In my most recent experience with Biki I found out that the docking stations seem to be designed in such a way that the bicycles can be returned and locked in place, without electronically being registered as ''docked''. This allows for the company to collect excessive ''overage'' fees for bicycles until they are unlocked again and removed from the station and re-docked at a new station by the next user. It could potentially be that this practice is in place, in part because of Honolulu being a tourist destination. With a large number of Biki users being tourists, many of them will not even realize these charges have been placed on their credit cards, as they would expect that everything had been returned correctly, until after they leave Hawai'i. For the international tourist, by the time they realize that this odd system malfunction had occurred it becomes practically impossible to even dispute these claims.
I personally experienced this issue, which I found odd, because I had used these bicycles on many occasions over the past year. When contacting the company they told me that they could indeed verify that my bicycle had been docked in the station, but had not been ''electronically registered.'' So it was clear to not only me, but to the representative I was speaking with as well that the bike was locked at the docking station, with the caveat being that it somehow had not ''electronically registered.'' However, the bike could not be removed at this time, as it was locked in place and there was no way to re-dock the bike, unless I paid to unlock a new bike. The indicator lights and sounds had progressed as they had every other time I had docked a bicycle to indicate a successful docking operation so there was no reason to suspect anything was out of the ordinary. However, the representative later told me, even if the bike cannot be removed and is locked in place it still may not have ''electronically registered.'' The representative then told me that the next user (7 hours later) unlocked the bicycle and then docked it at a new station. They informed me that I was responsible for the overage fees, even though this clearly was a docking equipment issue. The company also let me know that due to the terms and agreements accepted to rent the bicycle, all rights to sue had already been waived, and that there was no action I could take to recover my money.
So I just want to warn other potential users in the city of this issue so that they do not end up in the same situation as me. Due to the companies unwillingness to work with customers on electronic malfunctions and systems issues, they should be avoided to prevent other users incurring erroneous charges. Also, please be warned that when you agree to the terms and conditions you are legally rendering yourself helpless to a company that you have just trusted with your credit card information. From my experience, as well as from the experiences of other users I have read, as a company they are unwilling to remove overage fees and charges, and for their part, they are also not legally bound to, due to the acceptances of their terms and conditions. All in all lyft is probably a better option and it is definitely cheaper. read more