My journey so far in getting a new V11

[MrEUCMan]

Hi Folks, new member here. I like to share with you all my V11 buying experience so far. I am hoping that this is useful for you all. I’ll keep this updated as I make progress.

I decided on August 27 to buy a new V11 from Amazon. The wheel arrived in a few days in a brown box, with the official Inmotion box inside (double boxed). The wheel was brand new, and I plugged it in to charge it. While charging, I was able to connect to it via the app. I ran diagnostics, all ok. I noticed the wheel was not in transport mode, which was weird. I checked the about screen, batteries are good and total miles = 0. So far so good!

After the charger turned green, I pumped up the tires and suspension and pressed the power button. Nothing. The wheel won’t turn on. So I plugged it back in, the wheels was able to connect to my phone, ran another diagnostic, over voltage warning.

Contacted Inmotion via Amazon and was able to work with their engineers to remotely calibrate my voltmeter. Afterwards, the diagnostics showed all ok again. However, the wheel still won’t power up when unplugged. The engineer on the chat suggested I roll the wheel back and forth, which I did, and magically the wheel was powered up! I was so happy, I went riding for almost 20 miles!

when I got back home, I powered off the wheel, and went to sleep.  Next day, the wheel won’t power up again. Here is a video: 

 

 

And, we have another problem. The box that the wheel came in had a giant hole on it.  I did double check to make sure the wheel wasn’t damaged. But, I was out of a box. So inmotion and I agreed that I should purchase another wheel from Amazon, then use the box from the new wheel to return the original. So I did. 
 

second V11, ordered on on August 31, arrived today. I immediately noticed the box didn’t have a outer brown shipping box, it was just the inmotion box. I opened it. There was a scratched (multiple palces) wheel, head light was scuffed up, and the ac adapter was just hanging by the wheel. There was no pump, tools, nothing. I connected to the wheel, 57 miles on the odometer.  Amazon had just sent me a second, broken, and used wheel. 
 

so here is where our journey is at. I am going to return the new wheel to Amazon. Inmotion is going to send me a box to send back my original wheel. I am out over $5000 and with nothing to ride. We will see how this goes. 

[MrEUCMan]

Difference in boxes between first and second wheels, both from Amazon:

 

Condition of the second wheel:

[meepmeepmayer]

What Amazon seller? You will get your money back, right?

People automatically buy stuff on Amazon, but I think for EUCs a dedicated dealer really is much better.

[Robse]

well... there is a lot of good money earned in fixing all the stuff (computers, gadgets, pev.... )  people buy cheap on Amazon and Ali  - for sure   but sad story for @MrEUCMan

[mhpr262]

To be fair it can go the other way too... I bought a "used"/"returned" V11 from amazon where somebody had refused to accept the delivery because of a pretty badly damaged outer box (the brown cardboard one). The inner box was undamaged, the wheel brand new and flawless, and i bought it for 1.683€. I recently noticed that the original Inmotion pump couldnt fill the upper chambers, so I contacted amazon, got 10% off the price and bought a 30€ Topeak shock pump which worked perfectly. So all in all I paid 1.550€ for a brand new V11, I cant complain! Still working great after 5.000 kilometers.

Edited September 6, 2022 by mhpr262

[MrEUCMan]

Some updates. The second wheel went back to Amazon today. Refund should be pending. I would never buy an EUC from Amazon again, will stick with ewheels. Lesson learned.

 

The first wheel is still broken. I noticed that if you shake it violently sometimes it would turn on. Yes, I’m trying to see if I can just go for a damn ride. After some careful thinking, decided to ride it at 10mph with full gear on, anticipating a cut off at any time. Made it back home. Feel alive. Powered down the wheel. Surprise, it won’t power on again. Too tired to shake it violently. 
 

