Thought I'd share a letter I sent to Lectric on behalf of all of us waiting for our bikes.

[myers830]

"Almost all current mail order ebike companies charge your credit card immediately upon order. That is despite the fact they can't deliver your bike for weeks or months. They need the influx of capital from orders to maintain a cash flow which for many of them with small capital reserves". I find this fascinating since Lectric no longer has "small capital reserves". I get that this was in effect when they were a startup 2 years ago and had no inventory, but if anybody believes the amazing financial reports of this company plastered all over the Internet in the last 12 months (including a flood of private venture capital pouring in that's not even reported in sales figures)...its interesting that they are still putting it to the buyer as they did when when they were a cash poor start-up. I agree the quoted sentence has merit, but it falls short of being true for Lectric in 2021... who at this point is just plain taking advantage of its buyers because they can, and what's more American than that.

 

[rawlus]

"Almost all current mail order ebike companies charge your credit card immediately upon order. That is despite the fact they can't deliver your bike for weeks or months. They need the influx of capital from orders to maintain a cash flow which for many of them with small capital reserves". I find this fascinating since Lectric no longer has "small capital reserves". I get that this was in effect when they were a startup 2 years ago and had no inventory, but if anybody believes the amazing financial reports of this company plastered all over the Internet in the last 12 months (including a flood of private venture capital pouring in that's not even reported in sales figures)...its interesting that they are still putting it to the buyer as they did when when they were a cash poor start-up. I agree the quoted sentence has merit, but it falls short of being true for Lectric in 2021... who at this point is just plain taking advantage of its buyers because they can, and what's more American than that.

i don’t think the cash up front is about liquidity…i think it’s two things, competition for components.. i suspect they have to pay suppliers on a quicker timeframe or immediately in order to gain the inventory they need for manufacturing, either directly or through their manufacturing partners.,, and it just makes good business sense to not take orders without payment. especially when you are in a volatile industry with high demand and low supply. it’s like concert tickets, people buy concert tickets more than a year in advance in some cases.

if i were lectric, i would not want to be building and shipping bikes during high demand times without payment up front because that committment from the customer gives me some confidence that they haven’t just placed 10 orders on 10 similar bikes from 10 brands with the intent of cancelling 9 and keeping only the one thst comes in first.

From a consumer perspective i can understand the frustration and how it doesn’t feel fair to be charged up front, but from a business perspective there’s a responsibility to ensure future solvency. are there any ebike brands that don’t ask for full payment at the time of order?

Its been surprising to me how many consumers think this practice of charging up front for a preorder is novel and new and not merely the industry standard way of operating. Lectric didn’t invent this business model

 

[jkinzel]

I ordered my bike, order number 769XX on May 30 and at that time I believe Lectrics web page said "ships in 5 to 7 weeks" and I thought, okay, it should arrive the end of July or 9 weeks/62 days.

I called Lectric Friday morning August 6th, aka week ten and was told "the bike should get a label today and ship Monday the 9th". So far no email saying a label had been created.

This is my first ebike and I'm frustrated with the delays, but I'm not going to point fingers at Lectric, yet. To the best of my knowledge "none" of the components are made in the United States so everything has to come from another country and now we are at their mercy. A few months ago said country locked down one of their biggest container ports for a week or two due to Covid and prior to that the Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal from March 23rd to March 29th, all this creating a massive logistical nightmare that I'm sure will last most of the year.

To get a idea of the back log of ships go to Marine Traffic: Global Ship Tracking and look at the Port of LA/Long Beach, most of those green dots are ships waiting to get in, the red dots are tankers.

 

[bluetex]

I ordered mine on May 18, and just received mine. I was anxious to get my bike but I knew when I ordered that Lectric was having delivery problems. I never expected to get mine on time. I was not mad at Lectric because I went in with eyes wide open about delivery problems.
I do blame them for not being transparent on new orders and not stating on future orders that they are having delivery delays.

 

[gthax]

Interesting, Lectric is no longer offering expedited shipping. (Was it something I said)? I sent an email asking:
"If I ordered a bike today and paid for expedited shipping, how soon would it ship to me?" Here's their response:

Hello,

Thanks for reaching out! Unfortunately, we are no longer offering expedited shipping, I apologize for the inconvenience.

We are excited to have a high volume of orders at this time. Just prior to shipping you will receive an email with your FedEx tracking number, which will be the best source of information regarding your delivery date! For an idea of when your bike will ship specifically, it is best to plan 4-5 weeks since the time you initially placed the order.

We apologize we cannot offer a more precise date at this time, but we are working hard to get orders shipped out as quickly as possible!

Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns. We will be happy to help you!

