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Tax is complicated; the cycle to work scheme is not. You choose a bike, hire it for an agreed length of time, then snap it up for a fraction of its original value. It's like a year-round sale, with interest free credit available in over 2,000 retailers nationwide.
Reviews 962
christopher targett
Jan 11,2024Easy process from start to finish
Chris
Jan 10,2024Sound people great day to be alive
Davidoff Williams
Jan 04,2024I applied for the cyclesheme certificate and it was handled very quickly indeed, all online, really easy. And I had all the figures and certificate within 2 days. bhnetwork.com were very friendly and helpful.
Olivier
Dec 21,2023Massive well done to Neil who went far and beyond to help resolving issue with the bike Seller! I am very happy with my bike!
Oliver
Dec 20,2023Overall it is a decent scheme and the tax savings are significant. I will also add that whenever I called, I was able to get a response quickly from a competent member of staff (hence why I am not giving 1 or 2 stars). However, upon paying my final settlement, the Cycle Scheme's payment portal rejected my card with a 'payment error' message, not once but twice. Okay, no harm no foul, I thought. But unfortunately, this means that the money has been taken from my account and frozen so I can no longer access it. This is to the tune of >£200 each time so I'm down £400+ over the Christmas period for at least 7 working days and as long as 30 days so it's likely I may not see the money until the New Year. I have never in 18 months had a single problem with this card from hundreds of vendors yet Cycle Scheme's payment portal rejected the card payment and in some peculiar setup, doesn't just refund you the money as a vendor might normally do. A call to the bank also confirmed there was nothing they could do their end as it was as per Mastercard's rules. Ultimately, I settled with another card but this is a painful cashflow experience over the Christmas period because of a clear issue with their payment portal. I will also add that I had issues back in October where I received a success message from their payment portal and had written in my notes that I had paid the end of hire agreement. Well, that payment obviously bounced (again, for reasons totally unknown to me on a fully functional card) because I was receiving follow-up letters from Cycle Scheme claiming I had not paid. All in all, a bit of a painful experience and I strongly suggest they look into their payment portal experience because I can't be alone in the shocking experience I've had here.
Lisa
Dec 09,2023The cycle scheme is a scam, you pay your employer for a bike over 12 to 18 months. You do not then own the bike. You are then under a hire contract for about a further 4 years with the third party bike hire company. Terrible terrible scheme especially if you decide to leave your current employer before the initial 12-18 months.
Maiia Holub
Nov 28,2023Pleaseeee everyone who is thinking about signing a contract with Cyclescheme, be aware that a big sum of additional payments will follow. Own it later £133 Own it now £475 In my case the company was saying that I would save £500 by buying a bike using a “lovely “ Cyclesheme therefore, now the company demanding this additional payment, otherwise they will impose a legal action against me. This is one of the emails that was sent to me: “We sent you a request to choose an option on 3rd September 2023, then we emailed a second reminder on 10th September 2023. Sadly, you will be liable for tax charges if you do not take an ownership option immediately. Keeping your Cyclescheme package does not have to be costly, I always recommend our 'own it later' option, as this will afford you the best possible value. Please click here to view your ownership options and make a payment. Failure to select an option and make payment will mean that you are in possession of a Cyclescheme package that you have no legal entitlement to, and that you are still bound by section 5.0 in the Terms and Conditions of your original signed Hire Agreement.”
Matt Mead
Oct 12,2023March 2023 i purchased an E bike through the cycle to work scheme. October 2023 the bike i purchased became unusable and i returned the bike to the shop after discussion with the cycle to work scheme customer service who said i could get a partial refund for the bike and i could keep the helmet, bag and gloves i purchased at the same time as the bike. Quite frustratingly the customer service people at the cycle to work scheme changed what options i had to follow multiple times, which included me having to revisit the store 3 times, making me take over 120 mile journey for the 3 separate trips. I doubt the cycle to work scheme are bothered about me using my car and spending petrol to make those journeys. Some others options i was given was the bike only refund, then i was told once the refund takes place i can use the same certificate to purchase a bike at a lesser value, same value or more expensive value to the amount i had initially taken out. I was then told by a different customer service person you cannot use the same certificate twice and therefore i have to wait for a refund to take place and then i can apply for a fresh certificate, this again takes time and is not a quick process, especially frustrating when i have become used to using the bike as my only means to get to work. I was also told on the Monday when i returned the bike that i would take a maximum of 1-2 days to fulfill the refund, obviously with all the changes in what the customer service team were saying come the Thursday of the same week i decided to completely give up on the cycle scheme as it was quickly becoming a complete farce and decided to take out a 0% finance option to purchase my next bike and just await the refund from my dreaded cycle scheme experience. There are other things that happened through this whole situation, different contradictory information sent via email, too much stuff to bleat on about, just an appalling experience. I wouldn't wish this to happen to anyone else but fear the exact same thing will happen again. P.S. despite the reply from Cyclescheme the retailer was not at fault as the information they actioned was as a consequence of speaking to Cyclescheme. Headscratcher.
