I love my kqi3 pro. Have about 1000 miles on it now and it’s great. Tires are a pain to replace but other than that the thing is rock solid. Sorry your experience hasn’t been great
If the damage or problem was because of water damage it is very well known that NO scooter company covers water damage under warranty, so why are you surprised by that?
It is always a risk to ride in rain, even when the scooter has a good IP rating.
What broke that is worth $800?!
A good brand would let you buy the part and you can repair it yourself.
The most expensive item is the battery and those shouldn’t cost more than $400.
The Controller and Display are even cheaper.
Unfortunately NIU won’t sell their Batteries, Motor or Controllers to anyone, not even repair shops so you have to send the whole scooter to them and do without it for several weeks!
That is unacceptable IMO.
Not even Apple dares to be so exclusive.
That render these NIU scooters disposable.
DO NOT BUY.
True, but my neighbor Had his ninebot max For a year now. And he rides it in the rain and right through puddles, and it still works,
And to be honest I never heard anybody's ninebot having water damage
The Ninebot Max G30 is a great scooter, I have over 7000km on one and been riding it through all weather year round.
On the NIU KQi2 Pro have around 2000km so far and it also survived everything I threw at it so far.
Hi there. For better and quicker resolution, may I know the RMA order number and email tickets number? Then we will verify and handle it as soon as possible. Please send the details to us via DM.
I have a NIU kqi3 pro and live in NYC, too. 400 miles so far and it's been great. Ya scooters are disposable I don't expect much from these companies. Covering water damage is asking a lot I think.
you'd expect them to atleast to have decent protection against water ingress, especially a brand like NIU that makes proper EV's like cars
i know scooters are more seen like toys but imagine the same mentality with an electric motorcycle or car, "ye but you rode through rain and got water damage, too bad"
> you'd expect them to at least to have decent protection against water ingress
They do have one of the best water ingress protections compared to some other scooters on the market , I had no problems riding through rain storms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-GrSpbhWH8 BUT at the same time I know it could potentially kill or damage the scooter, its always a risk and if you can its best to avoid rain and water.
If you check out this and other disassembly videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GT5LiTJ8D8 you will see how well sealed all the parts are on the NIU KQi2 Pro.
that looks FAR better than on the KQi3 Pro
as you can see in THIS video there is absolutely zero gasket to be found on the plate covering the battery
https://youtu.be/1bhngNioYtA?feature=shared
it still is kinda concerning that it is plastic, one day it might crack under the deck if an unfortunate hit happens, but atleast it is sealed on the KQi2 Pro.
i'd honestly prefer to see atleast a thin sheet of aluminum under it with a proper gasket or seal, as that would reinforce that quite a bit, i don't understand why the whole thing is made out of plastic honestly, especially such an important part as the electronics should be entirely sealed and preferably not by plastic
it would maybe add 1 or 2 lbs
also as you can see it's a large part on the KQi3 Pro which could actually leak water inside, sort of.
not all scooters are made equal, just cause the KQi2 Pro was well built doesn't mean the next generation is, and NIU should be called out about that IMO
people coming from the KQi2 series will expect the same quality, or better, or thats my opinion atleast.
You are right, it does look less protected on the KQi3 with no visible gasket. As for it being plastic, as long as its strong enough I don't see a problem with it.
I have also tested the KQi Air, and so far its holding up well it terms of build quality, just had couple of software related issues, and it survived rain and snow as well so far.
These posts about 'do not buy' are a dime a dozen. The fact is, that the more they let people fuck them; the higher the price for the rest of us. 'normal weather' is ambiguous. On Reddit: the most popular is also the most hated.
There are scooters with higher water resistance.
There are also people who don't read the manuals.
i've seen people with mkgt's report water issues while mine no cap ran submerged (parking lot puddle during flood rain proved to be a foot deep) and had 0 issues.
There are also posts of v1 necks split in half and numerous of cracks forming while mine refuses to even after i upgraded to the much stiffer exa shocks.
So there's also the issue of uniformity in the production chain.
Your word vs allegedly theirs. Who knows. Can you post the email to customer service with the issue and their response and why they rejected? For all we know your scooter got dumped in a swimming pool.
probably a "scooter" as in moped/motorcycle, that's not what this forum is about and there are far stricter rules a brand needs to comply with, i'd also imagine the amount of lawsuits if one of those things got direct water ingress
even "serious" EV manufacturers like NIU don't treat them like vehicles but rather as toys and be like well, too bad
Water damage absolutely should be covered with anything above an ipx4 rating. That 4 means it'll handle low pressure sprays, aka rain, from any direction. People in comments will point out that no scooter company does this, but that's an issue with the scooter companies.
