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Bikes and parts certainly aren’t part of the assets if my visit to the Oxford shop last month are anything to go by. After seeing all the high end bikes from Yeti, Santa Cruz and Ibis ‘in stock’ on the website, I was a little shocked to see what was actually there and advised a friend not to order a dropper as it all looked a bit strange to me.
All the people throwing threats and insults around
All I've seen is people that are out of pocket asking questions.
Onzadog, I hear ya. No bother.
martinhutch, thanks for the input. The brand may be something we take a view on.
hooja, please email sales@peakbikes.co.uk and I'll see if we can help with anything. We want to earn trust but appreciate your apprehension
singlespeedstu, I didn't offer a refund but I certainly offered help where we can help. Which area are you referring to?
tomhoward, yep, although I can't divulge what we've paid, there is a enough there to get us going.
I was about to write the same, where are all these people throwing threats and insults?
I didn’t offer a refund but I certainly offered help where we can help. Which area are you referring to?
I didn't expect a bag of cash...
I have a few customers in Oxford that i visit on a regular basis so it's easy for me to call in.
So I've got 2 fairly large outstanding orders which I've cancelled. Paid through PP using my credit card, what's the chance of getting my money back? I've raised it through PayPal.
People who are out of pocket need to contact their CC company for a chargeback or Paypal. From my experience, if you've used either of these payment methods you should get your money back. It may take some time, though. I don't think it's appropriate to expect the new owner of a business to compensate you for issues with a company for which he has bought the assets post insolvency.
It is quite common to buy businesses in this way (and sometimes prior to insolvency). It is very difficult to start an online business from scratch; an established business has many SEO benefits that often outweigh the negative reputation side effects.
So let's put the pitchforks to one side for the moment.
JP
happybiker - can you email info on your order please - sales@peakbikes.co.uk
jjprestidge, thank you for the input
Maybe they'll offer you a discount on stuff that has already been paid for once but not supplied? Win-win..for them.
So how did the handover on Friday go?
You..."Here's the money for you're business..."
Ubyk.."Thanks. Everything is shipshape, loads of happy customers"
Do people really buy a shop without watching what's going on?
Yes will do, thanks for the reply.
stevied, if a discount is feasible then yes, that may be an option.
@stevied I don't think you've really grasped what's happened here. I suspect the company will have been sold by insolvency specialists. Any proceeds from this will be used to pay creditors, in a very specific order. As the new owner apparently has no connection with the old ones (it's not unheard of for the original owners to buy back the assets of a bankrupt business, but it is fairly rare, and doesn't seem to be the case here) it's hardly a win win situation if he were to give a discount to a disgruntled customer.
JP
Sharing the general frustration with this debacle. Never been in this scenario before, down for a hope rear wheel.
Already contacted PayPal but before the full horror was known.
Interested if anyone has any idea how helpful PayPal are in these circumstances.
Still worth contacting the Ubyk site? Peak site?
Another one here who looks like I've been shafted out of £350 for a Hope wheel set. Been waiting 3 weeks for them and have constantly been fobbed off stating that Hope are working through a backlog of their lights.
Luckily I paid via PayPal, so I'll be getting in touch with them Monday.
****ing robbing sh1ts...
It's a shitty situation
Picto, superram - please email sales@peakbikes.co.uk and we'll try and help
Rubber_Buccaneer, thanks for that. We didn't cause the problems so please don't direct such comment at us. We're trying to help.
Rubber_Buccaneer take your business where you see fit. I'm sat here trying to help and comments about sticking discount up my backend isn't really constructive.
Peter.
Email sent but I'll still be visiting you to see how you can help me out.
Have to wonder what the new owner hoped to achieve by posting on here.
Merak - clarity
Appreciated.
But by your own admission, you cannot discuss individual cases with Ubyk Limited customers. Nor will you be refunding them.
RB, what if a shop/brand you knew/liked/used/trusted had bought the assets/web tech? Would they be poking it too?
Merak- if you have an individual case then please email and we’ll see if we can help.
He can't refund them, he did not take their money.......
Yep, I'm up to speed just not sure why Peter is here.....it's for clarification.
I have just created a case via PayPal resolution centre. I just want my money back as soon as.
That's a rather childish response. This situation has nothing to do with the new owner - why you're being abusive to him is inexplicable.
JP
I think anyone who doesn’t get a refund through the payment company would have to notify the liquidator and hope for a proportionate cut of the final value of the sold assets.