Azarul Ahmed
Oct 11,2023DO NOT DO IT. At the end of your [2 year] salary sacrifice period YOU WILL NOT OWN THE BIKE(S). Cyclescheme will send you an ownership option - basically asking you to pay more money (potentially a couple of hundred pounds!). This will last for another 3 years (or so). Then, at the end of that period, YOU HAVE TO BUY THE BIKE FROM THEM AT MARKET VALUE! So pay more money! It's an absolute joke!
Michele
Sep 11,2023Bunch of scammers Quite easy to set the scheme up but some of the retailers on their website are just super disorganised and the guys at cyclescheme somehow think they don't have a responsibility to get the order to you even though the invoice is paid to them. I ordered my bike 3 weeks ago with a promise of delivery within 7 days but still have not received it nor have received any communication. Lack of professionality in customer service and just an all around bad experience DON'T USE, FIND OTHER WAYS TO PROVIDE BENEFITS TO STAFF!
George Lyman
Sep 02,2023I couldn’t recommend more to stay away from this scheme. The scheme itself is a great thing don’t get me wrong, but the amount of blood pressure and stress, along with wasting of time this has caused me has arguably wiped out all positives. Firstly, I signed up for a 6 month rental scheme. My contract came back saying I’m paying over 12 months. The bike company has no idea what I’m talking about. I try to get in touch with cycle scheme. They take maybe a week to reply. It then takes them around 6 emails and 2 phone calls to tell me that there’s nothing they can do. They do indeed offer a 6 month rental to be paid over 12 months, meaning that for 6 months of the year you not only have no bike contract and still have 6 months to pay for it, but you also can’t get another bike for that time. The whole time I’m emailing, I’m wondering whether I’m just going back and forth with a robot. To cancel the application, I needed to go to a web page. The web page is broken, as is most of their website. I have to email again, and wait another week. I can get my employer to cancel for me. Well, he did, and nothing happened. Email again. I can cancel through the website. Yep I tried that. Well you can email this address instead to cancel. Infuriating. I started this process at the beginning of august, my original certificate still hasn’t been cancelled, i. Nowhere closer to actually starting the application that I wanted, and ive received 15 emails. Take from that what you will. * edit* They gave me three days to add additional information but I didn’t see it in time, so if you’re re-reading this C2W, the certificate number was S24701973803. Not that I, nor yourselves are going to get anything out of telling you that except seeing exactly what I’ve wrote above.
Harley
Aug 29,2023I’ve just completed my scheme, £900, they took £75 out of my wage every month for 12 months, great that’s the £900 paid back to them. Then they send an email asking for more money and I still don’t get to “own” the bike for another 3 years, paid the fee (£55) anyway after receiving an email saying amount due TODAY in bold letters, so they’ve had £955 out of me for a bike I don’t own until 4 years after receiving it 😂
Michael
Aug 27,2023Company makes money by profiteering from the governments scheme by hiding a final NON-REFUNDABLE 'deposit' for the customer to own their bike outright. After 12 months they will send letters demanding payments with threats to repossess bike or make you liable to repay the full HMRC benefit. As an example below is a direct quote form the letters received: "If you do not choose an option immediately, you will be liable to repay the tax savings you benefited from" The options are, 1) Pay 7% of the bike value as non-refundable deposit to own the bike in 3 years! 2) Pay an even higher fee (circa 27%) to own the bike straight away 3) Return the bike to cyclescheme.co.uk
Julius Alexander
Aug 25,2023The biggest con To make a long story short, I’ve paid £1084 for a bike worth £1200 that I’m still not the owner of. Also if you choose to return the bike you get zero refund. So I would’ve paid £1000 to rent a bike for a year. Can’t believe these lot get away with it. Please don’t use this mob. You’re better off paying monthly on finance from a bike shop.
Nathalie
Aug 18,2023really straight forward and lots of choice
Jason Clements
Aug 07,2023Decided to buy an E-Bike using the Cycle2Work scheme. Very happy with the process. Had no issues registering, getting my certificate, and then using it to purchase my preferred bike at one of the approved retailers. Excellent.
Davide Corazza
Aug 07,2023perfect service!!
Denise Dooley
Aug 04,2023The procedure was very easy to follow from start to finish, the guys at the Bike Factory were excellent. I had a few teething problems but they sorted everything out very quickly, definitely recommend them.
Martin Tweddell
Aug 03,2023My certificate was issued and redeemed with no problems whatsoever.
Cyclescheme Ltd, PO Box 3809, BA1 1WX, Bath, GB
http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk
John Elysee
Jan 11,2024Simple and very good customer support