Buena Vista Scooter Rentals at The Boardwalk -combined thread

hello...we just returned from our trip from OKW. this time we took my DFIL who has diabetes & some real troubles walking. i reserved a scooter from Buena Vista (despite Walker being my 1st choice) cause my DH thought it would be more convenient since they are right on site. The first few days were fine...scooter was there when we arrived and seemed to work fine. UNTIL it rained...we immediately covered the scooter column (like everyone else we saw in the park) and continued on thru our day...cause what is the sense of having a scooter if you have to spend all you time inside even if it rains.
WELLLLLL when we got the scooter home that nite it began to SQUEEEEEEEEEAAAAAALLLLLL so loud that even when we moved it to the back porch we could still hear it but the kicker was it wouldnt MOVE at all. the next morning i called Buena Vista only to be put into a voicemail to wait for a call back. we headed to the parks (minus DFIL since he had no scooter) after FOUR hours no call back. so i called again finally got thru...got a young girl who obviously didnt care a hoot about my issue or customer service... told me a tech would call me back, i explained we were leaving in one day & DFIL was so depressed he couldnt get around decided he didnt want to leave the room anymore. i wanted them to come get it &b issue me a refund for the 2 days we had no use of it. she actually LAUGHED at me & said that wasnt happening & they would happily pick it up after we got it to the hospitality house. NOW in OKW we were in the last building (#56) and there was no way i was pushing that thing up there. she said well fine i'll hv the tech call you back. a few moments later the tech did call & informed me it was all my fault for taking it into the rain & they were not coming to the building to get it. at this point i was FURIOUS....i told him i was putting it in front of our door with the key in it & if he didnt come & get it...it would sit right there till he did. he promptly hung up on me. all 5'2 inches of me lugged this thing outside our door & guess what later it was gone.
i'm so sorry i didnt use my 1st choice of walkers ...

I URGE ALL PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES DO NOT USE BUENA VISTA SCOOTERS YOU WILL BE SORELY DISAPPOINTED !!!!
:crazy2: :crazy2: :crazy2:
 
I wasn't going to post, but I saw this thread bumped up & read your story. We must have encountered the same guy. In Oct, I hurt my foot the day before our trip & had a hard time getting any type of shoe on & walking was painful. After reading this thread, we called this company about renting a wheelchair. We were told just to call them when we got to the Dolphin. We did & were told noone had time to bring us a wheelchair. If we wanted one, my DH would have to walk to the Boardwalk to get one. No biggie! It wasn't that far. Unfortunately, when he got there they told him they didn't have wheelchairs to rent there. Not only had he been sent to that location, he also saw a wheelchair in the midst of the other rentals. :confused3 He walked back empty handed & we made do. However, I would never recommend this company to anyone.


amen to that we had a miserable experience w/ this company as well & would NEVER RECOMMEND them to anyone !!!!
 
since there is already a long thread about Buena Vista Scooters, I am merging the threads. The merged post is #81).
That way, all the feedback will be in one place.
 
Wow. I'm really sorry to hear all the recent negative experiences with BV scooters. We rented from them a year ago from my DW and again in June 2008 and had great experiences both times.

She had a sunshade in June that became loose after one of the Disney bus drivers pulled on it when buckling the scooter in. I called BV and they told me to leave the scooter at AKV's bell services over night and they would fix it. Sure enough, I dropped off the scooter at 10pm and it was fixed and waiting outside our room by 6am the next day. Perfect!

I hope that this is a temporary glitch in their customer service and that they'll get back on track soon.

I wish that there was a scooter that would work when it's raining and they get wet, but it seems like all of them are very sensitive to moisture. That's a bad thing in Florida!
 
