The Best Laid Plans
Plans change. Someone drops out, the weather looks grim, a friend decides they want an e-bike after all. Here's how each of those works, so you know where you stand before you email us.
Note that everything below is a plain-English summary. The cancellations and refunds policy page is the version that applies, and it has a checker on it where you can enter your booking date and see the result.
The five-day line
The single most useful thing to know is that five days before your booking is the line that matters.
More than five days out, changes are easy. Change the date, change the time, change the number of bikes, swap a regular bike for an e-bike. If the change reduces the value of the booking, you get a refund of the difference, less the transaction charges.
Inside five days it tightens up, because from the moment you book, those bikes are held for you and not available to anyone else.
What happens at each point
- More than 5 days before pickup. Cancel or adjust your quantity, date or time and you'll be refunded the amount changed, less transaction charges.
- Between 5 days and 48 hours before. We'll issue gift vouchers for the value of the hire, valid for three years. If you'd rather have cash back, we can refund 50% of the booking value. If you're reducing numbers rather than cancelling outright, that difference comes back as a voucher rather than cash.
- Within 48 hours. No refund. The cancellation fee is the full hire amount. This applies to reductions in numbers as well as full cancellations.
- On the day, or after your start time. No refund. Same if you don't turn up.
Adding people is different
Adding is nearly always fine and doesn't attract any of the above. Bikes permitting, we'll add them.
The easiest way is to email or ring us with the booking reference and what you'd like to add. If you're booking fresh and want a mix of bike types, start with your first choice and use the "Make another booking" button at the top of the order page to add the others to the same booking.
So if your numbers are still firming up, book the number you're confident about and add the stragglers later. That's a far better position than booking optimistically and trying to reduce inside five days.
We don't hold bikes without payment
We're asked fairly often whether a group can reserve now and pay on the day. We used to allow it, and we don't any more. Full payment goes through at the time of booking, and we no longer take deposits or verbal reservations.
The reason is simple. Unpaid reservations went unfilled often enough that we were turning away people who did want to come. Paying up front is what makes the bikes actually there when you arrive.
Weather
This is the one people worry about most, and mostly they needn't.
We don't generally cancel for unsettled weather. Light rain doesn't spoil a ride and Hawke's Bay weather changes fast. Ring us before you cancel. We're looking at the same forecast you are and we'll tell you honestly what we think.
The threshold we work to is a Hastings district forecast showing rain above 1.5mm per hour for two or more hours, or winds above 30km/h, between 11am and 4pm on your booked date. Worth knowing that Napier and Hastings forecast separately and often get different days, so a grim Napier forecast doesn't necessarily mean a grim ride.
If it genuinely looks miserable and you'd rather not, we allow weather cancellations within 24 hours on these terms: we'll move you to the next available day of your choosing, subject to availability, or issue a gift voucher for the full value, valid two years. We can't do bank, card or cash refunds for weather cancellations.
If we cancel your hire because of the weather, we'll reschedule you. If we can't find a date that works for you, you get a full refund.
The practical advice
Check the forecast before you book rather than after. Then, if your numbers are uncertain, book what you're sure of and add people later. Between those two habits you'll almost never need any of the rest of this page.
And if something's gone wrong and you're not sure where you stand, ring us on 021 292 8080. We'd rather sort it out on the phone than have you guess from a table.