Merak - I’m not sure I understand. Why would I not be here? I’ve seen the thread and got involved to try and give answers.
jjprestige - thank you
Clarification that, yes Ubyk are gone (as you know it) and that someone else, who has no connection with the old owners or business now owns it.
I would imagine he doesn't want a horde of disgruntled keyboard warriors clogging up the high street with T5's and spilling their lattes everywhere.
Clear?
Thanks jjprestidge. I hope so.
Will email peak. Thanks pc89 any help welcomed.
The news is not what any of us wanted but as a few ops have suggested pc89 has given us more information than we would otherwise have had.
My comms with ubyk have followed the pattern above, waiting for hope to meet the backlog of orders. Teetering on the fraudulent?
This smells fishier than a a tin of tuna on a fishing boat. As said, why buy a failing business (ok not the business but wed site, assets etc) that has a terrible reputation. Then say you are transitioning so bear with us. What sort of due diligence did you do before buying them? The new company is dormant sn2d going to restart after customers have been shafted? Great starting point to build your business on. Nobody buys a business like this without knowing what they are doing....my guess is starting the cycle all over again. Clear debt, sell products, build debt, shaft customer, sell company again.
I will never be spending with either ubyk or peakbikes.
Ps if this is all legit and honest then i feel sorry for peakbikes as they just bought a turd that cannot be polished.
Andy4d - our intention is to polish what we can and build a business. If we can welcome you as a customer then great. If not, then we understand. Trust me, nothing fishy from our side of the table
After reading this thread, with its misdirected anger, why anyone would want to deal with we the public is beyond me. PC89 must feel like he’s bought and opened Pandora’s Box.
If you’ve lost money then chase your CC company or Paypal or join the long list of creditors with the liquidator/insolvency firm.
Sorry, but when you buy what is appearing to be a company that was acting in, what to many people was a fraudulent way then TRUST is not something tbe customer will have. I still reckon you knew exactly what you bought and are happy to see many honest customers out of pocket. You are not related to Mike Ashley are you?
I'm afraid your name, albeit Peak Bikes or UBYK, has been greatly tarnished by this farce. I for one, will never spend my hard earned at either ever again. Thank god for buyer protection.
I for one, will never spend my hard earned at either ever again.
How much had you spent with peaks previously? 🤔
Andy4d - incorrect
PC89 just for transparency purposes. Where did the capital come from that allowed you to open peak cycles 12 years ago?
Pc89 is there any point in emailing you? Are you going to honour the orders or refund them ?
Leth - out my own pocket and, at that time, there wasn’t a lot. I think I had to sell my Bianchi to pay the rent when we first started
Fletch71 - please email detail of any order and I will be able to comment
Were PeakBikes on ebay around 2010. Based near Nott'm as I recall.
Also hope we will be refunded by the owners,newowners or whoever asap )))
tjagain, we have not bought the business. We have bought the assets, website, branding etc.
The legal entity and business known as Ubyk Limited has not been purchased by us and is not under our control
Same applies tho - it appears there are no assets as stock has been stipped, there is no goodwill and why by branding that has a awful reputation?
Who has control of any other social media accounts? Did they come with the business? Often STW is first with this sort of stuff but I'm sure the baying crowds with pitch forks will gather anywhere they can. Getting screwed over like this is never great, but feels worse being the season of goodwill and all.
If Peter wants to save as much as he can, he might want to get in front of those before they blow up.
Although it's starting to sound like he's been screwed like everyone else.
I'm sure someone will post James Heath's address/phone number soon, we can all go have a chat with him.
Just looking at the basic difference between wrongful trading and fraudulent trading, this really does sound like the latter. Is it the sort of thing the insolvency agents look at very closely, or is it just one of those things that exist, but they don't bother?
Fraud would be criminal and nothing to do with the insolvency I would have thought
No, but surely if they suspect it, they would be the people to report it. If not, how does it get picked up?
Wow, just wow.
I feel sorry for the new owner, not just because it seems he's bought a lemon, but also because he's taking plenty of abuse for it.
Making the assumption here he's all above board, why are people so angry at him?
Onzadog - I reckon it's down to each individual victim to report via Action Fraud.
Given we know now the old directors were still taking (and presumably trying to place) orders right on the last day, as they were about to pop the company and had agreed sale of the brand and assets to Peak Bikes, and then gave totally false assurances about pending despatch, it certainly looks deliberate.
