Roth Motors Sucks
If you are in the market for a scooter, don't make the mistake I did and purchase a scooter by the losers who founded this company.
I bought my scooter (I know Roth Motors calls it a "power board" but honestly, it's just a fucking scooter) mainly because I let myself get over dazzled by their web site. It's clean, elegant, very European. Just the name alone is enough to con you into making a purchase; Roth Motors. Sounds like a place of business you would find in Newport Beach or Beverly Hills. Very high end and sleek.
Unfortunately, like a record from Paris Hilton, it's all flash with no substance.
I bought my scooter for $1,000.00. I thought it would be a good investment. I'm taking the train to work now and I needed something that I could fold up with me and take on the train. Something not only light, but well built and preferably U.S. made. The 2000 XR seemed to meet all the criteria; it folds nicely and weighs around 20 pounds. It was engineered here and built in California. I thought the price was kind of stiff, and remember I'm a teacher, not a stock broker, but hey it sure looked good on line and I really believed what they had to say.
I ordered my scooter on July 1st. It arrived about a week later. Being somewhat impulsive, I thought to just take the scooter out of the box and start riding it. However, remembering the cost and the huge dent in my checking account, I proceeded to read the manual in its entirety.
Following the directions, I charged up my scooter for two hours. In the morning I walked to the bus stop with my scooter in tow. Roth's web site states that the scooter weighs 16 1/2 pounds. It actually weighs close to 20 pounds. However, even so, it's the lightest thing around.
I used the scooter all day at work and drove it to the train station. I was very happy with how it ran. Unfortunately, this was to be the last full day of service I would see out of it. The second day, right outside of the train station, the charge light suddenly went on. That's a bad thing because it means that the battery has lost it's charge. What I wasn't quite understanding was why this happened, when I charged it again the night before and it was supposed to keep a full charge. According to one of the reps that e-mailed me, the XR is supposed to stay fully charged for about seven miles or so; depending on the weight of the person and the terrain. At that point I had only ridden about 1 1/2 mile. This was a harbinger of bad things to come.
When I got home I charged the scooter again. The scooter performed well during the day and I breathed a sigh of relief that there wasn't any more problems with the battery. But suddenly, right outside my work site, the charge light came on again. Seconds later the scooter just stopped in its tracks. I was forced to manually peddle the scooter 1.2 miles to the train station. As you can imagine I was very annoyed and very pissed.
The first thing I did when I got home was to e-mail a support tech, who sent me a number the next day and an address to send the scooter. Mind you I only had the scooter a total of six days, and only one full day of service. I had to call in late to work to send the scooter off to be repaired and dropped another $40.00 to UPS sending the scooter to get fixed.
That evening I sent a registered letter to the company, in particular David Roth, letting him know how disappointed I was in his product and my expectations as a consumer.
One month. Yes, that's right. I sent the company e-mail after e-mail asking them where my scooter was. All I heard was excuse after excuse. The most laughable excuse was that they needed a "part" for the scooter. What I was not able to fathom was why they had to "order a part" when supposedly the scooter was made in the U.S.A. Their corporate office is in Carlsbad and their factory is close to Palm Springs. As far as I know we no longer are using the Pony Express to deliver mail, so why would it take so long to get this so called part? After three weeks the tech, Lynn Q. a woman who I would soon after begin to despise, stated that they would send me a new scooter so I wouldn't have to wait so long. Wow, what great customer service. Only a month of waiting.
My new scooter arrived and I charged it right away. After it was fully charged, I took it out in the neighborhood for a spin. Much to my absolute disgust, it ran for about five minutes and then petered out like a sick, old man with emphysema. I sat there looking at it, not believing that this brand new scooter was dead in the water and about as useful as rudderless ship. I immediately went in the house and again contacted Roth Motors and emphatically told them that I would be shipping back the scooter and that I expected to have my entire purchase price refunded. The next day Lynn Q. sent me another address to send the scooter.