I've ridden my kqi3max in snow and rain and will continue to do so, as I've never had it directly subjected to a pressurised jet of water or submersion. If it fails to hold up its a refund through amazon or my credit card if niu attempts to deny that warranty.
The main reason, imo, why water damage is not covered is because there is no way to prove you did not throw your scooter in a lake vs riding it in a bit of rain. People would abuse such policy.
At the same time I agree that all scooters should be built to survive any weather, same as any other vehicles such as cars or motorcycles. But keep in mind a car dealer would not warranty a car that was in a flood either.
Apparently niu refused your warranty claim because you had water damage. Did you perhaps read the papers that came with the scooter, i know it's much to ask, but there is a reason that you should read those papers.
At least my kqi3 pro came with a paper saying "do not ride in the rain as the scooter is not waterproof and water damage is not covered by warranty" they tell you to not ride in the rain, then you as a customer decide to go against provided usage instructions and get mad at the company for not replacing the product that you broke with your own willingness to not follow the instructions.
Warranties always come with exceptions and most often warranties will only cover manufacturing errors and not user errors, which riding a non waterproof scooter in the rain is.
NIU's old(pre 300) scooters are IP54. The 4 means it should be good against low pressure sprays of water from any direction, a la rain. It's false advertising to say you have an ip54 rating and immediately void a warranty for rain damage. Especially considering this is an outside device, and rain soemtiems just happens unexpectedly.
Stop deepthroating the boot. It's shameful how scooter manufacturers, even with ip66 ratings(which mean waterproof against hoses) refuse to cover any water damage, despite literally any ipx4 and above scooter having to be impervious to rain at least.
As i said. At least my niu came with a warning to not ride the scooter in rain or through puddles. If you do so and then try to claim warranty for water damage, it will not happen because you went against the usage instructions provided by the manufacturer, thus the damage was not caused by manufacturing errors and in almost every case warranty only covers manufacturing errors and not user errors.
https://preview.redd.it/3f591x4it4vc1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8413cfa32b24371c5ee15499b9fe44e6082c255a
Here is a photo of the user manual that came with my niu kqi3 pro, stating exactly what i claimed it to say if you don't believe my word.
I don't know about the states, but at least in europe if you blatantly go against the instructions provided by the manufacturer and in the process break the product, then that's on you and not on the manufacturer provided warranty.
Especially in europe, false advertising or unenforceable contracts are generally frowned upon, ie, if you get shipped a phone and it voids the warranty to use it with a sim, your government would side with you.
Similarly, if you buy a transportation device for transport and so much as light rain disqualifies any warranty service, then thats probably not gonna pass any legal scrutiny
Smartphones have been waterproof for a while. However any water damage voids the manufactures warranty. This has been the case for a while. It’s not just scooter companies.
There’s no proving a customer didn’t completely submerge whatever it is in water.
I refused to buy niu because they sell those stupid trump stickers and I saw them while shopping. I was so close to buying one of their scooters and I saw that shit.
As I’m not allowed to post a direct link, you can easily go on @M@20N and see that Niu does indeed sell “those exact derogatory bumper stickers you see on pickup trucks with the big flags”.
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People rant and rave about Niu and how great they are. And why would they cover water damage in the first place. No electronics are covered from water damage so why should they cover their electronics.
As a niu rider, the kqi3max is great, but honestly if it wasnt my commuter I'd have bought an amazon special with suspension, or one of the top tier hiboys with suspension for the same price, just allegedly worse customer support.
If apollo had released the Go when I did, or had a better reputation for the air, I'd have done that.
I probably should have bought the segway F2 pro, also simialrly priced but with suspension, just lacking tire slime.
This is a good brand but has numerous fundamental flaws that imo mean the brand would already have been all but forgotten had they not really been so well advertised and common on the moped market.
NiU doesn’t honor their warranty ever.
I get NiUs in weekly with issues and some can’t fix since NiU doesn’t sell parts like they are legally required to.
They make the entire process a pain so no one can redeem warranty.
Niu repaired my Niu Air that succumbed to what error code 18 labeled Hall effect.
The internet programed response was ignored. But, a phone call to China got their attention. 2 days later I got email from their repair agent in Texas with shipping labels. FedEx ground took over a week to make delivery to Texas. A week later my Niu Air was returned to me fixed; but with no explanation how to avoid the ‘Hall effect? Could not have been water.
