NEEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - Parents everywhere have been trying to find ways to keep their children busy during the COVID-19 pandemic, while also maintaining their own sanity.
Laure DeVries says just finding some peace and quiet in her house is hard. “Trying to find your corner of the house!” while on the phone is one of the most difficult parts, she says.
To keep life rolling smoothly for her family, Laurie purchased an electric scooter for her son Jack so he could visit his friends in their Needham neighborhood. She didn’t realize the big kid in the house would end up wanting one too!
“[I] started riding [Jack’s] around,” says Laurie’s husband Lee. “[I] said, you know this could actually work for me to get me to the train and get in to my work in Boston.”
Laurie decided a scooter would be the perfect gift for her husband. He loved the color blue, so she went online and found one sold by Unagi.
“[They] had good reviews for both the scooter as well as customer service,” Lee says.
She placed the order in early May. It wasn’t cheap. Laurie paid about $800 for the blue scooter, but it was exactly what she wanted for her husband.
“I was not expecting to get a scooter,” Lee says.
Their daughter Dakota liked it too. As soon as the scooter arrived, she jumped on to go for a ride. That’s when the family noticed a problem.
“It was loose to begin with,” Laurie says. “The whole steering column didn’t feel as tight and secure and the wheel was a little loose.”
As Dakota kept riding, the problem got worse.
“We realized you can’t ride this,” Laurie says. “It was way too loose.”
The next day, Laurie emailed Unagi about the wobbly wheel. The company asked for video of what was wrong. Laurie sent along video and pictures.
“They said, ‘Yep, we will replace it,'” she says.
Just one problem: the blue scooter was back ordered. They did have red ones available, so Laurie agreed to the color swap. But when the scooter didn’t arrive as planned, she reached back out to Unagi.
“They just kept sending me updates,” she says. “[They said], ‘We’ll get back to you, it’s not ready yet.’ I was pretty patient until around mid June.”
The calendar flipped from June to July and still no delivery. Laurie says the company told her now the red scooter was backlogged too.
“After two months, I was getting frustrated,” she says.
With summer winding down, Laurie called Solve It 7 for help.
We contacted Unagi and told them about Laurie’s missing scooter situation. The director of customer service promised to make things right and she did. She immediately offered a full refund and sent the DeVrie’s a brand new scooter.
“I was shocked!” says Laurie. “I don’t know what you said to them, but whatever you said got a response and got a quick response.”
Now this Needham family is back riding in style.
If you need help with a problem you can’t solve on your own, scoot on over to your computer and send us an email to SolveIt7@WHDH.com or give us a call at 617-367-7777.
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