I'm so sorry to hear all the problems some have had with Bv Scooters. :confused3 We have used them a total of three times so far, once at their boardwalk location and twice we had the units delivered to us at Ak Lodge and Old Key West.
We have had nothing but superb and efficient customer service. We did run in to a problem once while at Epcot Center. It was raining, surprise surprise, and our unit got wet and unfortunately stopped working. This was, admitadley, our fault because it is stated on the tag of the scooter that if the ECV gets wet it is possible to stop working. Selfishly our excitement of being back at the parks pushed us into staying out. When we called them they gave us a few tips on possibly alleviating the problem, to no avail we were still out of luck. They had a driver to Epcot Center within 45 minutes of our call with a new dry ECV. If that's not excellent service I'm not sure what defines it. Due to the recent strain on our economy we are unsure as to when our next Disney trip will be, but I can pretty much guarentee BV Scooters has a repeat customer in us.:beach:
 
ok after sending BV an email about my experience i recieve a call bk from tim w/in 24 hours. he could not apologize enough for the poor customer service & not only refunded the 2 days we didnt have use of the scooter BUT the entire week. i told him that really wasnt necesary since we did have use of the scooter for several days but he insisted on the full refund. in addition he offered use of another scooter for FREE the next time we visit. now i doubt that we will ever need a scooter again cause DFIL prolly wont go again but the offer itself was exceptional.
obviously i misjudged the company based on a bad experience w/ two employees who dont enjoy their jobs. i would say if using BV and you run into any issues ask to speak to the manager immediately i fully expect they will resolve it.
thanks tim...you turned a cynical grump into a believer :goodvibes
 
ok after sending BV an email about my experience i recieve a call bk from tim w/in 24 hours. he could not apologize enough for the poor customer service & not only refunded the 2 days we didnt have use of the scooter BUT the entire week. i told him that really wasnt necesary since we did have use of the scooter for several days but he insisted on the full refund. in addition he offered use of another scooter for FREE the next time we visit. now i doubt that we will ever need a scooter again cause DFIL prolly wont go again but the offer itself was exceptional.
obviously i misjudged the company based on a bad experience w/ two employees who dont enjoy their jobs. i would say if using BV and you run into any issues ask to speak to the manager immediately i fully expect they will resolve it.
thanks tim...you turned a cynical grump into a believer :goodvibes
Thanks for reporting back on the final outcome.
Glad to hear that Tim came thru for you.
 


Yes, Thanks for reporting back on that. I was shocked to hear of a bad experience with BV. Bob is usually the one I speak with, but it's nice to hear that the good customer service that we've experienced with them wasn't just luck.
 
btw, we did ask for a manager (response was an irritated "it's just me here"). there were no instructions regarding rain ~ actually the entire transaction consisted of me booking it online (when i called, the man said he was "too busy, do it online"), & our call when the ECV died. the only thing i felt BV did quickly & efficiently was billing...there was no problem with their charging us immediately.

i would like to believe that they are not as awful as our (& apparently many other posters') experience indicates. does anyone have a name of who is in charge there? of course, i would not expect any compensation at this point, but would like them to know how poorly their customers have been treated (honestly, i doubt if my dad would ever use them again tho. he was in significant pain after walking quite a distance, & falling (HARD) repeatedly on knees that desperately needed replacement ~ the reason he needed the ECV :sad2: ).
thanks!
 
My DH is going to need one in May, and at first I was excited to see there was an on-site rental that is cheaper and more convenient than WDW daily rentals. But then I saw the bad feedbacks and thought not...but now someone said their customer service after a complaint was stellar. I will have to think about this for few days. But thanks everyone for the excellent complete reports!
 
I'll letcha know when I return April 3rd . . . . .
 
i had posted in early feb of my bad experience but then recieved a call from tim offering full reimbursement (which came promptly) and a free rental for my father-in-laws next visit. i send an email today advising my DH & DFIL will be returning in sept and would like to redeem our free rental. i will update the boards as soon as i hear back from them to let everyone know if they are going to follow up with the promised free rental...stay tuned :goodvibes
 
I'm a little nervous. I just got of the phone with booking with them, and I'm not sure I made the right choice.

I called toll-free number, and I got a guy who did not sound very happy to be talking with me. He wasn't exactly rude, but he was kind of impatient and not friendly.

I asked a few basic questions about the scooters (which could be disassembled, how they did their billing, when I needed to drop off) then mentioned I would like to go ahead with a reservation. He told me to do it online.