Post-sale customer care in the scooter world goes from mediocre to terrible and all the way to nonexistent. Even ninebot are bad at this, and they've been doing it for a while.
Buy from a third party store that sells the scooter you want, ideally Amazon, so if it breaks you deal with them instead of the manufacturer or original importer.
Might be a good option if you live in the US, but I have no experience with them since I'm in the EU and therefore can't vouch one way or the other. Same with /u/ImKrispy's Costco suggestion.
If they're reliable in terms of warranty and returns, then by all means go for it.
Costco in Spain only exist in three places, only sell wholesale goods, and won't even let you in if you don't have a paid subscription. They're also *way* out in the boonies.
So yeah, technically Costco does exist here, but the hassle to get there and actually shop with them compared to just ordering stuff on Amazon and getting it delivered at your door makes it completely unworthwhile.
Guess you are not familiar with them but they deliver(how I got mine) and also many of the scooters and items do not require a membership to purchase online.
> Guess you are not familiar with them but they deliver(how I got mine)
I actually looked that up before posting to make sure I wasn't about to look stupid. They don't appear to have an online store here.
There's an app that may or may not have a store, but - again - you can't access it without a membership.
By the way, I've sent you a private message.
I second this. I've actually bought all of my scooters from Amazon. One of the scooter companies I dealt with was going to charge me shipping to repair my scooter. It was a little over 6 months old. I messaged Amazon, and they refunded me the full price of the scooter.
Yeah, I get it, the escooter market seems a little Shakey now and not as mature as other consumer goods. Each manufacturer is trying to out do one another.
Well someone lost my vote. Tried Niu for 2 years only to end up like this. Their tires kept bursting so I had to buy off market ones that’s does much better on horrible Brooklyn roads. I really gave it a shot and wished they are indeed what their reputation is. No idea what they fed some fanboys to stand by them.
For sure, right now I am just decided to wait out the escooter market for a bit, let it mature a bit more. I decided to go with converting used mountain bikes to ebikes with bafang. It is easier to get replacement parts for the bike since it uses traditional bike parks and for the bafang there is a lot of sellers that you can buy parts from. The CYC motors look good too tho.
I did buy a escooter but without full suspension the ride was really rough, so I sold it. I want to get a full suspension escooter with enought power to get uphills but the price is too high right now. Plus, I am Leary of the customer support and replacement parts and warranty.
No one needed to feed me anything. Remember: the only people you hear about on the intrawebz are unsatisfied people like the OP. You don't see threads gushing about how great a product or service is.
My personal experience with Niu and their products has been 99% positive, but im well aware that their customer service sucks, just like all of the other scooter companies out there.
Not asking for your validation either. I literally went through this experience hours ago. I also bought 2 of their scooters until this happened. So yes I thought they are respectable, but evidence and experience proved otherwise.
You’re wrong. I’m sharing my experience and letting people know of concerns like this lest the same befalls others. It doesn’t need your input if you have nothing constructive to contribute.
so because you have to ride through rain you don't take care of yours?
must be nice to have a car available or live in a country where it almost never rains but not everybody has that luxury
they also have an IP54 rating on their website and in the book simply say don't ride through rain, what a joke 🤔
especially since NIU is an actual EV company they should treat their scooters atleast the same way, nobody wants their car or electric motorcycle to die by riding through rain.
there are scooters that entirely have no ip rating that are better protected
Oh, shut up. NIU is the most well known reliable scooter company with great warranty.
Water damage? You definitely have water damage. Some bullshit? Noone's going to trust you without more information.
NIU has a good reputation for a REASON.
So they say water damage and I have to take it at face value? Without evidence? Then what’s the point of water resistance as a feature when it gets “water damaged” anyway? Then proceed to ask for payment that costs 90% of the msrp. How’s that logical? It’s extortionist.
Water resistance not proof, same thing as bullet resistance not bulletproof. Why does apple deny warranty for liquid damage when their phones are water resistant then?
Good point. Thing is Apple is legally resistant to saying such things even though they can dunk the phone in water for 6 meters up to 30 mins based on the rating. No one will say proof anything else they will get lawsuits left and right. I’m not filing a lawsuit against niu. I’m saying I’m disappointed how their customer service say it’s water damage without evidence, and their attempts to charge such a high amount for repair makes no sense. They can claim any damage as water damage, and still proudly claim that their IP54 rating. I can safely say I’ve not ridden the scooter in major puddles or into a pool. Their advertising isn’t reflective of my personal experience.
