Modern Buddy

Well it's been 15 days that my buddy has been stuck at noho waiting for it's crankcase seal, officially halfway to my pending lemon arbitration. Genuine really dropped the ball on this one. If this continues or the problem returns and I get my money back I just may put it to a Honda Rebel, not once has any honda ever failed me or my friends.

That really sucks.

Sorry you're having such a time of things.

Wow sorry about your luck. I have heard parts availably and blown head gaskets being a problem lately with Genuine scooters.


Jon

did you orignally take it in for wierd noise comming from the motor if so i just got mine back and they had to replace the crank bearings seals and everything. if thats the case have them check te virator rollers for flat spots.

I feel ya, I'm now on 2 months and 4 days of no scootering since my crash. SUPPOSED to get her back on the 28th/29th or so.

2 months!!? How?
Man, I've been so upset being scooterless since August 1 and I can't imagine being in a situation where I'd potentially have to wait a whole extra month just to get my scooter back.

A car hit my Blur damaging the air filter, and I while my bodily damage was luckily minimal, I never thought almost a month later I'd still be waiting to ride...especially when the "manufacturer/importer" is right next door!

Tbone wrote:I feel ya, I'm now on 2 months and 4 days of no scootering since my crash. SUPPOSED to get her back on the 28th/29th or so.

DRAGGIN ON at least 1 more week. Supposidly ALL parts but my leg shield which is outsourced to the painter...still...is expected back next week post Labor Day sometime

All personal opionions here but as to why?

Roseville Vespa is really a BMW motorcycle shop. A former coworker who rides BMW bikes SWEARS OFF of this place! Bad service for repairs and things. The problem is for Sacramento area, they ARE the parts dealer for Vespa! I could go to other shops with Piaggio trained/qualified mechanics. BUT if I need a part, they'd still order it from these guys.

It took them 2 weeks to get an estimate. It wasn't complete. Things like, no frame damage present on bike then the next thing on the estimate said I needed a new frame?! We'll which frak one is it?!?!?! Did my low end spill going about 20 mph REALLY bend the frame or not?!
They put on the estimate the ET rider pegs, THAT ARRIVED THE DAY BEFORE I DROPPED OFF THE INSURANCE CHECK! I hadn't gotten them since the day I purchased until after they had the bike from the accident! There was a 2 week delay for a new center stand, that had some scrapes on it FROM USE NOT the accident! The under body needed paint as well as the leg shield. They got the underbody over a week ago...WHY ISN'T MY LEG SHIELD BACK?! WTF?!

I have a WHOLE lot of WTF questions about this situation. My insurance was rather timely ONCE they got the info from the dealer. I just feel that A. It's a Vespa and not a BMW motorcycle
B. They weren't in a rush to get me my bike back. See A.
C. Milking my insruance company for more $$$ than was truly needed.
D. Due to my insanely busy schedule I haven't been up there physically to annoy them. I HAVE called at least 2 times a week to find out what the hell's going on. It's annoying but NOT as effective as kicking and screaming in their face would be.

After they do my 600 mile (Which NOW might not be needed until 1000 miles) service I doubt I'll go back there. GREAT SALES staff! But it seems service ended once they got our money. Others in Sacto though don't seem to have an issue with them.

I feel better. Thank you for reading my venting!

I hope you get your scoot back faster and in less annoying of a fashion than me!

Just to share my experience, I went three months without my Buddy after my crash. (deer related)

As much as I wanted to blame the dealer, they were just not getting the parts support they needed from PGO.

The Genuine dealer that had my Buddy is in Elgin, IL. Something like 45 miles from Scooterworks in Chicago, which is the headquarters for Genuine. That they are the headquarters doesn't mean they can get parts faster than PGO is willing to send them. So don't be too quick to blame the dealer. They're just not getting the parts support they need.

From what I understand, this type of thing is sometimes encountered even with the mighty Vespa, except we await parts from Italy instead of Taiwan.

I believe Honda & Yamaha have the best parts support, but I've also heard of people waiting months for Honda parts too.

I'm glad my Buddy is finally fixed, now that I've missed most of the summer. Looking back, I would probably buy a Vino 125 if I had it to do over. (even though I hate the styling) Honda just doesn't offer us anything in this price or size range. I like to think they will wake up when they see how many Vino 125s are being sold under their noses, hehehe.

Parts or service? Service or parts? Both? It doesn't really matter. What TBone, JeremyZ and ThisDude have gone through is all too common in the scooter and moto world. My most recent personal experience is over 4 years old when I waited 3 or 4 months for an Aprilia kick start mechanism. Fortunately, I haven't had to test Genuine's or Ducati's parts network yet, but that day will come. Genuine's reputation for parts support used to be pretty good, hopefully they're actually trying to improve things. Ducati changed things up this year and did away with their US parts supplier, so all parts come from Italy (except for the stuff kept in stock). Reviews so far have been mixed, but most folks seem to get their parts within a week or two.

