I'm creating this thread to share my personal experience with oBike to warn other oBike users, especially new users who plan to join oBike in future.
A quick search on the internet, as well as browsing through the list of comments on their official Facebook page evidently lists hundreds of users being affected by oBike's delayed payments (NO payment being made to most users, including myself) with regards to their original deposit.
Even though on the main website, as of today, it is still displaying the following message:
"..
To get a refund for your deposit, please go to My wallet, and click the link for refund deposit. You will receive your deposit within 14 working days.
If you did not receive your refund after 30 working days, please inform us and we will look into it immediately.
.."
It's no surprise that you will not get any refund after 3-6 months of waiting, despite having sent tons of email to hurry them up. I've sent over 20 emails back and forth to them after 30 working days as instructed on their website. Until now, it has been more than 3 months, and all I received is their standard reply "you're now in our top priority list to process the refund, we'll refund you as soon as possible, please give me your bank account number and ID, we'll direct transfer the funds to you immediately, etc..."
Does this pattern sound familiar to you? If yes, you're right, it reeks of a typical scam. It's even more disgusting that it's committed by a registered company here in Singapore, one btw which is still currently active and in operation.
I have personally used Ofo, and was overcharged by Ofo once before, however they promptly issued a refund to as promised. So I can speak from my own experience that Ofo is more trustworthy at least in this aspect.
So to users who are considering joining one of the 3 existing bike sharing platforms here in Singapore (oBike vs Ofo vs Mobike), serious food for thought.
Source: https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/eat-drink-man-woman-16/obike-cheat-customers-off-their-refund-deposit-5843986.html
Do you accept their explanation and apology ?
Breaking News: Obike Users Are To Check Their Deposits Now!
First things first,
If you are an Obike user who has made a deposit with them in the past
If you have not been active on the Obike app
You might have fallen victim to what we are going to bring up in this article.
Obike converting deposits in idle accounts into 1,000 days SVIP subscriptions, WITHOUT users’ consent
We came across a reddit thread that talks about a method which Obike might be using to lock in deposits of users and prevent them from drawing out their deposit.
So here’s what is going on:
Idle Obike accounts are secretly being converted into SVIP subscriptions without the consent of the users. This is what it looks like on your app.
This means that your deposits are being locked up for as far as years down the road.
Most of these users are not notified that their deposits are being used to subscribe to this SVIP package. All of the action is done secretly at Obike’s side.
What made things worse is that under Obike’s Terms and Conditions, there is a line which gives Obike the rights to amend, modify and make changes to their agreements. (who on Earth reads Terms and Conditions anyway right?)
These Terms and Conditions actually gave Obike rights over user’s deposit and they can change it to whichever that works best for them. Ultimately, consumers are at the losing end of this case.
Problems withdrawing deposits from Obike
On top of this, users are having problems withdrawing their deposits. A process that is supposed to take 14 days according to Obike’s FAQ, users are complaining about how some of their refund process took months.
What is going on?
This behaviour reminds us a lot of Multi-level marketing (MLM) companies, where the influx of new consumers are needed to support a possible lack of cash flow.
While we are waiting for more concrete evidence, it seems that Obike might be running into some trouble with their monetization methods.
Also, from now on, I guess it is best we pay more attention to Terms and Conditions of any app we use before parking our money.
https://blog.seedly.sg/breaking-news-obike-users-are-to-check-their-deposits-now/
Deposit amount is $2 I believe? Anyway whatever funds you have stored in your oBike e-wallet, you can probably kiss them goodbye. :P
Oh btw here is an attachment of their nincompoop customer service reply.
I don't use oBike, but yeah their FAQ does state what TS mentioned.
https://www.o.bike/sg/faqs/
Hmm how much is the deposit amount?