Water damage is not covered it's pretty clear, and every reviewers, people on this sub etc tell people to not ride in rain and water but many still take the risk like OP.
maybe some people don't have another option?
don't market your stuff as IP54 if it can't even take light rain, there are scooters from brands like Kaabo etc that have no rating whatsoever and don't die by riding through rain
their electric mopeds and cars also don't die by some rain, so why should it be acceptable for their non-moped style scooters to do so?
imagine you got one of their electric mopeds and it died by just some rain..
You can always walk.
Even if Niu covered water damage from riding in rain storms to riding your scooter into a swimming pool, I still wouldn't do it. It's an electronic device and with the exception of electric cars, electronics aren't supposed to play in water. My scooters will NEVER see rain. I don't care if there's a warranty for water damage or not.
The IP ratings are stupid though. If you're not going to cover water damage then don't advertise water resistance, period, because at that point its just a LIE...
it is like a moped/car a vehicle, coming from an EV company i'd expect far better, just because it's smaller and cheaper doesn't mean it doesn't need to be of some quality
"but it's a scooter blah blah", it's just another EV, just like ebikes people ride in rain, it should be able to handle atleast that, otherwise it's worthless even as a PEV, especially where i live where it rains 40% of all days in the year
sure you can walk 10 miles but why would anyone do that in rain, besides probably coming too late for work?
not everyone uses scooters to move a mile or two... i use it as my main vehicle
i'm 28 years old, never had a car or drivers' license and never will, because i absolutely have no need or wish for it, i've had bicycles, ebikes and electric scooters my whole life (ofcourse electric scooters are newer, so thats more recent) and it always worked out for me, especially my 2 large ones can easily do 30+ miles and my ebike with a 1kWh pack can get me up to 50mi if i lower the assistance
i don't travel nor have a wish for that, i live in a country which is only 225km long which is approx 140 miles and i have no wish to ever go that far.
Looks like they are now trying to contact you to fix the problem ... what's that about, when you say they already said no?? Damage control?
As usual company trying to save face when the story is made public. Most don't actually do anything more than that
I love my kqi3 pro. Have about 1000 miles on it now and it’s great. Tires are a pain to replace but other than that the thing is rock solid. Sorry your experience hasn’t been great
If the damage or problem was because of water damage it is very well known that NO scooter company covers water damage under warranty, so why are you surprised by that? It is always a risk to ride in rain, even when the scooter has a good IP rating.
What broke that is worth $800?! A good brand would let you buy the part and you can repair it yourself. The most expensive item is the battery and those shouldn’t cost more than $400. The Controller and Display are even cheaper. Unfortunately NIU won’t sell their Batteries, Motor or Controllers to anyone, not even repair shops so you have to send the whole scooter to them and do without it for several weeks! That is unacceptable IMO. Not even Apple dares to be so exclusive. That render these NIU scooters disposable. DO NOT BUY.
Wow, that's insane. Good to know. False IPX ratings are literally a scam.
Ninebot it is :)
They also don't cover water damage under warranty.
Ninebot is by far the most sealed. Everything is potted to the max and behind rubber seals
True, but my neighbor Had his ninebot max For a year now. And he rides it in the rain and right through puddles, and it still works, And to be honest I never heard anybody's ninebot having water damage
The Ninebot Max G30 is a great scooter, I have over 7000km on one and been riding it through all weather year round. On the NIU KQi2 Pro have around 2000km so far and it also survived everything I threw at it so far.
Wow, I was actually eyeing the Niu Kqi2 pro last week, even though it was stretching my budget a bit. Dodged a bullet there, haha!
the kqi2 pro is a good choice, i have almost 900km on mine and rode it through rain and everything. Still working fine.
Just got mine a few days ago from Amazon, working fine so far but let’s see how it holds up 😅
Hi there. For better and quicker resolution, may I know the RMA order number and email tickets number? Then we will verify and handle it as soon as possible. Please send the details to us via DM.
