I have always loved scooters. Every time I ride one, I feel like a spy in Europe and I often wear cliche khakis, button up shirt, and sun glasses while I ride around with a messenger bag. I took a vacation to Florida a year or so ago and rented a moped and since then I knew that I needed to own one. If you’ve read the older posts of this blog, you know that in the summer of 2008, I bought two electric mopeds which I later had to sell. Well this summer, my girlfriend and I decided to go halves on a brand new 50cc moped. If I knew then, what I know now, I would never have purchased the scooter we did. Take my advise and read this article before you purchase a new scooter.
I did my homework and shopped around to all sorts of places before making a final decision. I shopped craigslist, dealers, and on line retailers. It seemed like the ads on craigslist were a gamble no matter how nice the scooter looked in the photo. The dealers were selling the same scooters as the on line retailers but at a steep mark up. Ultimately we ordered from an on line retailer. The savings were just too much to ignore. The $1600 scooter at the dealer in town was exactly identical to the $895+$200 s&h on line retailer.
Eventually I talked my girlfriend into the on line retailer because I thought the mark up was just to unpack the scooter and fill the battery. Was I ever wrong.
First of all, the company that I ordered from was not reputable. They have a website at http://www.scooterdepot.us but answer the phone as Sunny Sports. Often they would answer the phone saying, “Hello”. With out stating the business name, like the person forgot which business they worked for. The scooter that was sent was not the exact scooter pictured on line. It is actually made by a company called Tank Sports Inc., and came with a different set of decals than pictured. Not to mention that one of the first issues I had with the scooter on the first day was due to the fact that the listed maximum weight of 330 lbs is actually false. A parts/tech associate later told me that the actual weight limit is 270lbs (regardless, I’m only 230lbs and still messed up the scooter, details to follow).
Below is a time line of all the issues I have had with the scooter company.
June 12: Ordered Scooter. Should arrive in 7-9 days with 24 hour advanced notice.
June 20: Scheduled Delivery Date, no call, no show.
June 25: Called Sunny Sports, scooter has not shipped yet, it was “Special order” because it was silver color (one of three options). Demanded compensation, was promised $30 refund and free $57 value helmet.
July 2: 24 hour delivery confirmation call.
July 6: Scooter delivery, 25 days after ordered due to 4th of July Holiday weekend for shipping company. $30 received but still no sign of promised helmet.
July 8: Called for title to be shipped to register scooter. Talked to representative about broken plastic on right side due to muffler being too close. The title should take 3 business days to arrive.
July 9: Sent email to parts and tech department about muffler too close, broken plastic on right side, and now the seat will not lock. Still no helmet.
July 14: I rode the scooter (unregistered) to meet my girlfriend for Chinese food. The scooter was off for ten minutes or so before I tried to leave and return home for Chinese food. The scooter would not start. Made audio recording of scooter not starting. Had to push scooter home 1 mile. As soon as I was home, scooter started.
July 15: Called again about the title. They said it must be lost, they will send another in 3 business days. Frustrated, I demanded they send it overnight. Rep agreed to send over night for no additional fee. Also talked to parts person about scooter not starting.
July 16: Title delivered, sent email with moped starting issue. Still no response from previous emails.
July 17: Moped registered for $40.
July 18: My girlfriend was going to ride the moped and meet me for ice cream at Dairy Queen when about two miles from home, the moped shut off while she rode it. I called the company as we walked it home and let them know that I haven’t received any responses from previous emails and that I was pushing the moped home for the second time. The moped has 200 miles on it from one week of riding. The person said that parts and tech were gone home (after putting me on hold for about 14 minutes which is one of Sunny Sports favorite things to do; put you on hold for 15 minutes for people who have left for lunch or home) and that he could leave a message. I told this person, that I want a call at noon tomorrow or I will be PISSED OFF.
July 23: No call from parts or tech. Still no email responses, still no helmet.
August 3: Called customer service rep and explained entire situation. Mary put me on with parts manager Mike who checks parts emails. He never got parts emails I sent or messages (another Sunny Sport favorite, never leave messages they will never call you back). We spent the day on the phone and I ended up tearing my entire scooter apart to trouble shoot starting issue, shock/plastic/muffler issue, seat latch issue etc.
August 5: Spent most of the day on the phone with or trying to get a hold of Mike. Got fed up and called Mary to talk about getting my money back.
August 6: Received certificate of origin.
August 7: Mary called back to say that there is a 30% restocking fee plus shipping on all scooters. This means, if they send you a defective scooter and you want your money back, on a $1200 scooter, you will pay $500 to give it back. You pay 50% and get nothing for it. Missed dinner with GF and family before class today because I had to send yet another email to Mike and Mary out lining all the issues I’ve had with them to date. Also, helmet still not here. A while ago I called about it and they said it was in a container ship being held by customs, it would be shipped to me five days after that Friday. Never showed up.
August 10-20: I spent the better part of each Monday-Wednesday trying to get a hold of Mike to fix the scooter. I gave up on Mike after I called once and was told he was at lunch after being on hold for 10 minutes. I called Mary to complain, and Alan said, Oh Mike isn’t on lunch, he is shooting a movie today for one of the scooters. I tried to get Mike for a Spark, Compression, and Gas test to figure out what is wrong with the scooter. He also asked me to ship the shock back to him for testing.
