Modern Buddy

This message is to the owners and legal council of Genuine;

I just bought the Buddy 150 and discovered the owner’s manual is quite a humorous joke book and kept my family entertained for hours. However, I started doubting the quality of the scooter I bought, thinking the owner’s manual may be an indication of the quality control put into the scooter.

Being a business owner myself, I started thinking about the liability you have exposed yourself to with an owner’s manual that was not edited after translation.

That poorly written owner's manual puts the scooter owner at a higher risk of injury if they literally followed the poorly written instructions in the owner’s manual. The poorly written instruction puts Genuine at a higher risk of being liable for injuries caused by a poorly written owner's manual.

I know this note will fall on deaf ears at Genuine and Genuine will not recall the owner's manual and replace with a professionally written manual that provides confidence to the owner that scooter they purchased is a quality scooter.

That's a pretty harsh first post, and this forum is not associated with Genuine, so you might want to contact them through different means.

You'll find that as bad as the Buddy manual is (and it does arguably contain plenty of contradictory and confusing information), it's better than most scooter manuals, aside from the premium brands like Piaggio (which are still not great.)

There are plenty of scooter importers that deserve a sh*tstorm of litigation, but Genuine is not one of them. I've been involved with scooters for more than 10 years and Genuine and Scooterworks are, by a rather large margin, the most scooterist-friendly (community/safety/honesty/dealer-support) scooter company doing business in the USA.

Bb.

siralien wrote:I know this note will fall on deaf ears at Genuine and Genuine will not recall the owner's manual and replace with a professionally written manual that provides confidence to the owner that scooter they purchased is a quality scooter.

Why do you say that? Have you written directly to Genuine, expressing your concerns?

Yes, the manual is a joke. Actually, a series of jokes. I can't really speak to any legal liability, though, because I'm not an expert in that area. But I wonder if there's really anything in there that could cause rider injury or damage to the scoot (it's been a long time since I've looked at it). Or if Genuine's even legally required to provide a manual and if there are provisions regarding what it should contain and how accurate it needs to be.

Of more concern to me is how the manual reflects on the product. I agree, it doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

I'm pretty sure that this is the same version of the manual used in all English-speaking countries. Owners in Canada—anyone care to let us know what your manuals are like?

I have written to Genuine concerning the owner's manual. Genuine is a growing company and is doing quite well. It must be difficult to grow quickly and maintain quality in all areas. Things always go wrong, something always needs to be changed or fixed as growth increases. Genuine ain't doin' bad.
But the owner's manual does need some work. When or if I get a response I will post it. Its not as bad as the one from China that had all the wrong pictures in it. It was for a band saw and the instructions to assemble and operate it were almost in English, but most of the pictures were of a table saw. Very strange.

Dennis

The last time I bought a new car, the user manual had so many idiot proofing warnings and cautions that you almost couldn't find the real useful information. Almost every page of the manual was covered with big, bold, yellow highlights and images with big red slashes though them. And only a few useful instructions in between. Of course the Buddy manual could use more of the useful information. It is fun to read though!

I remember the night I bought my bike, reading the manual and having a bit of a laugh. I work in a hospital and the Psych doctors from different countries write exactly as they speak, that's what the Buddy manual reminded me of. I never once thought that the scooter itself might be a joke, after all, I had done quite a bit of reading on scooters before I purchased mine which I would hope all buyers would do. I love my little Buddy! Sure beats the heck of out of a Chinese scooter that has no name or manual. I really believe Genuine is a good product and the company stand behind it.

No kidding.
Just the other day I got out the ladder to change a light bulb and I noticed how many warning stickers it had. I counted 17 ! Mind you, this is a basic, 6 step, 6 foot tall ladder. I was chuckling.

Yes, the manual is a joke, but it is what it is. Thankfully there are a lot of smarter people than me in this forum to set me straight.

It would be nice to have a nice manual, but to me is not that big of a deal to have the one we have.

siralien wrote: I just bought the Buddy 150 and discovered the owner’s manual is quite a humorous joke book and kept my family entertained for hours. However, I started doubting the quality of the scooter I bought, thinking the owner’s manual may be an indication of the quality control put into the scooter.

Fortunately they don't build the scooter in English (and your Chinese/Taiwanese is probably not so good). You should have seen the English language owners manual that came with my first Honda motorcycle. It was virtually indeciferable, but good for a laugh. Honda is still around though.

... just remember to cancel your brinkers when they tickle you

Hey now - I followed the instructions on replacing the brakes very carefully and most definitely ended up with the best darn sewing machine I've ever owned! har har.

Seriously though, you can't get your knickers in a twist and you have to laugh...it is entertaining.

And yet the Daimler/Chrysler manuals are very well written...

Scooterpup wrote:Hey now - I followed the instructions on replacing the brakes very carefully and most definitely ended up with the best darn sewing machine I've ever owned! har har.

Seriously though, you can't get your knickers in a twist and you have to laugh...it is entertaining.

