Things under repair being locked up until the curator determines what belong to who and if they owe money before it is returned after bankrupcy is standard practice under Dutch law. To the point that there are form letters available online to ask for your stuff back when a company has gone bankrupt.
Well, not really. Bankruptcy laws can widely differ around the world, but for example if something of yours is on my properly and I go bankrupt then the bank puts a lock around my property then you must put a motion into the bankruptcy court to lay claim to and retrieve your property. It's likely you would be charged with trespass by both the bank and the land owner if you attempted to claim it.
Van Moof cannot even give you your property in most jurisdictions, the parties in the bankruptcy must agree that 'your' property actually belongs to you, and that the person going bankrupt is not committing some sort of fraud by giving away assets.
A company doesn't take ownership of items that come in for repair/servicing, and simply locking other people's property into a room/shop/garage is hardly a basis for ownership as otherwise thieves could just nick something, lock it into a garage and then claim ownership.
> A company doesn't take ownership of items that come in for repair/servicing
While this seems unlikely, it's not obvious to me that this is not what "technically" happens for consumer electronics.
"Just not immediately" is a big fucking deal for people in Amsterdam who use their bicycles as their primary means of transportation. Imagine you lived in Phoenix right now and the same thing happened with your car. You dropped off your Rivian or Lucid for repairs and -- surprise! -- they were actually on the brink of bankruptcy, so now the only way for you to get to work, pick up kids, etc. is to try walking, biking, or busing for miles in 110F+ degree heat until the courts figure out how to get your vehicle back to you.
If I depended on my bike for transportation -- as is the case for many people in Amsterdam -- then holding onto my bike for more than a few days for a repair is effective theft of my primary means of transportation. If the mechanic tells me they can swap out a part in a couple of days and needs to keep the bike for that, no big deal. The milk in my fridge won't spoil in that time, and I can WFH for a couple of days. Maybe take a while longer to get to and from daycare by walking and busing.
But if my bike becomes unavailable for much longer than that, at that point I would be forced to treat it exactly like a theft and purchase a replacement so I can travel the way I need to again. I still need to buy groceries and get to the office in a reasonable amount of time, and I don't have weeks or months to wait until the courts/lawyers can finally figure out WTF is going on with the property locked in the stores. Sure, chances are I'll eventually get my means of transportation back, but by then it will be too late, since I will have been forced to replace it by then.
It's de facto theft.
It's not remotely the same. You can buy a used €100 bike in Amsterdam easily (which should be no big deal to people riding around on €2300 bikes). You're not walking miles in 110F heat to the store in Amsterdam, more like a 1 km (max) walk in 22c weather. I don't think you realize how common actual bike theft is in the Netherlands. It is in no way a big deal.
Living in the next town over from amsterdam: many people use ebikes for a 20km journey between towns, both ways.
Alternatives? - Cycling 3 hours a day on your 100€ used rusty bike - tucking your two year old in your backpack while bringing it to the daycare (we put them on purpose-built kids seats byt that connector is stuck on the vanMoof) - +-200€ a month of public transport cost (excl kids) - 7,50 a day on top of public transport for a bike ticket (if i also need my bike in the other town and don't have 3 hours a day extra to cycle) (oh and you're not allowed during rush hour)
If i would depend on a bike, it would be a massive inconvenience to not have it at best, and would be crippling for my day to day at worst.
Owning and operating a car and a bicycle are vastly different things. You are exaggerating the similarities
And no, it's not theft, this is how bankruptcy works. All assets and _anything on the property_ is frozen, until creditors sort through it all. There's nothing illegal or dodgy going on, it's just that some people had the misfortune to have their bikes on the bankrupt companies property.
_Man_, you guys like to complain about nothing.