Service at Genuine/scooterworks - they make up for it

ScootLemont · Post by **ScootLemont** » Sun Jun 19, 2011 7:39 pm

Picking up my stella after some service and they were supposed to replace my clutch cable.... but didn't..... glad I checked before I left
they didn't forget to bill me for it.... just to actually do it
Sitting here now while they do it

ScootLemont · Post by **ScootLemont** » Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:17 pm

They just got done with the cable so I am driving out and......
no gas gauge.... that was he other reason it was here
Seriously?!

jprestonian · Post by **jprestonian** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 1:54 am

You have to watch those sneaky bastiges like a hawk, I tell ya.
.

Syd · Post by **Syd** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 2:06 am

Did you see any Cruisers hiding in the back?

ScootLemont · Post by **ScootLemont** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:53 pm

didnt see any cruisers

It was more than a little disappointed in the service - this isnt some new dealer this is Genuine!

the guy at the desk yesterday was nice & apologized & bought me a generic cola while I waited & the shop tech that did the work was friendly enough & I know it wasnt their fault... but the guys who didn't do the work & signed off on this.... really?!

Syd · Post by **Syd** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 6:09 pm

ScootLemont wrote:...no gas gauge.... that was the other reason it was here
Seriously?!

0 for? Hopefully there was more than just 2 items. It sounds almost like your Stella got moved out of the way for a minute and ended up in the 'done' line. Bummer.

ScootLemont · Post by **ScootLemont** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 2:01 am

Syd wrote:
ScootLemont wrote:...no gas gauge.... that was the other reason it was here
Seriously?!
0 for? Hopefully there was more than just 2 items. It sounds almost like your Stella got moved out of the way for a minute and ended up in the 'done' line. Bummer.

We call that a wall job... When you bring you car in for service and the park it along the wall then they charge you when you pick it up.

ScootLemont · Post by **ScootLemont** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 2:08 am

Oh... And the headlight flickers once in a while so since the warranty is up in 10 days I wanted them to fix that.... Guess what... They ran diagnostics (put a meter on it?) and checked all the wiring and could not find a problem "maybe it needs a new battery" they said

I sent them a pleasant email this morning explaining what happened but no word back yet.

Just expected more from the guys who import these.
I know they are not state of the art scooters but I figured genuine/scooterworks would be the best place for service

ScootLemont · Post by **ScootLemont** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 2:11 am

I paid to have the gear oil changed.... I am starting to wonder if that got done

gearhead · Post by **gearhead** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 2:37 am

I hope genuine see's this because one unhappy customer hurts business and reputation, which on the other hand, 10 satisfied customers cant repair.

peabody99 · Post by **peabody99** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 2:42 am

hell hath no fury like MB scooter forumer scorned....

SuperFlyBuddy · Post by **SuperFlyBuddy** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 4:47 am

I'm getting impatient with Scooterworks myself. I ordered the Buddy Stage 1 kit two weeks ago when it was out of stock. Friday their website showed "This item is in stock" but as of end of business today my order status still shows "Back order".

Guess I will have to call and find out if it's shipped or not (perhaps their order status is lagging?). This is only my third order from them but each time in the past I have received UPS emails with tracking information so this leads me to believe my stuff hasn't shipped.

SteveK · Post by **SteveK** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 12:54 pm

Being the loyal soul that I am I went to SW first to fill my very substantial mods list. Ended up buying nothing there as they couldn't come close to filling my order. Never got a return reply on ETA of said upgrades availability either. Scooter Craft and Provo Scooters got the order with some excellent over the phone advice from Scooter Richmond. Scooter Richmond knew up front I would not be paying them too but didn't hold back with the sage advice...

I'm sorry you had this experience. Must say that I found SW friendly over the phone. There is no excuse for three strikes of incompetence though.

jprestonian · Post by **jprestonian** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 2:10 pm

If their business is like other scooter businesses I have experienced, they're simply trying to do too much with too little. The big secret: Scooters are not a very profitable business in the U.S. Those who run a scooter shop typically do it for the love of the scooters and the people who ride them, and a lot of them end up going broke because they have customers who will not pay what it costs to service their relatively-rare vehicles.

Just a data point.
.