Laughed my arse off!!!!!

Even British manuals can be a laugh. My 1949 MG TC manual states in one place, " Depressing the anti-dazzle switch will cause the on-hand lamp to dip and the off-hand lamp to extinguish." And another gem, " The dynamo feeds the positive earth terminal accumulator."

Of course growing up with British sports cars these make perfectly good sense to me

siralien wrote:This message is to the owners and legal council of Genuine;

I just bought the Buddy 150 and discovered the owner’s manual is quite a humorous joke book and kept my family entertained for hours. However, I started doubting the quality of the scooter I bought, thinking the owner’s manual may be an indication of the quality control put into the scooter.

Being a business owner myself, I started thinking about the liability you have exposed yourself to with an owner’s manual that was not edited after translation.

That poorly written owner's manual puts the scooter owner at a higher risk of injury if they literally followed the poorly written instructions in the owner’s manual. The poorly written instruction puts Genuine at a higher risk of being liable for injuries caused by a poorly written owner's manual.

I know this note will fall on deaf ears at Genuine and Genuine will not recall the owner's manual and replace with a professionally written manual that provides confidence to the owner that scooter they purchased is a quality scooter.

I like pictures they pretty. me like pictures

Tazio wrote:Even British manuals can be a laugh. My 1949 MG TC manual states in one place, " Depressing the anti-dazzle switch will cause the on-hand lamp to dip and the off-hand lamp to extinguish." And another gem, " The dynamo feeds the positive earth terminal accumulator."

Wow. Sounds like either lame dialog from a '50s sci-fi flick or postmodern poetry.

If there's an anti-dazzle switch does it have a counterpart dazzle switch? because dazzle on demand would be fun.

Personally, I couldn't agree with siralien more.

Before I bought my first scoot I did extensive research on licensing and registration questions - for example is a motorcycle license required on sub 50cc scooters in my state. What I discovered was a rat's nest of conflicting, poorly written, self referential policy and legislation. The clarity of these laws across this great land is such that on this and several other scooter related boards on which I lurk, licensing and registration is a question which comes up time and time again. Which caused me to question the quality of the lawmakers and the laws under which I live.

But that made my head hurt, so I had a beer and went to bed.

Tazio wrote:Even British manuals can be a laugh.

I love the Haynes Vespa manual that tells you to examine the gas tank with a "torch."

Bb

illnoise wrote:I love the Haynes Vespa manual that tells you to examine the gas tank with a "torch."

I know what they mean, but I just couldn' stop myself from laughing at that one!

As long as the message gets across... I mean, the instructions on claymore mines say "Front toward enemy".

I love the Haynes Vespa manual that tells you to examine the gas tank with a "torch."

Bb

I think I'll pass on that one. Watch it be on youtube...

MikieTaps wrote:As long as the message gets across... I mean, the instructions on claymore mines say "Front toward enemy".

That makes perfect sense. Whenever there is a wa I mean, police action, standards are lowered to increase the supply of cannon fodder. When the wa I mean police action is over, then standards tighten up and all the talk begins of standards being raised. With the lowered standards you want to be sure the highly trained fodder point that thing at the opposing highly trained fodder.

It has always been.

Surely you've heard the old line, If you don't learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it. Its true.

I've either had too much coffee or not enough.

Dennis
Striving to make for world happens better.

Dennis
Striving to make for world happens better.[/quote]

This take you, instruction guide book? also.

MikieTaps wrote:Dennis
Striving to make for world happens better.

This take you, instruction guide book? also.

[/quote]

Fa shuuah. Is up of side on page back yellowing safer.

ericalm wrote: . . . dazzle on demand . . .

OMG!!! this is awesome!

MikieTaps wrote:As long as the message gets across... I mean, the instructions on claymore mines say "Front toward enemy".

i had a guy in my platoon during basic training ask the drill sgt. what that meant......the entire platoon spent the next 60 minutes low crawling in the sand pit. ahhh...good memories though.

MikieTaps wrote:As long as the message gets across... I mean, the instructions on claymore mines say "Front toward enemy".

LMFAO!! That's always made me chuckle... what about the warning on C4 that states "Do not eat" Pretty much any Infantry manual cracks me up, it's possibly the most basic set of instructions for any one group on the planet. It's like they think we dumb or something that's not no good... ug...

It's like they think we dumb or something that's not no good... ug... [/quote]


That reminds me of this photo after the John Kerry remarks a few years ago...

Kurzer wrote:

MikieTaps wrote:As long as the message gets across... I mean, the instructions on claymore mines say "Front toward enemy".

LMFAO!! That's always made me chuckle... what about the warning on C4 that states "Do not eat" Pretty much any Infantry manual cracks me up, it's possibly the most basic set of instructions for any one group on the planet. It's like they think we dumb or something that's not no good... ug...

Exactly. Some are. See above explanation.

Dennis

that photo will be my desktop for a while