If you or a friend thinks that Vespa/Piaggio needs to improve their service, please leave a comment or complete this Poll:
This story started from the beginning when I wanted the matching Top Box for my Vespa 300 that is color matched and has the passenger backrest in the same beautiful leather as my seat. I was required to pay in full (about $ 600.00) to place the order back when I purchased my Vespa. To be exact, it was the first week in June 2012. Yes, I am specifying the year because I am still not certain if I will receive it in 2012.
They said it would take a few weeks. After mid-July I started to get anxious and more over, I could not even get an estimated delivery date from the dealer or from Vespa North America.
Additionally, I had an issue with the writing on the cover and they had said they would replace it (See my Story About the Cover).
After many phone calls to Vespa (Piaggio) North America, I was at my wits end! Seriously, over two and a half months and they still could not provide a delivery date. I thought business in Europe was suffering and that all sales would be important.
Simultaneously with this issue and the cover, my speedometer seized and snapped the speedometer cable after 2700 kilometers. I was going on vacation July 28 to August 4, 2012. Therefore, I decided to leave the GTV-300 at the dealer in Ottawa to perform 5000 Km maintenance and add some balancing beads to the tires while looking at the speedometer issue.
They had to order the speedometer. They ordered it on August 2, 2012 but only received it August 15, 2012 and I only got my Vespa back to ride on August 16, 2012. Really, folks, I spent 2-weeks out of the summer without my Vespa. For people in Italy, that represents about 10 % of the riding season in Canada!
One could ask why. The answer is that they are cutting costs dramatically and only distribute their parts from a warehouse in Georgia while their customer service people are in New York. They do not ship parts to dealers as they order them but choose to wait until they have sufficient orders of parts to consolidate the order and save money on the transportation. They will ship the order for many dealers then trans-load and re-distribute the orders within Canada. Delivery really depending when a dealer places an order and how close the distribution center is to wrapping up a consolidated shipment.
What is worse is their decision to have the Customer Service People in New York while their warehouse is in Georgia. My experience (and I have a lot in this area) is that customer service should be in running distance of the warehouse so that they can always verify locations and status of product that they are promising to a customer. Furthermore, if the issue is of utmost importance, they can circumvent the system to expedite a particular product with the intention of providing 100 % customer satisfaction.
Imagine a dealer tracking their parts and everyone is relying on an inventory entry in a computer system. My experience is that often the inaccuracies of a particular status is not current. That is why having the Customer Service people within running distance of the parts is important.
By August 14, 2012, I still had no confirmed delivery date so I decided to rattle some chains and send a letter to the CEO of Piaggio in Italy with a copy to my dealer and Piaggio North America.
Today is August 30 2012. I was told earlier this week that the top boxes were shipped last week and the dealer confirmed this because they are invoiced when the products are shipped. Now, this is a funny scenario when you think about it. I had to pay full price in June to the dealer who only receives an invoice this week for the product. That is quite a bit of cash flow for a dealer to manage without perhaps spending some of it and then running into financial issues later on. However, I am sure they must have this all figured out and to a science.
It is my Birthday on September 1 and it is a long weekend (Labour Day). Therefore, we are planning a trip to Picton, Ontario to take the Vespa to the beach. The weather promises to be sunny and hot. It is quite a long drive and Chantal was looking forward to having the backrest and the top box for our trip. Furthermore, I thought that after all of the waiting that it would ironically show up on my Birthday.
I kept phoning the dealer this week asking if they received it. At this point, I hesitate each time I call because I am approaching a point where they probably do not want to hear my voice. Late this afternoon, Vespa North America informed me that they finally obtained the tracking number from Georgia that confirmed the shipment to arrive at Canada Customs next week.
My wife will have to start packing bag to strap on the back. The main problem with the bag is that we hesitate to leave it on the Vespa when we stop at a shopping center or something like that. We are afraid that someone could easily un-hook the straps and steal the bag. We therefore lug the heavy bag through the shopping each time. With a locking top box, this would not be required.
I guess I will just have to wait another week. June 2, 2012 to September 8, 2012 to deliver an order that was paid in full in advance. The dealers had told me that other customers had ordered the box in February and are much more patient than I am. They apparently have a better understanding of how Vespa “The Italians” function.
In fact, someone told me “It is summer time and Italians are all on short summer hours and long vacations enjoying the sun, beach, wine, and food. They are certainly not focused on your top box!”
As of today:
Top Box Ordered June 2, 2012 – Not Received but promised for next week
Cover: Complained June 20, 2012. Piaggio Promised to replace it but I have not yet received it or a confirmation of when I will.
If you or a friend thinks that Vespa/Piaggio needs to improve their service, please leave a comment or complete this Poll:
MG Driving/Riding Adventures 
If you have problems with Vespa parts that you can’t get resolved, try contacting David at Vespa Sherman Oaks or Scooter West in San Diego. They both have assisted people all over the world.
LikeLike
Absolutely and I do! I wish I lived close to Scooter West. I have placed three orders with them already and they deliver quickly, even to Canada. They are great to deal with on the phone and I just installed the LEDs and the front LED running Turn Signals. Their Tech Videos are amazing. But unfortunately, they are a bit far for warranty work. Additionally, shipping heavy large items is just not affordable.
LikeLike
I prefer to bring my Vespa in to a dealer that only sells Vespas/Piaggios and motorcycles. I feel the car dealerships do not fully support or pay attention to Vespa riders. They should start advertising their products or at least allow us to makeup our own “fan-based” commercials.
