Some Babboe cargo bike owners still waiting for help 1 year after recall
Exactly one year after the NVWA ordered the popular cargo bike brand Babboe to stop selling its bikes and recall thousands of unsafe models, hundreds of owners are still waiting for help. RTL Nieuws spoke with 230 dissatisfied Babboe cargo bike owners, over a hundred of whom complain about the high costs they’re incurring while waiting for Babboe to fix their bikes.
On February 9 last year, RTL revealed that the frames of Babboe cargo bikes - popularly used in childcare to transport children - regularly broke in half, injuring drivers and children. On February 14, 2024, the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) stepped in, ordering Babboe to stop selling most of its models and recall tens of thousands of unsafe bikes.
The recall was slow and arduous, to say the least. After multiple complaints, the regulator ACM ruled Babboe’s compensation scheme substandard. Thousands of affected people have initiated a mass claim against the company. Exactly one year later, there are still people waiting for their cargo bikes to be fixed or approved to safely ride on the roads.
“It’s terrible. My patience is completely gone. I’ve been waiting for a mechanic for almost a year,” Amanda Teering, a childminder in Hengelo who has to transport five children every day, told RTL Nieuws. She eventually gave up and bought a new cargo bike. “I was really stuck at home with the kids. I’ve now spent almost 3,500 euros on a new cargo bike.”
Bernadet Nieuwland, who has a childcare institution in Terwispel, is also still waiting. “I incurred hundreds of euros in extra costs per month. Because I couldn’t use the cargo bike, I had to hire extra staff to take the children back and forth to and from school by car.” She hasn't submitted her costs to Babboe. After a year of waiting, she has no confidence that they will compensate her. “You only speak to someone from the helpdesk and that doesn’t get you anywhere.”
Jos de Wit from The Hague also incurred extra costs. He did receive a replacement bike from Babboe, but from a different brand, resulting in his expensive rain cover not fitting. “A new one cost a few hundred bucks. And I had already bought a rain cover for the Babboe bike, but yes, it doesn’t fit.”
Accell, Babboe’s parent company, told RTL Nieuws: “We are aware that there are still people who have not been helped, and that we are still making mistakes in the process due to the large scale and complicated logistics. We are doing our best to fix this as quickly as possible to ensure that everyone can get back on the road safely as soon as possible.”
