Luggie Scooters レビュー 170

The true test of a company is not in how they treat you when they are looking to sell you a mobility aid that costs, literally, thousands of pounds, but how they behave when there is a problem with that £2595 mobility aid in 17 months’ time. And I have to say that Local Mobility/Luggie Scooters has shown a staggering lack of awareness of the difference between lofty ideals and/or advertising puff; and reality.

I did, indeed, purchase that extremely expensive Luggie scooter – partly on the salesmanship, partly on the advertising and the claims on their website; their videos and the booklet that was sent through the post when I phoned to arrange a test. Claims such as the two year warranty (which I see has now increased to five, but…hold that thought I shall come back to it in a little while), the talk of the strong build, the glowing reviews from previous customers (curiosity leads me to wonder how many of them bought a second one), along with the fact that it folded up so wouldn’t constantly be in the way in my very small flat. The fact that I didn’t have to take it apart in order to get it into my car and that the battery didn’t weigh as much as the scooter itself. I ordered the ‘Elite’ model – paying the extra £500 thinking I would get a better quality item. If it would carry an extra 25k in weight, it’s got to be a slightly better build – yes? Apparently not.

Long before the ‘extended warranty’ expired, I came across a big problem with much of the advertising bumf. The fact that the only thing the extended warranty covers is the frame. If anything else goes wrong with the scooter, oh well, that’s tough – you’ve been using it haven’t you. Imagine my surprise when I’m effectively told that I have to expect parts to fail in less than 18 months and it’ll be up to me to get the parts and arrange for them to be fitted.

Despite trying to point out that I’m not physically strong enough to put enough pressure on the handle to snap a cable that is designed to take upwards of 45k breaking strain, those I spoke to at Local Mobility were adamant that either it was ‘wear and tear’ or I’d been heavy handed with the scooter and yanked on the handle which is what caused the cable to break – if I was strong enough to break a cable like that, I wouldn’t have ended up paying another £800 on top of the nearly £2600 to have a hoist put in my car so I wasn’t hurting myself every time I put the scooter in the boot. And trust me, the only way you would be able to put it in the front seat of the car (as per the demo video) is if you didn’t actually need to use a mobility scooter in the first place.

Unfortunately, I was unable to continue to dispute the ‘wear and tear’ assertion because I needed my scooter and couldn’t afford to be without it indefinitely whilst I tried to fight this via the consumer credit act or other consumer protection laws, so reluctantly conceded defeat and accepted their derisory offer of a 50% discount on a replacement part. Something I suspect they rely on to avoid having to actually ‘stand by’ their product. And despite their ‘first class customer service 100% of the time’ and ‘unrivalled after sales service’ (all claims made on their website) they managed to add insult to injury, by taking nearly 2 weeks to send me the part after they’d cashed my cheque. I sent them a cheque on 14th December 2018 and they wasted no time in banking it – it having been cashed by 17 December 18, but then took nearly 2 weeks to post the replacement part to me. As a result of this, I was without my scooter all over Christmas and the new year and even worse, my elderly mother was admitted to hospital on 03 January and I was unable to visit her the whole time she was there because my mobility scooter was out of action and I was still waiting for the replacement part to arrive. The part finally arrived on 05 January and I eventually got my scooter back on the road on 10 January.

So – in summary; before you think about purchasing a Luggie scooter consider these things. Do you have not only the £2000+ for the initial purchase of your scooter, but a further (now) £700+ plus returning the scooter to Local Mobility every year for 5 years to have it serviced to maintain the warranty (although that can be reduced by £90 a year if you have the Luggie serviced by your local mobility aid dealer – a fact that they will reluctantly share with you only if you decline to send the scooter back to them because you’ve got no money left), which will only cover the frame anyway. Then there’s the £800 or more that you will need to pay to have a hoist installed in your car if you intend to go a little further afield or need to get somewhere at more than 4mph. It’s all very well praising the fact that this is a ‘lightweight’ scooter and compared to many it is – but it’s still too heavy for the average disabled person to get into the boot of a car without hurting or injuring yourself and then there’s the cost of having replacement parts fitted. The repair I needed cost me approximately £13 for the part inc postage (at a 50% discount) plus another £46 having the scooter picked up and for my local mobility store to fit it for me (further discount applied to pick up charges because I collected it from them once it was repaired).

Do you live close enough to Local Mobility to be able to deliver the Luggie to them when it needs servicing or repairing? If you don’t, you’re either looking at £90 return postage (assuming it will fold properly and you know someone who can get it in a box for you) or waiting weeks for parts to be dispatched and getting the scooter booked in somewhere else for the repair.

And, if it’s standard practice for the tiller cable to snap in less than 18 months – what else is going to break in the next 18 months? My confidence in my scooter and Local Mobility has been totally demolished. They do not stand by their product. Their customer service leaves an awful lot to be desired and their after sales service is appalling.

I can guarantee that I will not be recommending a Luggie scooter to anyone else (and I know of at least one sale that was made on my recommendation) and when the time comes for me to replace my scooter, I shall save myself a lot of money and distress and buy something cheaper from much, much closer to home. You might want to consider it, too.