Paris Velib Costs !!
 

I just reviewed my first months Velib's charges (two months later), and have found a bunch of charges of 50-70 euros per day. I can't imagine how the costs could be that high?

The longest we used the bikes, without parking it for awhile was about 2-3 hours. I always checked to make sure that the Velib stand accepted the bike (green light).
Now that itrs already charges to my Bank Account, there is no way to get it back. I could have bought 2 bikes for what I was chrged, so something must be wrong. I don't mind paying for wht I used, but this seems excessive.

Any ideas?

What a bummer. Doesn't the machine print out a receipt when you return a bike (I don't know, I've never used one)?

If so, did you save them? Sounds like there's a fairly big hole in their system.

Thanks for the link, TN.

That's very good to know.

((I))

50-70 euros a day can't be the deposit being retained, since that's 150 euro. If you haven't got the receipts for each trip, with the ID numbers for the accounts you would have started, it's impossible to check what happened.

Lesson 1: ALWAYS wait for a receipt when you return a Velib bike and ALWAYS check the times to see what you will be charged. Try and get it bak within the free first half-hour, or at most an hour.

Lesson 2: Don't hang on to the bike for more than one trip at a time: that's why there are Velib points everywhere. Don't think of it as a bike hire scheme, think of it as a self-powered taxi.

Lesson 3: If the machine hasn't given you a receipt or there's something wrong with it, check straight away - there should be a contact phone on most docking stations, and a phone number.

Actually, come to think of it, Velib must be able to check how the charges if you can persuade them to go to the trouble of printing out the whens and wheres of how the charges arose.

TN: The amounts charged were NOT for the deposit, as they were under 150 euros.

PatrickLondon: We never held on to the Velibs for more than 3 hours, and when you return the Velib, there is NO receipt, when you are using the Navigo pass, that I know of. When you use the bike, you just wave your Navigo over the sensor, wait for the green light, then take the bike, NO RECEIPT. When you return the bike, you insert the bike into the lock, wait for the light to turn from red to green, and thats it.
I cAN'T DISPUTE THE CHARGES, SINCE IT WAS ON MY BANC CARD. i WILL WRITE, BUT dont jold out much luck.

Anyone knows what the per hour charges are? I will search.

Get your card issuer behind you. Ask them to write the froggies and request an audit trail of your bike use.

If they can't or won't, contest the charge by all means at your disposal.

www.velib.fr

€1 for the second half hour, €2 for the third, €4 for each subsequent half hour. 3 hours would therefore cost €15.

When you got the Velib subscription, there would have been an account number you could use to check the usage and charges online or at a station.

One of my fellow VTers (Virtual Tourist) has done a great in-depth report of his (positive) experience with Velib Paris.
You can read it here: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/740f5/18308/1/

You can download a comprehensive Velib brochure (pdf) in English at the Velib web site. According to the brochure, you have five minutes from the time the light turns green to request a printed receipt.

I can't imagine how one would dispute the charges with no record of usage and no receipts. You do agree to the terms and conditions...

I understand that it would be better to have receipts, but after 2.5 months in France, and using the bike several times a day for alot of that time, plus everything else, do you really think I had getting another receiot on my mind. This is analagous to the terms and conditions pages throughout the web, that we all click "I agree" Does anyone ever read that either?

I will just have to grin and bear the cost.

Intex wrote: "I will just have to grin and bear the cost."

There are times when it is good to be stoic. But I don't see it as necessary that you grin.

If you're still there, and still using the same subscription, you might be able to check usage online even now - or at least you might have been able to do so at the time.

It's something to keep checking, just as (I hope) you check your bank and credit card statements.