Below is the email I just sent to sales@scooterdemand.com

Dear scooterdemand,

I have essentially accepted that I have thrown away 1500+ dollars by purchasing a scooter from your site.

I would like to explain what I think are fair expectations for a retailer.

First and foremost, that there is an understanding that a retailer sells quality products. Selling poorly made products is a very bad reflection of the retailer. Especially when your dealing with big ticket items, and very specific items. I chose to buy from you not because you had the absolute cheapest price for “a” scooter, you had a scooter that was low on weight, 125-150cc, and was a “look” that I liked. I found that same scooter elsewhere but then you won out because of price, because your shipping was free, but not by much, their sale price was cheaper.

On this expectation you obviously failed. Not because you make the pinnacle 150, but simply because you sell it. After paying a mechanic to get it running (something I will address in more detail later) it died that night. I am 99% sure it died because of a short in the engine kill switch. Which feels like a childs toy that comes in a happy meal, like most of the scooter. When you pay more then 20 bucks for anything, it shouldn’t feel like something you can pull out of a happy meal bag. And you simply shouldn’t sell it. Retailers should sell what they are willing to buy, and bring some honesty back into this country. I would expect nothing less from a small business, if this letter was to wal-mart, then maybe my expectation would be different, but in fact Wal-Mart does make it clear what your expectation for them is, you go there for the cheap stuff, and that’s why I didn’t buy a scooter from them. I can get plenty of other chinese made stuff from them, but I expected some quality control from you.

Second expectation of a retailer. You do what you need to, for your customer to use the product they purchase from you. For instance, if I buy a 1500.00 digital camera from a camera store, I guarantee I can sign up for a digital photography course. I also guarantee the guy at the store will answer the 20 questions I may have about how it works. It’s his job to know and use them. If I go buy a mac, I get 90 days to bug support with every silly question I may come up with. Even when I order it online. So when you say the thing requires a little bit of assembly on a small spot on your website, I say fine, but assume it’s within reason. That simply was not the case and here is why…

Your pdf documentation was entirely incomplete. Clearly telling me that you did not order one of these scooters, and try and have someone put it together with your pdf. That is just simply lazy and sloppy, not the way you should operate. Also some assembly is buying a book shelf from ikea, and spending an hour putting it together. Heck, I bought a whole kitchen from ikea, for 2000, and I got dvd’s for each step of installation, and posters for each stage to tape to the wall while doing it. And you can’t even put a pdf together that has all the pages, and pictures that actually can be seen and understood. And trust me, kitchen cabinets are far simpler then a small scale internal combustion engine, to piece together and get working. Now after research, after spending a whole day putting together this bike that was suppose to have a little bit of assembly, I find many people saying, these things are designed to be put together and tuned and get up and running by a mechanic. I am damn sure you don’t have that statement anywhere on your website. The misleading nature of your stance and statements in regard to this simply disgusts me.

Needless to say I took it to a mechanic, he re-wired the alarm and got it working and running. Fine, 250 more bucks, but great, atleast now I have a working scooter. But wait, on my second ride on it. Let me emphasize, SECOND ride, on the day I got it back from mechanic, it simply dies on a major road. I am pretty sure the kill switch has shorted out, and I cannot get it to turn over now.

I dropped 1500 with scooterdemand, then 250 more for a mechanic to put it together, and the scooter breaks on my second ride.

So I will conclude with this, every time I called, it was Americans on the phone, and you guys were as helpful as you could be, which was a pleasant surprise. Anymore everyone is an indian who is trained that the customer is always wrong and they are always right, and that a condescending tone is the way to go. You didn’t have that problem. But you do have a problem with mis-leading sales. Your warranty is pretty useless in real practical terms, and the quality of the products you sell are no better then a kids meal toy.