Modern Vespa

After 3 attempts to fix an electrical problem, that caused my scooter to die on the freeway, my GTS 250 has been stuck in the shop since 6/11/09. For about 4 weeks now, the shop has been trying to get Piaggio tech reps to give advice, or check out the bike.

Today I got a call from Jyson at the shop. Apparently, after a month of no response, Piaggio says that the problem is probably a bad wire harness... and they are sending out a new harness for replacement. (I won't express my frustration with this situation.)

I really hope this does fix the problem, because I am currently talking with an attorney and would rather not take the long, painful legal route.

P.S. Does it void the warranty if you repair your scooter yourself, with the assistance of Modern Vespa members?

It seems to me like you are already on the long, painful route. You are looking at another month for the wiring harness to arrive.

Nick: At this point, you should not attempt to repair it yourself and keep the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of Vespa/Piaggio. It appears to me that you are clearly covered under the CA Lemon Law and your Navy lawyer can start turning the screws on them to either repair it, refund your money or give you a new scooter. This whole situation should have been repaired in one day in the dealer's shop and since the Piaggio Tech Center only about an hour north of San Diego, it's mind-boggling that the bike wasn't transported by the dealer to them to be looked at when the dealer couldn't find the problem within the first few days. This doesn't speak well for Vespa/Piaggio.
I just received a couple of letters from the President of Piaggio America, encouraging me to visit my dealer and buy something from them due to the poor economic conditions in the country. Although my wife and I really love our Vespa's, when I read stories like yours, it gives me pause to think about ever buying another of their products due to their horrible customer relations and piss-poor, slow reaction time to real problems with customers who spent a lot of money to buy their products.
I REALLY hope you can get this resolved quickly and that you will have NO more serious problems. When these scooters are running well, they are in a class all their own and a hoot to ride.
Please keep us up to date.

I agree with ALICE and XLRB. Make sure you let them do the work so they don't have any wiggle room if you pursue legal action. My honda was a much better scooter IMHO but like XLRB there is nothing compared to riding a well tuned vespa. Sigh