Just a follow up I am still awaiting the credit cards decision as to whether I am entitled to my money back on the damaged bike. In the meantime i have tried to join 2 scooter forums who both have blocked me from joining apprantly i do not meet the criteria which sounds to me like direct bikes have some input in these two scooter forums and know I am going to make a complaint. This means you can not really trust the comments about how great this company are after reading scooter forums.

I do feel for you because i have also had problems with direct bikes. I have previously put a thread on here about them. I think there 12 month warranty is not worth the paper it's written on and I do urge anyone who is thinking of buying from them to really think hard and read about quite a few of the problems people have been putting on forums. My bike was damaged and the forks were actually loose when delivered but direct bikes would not take responsbility because i had signed for the delivery even though i rang them the minute i took all the packaging off and undid the crate literally 10 minutes after the courier had been.

I also have had a similar experience with Direct Scooters/Direct Bikes. In the first week of Sept this year I ordered from them 2 brand new 50cc Retro Scooters. One in black the other in cream colour. Their website does state that usually delivery is 2-3 working days. After a few days a courier arrived with one bike only the black colour bike. We asked the courier if we could check the item before signing and the driver totally refused and said he was "not paid to stand around while we check" and that if we unwrapped it or took it off his vehicle he would have to leave it with us. I refused and told the driver to return the bike as Direct Bikes terms and conditions stated the goods had to be checked before signing for. I then telephoned Direct Bikes who said they would speak to the courier and ask him to return with the bike. A couple of days later another driver more pleasant than the first arrived with the black bike. Same thing again really said I was not allowed to totally unwrap the bike but i was able to look through the box at the top of the packaging and everything seemed ok. After the bike was unloaded and the driver had gone we unwrapped and found the bike had a small scuff on the front fender but too be honest i was not too worried about this. After fitting the battery and test driving the vehicle I found the front brakes were binding. I telephoned direct bikes to ask where the cream bike was and mentioned that the brakes were binding. They said the cream bike was not in stock until a week later and gave me a number of there mechanic re the brakes. I telephoned the mechanic who was quite abrupt on the phone and basically just said most brakes were like this and keep riding it hopefully it should sort itself out. A week later my cream bike had still not arrived after the advised date. I rang and was told the bike had come in stock and was now in the hands of the courier i should expect delivery within next couple of days. 5 days later i telephoned again only to be told by a very rude person on the other end of the phone that I could not phone in and check when an order was being delivered I had to email in. After i disputed this with her she did say that the cream bike was still out of stock. I explained that i had been told it had already left with the courier but yet again was given another due date. I complained that i was unhappy by email, that I was still one bike outstanding and also had received no paperwork to register the received bike to which they replied that in their terms and conditions it states that 2-3 days for delivery is just a guide line and that they do not have to give me an agreed date after order and that they had sent me out the paperwork for the black bike. Another 10 days passes when i telephone again. I am told once again the bike has come into stock and has left the warehouse and will be with me in 2-3 days. However the next day i receive an email stating the bike was "still out of stock" and I either had to change the colour or type of bike i wanted or wait for a delivery of the cream one without knowing how much longer i had to wait. I emailed direct bikes and said i wanted to cancel the whole order and would like them also to collect the first bike they had delivered as they were so untrustworthy but they refused and said i could not cancel the order of the first bike as i had had it nearly a month even though they had sent me no paperwork to register it for use and also if i cancelled the cream bike they would not refund me the delivery charge of £85.00 even though the bike had still not been delivered. In the end i was so fed up of spending time on the phone and email's back and forth when i am trying to work also i asked them to send on a silver colour bike. They agreed the bike would be with me on Tuesday 7th Oct but it turned up on the weds 8th. Same thing again driver would not let me check the bike by unwrapping the cardboard around the crate i could only look through the top. From the top everything seemed as it should so the bike was unloaded and driver rushed off. Firstly on the other side of the box that you couldn't see when in the van the handle and brake lever were sticking through the box. We pulled the cardboard box off and noticed the metal frame that the bike is housed in was totally pushed in at the bottom about 4-5 inches. Looking around the frame before we took all the polythene off the bike there was bars that were welded holding the frame together the welds were all broken off at the bottom and some of the bolts that fix the frame on were sheered off then i noticed after starting to take the polythene off around the bike that one front indicator was smashed off still pulling more polythene off the back of the frame was pushed in and it looked like its been driven into by a forklift or dropped at some height we pulled all the damaged frame work off around the bike and then got it out most of the impact on the cage that supports the bike was in the front corner then we noticed the handle bars were totally loose you could lift them up and down and when you look down looking at front wheel and handle bars it was twisted so it had had a heavy bump at some point the front fering was all off set and also scratches and corrosion around the bike which we could see were old not new like the other damage. This bike had previously been sitting outside somewhere for a long time. I emailed direct bikes within 20 minutes of receiving the bike and sent them lots of pictures of the damage. As i suspected they would behave they emailed back that they held no responsibility for the damage the bike had been signed for and that as a good will gesture they would send me an indicator free of charge. Of course this was unacceptable as the bike is clearly very badly damaged and totally unroadworthy. After quite a few emails and direct bikes still adement they would not replace the bike i then contacted my credit card company that i had used to pay for the bikes. They said to write to them and offer to return the bike back at my cost but i wanted a replacement or refund. Direct bikes refused to accept my return of the bike offer and i contacted the credit card company again who said as i had given reasonable effort to return the bike at my expense and they still refused they would now investigate this further and i have had to write to the credit card with copies of all correspondence with direct bikes. At the moment i don't know what will happen but i really would not like anyone else to go through this with them and would advise to stay away from buying them. I did read some forums before purchasing and their were some good and bad comments but i can only think now the good comments were added by direct bikes themselves, especially one comment i read on a forum that they had a mechanical problem and direct bikes sent an engineer immediately! If anyone does want to order from these people i suggest you totally check the bikes thoroughly before signing for them regardless of what the courier says and make sure you get to take all the packaging off so you can see the bike clearly. I also wonder what people like Katie Price and Amer Khan would think if they knew they were endorsing products from this awful company. Its a shame really because the bikes look good but instead of 2 brand new bikes we have received ones that are in worse condition than some second hand mopeds you can buy.