Captain Ron’s Scooter Repair

Captain Ron, (as he calls himself) more like a unprofessional thief came to my house to work on my scooters. First we told him that the batteries needed to be replaced and he replaced one and took the other for $ 30 each. NEVER to return my other battery! The scooters gas tanks and carbs were never flushed like he said he would do. I told him the front tire wouldn’t move and he said no problem it would just loosen up on its own. Come to find out the front brake assembly has to be replaced (from a certified mechanic) and the wheel could have locked up on me and thrown me from my scooter.
He charged us $ 180 cash… No IRS taxes for this guy… Not yet anyway… it seems they have already been informed of his cash only practice.
To date he still will not return my battery, or money, probably can’t get a ride here because he doesn’t have a license himself… Maybe you should use the money you stole from me to buy a dictionary or better yet pay my money forward to someone who deserves it. KNOT… like capt Ron likes to say
save yourself money and time, do not have this thief do any work for you!!!

Go elsewhere. I was very unhappy with the way he repaired my bike and would not advise anyone to take their bikes to him in the future.

WTF?!
I called Captain Ron to have my scooter brake pads. He told me to come tomorrow 10am to do repair. I drove with my scooter for 30 minutes to his house for brake pads replacement. I came to his house. he told he have to order the parts and have scooter come back Monday. He should tell me before. I rode my scooter back home other 30 mins unhappy.
He should order the parts first then call me to come with my scooter. I am not pleased.
I cancelled that service and go else.

I recently moved from Seattle and bought a used Yamaha C3 for $ 700 on Craigslist. It was working great for 4 days and over 150 miles. And then it kept stalling. Finally it would not start at all. Great. My luck has been pretty terrible with scooters in the past, as it continues to be…
My first move was to check Unilocal for Scooter repair here in Fort Lauderdale, but no one seemed to have more than one or two reviews. I called around and was referred to Captain Ron. I called him and left a message.
He will come to you. No towing required which was nice.
2 stars for response time and customer service. He called me back within 15 minutes and we set an appointment for Tuesday. But in the end, nothing was offered after my problem was misdiagnosed and I was sold a battery that I didn’t need and charged for a repair which lasted all of 15 minutes (see the rest of the review).
3 stars for price. The hourly rate was $ 80 and $ 50 for the house call. So all in all, average rates.
1 star for job completion. He arrived on time with another guy named John. He had never worked on a Yamaha C3 but was a self-​professed expert and not shy about bragging about that. He took the panels off. At first he said that it may be a bad fuel pump. But then he was checking the electrical connections and discovered that there was corrosion on the wires. He quickly fixed that, splicing new connectors onto the wires, and put a new battery in. And the scooter started right up! He had the scooter put back together and was done in 45 minutes.
I asked for an itemized receipt, which he wrote on the back of a business card:
House Call $ 50
Battery $ 50
Labor $ 80
Total $ 180
I guess tax is included, or perhaps this was done under the table.
Anyway, initially, I was glad to have a working scooter! They left and I decided to take the scooter 8 miles up to the Pompano Beach Costco. 5 miles into the trip, the scooter died and I could not restart it with the electrical start, or manually. This was basically the same problem that it had before. I rolled my scooter over to Walmart and parked it. I called Ron and he told me that he would text me the number for someone else who knew how to work on these Yamaha’s. He said maybe it was the coil (whatever that is). He did offer to give me a ride home as he was close. That was nice. But then he just said «I’m sorry for your bad luck» and that was that. He texted me a number of Riva Motorsports.
So while the corroded connectors were replaced, they weren’t the main problem. Neither was the battery. I basically bought a new battery that I didn’t need. The problem seems to be with keeping the battery charged. I am out $ 180 and in worse shape than when I began, because now my scooter is stranded in a Walmart parking lot.
Thanks Ron!
6 stars for 3 categories, divided by 3 = 2 stars. I really don’t give many 1 or 2 star reviews. You can click on my profile and see that.
During the attempted repair, Ron mentioned that he hated working, and tried not to work more than 4 hours a day. In retrospect, why would you say that in front of someone you are charging $ 80/​hr to fix their scooter? I make about $ 15/​hr. and $ 180 represents about 14 hours of work for me. Lost in 45 minutes.
What a terrible experience.