed when the site went live for a short time. I can share it cuz it was public. Note the M600 motor. All other elements are very close to the final design, and I am pretty sure this version was the source of the bad (lower) published weight.

No one knew the weight or other specs until the container was sold.

False. The component specs simply weren't published on the web site prior to release (There WAS a list made available on the FB group). They DID get the weight wrong. The long (long!) design phase of the bike meant there were several versions. Until almost the end, the bike had an M600 motor (at the time, photos on the web site still showed the M600 even, and the battery was originally much smaller). Somehow the weight never got updated by the factory and the change was missed until someone who owned one put it on a scale. This was a mistake on Sondors' part for sure, and it is not the only time weight was gotten wrong (I can think of two other times and the reasons it happened were different).

Its ok to be down on a company. Criticism can be fair and well-placed. God knows Sondors has made plenty of customer service mistakes over the years. But that is no excuse for making things up because you hate something or someone.

 

[PedalUma]

@m@Robertson, You may have insights with this new thread: https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/sondors-cruiser-rear-hub-issues-and-solutions.50802/. I would like to hear what you can offer.

 

[m@Robertson]

@m@Robertson, You may have insights with this new thread: https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/sondors-cruiser-rear-hub-issues-and-solutions.50802/. I would like to hear what you can offer.

I think the hubs are not up to the task of a 160 Nm mid drive. Now, Sondors has a custom tune on those motors and apparently it is pretty good at rolling power on gently and helping to keep the wheels alive. For the most part. I have heard of several LXs that have torn thru theirs, as well as a few Rock Stars. I generally do custom wheels as a given on my own builds, exclusively with DT 350 hubs that themselves are upgraded with solid 24T ratchets and steel clusters... That totals the cost of just the rear hub to $350. I were riding a Rock Star or LX I sure would do the same thing. All high-power mid drives should be using ratchet engagement cassettes, steel cassette bodies and steel clusters. Only a very few do this, though (Watt Wagons comes to mind).