AMSTERDAM (BRAIN) — VanMoof is offering a $1,000 discount on a current S5, A5, or future e-bike to customers who paid for an order that wasn't fulfilled when the brand declared bankruptcy a year ago.
Customers applying for the discount will be notified by the end of the year, and the codes will be valid until the end of 2027.
Many bike orders were never delivered after VanMoof declared bankruptcy last July in the court of Amsterdam. The discount doesn't affect the existing bankruptcy trustee claims' process for customers seeking compensation. VanMoof said pre-bankruptcy customers also might be eligible for the discount if they couldn't get back their money from the bank or payment provider and meet the discount's requirements.
In August, VanMoof was acquired by Lavoie, part of global technology company McLaren Applied, which was connected to the McLaren Group — also consisting of McLaren Automotive and McLaren Racing. Lavoie doesn't have access to the money customers paid, and according to VanMoof, isn't legally required to remedy the issue.
"Since day one, we made it our mission to get riders back on the road," said Eliott Wertheimer, VanMoof's co-CEO. "For our existing riders, that meant building a network of service partners and supplying them with spare parts. While this effort is ongoing, we also want to help those who were let down by the old company and get them riding."
VanMoof said it has more than 120 service partners in Europe and the UK and is refining the S5 and A5 models before restarting sales. It also is developing new e-mobility products that will launch next year.
In February, the brand began providing access to repair manuals, guides, and technical drawings for e-bikes released in 2018 and earlier, materials that were previously accessible only to certified shops.
