Am I being ripped off?

[ss10gotanks]

So it was 400 when I walked in. If nothing else the people in this shop are really good at de-escalating and verbal customer service. Honestly I could learn a thing or two in that regard for my job. But they said the owner wasn't in that day and they couldn't adjust anything. They tried to call but he didn't answer. (Kid emergency I think they said). So I paid the 400 wanting to be done and they promised that the owner would call me tomorrow to fix this or explain the business side or something. Well on the way home the bike hut off twice and stopped turning over in my driveway. So yeah. I'm bummed out. I called them and they are going to pick it up in the morning and let me use a rental scooter for free. But I don't know if that matters cause I literally can't give another dime if there is any hope for me to keep the lights on....

[CROSSBOLT]

Did they give you the old stator? Get it if you can. Their diagnosis and repair did not fix the problem.

Karl

[gwdoiron]

Stator / regulator replacement on both of my bikes earlier this year probably took me about 6 hours each, and I am *not* a motorcycle (or mechanical) technician.  A ton of time was spent just getting one of the screws holding down the old timing coil off, as it seemed to have seized.

Draining the oil and antifreeze is part and parcel of replacing the stator.  In any event, the stator doesn't need to be replaced unless the battery isn't charging - this results in the scooter NOT STARTING, not in it cutting out.  If the bike is not charging, you will see the display go wacky many many miles before the bike actually dies, and you will not be able to restart it.  (Actually, you won't be able to restart it long before the instrument cluster goes wacky, but I digress.)

It sounds like the mechanic isn't sure what is wrong and is replacing the parts shotgun.

I will also reiterate that I am of the opinion, that the Xciting 500 IS NOT RELIABLE ENOUGH TO BE A SOLE MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION.  Kymco kind of screwed the pooch on that motor.  If you are in bad financial straits, I recommend selling the bike and getting one of their 250cc or 300cc models, which can also do highway travel, and have suitably reliable drivetrains to be a primary vehicle.

[Forbes1964]

Damn good law, Forbes1964. Almost a good reason to move to FL. But:

Suppose the shop owner says: "F--- the law, I'm not releasing your bike until you pay the bill." What recourse does the owner have? Small Claims Court?  Hire-a-thug? What I'm getting at is that it is smarter to negotiate a ransom then it is to fight it out legally, even if you know you will prevail...eventually. We are talking a couple hundred bucks here, fer crissake.

Usually, simply letting the business owner know you are aware of the law is a good negotiation tool. Most don’t want the hassle of having to deal with the department of agriculture and consumer services or small claims. From that point I recommend then negotiating a REASONABLE compromise that both the shop and the customer can live with, especially if the work was needed, and the vehicle is fixed. MOST of the time they didn’t set out to rip you off.

I remember many years ago I gave an estimate for a timing belt on a vehicle off the top of my head not realizing that there was a MAJOR design change that year. I was in too deep once I discovered that not only the labor was off ( which I could absorb since I was doing the work myself) . But the car had an additional belt AND both it and the accompanying water pump were more expensive. Of course I continued with the repair since the car was partially disassembled. When the customer came for pickup, I explained what happened and threw myself at his mercy. Both of us knew that he could legally take the car for the original estimate. But he was a regular and understood. So he paid the additional parts price, and I ate the additional labor. He checked other places and found that My price was still lower than the competition. His car was fixed. I took a smaller loss than I feared. And our relationship was preserved .

[Forbes1964]

So it was 400 when I walked in. If nothing else the people in this shop are really good at de-escalating and verbal customer service. Honestly I could learn a thing or two in that regard for my job. But they said the owner wasn't in that day and they couldn't adjust anything. They tried to call but he didn't answer. (Kid emergency I think they said). So I paid the 400 wanting to be done and they promised that the owner would call me tomorrow to fix this or explain the business side or something. Well on the way home the bike hut off twice and stopped turning over in my driveway. So yeah. I'm bummed out. I called them and they are going to pick it up in the morning and let me use a rental scooter for free. But I don't know if that matters cause I literally can't give another dime if there is any hope for me to keep the lights on....

Well, I hope they fix it and TEST it this time around. Hopefully, you can negotiate with the actual owner this time.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[hypophthalmus]

6 hours sounds about right if it were me doing it, but I'm also not a mechanic (or several). I thought part of the reason for high hourly rates was they know exactly what they're doing. And they should be able to give you semi-accurate estimates because of that.

Also, two months to do 6 hours of work?

You mentioned you might have instead done it yourself with help. I would strongly recommend doing it that way in the future, since you don't have an abundance of money and you can probably count on this happening again with the shop.

One of the nice things about motorcycles is that repairs and maintenance are pretty easy to do yourself. You could put some money in your friend's pocket instead, and have an incredibly useful skill to show for it in the end.

[stuo]

What a mucking fess! This is why I have always owned several older, inexpensive cars or motorcycles: when one breaks I have others to carry me, and others to tinker with in the meantime. I never understood why most folks put all their money---and faith---in one vehicle. 

[ss10gotanks]

Welp the end of this story is I had the rental scooter for several weeks while they looked at my bike. The owner called the night they let me use the rental to apologize for them not calling me when the bill was changing so drastically. He said they should have called me. He offered to refund me $150 dollars. Which I thought was pretty fair.
So the scooter place had my bikes a couple more weeks. During this time they called me pretty much using jargon that they couldn't find anything wrong with it and that it was user error and that I could come up there and they would "teach" me how to use. I figured, who knows, I'm new to scooters so maybe it is me. I'll try to do w/e they say diligently and bring the bike back to them if it continues. So the guy pulled it around the store and got off and was like "let me show you how to start it." So he got back on the bike and it wouldn't start. Which I thought was amazing. Cause if it had done that on the way home for me I imagine I would have been blamed. So the end of the story is that they couldn't figure out whats wrong but guess that it was probably the wiring harness and that it would be thousands of dollars to fix (probably to get me to take my bike back I would guess). They did drop it off at my house for me and pick up there bike.

So they where the only place in town that would look at it. So now I either have to sell it or fix it with some friends. I posted on here for help on troubleshooting. So maybe something will come out of that.

Sorry it took so long to finish the story. Thank ya'll for your advice and thoughts!

[CROSSBOLT]

Not surprised that they cannot fix it. Not surprised they have no clue. They have pretty well filled my expectations. Now, how involved are you willing to work on this? I have no idea the transport problem you have while trying to fix this but with the knowledge on here the solution may be at hand. All you have to do is decide. We will be ready.

Karl

[ss10gotanks]

Not surprised that they cannot fix it. Not surprised they have no clue. They have pretty well filled my expectations. Now, how involved are you willing to work on this? I have no idea the transport problem you have while trying to fix this but with the knowledge on here the solution may be at hand. All you have to do is decide. We will be ready.

Karl

Pretty much I take the bus to and from work. It's not fun but means I don't have to walk the whole way there. I want to fix it. I'm working overtime this week so I'm hoping to be able to buy the parts in the next week or two for it. I'm thankful for the help. I'll borrow a (multimeter?) On Sunday to start testing things.

[CROSSBOLT]

Check your other post for info. We will get it! Hypophthalmus gave you the first steps. Read the 500i posts and decide what aftermarket battery you want.

Karl