There are two exceptions, of course. Body parts take much longer and I know of folks waiting many months for relatively exotic fairing bits and pieces. You also have to take Italy's vacation into account. Remember, Italy pretty much closes shop for the entire month of August. That still doesn't fully explain why TBone didn't get stuff that should have been ordered in June or July.

gt1000 wrote: That still doesn't fully explain why TBone didn't get stuff that should have been ordered in June or July.

THAT'S PART OF MY WTF LIST!!!

I used to work for a Sardinian toy company. I know how fickle it can be to work with Italians. I've factored that into my mentality but my busted left turn signal JUST got in 1.5 weeks ago?! You mean one of THE MOST obvious parts broken from my crash wasn't ordered back when you did the estimate?! Or was it?! I don't know, that'd require them actually telling me something about the situation.

I've been exactly one month and one week Buddy-less. Screwed up spindle on the rear wheel. I don't blame the dealer, who's been cool enough to let me have a loaner. I guess it's either Genuine's fault for not keeping up with demand, but for all I know PGO could be screwing around with them. From what my dealer has said, Genuine hasn't seemed like they give a flip about this particular situation.

I love my Buddy, but based on this, I would probably go with a Honda or Kymco or something next time, with a large enough supply chain to handle things like this. These things are not mechanically very complex machines, it's ridiculous to have to wait this long for a part. Yes, my scoot is my primary mode of transportation.

I'm at 20 days without my GTS250ie, waiting for the (correct) part my ownself! It does suck, the manufacturers build these scooters and really don't expect people to USE them, and therefore don't really consider the parts to be an "issue". At the owner's inconvenience of course. Glad I don't rely on my scooter for transportation...it's a recreational vehicle for me.

After 2 months and 13 days, the dealership proactivly called me to tell me that my scooters finished!!! AND, I cannot get up there before they close to get it today Ahh the ironies life hands you!

Good note of customer service. Due to the delays and what not, they didn't charge me the $40 in labor to put on the full chrome complement (I originally opted to not have the front end done at time of purchase. Saved $40 BUT that portion of the scoot took on damage=some of the delays I've dealt with).

Bad note, the Vespa ET rider pegs I've ordered that I've SEEN on other LX models apparently doesn't fit?! Sigh, another headache but a minor one compared to the rest!

Yeah, speaking as a dealer (keep in mind that I am but a lowly salesman, not a parts guy or owner) who has been on both the recieving end of customers who want parts quick and distributors who can't get me parts quick enough, I think the problem is socio-ecomomic.

There are not enough people riding scooters in America to move the scooters/parts into the mainstream market. There should be. I live in a city where we just can't stop bitching about the parking crunch and yet we can't figgure out to start scootin. Economically, there are few enough parts ordered and so little money in each part sold, there just isn't enough money in the scooter parts market to support a large supply chain or large body of parts kept in stock.

It totally sucks, and I'm sorry, but until one or both of those things change, it's just part of the cost of scootering. Truthfully, I think Genuine is the best supplier we've had. I get very few complaints against these guys, and almost always it's delays (which you expect) and not the dreaded "we cannot get you your parts". Anyway, after dealing with multiple scooters and multiple companies, I finally just ponied up and got my buddy.

Oh, and as a semi-related point: I also own a rebel 250. Great bikes, but look out for the starter clutch. It has a famous failure that many honda shops won't work on due to the cost of the repair vs. the value of the bike. I'm still trying to get the tools so I can do the job myself.

Hypermotarded wrote:I think the problem is socio-ecomomic.

There are not enough people riding scooters in America to move the scooters/parts into the mainstream market. There should be. I live in a city where we just can't stop bitching about the parking crunch and yet we can't figgure out to start scootin. Economically, there are few enough parts ordered and so little money in each part sold, there just isn't enough money in the scooter parts market to support a large supply chain or large body of parts kept in stock.

Nonsense

Month and a half, now.

They e-mailed me back, saying they were going to "expedite" the part to my dealer. That was 6 days ago. I sent them an e-mail today telling them to either fix the scooter, get me a brand new one, (my scooter has about 3000 miles on it,) give me a refund, or talk to my lawyer about it.

Probably won't deal with Genuine anymore in the future.

Before some one chimes in about it being Taiwan's fault, Genuine has no problems whatsoever about getting new, mechanically identical Buddies for my dealer's showroom floor, so I don't buy it.

July 24th was the last time I saw my scoot. I bought it in May. You do the math.