I have never before used my blog as a means to complain about crummy products/service. But my experience with x-treme scooters (I will not be linking to them!!) this past holiday season has prompted me to do so since I feel like I have no other means of recourse.
Two years ago I had purchased my son a Razor electric scooter...it had a myriad of problems and I think only ran properly about ten total days.
This year I decided to try again and scoured the web for affordable electric scooters with a better reputation than Razor. I found the x-treme scooter brand which is sold by several resellers on-line. I made my purchase from one called Scooter Jones.
I have to admit when they arrived I was not overly impressed with the looks and quality but hoped for the best.
Within 24 hours both were broken to one extent or another. The x-10's flimsy decking had cracked and a pivot bolt had fallen off. The x-250's belt had broken. My first attempt at customer service via email went fairly well and they replaced all parts and shipped them fairly quickly.
However, the x-250's belt snapped again, after just a few days of use...they way it broke had the appearance of a factory defect. This is where the real problems started. I called their "customer service" line and was told the following. "We've sent you a belt already, you will have to buy one."
Their lame warranty only lasts for 30 days and covers replacement parts only. Neither of the belts they had sent lasted anywhere near 30 days. The customer service lady then claimed that their warranty only covered shipping damage....huh? After much wrangling she agreed to send another one if I paid $7.00 for shipping costs. Remember this is a less than 1 pound belt. I waited a week, no communication, no belt. I called again today only to find out that a) The belt only shipped yesterday. b.)The belt had no tracking number, since it had been sent US Mail not FedEx Ground as everything else had. c.) That yes $7.00 is the right shipping charge for US mail and it would have cost me $30.00(!!) for FedEx ground. (Their site advertises the belt for $16.00 with free FedEx Ground shipping.)The CS agent was rude and indignant throughout both calls that I have made to them
I strongly recommend staying away from any retailer selling x-treme scooters as their customer service is highly lacking and the product is not nearly as well made as advertised. (The x-10's flimsy deck being the most flagrant offender in this area. If you stand anywhere near the rear end of the scooter you will crack it.)
Update: It is now February 18th and my belt they supposedly shipped on Feb 6th (which I ordered on Jan. 30) via First Class Mail and paid $7.00 for, still has not arrived. When I called to find out what they problem was I was sent to a voice mail box that then promptly disconnected me. The beat goes on...
Update 2: Actually received a call back from customer service today. Turns out the belt had been returned by the USPS since the address was bad. They did not re-take my address when I ordered this belt, but were supposed to re-ship to the same address they had shipped to three times before. Of course they didn't, but somehow managed to completely change one number in the street address. Amazing work!
Update3: Now March 8th, five and a half weeks after the replacement belt was ordered. Still no belt, called and left a message. Received a call back saying that once again the belt had been sent back by the Post Office for a bad address, yet she was able to read back my address and it was correct(having been in the customer side of the shipping business in the past I know it is always convenient to blame the shipper for your own mistakes.) They still refuse to use FedEx Ground that would have the tracking needed to make sure stuff like this doesn't happen. Said that they would ship Priority Mail and send me the tracking number via email (we'll see) Also said they are still filling back order parts from December and once again blamed the carrier (excessive shipping damage)
Update 5 (Feb 24, 2007): This post has become quite popular and I hope it is helping people make better purchasing decisions. Several more incidents happened since my last post almost a year ago, I had two cracked wheel hubs on the x-250 due to not being able to easily and accurately adjust the belt tension. Also I had a throttle break on the x-10 and when a replacement was sent the electrical connectors were the wrong type. I finally gave up. This was the worst purchase I have ever made, my boys had a total of maybe 5-6 enjoyable days with their scooters and countless more of days of frustration. Both scooters sit in a junk heap waiting for me to pay some more to dump them off in a landfill somewhere.
Oh and by the way...X-treme scooters have introduced a new x-140 which is a smaller and cheaper version of the x-250...Before you order one, I 'd read the opinions of the owner of X-treme Scooters in the comments section of this post!
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