Best,
Tyson

 

[rawlus]

yeah the expedited offer was limited offer and i think was to clear a log jam from spring/early summer orders. it may be thst the logjam is indeed clearing and return to more velocity in the whole process…,

 

[Xzorlonn]

I called earlier today order#81*** and was told 3 weeks ago I would get a label no later than 9/9/21 and this is what they sent me after the call …. I feel The frustrations

 

[Gmeng]

I wish a news outlet would do a report on this company and how it does bad business lies to customers and still able to stay in business. They are habitual liars, I have received an email a week for the past 2 weeks telling me my bikes will be labeled and sent out that week. Again 2weeks have passed and I have yet to get a FedEx label.

 

[gthax]

I called earlier today order#81*** and was told 3 weeks ago I would get a label no later than 9/9/21 and this is what they sent me after the call …. I feel The frustrationsView attachment 96149

Yea but 9/9/21 is next month. My order is 78*** and I have not got a label yet.

 

[rawlus]

I wish a news outlet would do a report on this company and how it does bad business lies to customers and still able to stay in business. They are habitual liars, I have received an email a week for the past 2 weeks telling me my bikes will be labeled and sent out that week. Again 2weeks have passed and I have yet to get a FedEx label.

why havent you cancelled and gone with a competitor bike?
what scenario would you prefer?
it is assumed they cannot 100% predict delivery. the variables involved in that prediction are affected industry wide and common knowledge at this point. you demand an answer they simply cannot give. they can provide estimates but you cannot hold people accountable for the variables which are not within their control.
people are getting bikes, it’s not a scam, the wait is incredibly long for many, for a variety of reason, most of which are not factors that are controllable.
i recd two bikes after 8 weeks and after paying the extra to have the stock flown from china (to lessen the delay associated with oversea transport and the wait in port of LA), which was an option given which likely did lessen my specific waiting time. if i had opted not to spend the extra then i would probably still be waiting.
the company is not selling out of available inventory, it’s quite clear they are selling preorders on planned manufacturing, so consumers should realize this going in.

 

[rawlus]

they have reported to me they are producing approx 16,000 bikes per month now at the factory and FedEx is picking up approx 500/day from their warehouse.

so theres one big bottleneck they cannot 100 percent influence. do you doubt they have tried to increase the quantity per day picked up? what’s in it for them to hold sold inventory in the warehouse? it’s just a cost to them at that point and an increasing cost at that.
I‘d say any business has a good incentive to release sold inventory as quickly as possible, there’s no argument to delaying it intentionally.

so you have to look at why they may not be able to release it quick enough. perhaps your beef is really with FedEx and why they cannot seem to take more than 500/day when there’s likely thousands ready to go at any given time.

 

[Xzorlonn]

Miss type 8/9/21 is what i was told

 

[Xzorlonn]

But your right this covid messed everything up when I called they have the bikes they stated that there fedx contract was being re worked out that they haven’t sent bikes out since last Thursday and they are hoping to get them shipping in 2 more weeks

 

[gthax]

Order number 783**. Just received e-mail today for shipping label created for one bike. (ordered 2). Ordered 6/6/21.

 

[Gmeng]

messed everything up when I called they have the bikes they stated that there fedx contract was being re worked out that they haven’t sent bikes out since last Thursday and they are hoping to get them shipping in 2 more weeks

 

[Gmeng]

#791^^ Just received an e-mail today for a shipping label created for one bike. (ordered 2). Ordered 6/10/21

 

[rawlus]

#791^^ Just received an e-mail today for a shipping label created for one bike. (ordered 2). Ordered 6/10/21

Nice. i have two as well, one sat a week or two longer waiting for pickup than the other but both i feel were worth the wait now that i finally have them. there is no getting around how heavy they are though…. exceptionally heavy to move (i live in a condo so cannot keep them unfolded in a garage or something all the time)

 

[jkinzel]

Order No. 769XX white XP Step-Thru. I see post of people with order numbers in the 783XX and 791XX receiving label emails and I have not. Do any of these orders include the step-thru?

I'm guessing if you had, you wouldn't be on this thread, but has anyone cancelled a Lectric order and how long did the refund take? I'm tempted to cancel and order the Rad Mini 2, but I might be cutting off my nose to spite my face.

 

[gthax]

Order No. 769XX white XP Step-Thru. I see post of people with order numbers in the 783XX and 791XX receiving label emails and I have not. Do any of these orders include the step-thru?

I'm guessing if you had, you wouldn't be on this thread, but has anyone cancelled a Lectric order and how long did the refund take? I'm tempted to cancel and order the Rad Mini 2, but I might be cutting off my nose to spite my face.

My order 783** is for 2 step-thru one white one black. Black step thru is shipped. I cancelled the basket package and got my refund within 1 day.

 

[Gmeng]

Mine was a black xp2 step-thru. I think the white ones have a hold up on shipping.