This is the entrance to American Scooter in Simpson Bay. If you are ever looking for a scooter and drive by this place, do yourself a favor and just keep driving. There is only really one employee who works there and has zero supervision. So, when she feels like opening, she's open. If she doesn't want to open, she doesn't. And, although this is an American Scooter location, selling American Scooter branded scooters, she made it very clear today that they sell all of their [brand new] scooters as is. If you have a problem with it when you leave the place, it's your problem and you've gotta pay to fix it. My roommate and I both bought a scooter from her, before we knew how awful she really was (she's much nicer when she's trying to sell you something). However, both of us had issues very quickly with our scooters. While mine worked well for the first couple days, within the first week, it could no longer be started electronically (you had to kick start it). Further, the remote start stopped working and a bulb went out. My roommate fared even worse. His did not even attempt to automatically start, sounded like a harley, and would often just turn off, in the middle of driving.
When we called her about his scooter (I had already given up on getting mine fixed, since it mostly worked), she promised to replace his with a new one. However, when he showed up at the time they agreed (noon), she was nowhere to be found. And then, she didn't feel like coming in or answering the phone for the next week. When he finally did find her at the shop, she gave him a new battery, but refused to replace it. The new battery fixed the problem of stopping in the middle of the road, but it still didn't start properly and was very loud. She couldn't care less...we apparently bought it as is. Then, the miserable woman even had the audacity to tell me that if I bought a [brand new] scooter in the US and the battery was not working after the first week, that I'd have to pay to replace it anyway. Clearly, she has never done business in the US!
So, just save yourself the trouble and stay far away from this place. Their scooters are cheap, but they're not worth the headache. As the saying goes...you get what you pay for.
4 comments:
So i assume that this place would fall under the Worst of SXM category.
Im pretty sure you guys ended up buying cheap refurbished scooters, which usually have no warranty, so thats why the woman wont help, because she would incur the costs.
There are many Stores on SXM which do this kind of business especially in electronics, so whenever you buy something new go to someone you know, so you can be sure that it indeed is 'new'.
Hahaha...yes, they definitely fall under the worst of St. Maarten category! I'm pretty sure that these scooters were brand new though. They came in a container from American Scooter in the US, and I saw them putting them together in the shop. When I bought it, it looked to be in great condition with not a single imperfection on it. It definitely looked like it was brand new and just out of the box. I think the problem is that they are just cheap scooters and have batteries that are too small. Currently, American Scooter only sells one model of scooter, which is a 50cc and is very plastic feeling.
I guess I just thought that when making a purchase like a scooter, they would at least care enough to make sure that it was working properly. But, I suppose that after 8 months here, I should have known better.
Then where on the island is a good place to buy a scooter? Or, should we just ship one?
I actually don't even think that American Scooter is in business anymore (not suprisingly). There are places on the French side that sell very nice scooters. You'll pay a little more because they're in euros, but they're worth the extra price. I'd really recommend against a 50cc on the island anyway. You can also get one from 5th semesters leaving the island. Or, like you suggested, you could ship one. I did ship my car and highly recommend that, but I'm not aware of anyone that's shipped a scooter. I'm not sure what the cost would be, but it would probably be cheaper just to buy one on the French side.
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