Bycyklen

Ariel
1 year ago

I tried the bicyle for a couple of meters in 2016 with my daughter. They were inoperable, I got a partial refund, not all.
2019, I wanted to try them again. I tried to find an operable bike but none of them would be released from the station.
I had to put in my new credit card due to the fact it was 3 years ago and needed to update my info. I called the support and asked if I was charged anything since the bicycles I tried to release were not operable, I was said no.
Today I saw 2 charges of 200 kr each. I called and the person on the other end of the line said it was natural for them to take money out of the card – to see if it is valid ( as opposed to other companies who take a 2 kr), and implied it was my fault that I didnt read their website. I replied that many people download the app-specially tourists, and there was no warning whatsoever for that charge. The person on the phone said the app had a problem. I asked why two charges, and they said you have two contracts ( refering to my daughter in 2016 who was no where near me yesterday. So if I had used the bikes for 10 people in 2016 I would get charged today for 10 as well?) Support was unapologetic and indifferent to the fact I m 400 kr short for a ride I never made, JUST BY UPDATING MY CARD. They told me I would get the money in 28 days. This is the kind of business dealings that lacks clarity, and is marginally entering your wallet without warning. Their bikes are heavy, difficult to handle, half destroyed, but hey, as long as you agree to try to use them, its not their problem. Its yours. STAY AWAY>

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Walter
2 years ago

Super good service!

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Rhonda
3 years ago

In 2016 I was a loyal customer and advocate of Bycyklen.dk. However, shortly before the end of the year the company sent me a survey asking my opinion on various different pricing options. At the time, I paid a standing subscription of 70 DKK per month and for this I received one free hour per day. Afterwards, I would pay a small hourly fee of 6 DKK. Excellent value and I really enjoyed using the service. That changed when Bycyklen wrote to me one day (the 23rd of December 2016) and said they were changing their fees. For 70 DKK per month, I would now have only 140 minutes of usage time per month whereas previously I would have access to an average of 1800 minutes (ie, up to 1 hour per day). If I were to use more than 140 minutes, then each additional hour would cost 21 DKK. So basically, if I were to use the service for one hour per pay, the new pricing structure would mean it would cost me 581 DKK. That is an increase of 731%! There were other pricing options available – for example 500 DKK for 20 hours per month. If I were to use the service only on weekdays then I might potentially save 81 DKK. However let's be honest, it is an outrageous increase in price. I emailed them and and asked them their reasons. They said that '…regrettably we have been obliged to abolish the initial free period due to recent systematic improper use in the form of code sharing.' After thinking a bit about that, I found the excuse to be meaningless and nothing more than weak justification for this price increase. Why? Because, if you think about it, a bike can only be used by one person and there is only a limited number of bikes. So if I am using it, or someone else is using it and they are still receiving their 70 DKK per month, where is the disadvantage to Bycyklen?.

However, it is not all bad. The bikes are nice and good fun to ride and you only need them very occasionally, it might be OK. But beware if it's only for a quick 10 minute trip, they will charge you 30 DKK per commenced hour in Pay As You Go mode. Ripoff.

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Annette
3 years ago

Actually you got quite a lot of complaints! And it was in Seville and the bikes were quite light and one only needed to use the motor when needed… not all the time! And yes I will walk or use my car or public transport ?

We decided to try the electric bikes (Go Bikes) in Copenhagen. I had tried them once before in Spain and it was a nice experience! These bikes in Copenhagen were horrible!!! They are so heavy and considering that I am pretty strong I wonder how most people can manage them. In order to put the kick stand down one needs to lift the bike and it landed on my foot.
Will never use them again!

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Brooks
5 years ago

I'd heavily recommend against using the Bycyklen program. I used it on a recent trip to Copenhagen and the experience was not great. The bikes are really heavy (due to all the electronic bells-and-whistles), the seat height can be difficult to adjust and are not well suited for anyone 5'4" or shorter. I was dumbfounded by the electronic motor – its supposed to assist in biking up to speeds of 20 or so kph, but biking at that speed isn't difficult, and the addition of the motor makes the bike considerably heavier, which you then need to be in better shape to manage anyways (and, thus, if you are in good enough shape to handle the weight, then you probably don't need the motor in the first place!).

Also, it doesn't look like the stock of bikes is actively managed so I found docking sites to be either pretty empty or pretty full – finding a place to dock the bike in the central city was hard, presumably because tourists bike into the central city and so the docking stations are quite full during the day.

We only used the Bycyklen for a day. The experience was so terrible that we ended up using a private bike rental company on the second day, which was a much better decision – they cost about $12 USD each day, come with locks, and are actually normal bikes, not the electronic monstrosities that are the Bycyklen.

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