Heard back from inmotion. They confirmed with Amazon that the second wheel was shipped to me by mistake, they shouldn’t have sent a broken used one I suppose. Inmotion will ship me a brand new wheel, then I’ll use the box to ship my first wheel back. They offered a $300 refund, which is fine. To be honest, I just want to go riding on a smooth V11. Waiting for a shipping confirmation now. 

[MrEUCMan]

Got an email from Inmotion last night. It had a fedex sticker on it. And the email said, please use the sticker to send the wheel back.

OK ... did they forget about the new wheel?  Did they not remember that the box for the first wheel literally disintegrated as it was being unloaded from the Amazon truck?

I asked about the new wheel, and looks like they reverted their decision. Now they are asking me to buy my own new box and shipping materials, and get to the nearest FedEx office (for me this is about a 45min drive) and ship the wheel back. With the promise of sending me a new wheel when they have received it, along with a (not yet received) $300 refund.

So, let's get this straight.

- I am currently about $5000 out of pocket.

- I have a broken wheel that I must shake violently to turn on.

- I have a used and broken wheel that's on its way back to Amazon, pending refund.

And they want me to send them my broken wheel, in hopes that they will send me something back. After all this promise of new wheel and refund being not honored?

I don't think so Inmotion.

edit:  I work 5 days out of the week, 8am to 8pm daily. Saturdays I have family (school) commitments. Getting to a fedex 45 minutes away is super painful for me, as it means hours out of work or skipping important classes.

Edited September 8, 2022 by MrEUCMan

[meepmeepmayer]

I think they are just trying to stick to their usual procedure. Write to them again, telling them explicitly what you expect of them.

If that does not work, you can give them a link to this thread and escalate, I guess.

Is this the official Inmotion selling on Amazon?

[MrEUCMan]

Yup, this is official inmotion selling on amazon. I just wrote this to them:

-----

I want you to know that I'm sharing this experience online here: https://forum.electricunicycle.org/topic/29932-my-journey-so-far-in-getting-a-new-v11/

 

here's what I want.

 

1. Send me a new wheel immediately.

2. Once I receive the new wheel and verify that it works, I'll use the box to send back the old wheel.

 

I need your confirmation by latest tomorrow morning my time. If you can't confirm the above, then I don't need your service anymore.

 

-----

 

If they don't agree, I'll continue to document me troubleshooting, buying replacement parts, etc. on this forum. To share my pain and experience.

Edited September 8, 2022 by MrEUCMan

[meepmeepmayer]

So far they've done nothing bad, just given standard replies. I have some hopes that if you tell them what you expect, they might be receptive.

[MrEUCMan]

They responded, new wheel should be on the way.  Will keep this updated  

 

Hi,

We will now send you new replacements, after you receive our new product, please put the old product back in the box of the new product and send to us.

After we receive your returned old product, $300 will be refunded to your paypal account.

The tracking number for the new product will be sent to you later.

Thanks.

[UtahRider]

1 hour ago, MrEUCMan said:

They responded, new wheel should be on the way.  Will keep this updated  

 

Hi,

We will now send you new replacements, after you receive our new product, please put the old product back in the box of the new product and send to us.

After we receive your returned old product, $300 will be refunded to your paypal account.

The tracking number for the new product will be sent to you later.

Thanks.

Good job being persistent and right to the point telling them what you expect. Hopefully you get a nice new shiny working v11 soon and like you’ve already learned, buying thru a reputable dealer like EWheels will likely save a lot of ass pain. Good luck!

[meepmeepmayer]

Nice!

In the end, they did provide perfectly adequate customer service, even if the initial shipments were duds. Better than it originally sounded. Hopefully you'll finally ave a working V11.

[MrEUCMan]

Alright, here's the latest. Both Amazon and InMotion coming through for me on this one.

The second wheel, the one that arrived broken and used, Amazon will just refund me the entire amount. They don't even want the wheel back. I told them that the wheel has been received in their Phoenix warehouse, so they have it somewhere. I asked them to please mark it with a "DO NOT SELL" so that no one has to put up with a broken + used wheel.

