Modern Buddy

I have absolutely no complaints about PGO, or Genuine, or Philadelphia Scooters when it comes to getting a needed Buddy part! I had to replace my left handlebar control module because a (jammed) mirror broke off in it, and Philadelpha Scooters mailed me the neccessary part within a week! -And it looks easy enough to do the repair myself...

Compare this to the stuff you read about getting Piaggio parts, or Kymco, (or Honda parts sometimes, for that matter), and you know why I'm glad I bought a Buddy, and especially glad I bought it from the good guys at Philadelphia Scooters!

I also purchased my Buddy 125 from Philly Scooters last year, and although I have had no problems with my bike, when I needed extra accessories like front and rear racks, an extra headlight, (for stock) oil & filters, rear top case and other stuff they have always come through! If I was going to buy another scooter I would go back to them.

Drumwoulf wrote:I have absolutely no complaints about PGO, or Genuine, or Philadelphia Scooters when it comes to getting a needed Buddy part! I had to replace my left handlebar control module because a (jammed) mirror broke off in it, and Philadelpha Scooters mailed me the neccessary part within a week! -And it looks easy enough to do the repair myself...

Compare this to the stuff you read about getting Piaggio parts, or Kymco, (or Honda parts sometimes, for that matter), and you know why I'm glad I bought a Buddy, and especially glad I bought it from the good guys at Philadelphia Scooters!

Nice, you haven't had fun till you've tried to get parts for an Aprilia. 10 Weeks and I'm still waiting for my rear rack!
Though Scoot Over seems to have front and rear racks for the buddy. On that, I'm jelous, hmm maybe I can make them fit the Aprilia. LOL.

My experience with Genuine has not been near as good. Perhaps they are better at keeping up with demand of cosmetic parts rather than parts that actually keep their scooters running?

Kris Pistofferson wrote:My experience with Genuine has not been near as good. Perhaps they are better at keeping up with demand of cosmetic parts rather than parts that actually keep their scooters running?

I wouldn't exactly call the handlebar brake lever, brake light, horn, headlight and directional switchs module (actually 1/2 of the module) "cosmetic". I'd sure as hell not try to ride my Buddy without it!!

But how about further explaining your gripe? I think it's unfair to give such a broad-stroke criticism without any details... How do we know what you're talking about here, and whether your problem was with Genuine, or PGO, or perhaps your local dealer?

Okay.

Back in May, I became the proud new owner of a Genuine Buddy 125. After being Car-Free for almost 7 years, I found that my career path obligated me to go places that were not reasonably accessible by bicycle or bus. A scooter that gets 90-100 mpg was a good, green alternative, and a great deal of fun to ride. I got the Italia.

Anyhow, it started running really rough all of a sudden, I took it to the shop I got it from on July 24th. They said the spindle bearings were bad and had ruined the bearing races on the spindle of the rear wheel. After school started in August about three weeks later, I told the local dealer that I know it's not his fault, as he is being screwed around with by Genuine, (the dealer is not a large enough operation to disable one of their scooters to fix mine, nor do I expect them to,) but I needed transportation for school. They gave me a loaner, which is cool, but it's still not my scooter, plus, it's been wrecked. And it's red, white, blue and yellow.

Well, as you've probably guessed, nothing has happened. I e-mailed Genuine a week ago and told them this:



I've not had my Buddy 125 for a month and a half. Seems something went wrong with the spindle bearings and now it needs a new spindle. From what my dealer (Scenic City Scooters, Chattanooga TN,) says, you guys don't seem too concerned with getting me another one. They've been kind enough to loan me a TGB, as my scooter is my only form of transportation. I love my scooter when it runs, and the two year warranty is great, unless your scooter sits in the shop for a month and a half. Meanwhile, the insurance company is still sending me a bill on a scooter I have not ridden in six weeks.

A lot of us Buddy owners talk online, and apparently my situation is not unique. Many of us are starting to think that, although we would normally love to sink more money into a Blur or a Stella, (if you decide to introduce it again,) we'd probably rather deal in the future with a company like Honda or Yamaha, if this is any indication of parts availability/customer service.

This situation could best be described as "ridiculous," and that's being polite. You need to fix this problem, for me and everyone else who is having to wait for months at a time.

-Nathan



To which I got this response:



Nathan:

Thank you for the email... and I apologize for the delay.

I spoke with one of my coworkers and he has already been in contact with your dealer regarding the backordered part. I believe he's looking into a way to get the part expedited.

Again, I apologize for the delay... we are very concerned with getting parts out.

Brett Ratner
Genuine Scooters Dealer Development



And you know I haven't heard anything since, so I had to fire this missile today:



I would like some details as to how you plan on getting this part "expedited," as you guys seem to have no problem sending brand-new scooters to my dealership, scooters that I assume are mechanically identical to my own. I have been patient. According to many of my friends I have been played for a fool. I haven't seen my scooter, (again, my primary source of transportation,) since July.

One of four things needs to happen, now that I am out of patience with you guys:

1. Get it fixed within the week. I don't care how you do it, but you have access to the part, and both of us know it.

2. Get me a new scooter. The one I have has about 2000 miles on it, (and yes, half the time I've owned it, it's been in the shop.) Maybe you'll get a better resale value out of it than I would if I traded it in for a Honda, (a company known to stand by their products, by the way.)

3. Refund my money. I doubt Yamaha, Kawasaki or even TGB could stay in business doing this to their customers. Shoot, even Wal Mart would've refunded my money and all they sell is Chinese crap.