I again had to take time off to mail off the scooter and dropped another $40.00 to send the scooter back. For those of you who are bad at math, shipping costs have now pushed me back $80.00. From the 15 of August until right after Labor Day I was waiting for my refund. I sent another e-mail and was told by Lynn Q. that the money would be credited to my account "early in the week." Ten days later I hadn't received my refund and again sent another e-mail to the company. Lynn Q. apologized for the delay and said that they would credit my account that morning. Later on during the day I received another e-mail from Lynn Q. apologizing for bothering me, but that they were not able to credit the account because the card wasn't working. Being seconds away from imploding, I e-mailed her back to let her know that they had written the wrong card number. I told them that I was not going to e-mail the correct card number over the internet and to please call me on my cell phone. I didn't hear from them the entire day.
The next day I sent another e-mail to Lynn Q. demanding that they refund my money and to put it in my PayPal account that same day. I further stated that if I didn't receive the money I would be forced to drive down to Carlsbad and speak to her personally. The following day I got an e-mail stating that the money owed me had been deposited in my PayPal account. Because Lynn Q. couldn't be bothered to just call me and get my credit card number over the phone, I incurreda $30.00 PayPal fee. That brought up my total cash outlay to over $100.00, not counting all the untold time I wasted dealing with all these issues.
All in all, I dealt with these people for more than two solid months. It was the worst ordeal of my life.
What I learned from this experience:
When you send an owner of a company two registered letters with your phone number and they don't bother to give a response, that is a good indicator that they don't give a shit about you or your hard earned money.
When a company has a web site with no phone, that is a big red flag, even bigger than when a woman you are interested in tells you that she has three kids from three different fathers. I'm going to assume that Roth Motors has a phone somewhere, but they don't use it or they are too cheap to outsource their tech help personnel to India.
I also want to point out again, reiterate, that I sent David Rother two certified letters, with return receipt requested and my phone number. I never heard from him or one of his monkeys the entire two months of this ordeal. If the head of a company can't take five minutes to call a customer and apologize, or even try to spin the problem, there is a major structural problem going on.
Attendum: While looking for another scooter this weekend, I had the opportunity to speak to a local business owner who sells scooters and other similar types of transportation. He stated he talked with David Roth recently. Roth told him that he no longer is with the company and apparently Roth Motors has already gone through bankruptcy proceedings. Not a good sign.
If this blog isn't enough to dissuade you from purchasing a scooter from these Bozos then by all means have at it. I'm providing this as a service to those people who prefer to deal with a company that has a phone, has customer service, follows through with requests, sells a product that actually works, and demonstrates some level of competency in their business dealings.
On top of that, it might behoove you to look at the cost of replacing a few things. The battery for the 2000 XR costs $500.00. No, that is not a typo. The battery is five hundred dollars. In other words, the battery costs half of what the scooter originally cost. If the battery can go about 350-450 charges, that means that in less than two years you will have to fork over another $500.00. During this period you will also have probably bought wheels and other misc. parts that invariably break down. That's a pretty high maintainance scooter.
I learned my lesson. I hope you won't have too. At this point I'm going to buy a GoPed.
I bought my scooter (I know Roth Motors calls it a "power board" but honestly, it's just a fucking scooter) mainly because I let myself get over dazzled by their web site. It's clean, elegant, very European. Just the name alone is enough to con you into making a purchase; Roth Motors. Sounds like a place of business you would find in Newport Beach or Beverly Hills. Very high end and sleek.
Unfortunately, like a record from Paris Hilton, it's all flash with no substance.
I bought my scooter for $1,000.00. I thought it would be a good investment. I'm taking the train to work now and I needed something that I could fold up with me and take on the train. Something not only light, but well built and preferably U.S. made. The 2000 XR seemed to meet all the criteria; it folds nicely and weighs around 20 pounds. It was engineered here and built in California. I thought the price was kind of stiff, and remember I'm a teacher, not a stock broker, but hey it sure looked good on line and I really believed what they had to say.