LikeLike
I bring mine to Vespa now but I have a Honda Motorcycle dealer within walking distance. For some things they can be handy but as I had mentioned earlier, wiring is not one of them.
LikeLike
I received this reply via e-mail from Key West:
I am sorry to be a wet blanket but Piaggio has never understood the North American market and has no idea how to sell here.
I grew up in Italy and go back periodically. For some reason I was at the dealer who sold me my first moped 40 years ago,chatting with the owner and talking about parts replacements. I envied him as he was in Italy and could supply parts for the eotica I wanted to own once again… He had the contract to supply the police and post office with Piaggio products and he decided to give up selling Piaggio as he couldn’t get parts. Bartolini of Terni, half a day’s drive from Pontedera.
Welcome to the crazy world of Piaggio and all the best with your well intentioned campaign.
Cheers
Michael
Key West
LikeLike
I received this via e-mail from San Jose:
Piaggio North America factory parts supply has undergone a huge transformation in the last many months.
We should be seeing the fruit of those efforts soon, if not already.
And a price drop for parts.
While there are always local problems the future looks very bright.
R
LikeLike
I received this via e-mail from Dooglas in Oregon:
While I would certainly like Piaggio to have a stronger dealer network, more factory trained mechanics, and a larger stock of parts in the US – I think we also have to be somewhat realistic about what we ask for. Scooter dealerships are not very profitable to begin with and are going out of business at a fairly high rate. Piaggio/Vespa have an unsold backlog of quite a few models and are clearly in the midst of reducing the range of their US offerings. This is really not a very successful market for them. And other segments of the US scooter market really do not seem to be any stronger. I’d say the most important single thing we can do is to support our local dealer if they are doing a good job for us.
LikeLike
FWIW, none of the dealerships I have used wait for consolidated shipments. They’ve even had parts overnighted from Piaggio warehouses and parts have arrived directly from Italy in less than a week when the US didn’t have them in stock except in August. I know my actual scooters were from the Dallas warehouse not Georgia. My brother’s fiance did have to wait almost 2 months for a windshield for her Sports City but that was because the one she ordered had not previously been imported into the US and it had to be certified for use in the US before it could be released from customs. Her Houston Aprilia dealership (Aprilia is a Piaggio group company) installed it and gave her a cover free for having to wait that long.
I too have heard from the two Houston area dealerships (Aprilia and Vespa/Piaggio) that there have been changes to the distribution system in the US that has been a big improvement for US dealers and customers. How that impacts Canada I have no idea.
LikeLike
Owning a Piaggio or Vespa scooter in Canada, and in particularly the Nation’s Capitol of Ottawa, can be frustrating for sure.
I ride a 2007 BV250 that I purchased brand new this summer (2012) from an ex-Vespa dealership in Ottawa. It had a mere 3.4 kms on the dial when I rode it home. The first service is required at the 1,000 kms mark and it didn’t take me long to cover that distance. There is only one authorized Vespa dealer in town and as I hadn’t bought my scooter from them they wanted to charge me more for my first service. Never mind that they didn’t have any new 2007 BV250 models to sell, that was their policy. In order to maintain my 1 year warranty I buckled and left the scooter.
Three days later, and only after I called three times to check on the status, my scooter was ready. The dealer never called me. The good news is that they decided not to charge me the extra fees, but the bad news is they used the wrong oil. They claim that the cost for the recommended 5W40 full synthetic oil is too high and they didn’t want to gouge the customer. They used some unknown 10W40 oil they have in bulk. I still paid over $300 for what is basically an oil and filter change. At least my warranty is still in effect.
When I mentioned that my headlight appeared to be incorrectly aimed, I was told that the headlight cannot be adjusted. Not true as I later found out.
I did some checking afterwards and was able to find the proper AGIP 5W40 full synthetic oil at The Parts Source for less than $6 a liter. Much cheaper than the bulk oil the dealer used.
This isn’t my first scooter and I upgraded (displacement wise) to the BV250 from a 2009 Kymco People S 125. I never had any issues with the Kymco and the service was done at another dealer authorized for this brand. That serce took a single day and they called me when it was ready. I probably should have stayed with that brand.
Don’t get me wrong, I like my BV250 and I’ve been commuting to work on it almost every day and it’s been wonderful to ride and reliable. The strange relationship with the sole Vespa dealer has me worried and unsure where to go for service or parts once the warranty expires. I’d be really upset to have to wait mints, or a fulll summer season, to get something as sinple as a top case. Hello eBay.
Steve
LikeLike
I am in the process of setting up to do the maintenance myself. Just ordered special tools for the oil change and belt changes. As it is in life, you can only trust yourself 100 %.
LikeLike
Agreed. I’ve already purchased Agip 5W-40 full synthetic oil and just need to buy a new oil filter for my next oil change. I’ve already adjusted my headlight and that took less than a minute to fix myself. My warranty will expire long before I reach the next service interval so it seems I’ll be on my own going forward.
LikeLike
I have since purchased a Scotts Performance Permanent Oil Filter for my BV250 and I will never need to buy another paper element oil filter. This wasn’t cheap, but will last the life of my scooter and in the long run will save money.
LikeLike
Piaggio/Vespa North America Vespa Adventures, was indeed a good name to
give this valuable blog post. Exactly where can I browse
even more with regards to this?
LikeLike
Hi,
Go to http://www.vespaadventures.ca
LikeLike
Thanks for finally writing about >Piaggio/Vespa
North America | Vespa Adventures <Liked it!
LikeLike