4. Let's trade phone numbers, my lawyer for yours.
----------------------------------------------------
This needs to be rectified, and soon. It's not my fault, it's not my dealer's fault, and it's not Taiwan's fault. I've worked with customers before and found that keeping them happy is often just as important as making new ones. You have a week.



Hopefully, y'all will agree this is absolutely crazy, and I was patient for a fairly long time (especially in Customer Service-Land,). My patience has reached an end. I'm not the one who poisoned the well here, guys.

Kris Pistofferson wrote:Okay.

""""""""""""""""""""""""
Hopefully, y'all will agree this is absolutely crazy, and I was patient for a fairly long time (especially in Customer Service-Land,). My patience has reached an end. I'm not the one who poisoned the well here, guys.

Thanks for telling us about this! Please keep us informed as to how you make out with Genuine re this situation; I suspect most of us would like to know...

I'm not sure the delay has anything to do with the type of part as much as just what they have on hand. From what I've heard—and this is not from anyone at Genuine—demand for the new scoots far outpaced their ability to stock and supply parts. In many instances, it's not as if they have it sitting in a warehouse and they're just sitting on it. The part's just not available. I'm not making excuses for Genuine, just floating a possible reason some parts are so hard to acquire.

But I will say that the company, overall, has been very helpful and responsive with most customers. (Try, for instance, to get a response from anyone in the corporate office of Piaggio/Vespa USA or even most car companies... ).

Problem being, of course, the missing part.

Have you tried asking your dealer if they'd pull the part off one of their Buddys? (Uh, that may be illegal... I dunno, just an idea.) Or how about trying to get it through other means—there are a lot of crashed Buddys out there. Another dealership may be sitting on one and be able to get the part for you. That's basically how I came by a part I waited a month for from Piaggio and how I got a replacement reflector for my top case.

But, yeah. If I ever get to have a little 1-on-1 with anyone at Genuine corporate, the parts situation will certainly be discussed.

Yep, I agree. I had an accident in June and didn't get my scooter back until mid August, due to the lack of available parts. I didn't blame the dealer and they were very helpful. I am actually still waiting on the green front wheel rim. Dave and Seth were nice enough to put a silver one on for me until the new one came in; and they'll swap it out at my first service. I had bought this scooter because of the fantastic reviews and the warranty, I wasn't aware that getting replacement parts was going to be an issue. Makes me nervous as to what will happen if they stop making the buddy like they did the Stella.

I just returned from Metro Scooter (they rock) getting my rear rim and hub replaced from when I went over a curb a while back. One week from phone call to the dealer to now. They even had to get the parts. Thankfully I was able to ride it while I waited for the part, but even so I think a week for parts like that is quite reasonable, and Seth did the work while I waited.

I couldn't be happier with my dealer and their service. They also have the coolest showroom, now with Kymco goodness as well as all the nifty Genuine and TGB scooters.

http://www.metroscooter.com

I like the fact that when Seth over at Metro delivers the scooter for the first time he'll go out of his way to do a small lesson with you to make sure you know how to ride it, they were a fantastic help.

ItalianBoy wrote:Makes me nervous as to what will happen if they stop making the buddy like they did the Stella.

This has come up before, but I'm not concerned about this possibility for a number of reasons. The main one is that the PGO scooters are sold worldwide under a number of brands, so an overseas parts network already exists. Second, the Buddy has become Genuine's flagship scoot and the sales have been very good (I'd guess that there will be more Buddys on the road than Stellas very soon, if not already). It's unlikely that, should something like a labor strike (the cause of the interruption of Stella production) occur, Genuine would just abandon all the Buddy owners. Parts are a good source of revenue—I'm certain that the company wants to be able to provide (sell) parts to it's ever-growing base of owners. Finally, Genuine's dealer network has grown substantially thanks to the introduction of the PGO scoots. Those dealers rely on parts and service for a substantial amount of their revenue. There would be a lot of pressure to keep the parts supply open, and some may even look to overseas suppliers if necessary.

Though Genuine no longer sold new Stellas during the LML strike, Scooterworks continued to produce and provide Stella parts and accessories. It's hard to compare this to a possible interruption if Buddy production, though, because most of those parts are interchangeable with the Vespa P-series, meaning there's a much larger market than just Stella owners.

brett ratner
to me

show details
12:22 pm (2 hours ago)
Natham:

Thank you for the email.

Yesterday, we had come up with a creative solution to get parts to you. Most of your order is packed up and staged on the dock for shipping. There's one last part we're locating and then everything should be en route.

I hope you're having a great week!

Brett Ratner
Genuine Scooters Dealer Development

Just received this. I'll keep y'all informed.

I don't mean to harsh anyone's mellow on this forum, but this is a very real, crappy situation I'm having with this company. My dealer has enough room for 3-4 Buddies, 3-4 Kymcoes and a couple TGBs on it's showroom floor, so I never expected them to eat it and smile by disabling a Buddy to fix mine, they're just too small a dealership. Plus, they were kind enough to give me a loaner free of charge for this long, (TGB makes good, if ugly, scooters, by the way.)


This is Genuine's problem that should have been done a month ago. I hope this is the end of my hassles, because it's been a loooong time since I made a positive post on this forum, and I miss that. We shall see.

Drumwoulf wrote:...and especially glad I bought it from the good guys at Philadelphia Scooters!

I LOVE THOSE GUYS!!! They really are the tops. They always go above and beyond my expectations.

Still Buddy-less.

Kris- if they dont fix your bike soon, i think its time for them to give you a new one.