So, I went to the website and got ready to check out, when I noticed they tacked on a convenience fee for making an online reservation. It was only $2.50, but it seemed silly for me to have to pay to make a reservation online when it probably makes things easier and cheaper for them. :confused3

So, I called back and told him I'd prefer to do it over the phone. He just sort of called out "name" "address" "credit card number", never gave me a total, never offered a confirmation. And it was done.

It's not like I expected him to ask about my innermost feelings or anything :laughing: but it didn't leave a good taste in my mouth. What are they going to be like to work with if something goes wrong? Is this a legit, professional operation? Are they customer-oriented?

Should I book with someone else?
 
LOL (laughing with you --not at you)--it's not like you're going to dinner with him, right?

I just rented from them in the past month. The scooter--in good shape and fully charged--was waiting at bell services at my resort. Had NO issues with it the whole time--charged it in my villa at night.

Turned it back in when I left to bell services. Since I had no issues I had no occassion to have them take care of problems--so can't speak to that (and this is my second time using them--no issues the first time either).

I guess it means more to me to actually have a good experience while there than in the ordering process. I will say that some folks like the other companies--that come out and meet personally with you--better. For me, I'm a pretty experienced scooter user and I don't want to have to go through a checklist with someone. I also liked that the HQ is on-site- and they are open pretty late--so chances are if I had a problem someone would respond. I'm sure the other companies are good too.

One tip--if it's raining you cannot let the tiller (where you control the scooter) get wet--I found that a LARGE Disney bag fit perfectly over the tiller, and then I used those large binder clips to keep it secure so it wouldn't blow off in the wind. It worked wonderfully! And I went everywhere!
 
i had posted in early feb of my bad experience but then recieved a call from tim offering full reimbursement (which came promptly) and a free rental for my father-in-laws next visit. i send an email today advising my DH & DFIL will be returning in sept and would like to redeem our free rental. i will update the boards as soon as i hear back from them to let everyone know if they are going to follow up with the promised free rental...stay tuned :goodvibes

i got confirmation today for the free rental :cool1:
for anyone having customer service issues i would call & ask to speak directly with tim, he was the only person i spoke with who seemed to care at all about the quality of the service. i know he'll make things right for you !!!
 
So, I called back and told him I'd prefer to do it over the phone. He just sort of called out "name" "address" "credit card number", never gave me a total, never offered a confirmation. And it was done.

It's not like I expected him to ask about my innermost feelings or anything :laughing: but it didn't leave a good taste in my mouth. What are they going to be like to work with if something goes wrong? Is this a legit, professional operation? Are they customer-oriented?

Should I book with someone else?
You have two choices that I see in your case. First you can contact them and tell them of the surly attitude or not being customer friendly. Second is to try another company.

The man should have given you a confirmation number and a total. That is a standard business practice. In the future if there was a need to contact them you would have that number handy and as a customer you should be told the total. Also if you are not comfortable with any company you should think of trying another company. If an insurance agent or sales clerk treated me that way then I would go some place else.

Out of fear of backlash I should not speak further but will. I feel this is unusual for the company and have heard few complaints about this company.
 
Just rented from them Easter week for the 4th time in 2 yrs. Never had a problem and the scooter was waiting for me at bell services fully charged each time. I don't like that $2.50 convenience charge, but other than that I have had very good luck with them.
 
keep in mind that they are the ONLY out of park scooter company on Disney property--if they were not legitimate Disney would not allow them to be there. They are the same people who rent the bikes at the Boardwalk.
 
LOL (laughing with you --not at you)--it's not like you're going to dinner with him, right?

:lmao: No, I don't think we'll be doing any long walks on the beach...

I chickened out. I actually found myself dreading calling back to talk to them, and all the bad reviews recently spooked me. There are plenty of other companies out there, so I don't need to deal with this or take a chance on it going wrong.

I spoke to a wonderfully friendly and helpful woman at another company and got a reservation all set up. I'm feeling much better about the whole thing.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!






Top