InMotion is sending me a new wheel, it should be here on Tue. Once I have the new wheel, I'll verify that it works perfectly, then use the box and a shipping label they provided to ship the old / won't turn on wheel back. Hopefully, that would be the end of this.

I am very impressed by InMotion's service though. I know that they can't fix this immediately but ultimately they did what's right. I am keeping my V13 preorder with ewheels and looking forward to that. Sticking w/ InMotion for sure.

Edited September 12, 2022 by MrEUCMan

[Funky]

First mistake was ordering a wheel from Amazon..

Fingers crossed you don't get 3rd dud out of the box.   If i had those problems out of "new" wheel, that i just bought.. I would immediately return/refund it. And also ask for a exchange.

[MrEUCMan]

9 minutes ago, Funky said:

First mistake was ordering a wheel from Amazon..

Fingers crossed you don't get 3rd dud out of the box.   If i had those problems out of "new" wheel, that i just bought.. I would immediately return/refund it. And also ask for a exchange.

Agreed. Never ever ordering from Amazon again. I have a V10 and V10F from EWheels, will stick with them from now on.

[meepmeepmayer]

You don't want the V11 they send you now?

[MrEUCMan]

58 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said:

You don't want the V11 they send you now?

typo. I mean use the box to send the old / won't power on wheel back.

[meepmeepmayer]

2 hours ago, MrEUCMan said:

typo. I mean use the box to send the old / won't power on wheel back.

Then all is good I was worried for a second that the defective wheels had maybe soured you on the V11. And they did provide good service after all.

[MrEUCMan]

New wheel arrived today. There were some fedex delays but it’s completely understandable due to the forest fires around the state I live in. The new wheel works perfect. Glove or no glove, it just powers up. It’s charging now, after it gets to 100% and no over voltage error, then we can finally call this journey closed.

 

one thing I did notice. This new wheel came in transport mode. When I went to power it up, it says activate and won’t balance. It would only balance after I activated it and disabled transport mode. 
 

the old wheel was not in transport mode when I opened. It balanced right away. I remember because I jumped on immediately to test out that sweet suspension.

finally, we have to give InMotion credit for taking extra steps to take care of their customers. This new replacement wheel was sent to me free of charge. I did learn a lesson though, just tell them what you want in clear steps. They will take care of you. Lastly, I changed my Sherman max down payment with ewheels to the InMotion challenger. Looking forward to it!!

Edited September 15, 2022 by MrEUCMan

[MrEUCMan]

Hi Folks, last update on this journey. The new wheel completed charging and was able to power up correctly. The ride is amazing as always. I'll post another thread just to review my impressions of the V11 so far. Also, the broken wheel was dropped off at FedEx this morning, so it's on the way back to InMotion. I hope they can find out what the heck happened to that button, where it suddenly became touch sensitive!

As for Amazon ...

Never. ever. NEVER EVER. NEEEVER EVER. Buy an EUC from Amazon. They will ship it with the same level of attention as a toothbrush. They don't care what they picked up, it can be a bag of bricks for all they care, they will then proceed with dropping that hot bag of bricks right in your front door without a care. Want your EUC damaged on arrival?  Use Amazon!  Want a used and broken EUC?  Use Amazon!  Want to spend more time dealing w/ a broken EUC and ride it?  Use Amazon!

Thank to all for the great advise, especially the one around just telling InMotion what I needed. That was super useful!

[Zogly]

Thanks for this post. Amazon has a big "Prime early access" sale on right now, and the V11 has come down almost to my desired price range for a 1st wheel. I was a bit dubious about getting it from amazon, but it was going to be a lot less stress to have it shipped to me than trying to meet someone with a used wheel, make sure it's ok and legit, etc. After reading this, I think I'll continue looking for used wheels/a good sale through a legit dealer instead.