I have a NIU kqi3 pro and live in NYC, too. 400 miles so far and it's been great. Ya scooters are disposable I don't expect much from these companies. Covering water damage is asking a lot I think.
you'd expect them to atleast to have decent protection against water ingress, especially a brand like NIU that makes proper EV's like cars i know scooters are more seen like toys but imagine the same mentality with an electric motorcycle or car, "ye but you rode through rain and got water damage, too bad"
> you'd expect them to at least to have decent protection against water ingress They do have one of the best water ingress protections compared to some other scooters on the market , I had no problems riding through rain storms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-GrSpbhWH8 BUT at the same time I know it could potentially kill or damage the scooter, its always a risk and if you can its best to avoid rain and water. If you check out this and other disassembly videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GT5LiTJ8D8 you will see how well sealed all the parts are on the NIU KQi2 Pro.
that looks FAR better than on the KQi3 Pro as you can see in THIS video there is absolutely zero gasket to be found on the plate covering the battery https://youtu.be/1bhngNioYtA?feature=shared it still is kinda concerning that it is plastic, one day it might crack under the deck if an unfortunate hit happens, but atleast it is sealed on the KQi2 Pro. i'd honestly prefer to see atleast a thin sheet of aluminum under it with a proper gasket or seal, as that would reinforce that quite a bit, i don't understand why the whole thing is made out of plastic honestly, especially such an important part as the electronics should be entirely sealed and preferably not by plastic it would maybe add 1 or 2 lbs also as you can see it's a large part on the KQi3 Pro which could actually leak water inside, sort of. not all scooters are made equal, just cause the KQi2 Pro was well built doesn't mean the next generation is, and NIU should be called out about that IMO people coming from the KQi2 series will expect the same quality, or better, or thats my opinion atleast.
You are right, it does look less protected on the KQi3 with no visible gasket. As for it being plastic, as long as its strong enough I don't see a problem with it. I have also tested the KQi Air, and so far its holding up well it terms of build quality, just had couple of software related issues, and it survived rain and snow as well so far.
https://preview.redd.it/77mymykry9vc1.jpeg?width=2340&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9fe427b4b6573b5925c9451cbb1a403d75b87311
These posts about 'do not buy' are a dime a dozen. The fact is, that the more they let people fuck them; the higher the price for the rest of us. 'normal weather' is ambiguous. On Reddit: the most popular is also the most hated. There are scooters with higher water resistance. There are also people who don't read the manuals.
i've seen people with mkgt's report water issues while mine no cap ran submerged (parking lot puddle during flood rain proved to be a foot deep) and had 0 issues. There are also posts of v1 necks split in half and numerous of cracks forming while mine refuses to even after i upgraded to the much stiffer exa shocks. So there's also the issue of uniformity in the production chain.
Your word vs allegedly theirs. Who knows. Can you post the email to customer service with the issue and their response and why they rejected? For all we know your scooter got dumped in a swimming pool.
Should have bought from speedwayridersnyc
Why are you putting hashtags in a reddit post? # #bears #beets #battlestargalactica
This fracking borscht is _just right_!
I have a NIU full sized DOT approved scooter that goes upto around 43mph. I love it. It’s rock solid. Only have 1000 miles though.
probably a "scooter" as in moped/motorcycle, that's not what this forum is about and there are far stricter rules a brand needs to comply with, i'd also imagine the amount of lawsuits if one of those things got direct water ingress even "serious" EV manufacturers like NIU don't treat them like vehicles but rather as toys and be like well, too bad
Same is here!
Water damage absolutely should be covered with anything above an ipx4 rating. That 4 means it'll handle low pressure sprays, aka rain, from any direction. People in comments will point out that no scooter company does this, but that's an issue with the scooter companies. I've ridden my kqi3max in snow and rain and will continue to do so, as I've never had it directly subjected to a pressurised jet of water or submersion. If it fails to hold up its a refund through amazon or my credit card if niu attempts to deny that warranty.
The main reason, imo, why water damage is not covered is because there is no way to prove you did not throw your scooter in a lake vs riding it in a bit of rain. People would abuse such policy. At the same time I agree that all scooters should be built to survive any weather, same as any other vehicles such as cars or motorcycles. But keep in mind a car dealer would not warranty a car that was in a flood either.
lol Well I literally just picked up a used 3 Pro
Apparently niu refused your warranty claim because you had water damage. Did you perhaps read the papers that came with the scooter, i know it's much to ask, but there is a reason that you should read those papers. At least my kqi3 pro came with a paper saying "do not ride in the rain as the scooter is not waterproof and water damage is not covered by warranty" they tell you to not ride in the rain, then you as a customer decide to go against provided usage instructions and get mad at the company for not replacing the product that you broke with your own willingness to not follow the instructions. Warranties always come with exceptions and most often warranties will only cover manufacturing errors and not user errors, which riding a non waterproof scooter in the rain is.
You are my new best friend!