Raiderfn31 · Post by **Raiderfn31** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 11:40 pm

jprestonian wrote:If their business is like other scooter businesses I have experienced, they're simply trying to do too much with too little. The big secret: Scooters are not a very profitable business in the U.S. Those who run a scooter shop typically do it for the love of the scooters and the people who ride them, and a lot of them end up going broke because they have customers who will not pay what it costs to service their relatively-rare vehicles.

Just a data point.
.

I can see that at the shop I bought my St Tropez from. I could change the oils myself after the first service(which he threw in)but Im gonna have everything done through him. There will be nice documentation as an upside. Downside is that it will cost a bit more. Small price to pay to support a local business which I hold an interest in.

Dean F · Post by **Dean F** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 12:18 am

ScootLemont wrote:It was more than a little disappointed in the service - this isnt some new dealer this is Genuine!

I had my Buddy in for some insurance work last September (A lady in a parking lot bumped it over) and I have not been back to ScooterWorks since then.

If they want to know why, someone from upper management (higher than the service manager) can PM me and I will send them my phone number or make an appointment for an in person meeting.

I don't want to point fingers at the few bad apples on a Public Forum. 99% of the people there are hard working and enjoyable to do business with. I think ScootLemont ran into some of the same bad apples.

ScootLemont · Post by **ScootLemont** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 1:03 am

Everyone I have dealt with at Scooterworks has be helpful & friendly - especially the phone order team.
Someone just didnt do their job on my scoot & that is bad customer service.

SuperFlyBuddy · Post by **SuperFlyBuddy** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:16 am

Not to thread hijack, but here's a follow up to my previous post as another "data point".

So I called SW this morning to get an update on the status of my out of stock order I placed just over two weeks ago (Buddy Stage I kit) that has been showing in stock since last Friday on their website. Guy A answers and tells me the kit is still missing one of the three jets and it should be just a few more days (same thing he told me last week when I called). He gave me some song and dance about why the online thing shows "in stock" when it's really not but didn't seem to address why it previously showed "out of stock" and now doesn't. Anyway, I was very close to cancelling my order and buying pipes for my Harley instead but I ride the scooter more and would get more benefit out of the Prima pipe so I decided to hang in there.

After I hung up I thought why can't they just send me everything they have in stock and send me the one jet later when it comes in stock? I'd be happy to pay for shipping on the one jet.

So I call right back and get guy B this time. I explain my situation that I had been waiting two weeks for the kit and that I had just talked to guy A who said it was (still) missing one jet and asked if they could ship that later when it comes in. Guy B says "yeah I don't see why not. Let me look up your order". So I give him my order number and he is doing his thing and comes back and says, "oh, we do show one in stock of the missing jet. I pushed the order through and it will go out today". He follows up with, "I don't know why it didn't ship earlier".

Hmm.... is this perhaps the mystery jet that triggered their system to show the kit "in stock" last week? Or have they had it on the shelf this whole time and I waited for nothing?

Post by **illnoise** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:33 am

FWIW, you have to remember that while Genuine (the importer/distributor), Scooterworks USA/Scooterworks Direct (mail order and wholesale, respectively) and Scooterworks Chicago (local dealer) are all related by ownership, they're separate businesses with different employees.

ScootLemont is talking about the dealership, which is totally unrelated (operationally) to the mail-order operation, which is also (operationally) independent of Genuine.

Not judging any of your comments, just pointing out that you're barking up different trees and in some cases, blaming one entity for issues with another entity…

Bb.

SuperFlyBuddy · Post by **SuperFlyBuddy** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:50 am

SL put Scooterworks in the title which is why I added to the thread my current in process experience with them.

ScootLemont · Post by **ScootLemont** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 3:51 am

Right
I was at scooter works Chicago the dealer at 5410 n damen
On the website genuine is listed at 5400 n damen but it never looks like that building (which is next door) has anything happening in it
The scooter works website parts company is listed on Grand ave in Chicago

But aren't these all owned by Philip McCalib?

6 of 1 or 1/2 dozen of the other but I do understand they are individual business entities

Quo Vadimus · Post by **Quo Vadimus** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 12:41 pm

ScootLemont wrote: 6 of 1 or 1/2 dozen of the other but I do understand they are individual business entities

Tend to agree. You can have difficulty finding the right management for one thing you own, but if the problem persists or seems to encompass multiple arms, consumers need to consider the common denominator/s.