If enough people report to Action Fraud and Trading Standards, making sure they name the directors involved, you might be able to put some heat on them.
And as someone else asked, yes if you look carefully enough on the Companies House documents for Ubyk Ltd, you can find directors' addresses, not just the Oxford store they use as correspondence address. I'll not be the one to post it up here as I imagine a mod will tell me off, but seek and ye shall find.
I just hope that all the affected people (customers, suppliers, landlords - god knows if they paid their rent) and seemingly Peak Bikes, all see some form of redress against the directors of Ubyk Ltd.
Agreed. Focus of any anger should be on the former business owners. They aren't around to justify the manner in which they've approached taking the company into liquidation and their comms. Whether or not the Ubyk business is actually a going concern is a separate issue.
But it seems all too easy for a retail business to actively run up liabilities while disposing of assets right up to the moment of liquidation, and to expect to pick up a brand and sail on without any of the blowback from that is probably optimistic.
I’m with Weeksy on this one. I kind of think Peter saw an opportunity to get himself into a Bike business again that was part set up, yet the previous owners have clearly surprised him amongst others.
Directing your anger at Peter is wrong unless you can prove he’s implicated.
Peter would be well advised to drop the Ubyk name though to have any chance of success, and many on here although rightly disgruntled should take a small step back from his responses in the meantime.
Definitely a rebranding is in order.
How about UByk with Dave Hinde?
And as someone else asked, yes if you look carefully enough on the Companies House documents for Ubyk Ltd, you can find directors’ addresses,
I thought that the (old) company had been placed in administration? If so, then the previous directors are an irrelevance, they no longer control the company, you need the address for the administrators.
you need the address for the administrators.
I think there are other reasons* for wanting someone's address, beyond sending a strongly-worded letter of reproach
*I'd be bloody cross too and might just like to know the location of the people who'd apparently screwed me over (I'd bloody love to know who hit my car the other night, for example). Seems to me that taking a couple of hundred quid from loads of people is a great scam IMO as a lot of folk would be tempted to put that down to experience/bad luck but it's one area where the internet and places like stw make it harder to do it on the sly.
Pitchforks, 20% off ??
I really hope (no pun intended) that those responsible get to face the consequences
or is it just one of those things that exist, but they don’t bother?
It's hard to pin on a director. Believe me, I've tried. But it's difficult to prove intention or incompetence. If they genuinely thought that a load of receipts would keep the wolf from the door for another month, (or can convince folk that they did) they'll be fine.
It looks a lot to me like a Pre-pack administration. Run up debt, then sell on the good bits and cut all debt loose with the old management; it's cynical, but legal.
And if you are a creditor, you are well down the list. Prefferential debts will be paid first; taxman, staff wages etc. Anything left will be divvied out amongst everyone with their hand out. If you can chargeback or Paypal claim, do that.
I am owed about £20,000 from an insolvency last year. I doubt I'll see 5% of it. It won't be soon.
I reckon everyone’s orders will arrive tomorrow, the previous owners sound like stand up guys proberly went to the post office on their way home friday
“At some point we as a purchasing group (cyclists) are going to need to ween ourselves off the idea that everything should be discounted and start getting used to paying more like RRP or we’ll only have Chiggle left. The bike market has a real problem on its hands to keep control of its pricing. If one company can do it for a year, then that collapses everyone’s market for a year, then they go pop and another springs up, and it starts again. Alot of people talk of LBS failing to adapt, but there’s a wider problem of their not being able to even do what is their basic premise & still make money, and when that happens its a big problem.”
Couldn’t agree more Ben.
^^ Hear hear...
I understand the frustration and anger towards being done by the outgoing, now defunct Ubyk. But, if we're taking what the new fella's saying as read; he has *zero* actual obligations to the previous customer base, much as that truly does suck to those affected.
The situation may stink, sure. But it's not PC89 that's farted.
Speak to your payment provider (with any luck those out of pocket will have paid via PayPal and/or a Credit Card) - the consumer protection they offer is all part of the deal.
Peter should maybe tell James to stop telling people that the new owner will sort the orders then !
Peter should maybe tell James to stop telling people that the new owner will sort the orders then !
I think the one thing that is clear from this thread (and others) is that the previous owner isn't a particularly honest chap nor does he appear to have any scruples about saying whatever it takes to get people off his back, so personally I wouldn't give much value to anything he says.