I ordered my scooter on July 1st. It arrived about a week later. Being somewhat impulsive, I thought to just take the scooter out of the box and start riding it. However, remembering the cost and the huge dent in my checking account, I proceeded to read the manual in its entirety.
Following the directions, I charged up my scooter for two hours. In the morning I walked to the bus stop with my scooter in tow. Roth's web site states that the scooter weighs 16 1/2 pounds. It actually weighs close to 20 pounds. However, even so, it's the lightest thing around.
I used the scooter all day at work and drove it to the train station. I was very happy with how it ran. Unfortunately, this was to be the last full day of service I would see out of it. The second day, right outside of the train station, the charge light suddenly went on. That's a bad thing because it means that the battery has lost it's charge. What I wasn't quite understanding was why this happened, when I charged it again the night before and it was supposed to keep a full charge. According to one of the reps that e-mailed me, the XR is supposed to stay fully charged for about seven miles or so; depending on the weight of the person and the terrain. At that point I had only ridden about 1 1/2 mile. This was a harbinger of bad things to come.
When I got home I charged the scooter again. The scooter performed well during the day and I breathed a sigh of relief that there wasn't any more problems with the battery. But suddenly, right outside my work site, the charge light came on again. Seconds later the scooter just stopped in its tracks. I was forced to manually peddle the scooter 1.2 miles to the train station. As you can imagine I was very annoyed and very pissed.
The first thing I did when I got home was to e-mail a support tech, who sent me a number the next day and an address to send the scooter. Mind you I only had the scooter a total of six days, and only one full day of service. I had to call in late to work to send the scooter off to be repaired and dropped another $40.00 to UPS sending the scooter to get fixed.
That evening I sent a registered letter to the company, in particular David Roth, letting him know how disappointed I was in his product and my expectations as a consumer.
One month. Yes, that's right. I sent the company e-mail after e-mail asking them where my scooter was. All I heard was excuse after excuse. The most laughable excuse was that they needed a "part" for the scooter. What I was not able to fathom was why they had to "order a part" when supposedly the scooter was made in the U.S.A. Their corporate office is in Carlsbad and their factory is close to Palm Springs. As far as I know we no longer are using the Pony Express to deliver mail, so why would it take so long to get this so called part? After three weeks the tech, Lynn Q. a woman who I would soon after begin to despise, stated that they would send me a new scooter so I wouldn't have to wait so long. Wow, what great customer service. Only a month of waiting.
My new scooter arrived and I charged it right away. After it was fully charged, I took it out in the neighborhood for a spin. Much to my absolute disgust, it ran for about five minutes and then petered out like a sick, old man with emphysema. I sat there looking at it, not believing that this brand new scooter was dead in the water and about as useful as rudderless ship. I immediately went in the house and again contacted Roth Motors and emphatically told them that I would be shipping back the scooter and that I expected to have my entire purchase price refunded. The next day Lynn Q. sent me another address to send the scooter.
I again had to take time off to mail off the scooter and dropped another $40.00 to send the scooter back. For those of you who are bad at math, shipping costs have now pushed me back $80.00. From the 15 of August until right after Labor Day I was waiting for my refund. I sent another e-mail and was told by Lynn Q. that the money would be credited to my account "early in the week." Ten days later I hadn't received my refund and again sent another e-mail to the company. Lynn Q. apologized for the delay and said that they would credit my account that morning. Later on during the day I received another e-mail from Lynn Q. apologizing for bothering me, but that they were not able to credit the account because the card wasn't working. Being seconds away from imploding, I e-mailed her back to let her know that they had written the wrong card number. I told them that I was not going to e-mail the correct card number over the internet and to please call me on my cell phone. I didn't hear from them the entire day.