/only has an official beef with local dealer
/but is generally a commie pinko hippie lib

ScootLemont · Post by **ScootLemont** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 5:58 pm

I just got a call from Ryan the general manager at Scooterworks (the dealership I assume)
He apologized & seems like a guy who is dedicated to customer service so hopefully this kind of thing does not happen to someone else.

I do appreciate the call - that goes a long way towards good customer service.

ScootLemont · Post by **ScootLemont** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 10:08 pm

I just got another call from Scooterworks & they offered me tickets to the premier of Larry Crown in Chicago.

VERY nice of them to do that.

They have clearly made an effort to keep me happy as a customer & I appreciate that.

babblefish · Post by **babblefish** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 2:21 am

That's great!

umm...who's Larry Crown or what's "Larry Crown"?

jprestonian · Post by **jprestonian** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 2:29 am

Larry Crowne is a flick coming out in a week or so starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and a lot of scooters.
.

Silver Streak · Post by **Silver Streak** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 2:33 am

The new Tom Hanks/Scooter Nerd, charms Julia Roberts/Community College Prof romantic comedy.

You must be living under a rock. The trailers are all over the tube.

Post by **ericalm** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 2:36 am

jprestonian wrote:Larry Crowne is a flick coming out in a week or so starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and a lot of scooters.
.

Genuine is running a Larry Crowne promotion:
topic18830.html

As is ScooterDiva.com:
topic18910.html

And there will be several Genuines riding with Hanks to the premiere.

babblefish · Post by **babblefish** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 2:39 am

jprestonian wrote:Larry Crowne is a flick coming out in a week or so starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and a lot of scooters.
.

Oh, thanks!
I've been such a home body lately. I haven't been to a moving picture show for...umm...I can't remember when...

Maybe I'll go see this one...who's Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts?
Just kidding! I've seen "He Knows You're Alone" and "Firehouse"!

babblefish · Post by **babblefish** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 3:00 am

Silver Streak wrote:The new Tom Hanks/Scooter Nerd, charms Julia Roberts/Community College Prof romantic comedy.

You must be living under a rock. The trailers are all over the tube.

Hey! I like my rock! It's got wall to wall pebbles and running water, well, at least in the winter.

I just don't watch much TV or at least the channels I watch aren't showing those trailers. Thanks for the info though...

Syd · Post by **Syd** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 4:42 am

ScootLemont wrote:I just got another call from Scooterworks & they offered me tickets to the premier of Larry Crown in Chicago.

VERY nice of them to do that.

They have clearly made an effort to keep me happy as a customer & I appreciate that.

Don't forget to bring your Flip and post it here!

Keys · Post by **Keys** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 4:51 pm

Silver Streak wrote: The trailers are all over the tube.

...got no real reason to waste a lot of my time in front of the tube.

--Keys

Post by **ericalm** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 4:56 pm

Keys wrote:
Silver Streak wrote: The trailers are all over the tube.
...got no real reason to waste a lot of my time in front of the tube.

--Keys

Too busy being sanctimonious online!

neotrotsky · Post by **neotrotsky** » Fri Jun 24, 2011 2:14 am

Hey, I'm in the same position as Keys. Then again, I just download everything I'm interested in so commercials are a novelty to me... one I don't miss.

Thank the gods for Netflix, hulu and torrents

Post by **illnoise** » Fri Jun 24, 2011 3:47 am

ericalm wrote: Genuine is running a Larry Crowne promotion:
topic18830.html

As is ScooterDiva.com:
topic18910.html

As is 2strokebuzz:
http://2strokebuzz.com/2011/06/23/win-a ... strokebuzz

Post by **ericalm** » Fri Jun 24, 2011 4:27 am

Wow, we'd have run one here if they'd asked us!

Only one entrant at 2sb so far! Get on it, people.

jprestonian · Post by **jprestonian** » Fri Jun 24, 2011 4:32 am

ericalm wrote:Wow, we'd have run one here if they'd asked us!

Only one entrant at 2sb so far! Get on it, people.

Yeah, but that's ME, so... shaddupyouface! ;)
.

Post by **illnoise** » Fri Jun 24, 2011 6:01 am

ericalm wrote:Wow, we'd have run one here if they'd asked us!

