Helbiz - Micromobility Hub 4+

Used to be great

I use e scooters almost everyday as my go to mode of transport around the town and have used Helbiz a few months back then it disappeared and I saw it all around the place today again in Arlington VA.
I am so disappointed!! This used to be my go to scooter. The county I live in has a speed limit of 15mph allowed for e scooters. The other e scooters allowed in my area are Link, Bird and lime. I stopped using lime almost a year ago cause to limited their speed to 10mph!! They were the only ones and not like they made rent cheaper since it’s time based. Bird had reduced acceleration so that was bad as well. Helbiz was fast and quick acceleration!
Today this scooter was limited 9 mph!! Why?? I almost bought the monthly subscription for unlimited rides and now I feel glad I didn’t.
I had to write this review cause I was excited to see it again and then quickly very disappointed!!

Update after response from developer:
Just to let you know incase there is a confusion, I don’t live in DC. I live in Arlington, Virginia where the county has allowed 15mph for e scooters. Scooter companies like Bird and Link operate in the area as well and they have their speed locked at 15 mph as per county rules

Developer Response ,

Hello there! We are really sorry to hear that you are not as satisfied with our service as you used to be. However, it is required by the law that all our scooters in DC have a maximum speed of 10mph and users are not allowed to go faster than that. Thank you for your feedback and for understanding! Best, Helbiz Team

Scam!

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! My boyfriend and I paid the requisite $10 flat rates for use of these scooters around DC ($10 is the lowest you can go—they do not allow you to pay per minute at the outset) and after riding them for ten or fifteen minutes parked them, locked them up, paused the ride, and went through the process of taking a picture of the park job and receiving auditory confirmation that we had done it correctly. We found later when we came back to them that the meter had kept running, and the company was now charging us an additional $35 for the time we had not been using the scooters, despite the fact that they had been paused. Evidently, the pause button does nothing. If I wanted to stop the bike from moving but leave the meter running and retain use of it I would simply take my finger off the accelerator. It’s upsetting that the pause button is essentially useless and meant as a mere blind, but also that the company continues to take money above the paid for amount without any sort of notification that that the original money has run out, and more will be needed to be added. Utterly lacking in morals. Give your business to another company.

Buggy App + Subpar Support

Their app is buggy and spits out errors. This caused my last ride to record 123 minutes of use and their support told me they couldn’t find evidence of an uploaded photo to confirm my drop-off. What was supposed to be a 10 minute ride for about $6 ended up charged at $55+. Customer Support refused to grant me a refund and condescendingly sent me instructions on how to properly drop off their vehicles instead. Thanks guys, a month and change after using your vehicles and you think I don’t know how this works? 🙄 Anyway, they lost a loyal customer, as I rode these things around my town darn near daily since I don’t have an actual car right now. Companies that value customers know that these types of behaviors could bring more loss than gain in the long run and they work to make sure their customers feel taken care of. Especially if there’s record of loyalty. Reader: You can keep using their vehicles, but if something happens one day where you’d like a refund, please know that they don’t care about you as a customer and you’ll likely receive a condescending, non-helpful response from their “support team” instead.