bad experience with Buena Vista Scooters - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I just found out that Apple Scooters rents powerchairs that are the same or better for HALF the money! And you can rent them for less than a week! 3 day powerchair rental for $105 including delivery and insurance. That would have been $145 for BVS. And they don't do rentals that short.
What annoyed me was the fact they insulted me in the letter to the BBB - plainly they did not know I would be sent a copy of it! And they lied about things easily proven, such as phone call times and refund dates! It did not seem like good customer service to me.
I have heard great things about Apple Scooter and will try them next time. I have my own powerchair, which I will use for longer trips of a week, but I will probably rent a powerchair there for short trips of 3 days or so!
the company suggested to Buena Vista scooters that I knew nothing about powerchairs and they cannot be responsible for my incompetence, basically. They obviously did not know that the BBB sends me a copy of their response to my complaint!
We also had a bad experience with them. My DH uses a chair and rented from them a few years back. The chair came 2 days late, so we were using the manual chair and when it finally came the controls were on the wrong side. My DH needs right handed controls because he has no use of his left side. I made repeated calls to them to no avail. I ended up leaving them a message to pick up the chair which we never used and they gave me a hard time with the refund. It took 2 months to get a partial refund, I ended up chalking it up to lesson learned. I wish that I had gone the distance like you have, but I had too many things going on at the time. Good for you!
We also had a bad experience with them. My DH uses a chair and rented from them a few years back. The chair came 2 days late, so we were using the manual chair and when it finally came the controls were on the wrong side. My DH needs right handed controls because he has no use of his left side. I made repeated calls to them to no avail. I ended up leaving them a message to pick up the chair which we never used and they gave me a hard time with the refund. It took 2 months to get a partial refund, I ended up chalking it up to lesson learned. I wish that I had gone the distance like you have, but I had too many things going on at the time. Good for you!
they also spent about a page complaining that I spoke badly of them on message boards, naming one specifically. (not this one). I wanted to say, yep, I gave a bad review, and I did it on MULTIPLE boards. And since I did not lie in any way (they may have thought I did, but I have both witnesses and phone/bank records to back me up) they have no real complaint against me.
This is how we spread information! There is so little help out there for the disabled, so we need all the help we can get! I see nothing wrong with posting factual stories.
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We also had a bad experience with them. My DH uses a chair and rented from them a few years back. The chair came 2 days late, so we were using the manual chair and when it finally came the controls were on the wrong side. My DH needs right handed controls because he has no use of his left side. I made repeated calls to them to no avail. I ended up leaving them a message to pick up the chair which we never used and they gave me a hard time with the refund. It took 2 months to get a partial refund, I ended up chalking it up to lesson learned. I wish that I had gone the distance like you have, but I had too many things going on at the time. Good for you!
I am really glad that this thread was brought back up. I will need to get my mom set up with a rental scooter next year when she and Dad go to Orlando for a Vietnam Dog Handlers reunion and then again when we go back for Grace's birthday.
I am sorry your scooter rental went to terribly. I really hope you get your money back. Sometimes I wonder about why people go into a certain business. I mean really if you can't figure out how to prime the battery or remember what side a person needs controls on...then maybe it's time to change your business plan.
I also hate when people get snippy with you when you are complaining that they aren't doing their jobs in the first place.
I rented from discount mobility in May and had an issue with a scooter battery losing power. they were very apologetic and had a replacement brought to me at my hotel. [Battery was losing power after 4 hours so with a recharge I was able to make it for the day.] they also comped me a days rental.
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We have traveled to Disney World since 1976
Next trip May 2013
I Love Disney! Sharon
Let us know what happens. There is no better advertising for a company than personal testamonials. On the flip side, there is nothing worse for a company than terrible customer service.
Thanks for the tip, I really appreciate it, I will definitely avoid Buena Vista, I've used Walker Scooters in the past and never had a problem, will probably go with them again, small family company! Great Service.
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I, too, had a not-so-great Buena Vista scooter. I'd used Walker for years and should have known better! I wish all businesses were run as well as Walkers is. They're just great. On my next trip I'll be traveling with my own scooter (Travelscoot) and will almost miss the great Walker service.
I have had the same issue with powerchairs that I have rented, but I did not rent from BVS. I rented from local companies here. Neither of those chairs can go more than 5 hours before they need a charge. It was the same chair - a Jet 3. There's something different about these rented powerchairs. I even made sure the chair I rented was equipped with an MK battery. The MK batteries charged faster, but they still didn't last nearly long enough. I had planned to take breaks anyway, but I was left with no choice because I HAD to recharge or else I wouldn't make it through the day.
I'm not saying it's nice the way BVS treated you, but I wanted to let you know that it may be that way with even renting a chair from Apple.
The battery power absolutely dictated what I could and could not do. What's weird is the scooters will go all day long with no effort. I NEVER ran out of power with a scooter. I never even got the scooter off "green" before. I don't understand why the power chairs have such a hard time keeping up with active people.
I really think it stinks the BVS treated you so poorly. When I was going to rent from an Orlando company for my powerchair needs, I was going to use Walker. I ended up not using them because I could get a rental here at home for much less money.
I am considering using them in November, but don't know if their equipment will be able to perform any better than the other 2 companies I have used with the same result.
Edit: I just went online and decided to rent from Apple, but I rented one of their scooters. I normally can't use one because of the low back of the seats, but this one has a seat just like the power chair. If the handlebars can tilt toward me so I don't have to have my arms fully extended then this might work. Thanks for the info!
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Last edited by TheMadonna3; 07-01-2010 at 11:34 PM..
We rented a wheelchair once and a scooter twice from Buena Vista with no particular issues. I suspect that power chairs are more complicated. We are looking at buying a scooter this year, so we probably won't need to rent one, but I do price shop and found BV worked out best for us. Walker Mobility seems to get high marks from everyone who uses them, so perhaps they are a company to consider if you had problems with BV.
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