Beryl - bike & e-scooter hire 4+

No bell!

The scooter I hired bad no bell which was extremely dangerous riding where I did today. I had to keep stopping and asking people to move! As no bell. I wasn’t going to pay another unlocking fee to pick up a scooter with a bell.
Then when I parked in a bay and wanted to end ride, I got a warning message saying are you sure you want to end the ride as parking outside bay fees may apply!? Why do that to me? So I rode around til a 1 min within its battery life and riding out more and more minutes trying to find another bay to park in so I don’t get charged. Eventually with 1% battery left I go back to the one I’d first found and took a chance and just ended the ride.
Thankfully it said thank you for parking in a bay.
So much hassle for nothing
Also I’d suggest there is a way of finding AND navigating to bays!!! Nearest bay to you and not have to waste time going back and forth into google maps to try find out how to get to one.

Developer Response ,

Hi- We're so sorry for the frustration this has caused. Thanks for your review. Our customer service team can look into this for you. Just send us an email at support@beryl.cc or use the messenger within the Beryl app. In future you can message us right away so we can help and you can also use the 'Get Directions' feature to find a bay. We hope your next ride with us will be much smoother. Ana at Beryl

App and bikes have a lot of issues

Had many issues with the app and the bikes. From the brakes sticking and not letting the wheels turn, the bike stand hitting the pedals when riding, seat slipping down, gear lever keeps slipping into 3rd etc. the app has some frustrations, like I have only successfully scanned 1 bike over my many trips, I always end up having to enter the unlock number. Sometimes when I have come from a train journey, the app will say I am ‘out of zone’ even though it shows me in the correct location on the app map, I have to quit the app to get it to see I am in the zone. When you try to give feedback, you can’t see what you are typing (at least on my iPhone XS) and when you open the app, the unlock button scrolls up from the bottom of the sceen which sometimes makes you tap the wrong button. It would also be good that if you have to change bikes during a journey, you are not charged for a whole new journey. As they are in continuation (perhaps within a few minutes of each other), it would be great if the app would know you are carrying on. I have had problems with one bike and have to change when I pass a Beryl bay, but I think it’s unfair I am charged for a new hire when it was a bike malfunction that caused me to have to switch.

Developer Response ,

Hi- We're so sorry for the frustration this has caused. Thank you for taking the time to help us improve Beryl! Our main goal is to take good care of our e-scooters so that everyone can enjoy a smooth ride. If you come across a broken vehicle, please do not hesitate to reach out to us via the in-app chat, website chat, email, or phone. You can easily access the in-app chat by clicking on the chat 💬 icon, or by clicking on the 🔧 icon. You can also send us an email at support@beryl.cc or give us a call at 020 3003 5044 from 7am to 9pm, Monday to Sunday. We are always happy to assist you! In Regard the app issues could you please contact us directly at support@beryl.cc and send screenshots of the bugs you referred to. We'd love to get to the bottom of this so that we can get it right for you. Ana at Beryl

Excellent method of in town transport

I first decided to use a Beryl bike when returning from Hereford railway station to home, when the buses were out of schedule and the taxis were too expensive. I was very impressed, the bikes themselves are smart and a pleasure to ride, and when one is faulty they are repaired and put back into service relatively quickly. They’re also reasonably priced (£5 for 100 minutes, and given it takes me about 20 minutes to cycle from the city centre to home it works out to roughly £1 for an almost 3 mile journey, cheaper than the bus).

I have since become well accustomed to them and use them almost daily to go into and around town, they are very convenient and a much more practical way to get around than using a private bike, especially if you don’t have much room at home. I honestly can’t think of any reasonable complaints to make. Thank you very much Beryl for providing an excellent solution to city journeys in Hereford, I am incredibly eager to see more of these spring up around the country.