Piaggio reviews and complaints

Hello,

I have bought my Aprilia SR 150 with a lot of expectations but, I appear to have made a mistake. I have been a 4 wheeler commuter for almost a decade now. Due to the road conditions and traffic, I have some challenges in commuting within the 4 or 5 kilometers radius of my locality and have decided to buy a 2 wheeler. My first choice was Royal Enfield but, somehow, I had frozen on Aprilia SR150 based on the reviews of the vehicle and also this would help my kid who would get the eligibility for driving license in a year & half. The scooter may be a good idea for a girl rather than Royal Enfield. This made me freeze on Aprilia.

While I experienced serious delays in the delivery and price differences within the showrooms in my city, I do not consider them to be a big issues to complain. However, the major issues I would like to put here are:

1. The vehicle's front portion is giving very annoying sound while driving on the white top road or road with small patches. I had informed this issue to the service centre's mechanic. The mechanic tested the sounds and confirmed it to be general as there would be a play given for front FORK to have free movement. However, I do not believe the sounds are from the FORK. They are very much plastic sounds and really annoying. As I had mentioned earlier, I use 4 wheeler for most of my commuting and I always have a pleasant and noise free rides in my car. Hence, the sounds that SR150 producing on the front side are REALLY REALLY ANNOYING.

2. I did not get any accessories except, the side stand. The side stand is not really priority at least to me compared to other accessories like, Foot Rest for pillion rider who sits oneside and a channel to facilitate fixing of HSRP on the front side. I am really wondering how could Aprilia release this vehicle after being in the business (Piaggio) in India for many years. One cannot expect every women in South India to wear a Salwar so that, they comfortably pillion ride with the help of the default foot rest provided. And, when I visited the RTO office to get my HSRP fitted, they were about to drill holes on the front body to fix the front side HSRP. I forced them to stop fixing it. Didn't Aprilia really think of this facility before releasing the vehicle?
It really looks to me that, Piaggio were more interested in releasing a model to capture the market rather than looking at what is really needed for customers. It is a real surprise that, they already have Vespa model running for years and may have encountered all these challenges with that vehicle yet, giving bitter experiences to the customers.

I have tried raising this with Aprilia. The contact number provided on their website, seems do not take complaints and was advised to drop an email. I did drop an email a week ago and still waiting for their response.

Thanks, Sree

After two months of use, an oil leak after the first service caused a breakdown of the engine that went dry. The company decided to re-build all the engine. After two months and a half, the bike is still not repaired due to missing parts. The company did not offer any new bike, or even a bike to use in the meantime. The repair shop never calls back, I always have to chase them up with the same answer, "we are missing a part we cannot repair the bike for now." This is unacceptable for a bike like this, it is a brand new MP3 125.