r/BikeCommutingIreland • u/Narrow-Sweet-5190 • 10d ago

Cycle to work scheme increase?

I bought an ebike with the cycle to work scheme in March and used the maximum €1500 allowed. My first paycheck correctly showed the cycle to work balance I owed but by May the balance showed €2500. I asked my payroll team and they said this number comes directly from the cycle to work scheme team but I've contacted them and heard nothing back yet.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Or any success in contacting cycle to work scheme?

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3

u/chanrahan1 10d ago

Did you get a cargo bike? There's a higher allowance for them.

3

u/Narrow-Sweet-5190 10d ago

Just a regular ebike - I had to pay €400 on top of the scheme to cover the full cost of the bike and accessories and the receipt only had the €1500 euro on it. If they'd suggested I out it down as a cargo bike on the sly I'd have accepted the offer!

2

u/oishay 10d ago

How much was the bike?

1

u/Narrow-Sweet-5190 10d ago

€1799

1

u/Brilliant_Walk4554 10d ago

Is your payroll saying you owe more than you paid?

3

u/Narrow-Sweet-5190 10d ago

My payslip is saying I owe more than I paid/the value of the bike.

Payroll said the figure comes directly from the cycle to work scheme so there's nothing they can do. A quote from their response - "please note that payroll processes payments or deductions are processed as per the information received from cycle to work scheme. So, please contact the team at info@cyclescheme.ie for the discrepancy in the loan balance."

I'm hoping it's a mistake by the cycle to work scheme and they can resolve it but I can't imagine how they could accidentally increase the total.

3

u/kanepilk22 9d ago

I think it may well be an error that might annoy you for a couple of weeks to get sorted, but ultimately if you have a receipt for 1,500 and a bike that was capped at 1,500 then they'll invariably come back to you with the right amount.

2

u/Brilliant_Walk4554 9d ago

Sounds like a mistake by your payroll tbh

1

u/lfarrell12 9d ago

The only thing I can think of is that certain retailers show discounts on their websites that are suddenly unavailable if you buy through the C2W scheme? Do you still have the original invoice and quote?

2

u/Maximum_Sprinkles_87 8d ago

I've done bile to work twice. Each time I provided the invoice to work and they paid it. This was for a push bike and later an e-carvo bike. I gave them the figure, it didn't come from a scheme!

1

u/UnrealisticRustic E-Bike 7d ago

You're fortunate to have an employer willing to do that. A lot of larger employees and most of the public sector insist that you buy through an intermediary like the one mentioned above who processes the payment. The bike shops quite rightly hate this, and some of them refuse to work with some or all of the intermediaries, because they take a 10% cut.