The next day I sent another e-mail to Lynn Q. demanding that they refund my money and to put it in my PayPal account that same day. I further stated that if I didn't receive the money I would be forced to drive down to Carlsbad and speak to her personally. The following day I got an e-mail stating that the money owed me had been deposited in my PayPal account. Because Lynn Q. couldn't be bothered to just call me and get my credit card number over the phone, I incurreda $30.00 PayPal fee. That brought up my total cash outlay to over $100.00, not counting all the untold time I wasted dealing with all these issues.
All in all, I dealt with these people for more than two solid months. It was the worst ordeal of my life.
What I learned from this experience:
When you send an owner of a company two registered letters with your phone number and they don't bother to give a response, that is a good indicator that they don't give a shit about you or your hard earned money.
When a company has a web site with no phone, that is a big red flag, even bigger than when a woman you are interested in tells you that she has three kids from three different fathers. I'm going to assume that Roth Motors has a phone somewhere, but they don't use it or they are too cheap to outsource their tech help personnel to India.
I also want to point out again, reiterate, that I sent David Rother two certified letters, with return receipt requested and my phone number. I never heard from him or one of his monkeys the entire two months of this ordeal. If the head of a company can't take five minutes to call a customer and apologize, or even try to spin the problem, there is a major structural problem going on.
Attendum: While looking for another scooter this weekend, I had the opportunity to speak to a local business owner who sells scooters and other similar types of transportation. He stated he talked with David Roth recently. Roth told him that he no longer is with the company and apparently Roth Motors has already gone through bankruptcy proceedings. Not a good sign.
If this blog isn't enough to dissuade you from purchasing a scooter from these Bozos then by all means have at it. I'm providing this as a service to those people who prefer to deal with a company that has a phone, has customer service, follows through with requests, sells a product that actually works, and demonstrates some level of competency in their business dealings.
On top of that, it might behoove you to look at the cost of replacing a few things. The battery for the 2000 XR costs $500.00. No, that is not a typo. The battery is five hundred dollars. In other words, the battery costs half of what the scooter originally cost. If the battery can go about 350-450 charges, that means that in less than two years you will have to fork over another $500.00. During this period you will also have probably bought wheels and other misc. parts that invariably break down. That's a pretty high maintainance scooter.
I learned my lesson. I hope you won't have too. At this point I'm going to buy a GoPed.
Labels: 2000 XR, personal transportation, Roth Motors, Scooters
posted by Luciano at 10:38 PM
2 Comments:
Luciano, sorry to hear about your ordeal. I almost bought a Motorboard last summer, but I was hesitant to do so because I couldn't find any reviews wherein the owner of a Motorboard emphatically recommended the product. In fact, most of the reviews I saw either flat-out declared or at least hinted that buyer's remorse had set in. It seemed like virtually everyone was, in one way or another, disappointed with the product.
And now, I'm not surprised to hear that the company went bankrupt. (That must be why their website says they are "sold out" if you try to buy one there.) The Motorboard was just too pricey for it to sell well, and it seemed to be plagued with reliability problems...which is inexcusable on a $800 scooter.
I'm glad I didn't buy one, and I'm glad you have warned people here! These are still for sale on eBay and in other venues, and people should know that they are very likely just buying a problem and a headache if they purchase one of these.
Hi Guys,
Thanks for this post! Now it is clear what is going on with Roth Motors. I actually have a 2000X Motorboard. I am happy with it, however the battery lasts for 3-4 miles only. Since I have not used it in the winter, it is probably even worse, Ni-Mh does not like to be sit without continuous use.
I was thinking about getting the new Li-Ion battery but they said, I can not buy the battery, I have to send my scooter there so they can install it. I got really pissed, how come that they do not think about backward compatibility?? Since I live in Europe, the cost of such transportation would have been a half what the entire board costed.
It is clear that 4 miles is not enough and people would be happy to get more power eventually. They should have designed the board on a way, that is easy to upgrade.
What a bummer... it is very sad...:(
Go-Ped is cool, but it is freaking noisy and stinky, I wish there was something similar that is electric powered. Maybe in the next 10 years...
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