# Buying a bike from Cash Converters



## aembleton (1 May 2013)

I'm off to Cash Converters tomorrow to check out a bike I've seen advertised on their website. I've checked http://stolen-bikes.co.uk/ and can't see it on there. I will also check https://www.bikeregister.com/ and http://www.mystolenbike.co.uk/ once I've got it's serial number.

Is there anywhere else I should check? I phoned the local police but they just suggested that I ask Google.


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## ianrauk (1 May 2013)

I have moved this thread as the Stolen Bikes section of the forum is for the reporting of stolen bikes only.

Check out* this* sticky for other sites where a stolen bike may be listed.


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## Pale Rider (2 May 2013)

aembleton said:


> I'm off to Cash Converters tomorrow to check out a bike I've seen advertised on their website. I've checked http://stolen-bikes.co.uk/ and can't see it on there. I will also check https://www.bikeregister.com/ and http://www.mystolenbike.co.uk/ once I've got it's serial number.
> 
> Is there anywhere else I should check? I phoned the local police but they just suggested that I ask Google.


 
You can't do a lot more, and have been more responsible than most buyers.

In the time honoured forum tradition of not answering the question, I'm bound to wonder if you could not get better value for your money from a specialist bike retailer or a private seller via ebay or similar sites.


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## wiggydiggy (2 May 2013)

Make sure the tyres are pumped up?

I dont know, sounds like you have bases covered, you could ask when buying "what happens if it turns out to be stolen?" e.g. do you get your £££ back. Maybe overkill, just buy it if you want it.


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## Crankarm (2 May 2013)

Just go to a proper bike shop and buy a bike. Cash Converters is pretty much a pawn shop. I suspect that they know next to nothing about bikes. What happens when the previous owner sees you riding their bike and steals it back? This bike you've seen must be advertised at such a silly low price for you to be soooo keen on it?


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## aembleton (2 May 2013)

Bought it now, comes with a 6 month warranty and I get my money back if it has been stolen. They have already checked on all relevant websites.


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## Crankarm (2 May 2013)

aembleton said:


> Bought it now, comes with a 6 month warranty and I get my money back if it has been stolen. They have already checked on all relevant websites.


 
So what bike is it and how much did you pay?


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## User16625 (2 May 2013)

Crankarm said:


> So what bike is it and how much did you pay?


 
Its an Apollo Fusion road bike. £65


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## smokeysmoo (2 May 2013)

aembleton said:


> Bought it now, comes with a 6 month warranty.


That might sound good to some, but when something goes wrong who fixes it?

I can't imagine Cash Converters getting someone else to fettle it, so your left with some inexperienced trainee oik trying to sort it out.


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## wxbull (2 May 2013)

deleted, sorry


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## aembleton (2 May 2013)

Crankarm said:


> So what bike is it and how much did you pay?


Boardman Hybrid Pro £500


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## eevvee (3 May 2013)

Very nice bike - hope you enjoy it, I have a hybrid team and it is a great ride.


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## MontyVeda (3 May 2013)

smokeysmoo said:


> That might sound good to some, but when something goes wrong who fixes it?
> 
> I can't imagine Cash Converters getting someone else to fettle it, so your left with some inexperienced trainee oik trying to sort it out.


 
or he could fettle it himself? ... it's not rocking horse science.


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## Deleted member 20519 (3 May 2013)

Crankarm said:


> Just go to a proper bike shop and buy a bike. Cash Converters is pretty much a pawn shop. I suspect that they know next to nothing about bikes. What happens when the previous owner sees you riding their bike and steals it back? This bike you've seen must be advertised at such a silly low price for you to be soooo keen on it?


 
My local cash converters has three fixies in very bright colours with the forks on backwards


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## SomethingLikeThat (4 May 2013)

In my town Cash Converters is a great place to buy a rusty BSO.


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## Easytigers (4 May 2013)

Sounds like a great deal! Enjoy


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## Cycleops (4 May 2013)

A £900 bike for £500 sounds like a good deal. I could never buy anything from there due to the awful stale smell that greets you whenever you enter the shop.


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## markharry66 (4 May 2013)

Cash converters normally over priced if their electrical stuff is anything to go by. Good deal on the Boardman though. Wonder how much poor person that sold it got for it


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## Pale Rider (5 May 2013)

markharry66 said:


> Wonder how much poor person that sold it got for it


 
If they got £50 for it, it will have been £50 more than they paid.


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## inkd (5 May 2013)

Bought a few electricals years back. Smack generator shops are ok for a bargain now and then.


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## Cyclopathic (6 May 2013)

The manager of CG in my town looked hugely pssd off when I turned up there with a copper and the bloke who had bought my bike from him a year previously, with receipts and my police crime number. Kept saying things like,"but can you be absolutely sure that this was your bike sir" and "Now I'm not saying you're dishonest but you could be mistaken" as the friendly copper just checked my details and the description I gave at the time and told him to give the money back to the guy that bought my bike from him and my bike was duly given back to me. (I had seen my bike locked up in town and waited for the "owner" to turn up who turned out to be a very nice guy who, after I told him a few things about the bike, admitted that it must be mine. 
That was a good day. I think they even managed to arrest and charge the thieves, although only with handling as the theft could not be proved.
I frickin' hate those places. They are just utter misery merchants and are screwing people on both sides of the equation. They may well do some checks to see if a bike is reported stolen but they seem to refuse to apply any common sense. They take id from people selling to them but not id that is hard to falsify. They check websites (perhaps) but still take bikes from people who have obviously never owned it, that isn't their size, about which they have the flimsiest cover story and which is probably the fourth bike they've brought in that month. I imagine. The people who are legit are offered paltry sums for good gear which they invariably accept as they are so skint.
I've no objection to them in principle but they should be run very very differently. Someone somewhere is making a lot of money from misery.


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## classic33 (6 May 2013)

Local Cash Converters kept the person talking, going through the checks & other paperwork(not all required) when someone tried to sell a bike to them.They even got them to lock it up outside whilst another staff member "went to finish checking it for any minor damage", anything that may reduce its value.
Whilst this was going on the police were on their way.


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