Alpha Products International - X-treme Scooters

Alpha Products International

X-Treme Scooters

x-tremescooters.com

August 31, 2006

In June 2006 my husband purchased 2 X-Treme X-500 scooters from x-tremescooters.com. Upon receipt of the shipment both scooters were damaged and non-functioning. Scooter #1 had some broken wires and a bent face plate and a plastic control box was smashed. Scooter #2 was DOA, and the batteries would not take a charge. As others have reported, there is absolutely no Quality Control at this place and they are not accountable for the garbage they ship.

There is almost no way to get help from these people. They first suggested that we go purchase new batteries at Radio Shack to repair Scooter #2, which is a ridiculous suggestion. Finally they agreed to send replacement parts for both scooters. Weeks later the replacement parts arrived, but no batteries. We finally got Scooter #1 up and running. After many more hours on the phone, they agreed to send batteries for Scooter #2, but only after we returned the defective batteries (at our shipping cost!!!). Almost 2 months after the initial shipment, we finally get Scooter #2 running, but it still did not hold a charge well and is not running correctly. My husband spent many hours trying to get it working correctly and improved things, but never got it completely operational.

One day our 13 yo daughter is riding Scooter #1 and it malfunctions. The engine cuts out momentarily and then kicks back in and the back wheel spun out and threw her from the scooter. We think that the throttle might have gotten stuck. She was thrown onto the sidewalk and suffered many nasty scrapes and bruises. She also suffered a concussion. Luckily she had on a full-face motorcycle helmet instead of a bike helmet. The emergency room said that she might have suffered a significant head injury if not for the motorcycle helmet.

Meanwhile Scooter #2 starts acting up again. It was cutting in and out and the chain that drives the back wheel was “catching”. Even with the replacement batteries it was still not holding a charge as long as Scooter #1. We decided that both scooters were unsafe and were of poor quality and started pursuing a return.

Luckily we had purchased the scooters through American Express. Amex gave us a temporary credit, which finally caused API to issue us an RMA number to allow us to return the scooters. These scooters weigh about 80 pounds each, so they cost a fortune to send back. We shipped them back to API via UPS Ground at a cost of $75 each ($150 total). In order to insure that our shipping costs were reimbursed, we shipped the packages back C.O.D. API refused the shipment twice and now these pieces of garbage are on their way back to me. I’ve told API and Amex that they will be thrown in the garbage if they come back to me, as I don’t want them due to poor quality and safety concerns. Amex is aware that the return shipment has been refused, so hopefully this will be resolved soon. Meanwhile I’m out $150 to ship these piles of broken parts and pieces back to API.

As you can see on:

complaints.com ( http://search.complaints.com/search?q=x-treme+scooters&spell=1&access=p&output=xml_no_dtd&site=complaints&ie=UTF-8&client=complaints&proxystylesheet=complaints),

http://struggleville.blogs.com/home/2006/02/xtreme_scooters.html, http://www.scooterbbs.com/board/DCForumID13/156.html,

amazon.com ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CQP53E/002-8031330-9284068?v=glance&n=3375251),

http://badbiz.info/,

ripoffreport.com ( http://www.ripoffreport.com/results.asp?q1=ALL&q5=alpha+products&submit2=Search%21&q4=&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0,

http://www.ripoffreport.com/results.asp?q1=ALL&q5=alpha+products&submit2=Search%21&q4=&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0),

Many others have experienced defective scooters, non-existent customer service, and also had their children injured by these piles of garbage that they sell as scooters. These people also have a problem with lying and demonstrate a serious lack of business ethics. They need to be shut down.

Comment On This

Let me start off by saying that I have NEVER dealt with a company like x-treme scooters. My husband and I order items, small and large priced, off the internet quite frequently. We have never had problems like this. They are the worst of the worst!!! Terrible products and a non-existant customer service department. My husband bought our son a four-wheeler from them; paid over $700.00 in full. He finished putting it together since it came mostly assembled, from the get-go it was extremely poor quality. It never would take a charge. Their rediculous method of "ticketing" on their website for problems only added to the issue. They had it set up so if there's a problem, you go on the website and make a ticket listing the issue. It took over 24 hours to get a response. When they did respond, they wanted my husband to test one part, such as the battery, then respond on another ticket. 24- or more hours later, when the battery tested faulty, they would respond with ANOTHER part they wanted tested. One part per 48 hours, terrible!! Keep in mind this was ordered as a Christmas gift. We received the order October 31st; it STILL wasn't running by Christmas!

Piece after piece my husband "tested" according to their "policy." They would send replacement parts here and there. It took a week for the parts to arrive; once they did, my husband checked them like they asked still never solving the problem. This continued until I had had enough! Doing some research, I found a phone number to this company and called them. Needless to say, even on the phone they were NO help. The customer service manager, and I use that term loosely, raised her voice at me and refused to let me talk to anyone. She kept insisting that the only way to solve our problem was to make a ticket on the website. (We now had a running tally of approximately 20 tickets to NO avail!)

My husband took it to a friend to see if he could help since my son was completely heart-broken because he had no four-wheeler and our other son did. (We ordered his dirt bike from another company. A really good company, no problems from them or their product whatsoever!!) The problem ended up being a simple fuse for the most part, even though the tail lights still don't work. After that was fixed though, the battery still wouldn't crank when cold, it had to be jumped off every time we cranked it!! Then, within 3 weeks of riding, the whole thing tore up again.

I promise you that this company does not need to be in business. I only wish there was something I could do to see to it that no one else goes through the horrible heartbreak and misery that we went through not to mention the waiting and worry.

Comment On This

As of November 11, 2007, I have filed against the virtual store in Ohio that sold my stepson a piece of junk for over $900.00 dollars as well as the main company Alpha Products.

I am in California and every state has a method of doing this in small claims court. You can get a judgement, have it transferred to Iowa and enforced by the sheriff there. We need to go after these people. Take the time to do it. Alpha Products has real property in the town of Newton. Talk to Rick Tiedje the county supervisor @ (101 1st St N, Rm 203 Newton IA 50208 641 792 7016 641 792 1053 D supervisors AT co.jasper.ia.us) He needs pressure put on him to stop them. Also call Mr, Switzer at the Iowa AG