Is my electric scooter repair covered under warranty?

Is my electric scooter repair covered under warranty?

After diving in and purchasing your first electric scooter from the cheapest online retailer you can find and having months of endless planet saving fun you find that the e scooter starts to develop a fault. You call the online retailer you bought it from to find they are based 500 miles away and the cost and hassle of shipping it back to them makes this unviable, despite the fact you think the item has failed under warranty. If this is the case, legally the retailer must repair the item as it is under 1 year old but only once the buyer has paid for the return postage and then the shop has deemed it a warranty fault.

We find that in many cases the buyer’s expectation of “WARRANTY” exceeds the manufactures actual guidelines. We also find in many cases the person whom bought the scooter isn’t the person who uses it and in fact the problem is down to misuse or general wear and tear that the buyer (mum) hasn’t been 100% made aware off. A common scenario is to tell (mum/dad/granny) that “it just stopped working”, when in reality you fell off it when you and 3 mates tried to ride it down a Shute at the park, then it just stopped working…..

In general, most electric scooter shops have seen many such situations and many times have the awkward task of explaining the abuse isn’t covered under warranty. For your reference punctures and worn-out tires are never covered under warranty, even if you are unfortunate enough to get a puncture on the first week/day or hour. Glass, nails and sharp stones can all puncture your tire at any time and the shop cannot be held accountable for this. The other main point of contention is “I’ve had this scooter 9 months but now it only has 50% of the range it had when new” A huge part of the cost, sometimes as much as 50/60% of the scooter price is in the battery. Simply put, cheaper scooters have cheaper battery cells and cheaper battery cells do not last as long. If you look at 2 scooters that look exactly the same Xiaomi Pro 2 £450-£500 and Xovo Pro (£280-£360) although the Xiaomi Pro 2 is a better made all-round scooter most of the extra cost is in the 18650 battery cells. The cheap unbranded cells the XOVO uses are £3-4 each where as all the Xiaomi models use SAMSUNG or LG branded cells which cost £6-7. Considering that most E-Scooters use 30 cells you can see where the extra cost goes.

This should be a major consideration when deciding on what model to buy, if you spend £300 on a cheaper model but need to spend another £120 for a battery after 9 months then you are no better off. You also have the hassle/cost of replacing the battery.

Most, cheaper E-Scooter batteries will only have a 3-6 months warranty on the battery other premium models will cover the battery for 1 year as they know they have used premium branded cells.

So, what is covered under warranty you may well be asking….

Although far from an extensive list of warranty issues here are the most common electric scooter problems that should be repaired under warranty.

Scooter just stops charging
LCD display stops working or flashes up an error code
Scooter no longer drives
Scooter cuts out when in use
Scooter handle no longer folds or stays tight

If your electric scooter has 1 of the above faults, is less than 1 year old and hasn’t been abused then in most cases the electric scooter shop you bought it from should repair it under warranty. However as discussed previously if you bought it online then returning it may not be an option especially is you don’t have the box. Here at www.edinburghscooters.co.uk we are always happy to have a look at your broken escooter and get it back up and running for you, even if you bought the electric scooter from an online retailer. Our experienced electric scooter repair technicians can fix your e-scooter problems and get you back up and running in a few days, just give us a call on 0131 663 3377 or drop the e scooter into our electric scooter repair shop in Edinburgh.

The moral of the story is to say that, the warranty on the E scooter is directly related to firstly; where you bought it from and secondly what the manufacturer is covering and for how long.

Despite in many cases an online price being cheaper than a local scooter shop, you must take into consideration for a product like an electric scooter how you can, if required claim that warranty repair. As a large, heavy item with a battery it is almost certainly worth buying local. It will cost at least £50 to return the scooter both ways and if deemed non warranty repair you will be liable for both £25/25 postage costs. Most couriers will also not accept an item with a large battery which adds to the complexity of returning a E-Scooter. It will also take what could be a 1 day local turn around scooter repair into a 1 week+ job, also if you don’t have the massive box it came in returning it is almost impossible and could end up being damaged further in transit.

The simple fact and most common-sense approach to buying an electric scooter or similar type of product, is that, if possible, buy local where you can, speak to an expert, discuss warranty and the procedure to return it back if/when it breaks. This is especially true if this is your new mode of transport and is essential to get you to work daily. If you are going to use it a lot then sooner or later it’s going to break regardless if it’s within warranty or not. Either way it will be advantageous to know your local electric scooter shop. It is also worth considering when you buy local the chances are that the local shop will carry the parts to repair your model. Here at www.edinburghscooters.co.uk we specialist in Xiaomi electric scooters and we carry all the e scooter spare parts to get you up and running quickly.

I hope this helps you make an informed decision when buying an e-scooter or when trying to make a warranty claim.