Ha, I figured maybe you had something to do with hooking me up, but I guess not.

Bryan

babblefish · Post by **babblefish** » Fri Jun 24, 2011 12:45 pm

Hey, I posted a comment on 2strokebuzz! I chose "Roman Holiday" as my favorite scooter movie. What better setting than a 1953 Vespa being ridden by Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck through 1953 Rome!

God she was(is) beautiful...

amychicago · Post by **amychicago** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 4:28 am

I was a staunch defender of Scooterworks Chicago (the Damen retail/service), but my encounters with them in the last few months have been horrible. Messed up orders for parts, no returned phone calls, delays on getting repairs completed despite being assured "we're bringing it into the back right now..." .

The final straw for me was this afternoon. I went to pick up my scooter after some repairs were done. The new front service desk person brought me over to where it was parked and we immediately saw that the entire front cowl, tire guard, speedometer and handlebars were covered in a layer of grease and dried stuff that was the consistency of dried chewing gum. That was not how I brought the scooter in on Friday afternoon.

The front desk person said, "Wow, they sure were messy back there. Well, you know, you could just use some Dawn on that and get it off." My response was, "Do _you_ have some Dawn here to get it off now?" She returned with a can of some spray and proceeded to start wiping one side of the scooter. I am scraping away at all the dried crap with my fingers. "Well, it's not really working. Sorry," was the response after a couple of minutes. Great.

COME ON, GUYS! I understand that I'm a newer (4 years?) rider, that I'm a female, and that I spoke to Service Manager (Fred) on Friday and asked him why we never got phone calls returned from him, but really??!? Leaving (or putting) all this crap all over the scooter? Not cool.

I am now actively seeking a different place to take my Buddy for service. Any suggestions? Thanks.

redhandmoto · Post by **redhandmoto** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:23 pm

amychicago has returned this thread to its proper focus following the Larry Crowne/free tickets diversion.

Genuine/Scooterworks - no matter how divided the books - is the well, the source, for all things Buddy & Stella. The problems cited bespeak disorganization, lack of coordination, overstretched manpower, and faulty management oversight.

Genuine is at a great remove from the manufacturer. It's recent recapitalization may help with the parts shortage by allowing for a greater on-hand inventory, but nothing will remedy problems with the service steam and protocol except better management: sign-offs on unrepaired bikes and scooters coming out of service covered in crud say that nobody is doing quality control.

It takes, especially in an economy where consumers are reluctant to spend any money for anything, a huge investment in advertising, quality, and value just to gain one customer. One preventable bobble can undo it all; a series of preventable bobbles can trash a whole business.

BuddyLicious · Post by **BuddyLicious** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:30 pm

Hopefully Scooterworks turns this around otherwise they may get negative publicity like jiffy lube.

http://www.wimp.com/lubeinvestigated/

redhandmoto · Post by **redhandmoto** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:40 pm

Phil is too astute, and has worked too hard bringing a great product to market to allow a couple of dropped balls to become a trend. He knows that free tickets, apologies, etc., are sizzle, not steak. He knows that the goal is to see zero posts of this kind.

Workstream protocols and systemized quality check-offs will nip this in the bud (pun intended). I have every confidence that that will happen.

SteveK · Post by **SteveK** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:54 am

Well you could look on the bright side of this. You dropped it off on Friday and it was completed on Monday....not too shabby....

Maybe it's like a Burger King where you have to tell them to hold the splooge....

Did you/they get it off?

jijifer · Post by **jijifer** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 2:39 am

A quick look at Scooterworks.com shows that there are 3 jobs openings.

General Manager
Service Tech
Warehouse Assistant

If you want to give the benefit of the doubt it would be any problems are temporary due to staffing. at the core of service, though, is managing expectations. from the way it reads, yours weren't. That's a miss, for sure.

If they couldn't turn it around in that time, they should have been upfront. Would you have accepted - no, we can't get it back to you by Sunday?

Syd · Post by **Syd** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 4:24 am

jijifer wrote:A quick look at Scooterworks.com shows that there are 3 jobs openings.

General Manager
Service Tech
Warehouse Assistant

If you want to give the benefit of the doubt it would be any problems are temporary due to staffing...

