H.E.H. Human Electric Hybrids LLC — Local services in Ann Arbor

It would be 5 stars if it was only for buying the bike. And the review used to be 5 stars. They provided us with what we had believed WAS good advice when we purchased our bike, giving us an opportunity to try and decide what was the best for our family and budget.

The price was fair and the bike came built in a good way (minor adjustments were done later but it is expected due to the mileage - hard to tell if it was due to a poor build).

However, we recently hit rock bottom on our relationship with the store over an issue with the bike we purchased with them. Truly, you can test a business not when everything is going smooth but when something goes wrong - the trial by fire so to speak. And HEH miserably failed in that case.

Let me explain, after two years our front wheel hub broke on our cargo bike. We contacted HEH by phone asking what to do, they say we will need to get a full replacement (being cheaper than repair) and that they would call me at the end of the day with a quote.

Two days later, without news we started to call back and emailed. After a week of near complete silence, we contacted the manufacturer and added them to our conversation with HEH. It was met with utter silence on their end. After three weeks and several of my requests HEH told me to come as they would provide me with a temporary wheel (the technician said "he could probably eyeball something" - that level of technician is prime).

It took another week to be able to concile all our schedule. The technician walked around grabbing over a dozen of wheel to "eyeball a replacement". It is funny to see how simple the process was - if that was easy it should have been proposed to me by HEH during my first call and email (I asked for such a fix) - curiously enough the manufacturer hinted that there was very few replacement that would be solid and safe enough for our cargo bike making the eye balling process rather questionable.

Side note, one of the staff made some snarky comment about "the famous case". They indeed knew my issue widely at the store and it felt like I was a simple funny story of the month. But not carrying enough to be actively communicating with us or proposing solution until we started to call several times a day.

They sold us a wheel - branding was removed (why?), The wheel was used (damaged and needed to be tried) for a "friendly price" the owner told me (impossible to say because they removed the branding) And then...? They did not even provide rim tape - it was bare "good luck you are on your own".

As a commercial gesture, they offered me a water bottle - we declined. I would never want to show their brand.

Then? Silence, for weeks from HEH and the manufacturer. When I finally contacted them almost two months after my first phone call HEH remained silent. The manufacturer told me that I should contact Shimano. And I did, they gave me three other stores to contact with one being their "locally trusted service center".

After inspection and talking to three other shops it is believed this was a manufacturer defect - Each one of the 3 stores confirmed. The first two told me to go to the trusted Shimano service center as they specialize in repairing wheels and should be able to accommodate us in a faster way - One of those other advocated with Shimano and were able to find a solution with an exact cost and ETA in less than 30min. $50 later and not even 2 weeks the bike was fixed.

I emailed them back to update them - they finally discover the "reply" button by saying some generality.

HEH said "the Internet can't fix your bike". Well obviously they cannot as well.

Over the years, we went on recommending them to friends and family to have to contact every one of them and apologize about our poor advise. HEH is not to be trusted.

It is baffling because since we are out spoken in the community we heard many people complain of the same issues.

In the end they save 2 stars because, they do not care for sure but they do carry some good inventory. Just by the bike but do not trust them on anything...

Update March 2024* Welp, gave them another try because the manufacturer thought it best they install the new controller they sent me. Made an appointment for today. Get to the repair building and two guys see me, but continue to open boxes for a few minutes before they come over. Said maybe they could get to it Tuesday. I made the appointment with the owner last week. Taking it to SIC Transit. They said they could put the new controller on. It feels like middle schoolers running the place. Seriously.

May 2023 - This review has been 2.5 years in the making. I bought my eBike here rather than online because I thought it would be nice to have local support. I could not have been more wrong. EVERY time I have interacted with ANYONE at this company, I get indifference at best and hostility at worst. I ride my bike full time/year-round so I need service from time to time. A short list of issues - Two warranty issues went unresolved because they claim to have not hear back from manufacturer. I have had to deal with the manufacturer myself and they were wonderful and were aware of HEH and how bad their service is. I had a battery issue a year after purchasing and they would not touch it and yelled at me as the owner went about their business as though some kid was not yelling at me. It was her nephew. I have had to deal with manufacturer myself on two separate issues and they were great (HEH was not). I don't understand how these guys have a 4.5 rating. I gave up on them and started taking my bike to Sic Transit and have nothing but amazing service there. They are AWESOME. I need some spokes that were not readily available elsewhere so I went to HEH and bought some for my specific bike. Remember, they sell and service this brand. They looked a little short so I asked the guy if he was sure and he was. After I got my bike in at Sic, guess what? Yep, wrong spokes. This error means weeks of delay in service this time of year. Spoke with the owner and no sympathy. Said call back in a few days when service was open. I did and they said they had the correct ones. I took a chance and asked when he could service and he could get me in sooner than Sic so I took a chance and booked the appointment for today. I was there when they opened to drop it off. He said there were a few in front of me and was not sure if he could get it done today. And.....they did not get it done. Not only that, but they cannot tell me if it will take 2, 3, four days or a week. No clue. I need my bike for transportation and I can't just leave it there open ended. Again, the attitude is just nuts. It trickles down from the top. I get the same shitty service and attitude from the owners on down the chain.

I thought I was done posting negative reviews, but repeated, unbelievably bad service, over 2.5 years has brought me out of retirement. This town needs another eBike shop. Anyone who gave a crap would wipe the floor with these...

By far the worst experience I have ever had with a bike repair and shop owner. Within in a couple hundred miles of riding my new e-bike I had an error code pop up which disabled all the powered parts of the bike; lights, display, motor, and shifting, all of them did not work and would not restart with a reboot of the system. I was told I had to take the bike back to the dealer where I purchased it to get it repaired. I have had the same error code repeat over and over multiple times and I am currently at nearly 7 weeks of having my bike in HEH, Human Electric Hybrid, repair shop. Each time HEH tell me that it is fixed and then a few months later it occurs yet again. The owner of HEH told me that my problem was a warranty issue and that he doesn't make money on warranty work when I suggested that maybe someone needed to contact the manufacturer to expedite this repair or maybe look at a replace or refund for the bike that doesn't work. The owner said it was not his problem and that the bike had nearly 8,000 miles on it and would probably break soon anyway. I can not afford to buy a new e-bike every two years so I found his comment to be very insulting. Sell a product that is quality and take to the time to do an actual repair, don't just take the money and forget about your customers when they roll out the door. If you must use the repair shop , make sure ask for Clayton, only way you get decent service. If you are considering an e-bike I would highly suggest you...