I scheduled to have my scooter serviced here last week. On the phone, I spoke to the owner who said…read morethat I could get my Honda 6,000-mile checkup there for $100. That's a damn good price, so I made an appointment. When I got there, I found two guys out back working on scooters as if it were some dude's garage. They had none of the equipment necessary to jack up the scooter to inspect it from all sides. Still, I figured they could do a decent enough job without it. I parked my scooter and went inside.
The owner wasn't there. His 15-year-old daughter was running the counter. She was very, very nice and very polite, but she didn't know squat. I felt really uncomfortable. It's a Honda, after all, not the cheapest scooter, and it's my only means of transportation. I asked her how long the maintenance would take. She said about 45 minutes. The Honda checklist for the 6,000-mile maintenance is enormously long and there's no way it could take just 45 minutes. So, just to be sure, I asked her again if the guys were going to run the Honda checklist for the 6,000-mile maintenance. Her response: "What checklist?" I explained and she said she could look it up online. She pulled something off some random blog. (In case you don't know: You can't pull the Honda checklist off the internet, because it's published and copyrighted by Honda and given only to Honda-authorized repair shops.) I told her to please go ask the guys what they intended to do.
When she came back, she said they were changing the spark plug because it was nearly burnt out, and changing the oil. I told her I change my own oil, so I didn't bring it in for that. I brought it in for the 6,000-mile maintenance check. She was very apologetic, and said she could take the blog checklist out to them. I said no, tell them to stop. I'd had enough. She went and told them to stop, and one of the mechanics followed her in, sat down across from me, and tried to convince me that he was competent and was going to do everything any other Honda-certified mechanic would do. I don't speak mechanic-ese, but I didn't trust him. He was clearly trying to pressure me into staying. So I told him I'd rather take it to a Honda dealership. He said there isn't one in Lafayette. I said whatever, I'll drive to Kokomo. He asked me to pay for the spark plug they'd just put in. I said no problem.
I paid for the spark plug, amid the receptionist's many apologies (she was really the best part of this whole experience), and went out back to take my scooter away. Far, far away. Guess what? I couldn't pull it off the center stand, because one of the mechanics had put the switch on backwards. The other one told him to turn it around. He did that and I pulled off--straight to another maintenance shop.
Fast forward five days to today. I'm riding up the Columbia Street bridge, and the scooter dies. I've had this scooter for 3 years and it has never--not one single time--died on me. I freak out, because it's too early for any shop to be open and I don't have a cell phone. Fortunately, some kind construction worker let me use his phone. I called the OTHER scooter shop and they came and picked it up. When I got back to their shop after work, they told me what was wrong with it: The spark plug cap had been put on wrong.
Lesson: DO NOT EVER, EVER, EVER GO TO THIS PLACE!