Or maybe that the problems with parts and service were the cause of the job openings.

Post by **ericalm** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 4:50 am

In general, we try to avoid allowing airing of customer service complaints about specific dealers for a few reasons: There are two sides to every story and we only get one on the forum. Dealers in general do not interfere or participate and if they did wade into a service dispute we'd kill the thread; this isn't the place to hash it out. Also, even good dealers make mistakes or have bad days. Sometimes it's a matter of how they handle it when they do stumble. One or two complaints about a dealer can easily cast a negative light that they may not deserve based solely on a couple posts. We're not trying to stifle discussion, just trying to be fair to all involved, which can be tricky.

So… It's okay to stick to the facts and what happened. But straying into conjecture about why or how can easily snowball into a lot of guesswork based on very little. We don't know what happened or why a member had a bad experience. Let's not go there, please.

jasondavis48108 · Post by **jasondavis48108** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:22 pm

eric, I completely understand your point but it is important to know what shops people have had good experiences with and what shops folks have had less than positive experiences with. I think the folks guessing at why the service at scooter works was less than awesome were folks trying to give SW the benefit of the doubt and in some way justify the experience that Amy had. I don't know if this is possible but maybe we should have a sticky thread were folks can post about dealer/shop experiences. In order to keep it focused on the facts there could be specific questions to be answered and folks could be asked to stick to only answering those questions. I completely agree that I have seen posts about shops that seem unfair and I can see why we would want to avoid those sorts of posts but at the same time many folks who can't do their own work need advice they can trust on where to take their scooters for service and possibly even what shops to avoid for certain kinds of service work. /2cents

SteveK · Post by **SteveK** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:56 pm

I really agree with Jason here. If this were a democracy I suppose that would matter but it isn't so it doesn't. Having said that I think a Dealer Buying and Selling Experiences portion of any website is one of the most useful portions.

I mean, the dealer doesn't really need to be involved other than giving fair service as advertised. From there the site grows. the excited buyers feel good about their dealers and many will bust at the seams to give them their props. Those that feel they have been blighted will voice their concern for all to see and will be judged themselves by their own words.

Not really typical "feel good" Modern Buddy happy talk I know. But those exceptional dealers would be rewarded as they should be. The less than good one's would be exposed. It's a good idea that works well and helps many to understand what they can expect, and what to look out for.

I believe Scooterworks is a good place with a bad day. If I'm right that would show in the reviews section....if there was one. I mean heck, they have an A+ BBB rating after all..... I mean we all know the Genuine line is far and above most labels out there, that is a given. But how are the dealers doing? I have 2 positive 100% reviews ready to go praising Scooter Centrale and Scooters Go Green and about 10 ready to go for "others". Just in shopping experience alone.

Post by **ericalm** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 4:59 pm

jasondavis48108 wrote:eric, I completely understand your point but it is important to know what shops people have had good experiences with and what shops folks have had less than positive experiences with. I think the folks guessing at why the service at scooter works was less than awesome were folks trying to give SW the benefit of the doubt and in some way justify the experience that Amy had. I don't know if this is possible but maybe we should have a sticky thread were folks can post about dealer/shop experiences. In order to keep it focused on the facts there could be specific questions to be answered and folks could be asked to stick to only answering those questions. I completely agree that I have seen posts about shops that seem unfair and I can see why we would want to avoid those sorts of posts but at the same time many folks who can't do their own work need advice they can trust on where to take their scooters for service and possibly even what shops to avoid for certain kinds of service work. /2cents

I haven't quashed this thread.

As far as a sticky, something like Yelp probably gives a better overview in many cases than MB would. Those sites get a better balance of customers than we do here. (I realize Yelp's not not big in all cities, but there's not much I can do about that.) People tend to come here, and post here, when they're having problems. What we'll get a lot of is people coming to post an issue or complaint, then never or rarely posting again. That's fine, we're here to help with that sort of thing, but I don't think it gives a fair view of the dealers.

In the past, some members have used MB to try to settle a dispute with a dealer by posting here and spreading "bad publicity." Whether or not their accounts are accurate, the forum shouldn't be used in that way.

Service at Genuine/scooterworks - they make up for it

Service at Genuine/scooterworks - they make up for it

Continued Service/Parts problems at Scooterworks Chicago