Well, while not the biggest crime of the year, I've reported it to actionfraud. If enough people do, something might come of it.
I would love a chat with James Heath though.
^^^ Good work Onzadog. From last experience in a previous job, if there's a spike in reports around a company/organisation, they do tend to jump on it.
Also worth a few emails to the local media - again from experience they love a story like this that they can turn a bit click baity "Oxford bike shop shuts down suddenly leaving consumers and suppliers out of pocket before Christmas, allegations of fraud"
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/
For those of us who used Paypal, I guess you got the same sagepay email I did saying that no money would be taken until the order was fulfilled. If that's true, does anyone know where the money currently is?
It's not in my paypal accound.
Is it with paypal?
Is it with sagepay?
Did the shysters get their hands on it at all?
Was the statement about not taking money until the order was fulfilled just another lie?
I too have filed a report with action fraud. I would advise everyone else too as well , it’s pretty straight forward.
James heath could do with at least some uncomfortable interviews with the authorities.
Would love to catch up with him for a ‘chat’ myself!
Blimey what a sorry tale. I was nearly suckered in but luckily I'm skint so decided against it.
I can see why people are suspicious of the circumstances of the sale and the new owner. if I was PC89 I'd be going after James as well for selling a lemon.
If it is as described and nothing sly going on I bet he is far more out of pocket than any of those on this thread.
Fair play for him coming on and trying to help. That James chap hasn't and he's the one who has done a runner with the cash.
Bloody hell. Just skimmed thus thread. I hope you all manage to get your money back through credit cards, PayPal etc. What a shit thing to do. The I also hope Pete manages to build a viable business out of the wreckage.
A friend of mine bought some Santa Cruz Reserve wheels in last year's Black Friday sale at UBYK (with zero issues I hasten to add). So I'd saved up to do the same this year, but when it rolled around I just couldn't justify spending that amount of money on some wheels.... glad I didn't now!!
Unless people know what the new owner paid, why do they assume he purchased a lemon? The website was decent, might have a good trade contact book among other assets. Might not have paid much at all either. As said, no need to tar the new with the old.
And anyone thinking the new owner, who purchased assets only, will complete old orders for which they've not have the sales proceeds are going to be disappointed. Apart from goodwill, they'd literally be fulfilling orders for nothing.
Debit card claw back might still work so i'd suggest speaking to your bank. Asap.
Unless people know what the new owner paid, why do they assume he purchased a lemon?
Because unless it was 35p it's starting to look like one.
A decent functioning website costs. Agree the Brand name is worth nothing
A decent functioning website costs. Agree the Brand name is worth nothing
Did it have a forum?
Has anyone who emailed Peak Bikes heard back from them.
*(Still waiting for a reply from them)
To be fair to Peak Bikes this only unravelled late yesterday and today's Sunday, so I'd say 1 working day (ie end of Monday/early Tuesday) is probably a reasonable timeframe for an email acknowledgement, and then a bit longer to allow them to investigate.
Has anyone who emailed Peak Bikes heard back from them.
He replied to my first email asking me for details and my phone number.
Nothing back from him since though.
I have however been told that some of the original ubyk people will still be working for the new owner.
Now I know who Richard is It'll be easy enough to drop in and find out.
Something tells me there's still a lot to come crawling out from under the rocks though.
A fully functioning website, customer base and email list is worth a good amount alone. The fact that the company was functioning until Friday means that the old staff can be re-employed with great ease, and I'm sure they won't want to be out of work for too long. Ubyk name may have been smeared pretty badly, it wouldn't be too expensive to mothball and re-brand as something fresh since Peter hasn't purchased the actual company. That said many people don't shop with as business based on their standing on Trust Pilot or Google Reviews, they buy based on price, as already proved in this thread.
I feel bad for Peter, he's come one here to try and offer some clarity and reassurance only to get torn down for it. I imagine he's wondering WTF he's done, but he's a businessman, it'll be a shitty few months getting things back on track ... but once they are this thread along with Ubyk's poor history will be just that; history.
Same here singlespeedstu I got a reply not long after my post . An email acknowledgement from PB is more than UBYK managed ..so far
As a new business owner would you employ someone that was known by potential customers to be a liar?
I'm not talking little white lies I'm talking great big whoppers here that result in people being out of pocket.
Telling people to hold on in there it'll all be sorted before the weekend then shutting up shop is not a very nice thing to do...