August 20: After talking with Kelly in Parts yesterday, who actually knows what he is talking about I went out today and bought a new NGK spark plug. Turns out all the plugs sent with the scooter are crap. Next I got to spend $24 on a tool set to get the spark plug out (racket set with bits and a deep socket spark plug removal set of three sockets). After that purchase, Kelly says its not the plug, we have to do a compression test, go buy a compression test kit with the 10-12mm adapter. Another $40 later and 30 minutes later, I now know its not a compression issue, and I now own a $40 non refundable compression tool which I may never use again. I sent in the shock, ignition coil, and Stator to Kelly so they could diagnose the issue and send me new parts. Interesting fact: If the company sends you a scooter with crap parts, you still get to pay the shipping to them, which today was $16. If they prove to be broken, the company pays to send them back. If they are not defective, you pay the return shipping! Wonderful!
August 21: Called about the helmet yesterday and said something to the effect of “You have had two months to get your ducks in a row and send this helmet and I still do not have it. I’m sick of waiting so you can just put the $57 value of the helmet on my card.” They said something to the effect of: “Company policy states we can either send you the helmet now (why wasn’t it sent if they have them now?) or we can give you the ‘at cost’ value of the helmet on your card.” Oh…great, I thought, “What is the at cost value?”… wait for it… wait… just wait… “The at cost value is $2.” I said, “2 Dollars!? After all of this you think you can give me $2!!! That is a slap in the face, put your boss on the phone, NOW.” Turns out the boss was Mike from parts who I guess picks up customer service calls. He stuck by his guns and refused for a half hour (after putting me on hold for so long that I had to hang up for my class because they also called me back an hour and a half later than promised) to give me the value of the helmet. As it stands the helmet should be her on August 31. I told Mike, I don’t want the helmet, I already have two that came on time 2 months ago and that I’m only taking the helmet so that the company loses $55 dollars.
Total Cost:
Scooter: $895
Shipping: $200
Helmets: $120
Registration: $40
Compression Tester: $39
Spark Plug: $2
Shipping: $17
Tools: $24 (They might say that this is not valid, but I bought these tools because the ‘tool’ they sent to get the plug out was to short, and bent when I tried to use it)
Total Cost (Aug. 28): $1337
Opportunity Cost: I have spent countless hours on the phone using up time and airtime minutes, been caused a great deal of frustration, and had to push this scooter home twice from 1-2 miles away. Not to mention that this scooter was ordered in the begining of the summer, was broken down all summer, and sits in the basement still broken down at the end of the summer. Lastly, if I send this piece back to the company, we are out half our money. If we keep it, we could be out all of our money. The above figure does not include my time, my gas, or my air time minutes. Keep in mind, that this scooter to date is still not running so the battle is far from over.
mopeds for sale said
Good to see that people still know what they are talking about. So much BS around these days!
ibugle said
Update: Finally, after just 2 short months of break down, the Scooter is Running. I sent in the defective parts, three days later the company received them but couldn’t find them when I called 7 days later so they sent me new parts. When they couldn’t find my box with the parts I sent, I had to remember the names of each item I sent. I accidentally mis-named one of the parts a stator instead of a CDI. I received the parts with the stator. I called the next day to have the CDI sent out, and the company said they would send it under warranty despite my error. 5-7 days shipping they said. Two weeks later, I called and the CDI hadn’t been shipped yet. That was a Monday, the following Friday, the CDI shipped and I received it this past week. I slapped everything back together and took it outside for a ride. After a few rough starts in the basement, it started first try outside. WOW, imagine that, it works! So Just to recap, ordered the scooter June, got it in July, rode it for about a week and a half, broke down from July to October, and now that the season is over and its cold out, the damn thing works great.
ibugle said
Update: I am glad to say that the scooter is running like a champ! The headlight stopped working a 4-6 weeks ago so I took the entire front end apart to find out what is up. Turns out that there was a small fire behind the headlight from a short circuit. It melted the plastic wire coating, ruined wire, and was the likely the reason why the battery kept draining. Lucky it didn’t catch the whole thing on fire. So I called scooter depot aka sunny sports to see what a new bulb and wire assembly would cost. They wanted $20 for the bulb, $30-$35 for the 8 inch wire with a clip on one end and the rubber bulb holder on the other. Then, to ship those two items which weight about 1-2 ounces, another $12. $65 ish total. Well here is what I did:
1: I said, ” Screw scooter depot.”
2. Bought a similar shaped bulb. It was 55 watts and not 35.
3. Modify the bulb and housing to make it fit.
4. Souldered extension wire to the clips to give some room and then souldered the wires to the bulb.
5. Cover the whole mess in plasti dip.
6. Made some holes in the back of the bulb housing to release heat. Just in case. Maybe more later. It is running hot but not melting. Also no high beam but super bright.
7. Screw scooter depot and $65 bucks! I did it for $7. The damn thing was defective!
ibugle said
Oh, I also drilled out the holes in the air vent under the seat. They cool the engine when you ride it but the design is flawed. The holes are to small and are recessed. I drilled them out to let more air cool the engine. Worked like a charm.
bob the sap said
I read this entire saga. Hilarious! Not for you, ibugle, for for all of us who are considering buying a scooter. been researching scooters and sellers, and discovered that a 150cc scotter sold by anybody for under 1000.00 is a piece of crab waiting to shit all over you. Reputable makers like Vespa, or Honda, etc seem to be the best bet, but they are expensive, for a reason, as you have discovered. You know those 69 $ weed wackers at Home Depot? They are terrible! You spend 189 for one of their higher end deals and they work for years just fine. I hate to admit it but I’m cheap and always gravitate toward the cheaper stuff hoping that by some quirk of the universe a company out there actually decided to build an excellent, reliable product for what they are worth and keep their promises to service what they sell. Doesn’t exist. But I am still a sucker!