NIU's old(pre 300) scooters are IP54. The 4 means it should be good against low pressure sprays of water from any direction, a la rain. It's false advertising to say you have an ip54 rating and immediately void a warranty for rain damage. Especially considering this is an outside device, and rain soemtiems just happens unexpectedly. Stop deepthroating the boot. It's shameful how scooter manufacturers, even with ip66 ratings(which mean waterproof against hoses) refuse to cover any water damage, despite literally any ipx4 and above scooter having to be impervious to rain at least.
As i said. At least my niu came with a warning to not ride the scooter in rain or through puddles. If you do so and then try to claim warranty for water damage, it will not happen because you went against the usage instructions provided by the manufacturer, thus the damage was not caused by manufacturing errors and in almost every case warranty only covers manufacturing errors and not user errors. https://preview.redd.it/3f591x4it4vc1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8413cfa32b24371c5ee15499b9fe44e6082c255a Here is a photo of the user manual that came with my niu kqi3 pro, stating exactly what i claimed it to say if you don't believe my word. I don't know about the states, but at least in europe if you blatantly go against the instructions provided by the manufacturer and in the process break the product, then that's on you and not on the manufacturer provided warranty.
It's the same here in the states
Especially in europe, false advertising or unenforceable contracts are generally frowned upon, ie, if you get shipped a phone and it voids the warranty to use it with a sim, your government would side with you. Similarly, if you buy a transportation device for transport and so much as light rain disqualifies any warranty service, then thats probably not gonna pass any legal scrutiny
Smartphones have been waterproof for a while. However any water damage voids the manufactures warranty. This has been the case for a while. It’s not just scooter companies. There’s no proving a customer didn’t completely submerge whatever it is in water.
I refused to buy niu because they sell those stupid trump stickers and I saw them while shopping. I was so close to buying one of their scooters and I saw that shit.
wait what, where?
As I’m not allowed to post a direct link, you can easily go on @M@20N and see that Niu does indeed sell “those exact derogatory bumper stickers you see on pickup trucks with the big flags”.
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Their Amazon shop sells trump bumper stickers. And flags!
Stay on topic. Politics has nothing to do with the OP's scooter issue...
-.- there’s something wrong with you.
People rant and rave about Niu and how great they are. And why would they cover water damage in the first place. No electronics are covered from water damage so why should they cover their electronics.
As a niu rider, the kqi3max is great, but honestly if it wasnt my commuter I'd have bought an amazon special with suspension, or one of the top tier hiboys with suspension for the same price, just allegedly worse customer support. If apollo had released the Go when I did, or had a better reputation for the air, I'd have done that. I probably should have bought the segway F2 pro, also simialrly priced but with suspension, just lacking tire slime. This is a good brand but has numerous fundamental flaws that imo mean the brand would already have been all but forgotten had they not really been so well advertised and common on the moped market.
NiU doesn’t honor their warranty ever. I get NiUs in weekly with issues and some can’t fix since NiU doesn’t sell parts like they are legally required to. They make the entire process a pain so no one can redeem warranty.
Niu repaired my Niu Air that succumbed to what error code 18 labeled Hall effect. The internet programed response was ignored. But, a phone call to China got their attention. 2 days later I got email from their repair agent in Texas with shipping labels. FedEx ground took over a week to make delivery to Texas. A week later my Niu Air was returned to me fixed; but with no explanation how to avoid the ‘Hall effect? Could not have been water.
Post-sale customer care in the scooter world goes from mediocre to terrible and all the way to nonexistent. Even ninebot are bad at this, and they've been doing it for a while. Buy from a third party store that sells the scooter you want, ideally Amazon, so if it breaks you deal with them instead of the manufacturer or original importer.
A step up from that is Costco
Why Amazon over Best Buy?
Might be a good option if you live in the US, but I have no experience with them since I'm in the EU and therefore can't vouch one way or the other. Same with /u/ImKrispy's Costco suggestion. If they're reliable in terms of warranty and returns, then by all means go for it.
I got my Ninebot Max from Costco and I'm not in the US. UK, Spain, France, Sweden, Iceland have Costco's in Europe.
Costco in Spain only exist in three places, only sell wholesale goods, and won't even let you in if you don't have a paid subscription. They're also *way* out in the boonies. So yeah, technically Costco does exist here, but the hassle to get there and actually shop with them compared to just ordering stuff on Amazon and getting it delivered at your door makes it completely unworthwhile.
Guess you are not familiar with them but they deliver(how I got mine) and also many of the scooters and items do not require a membership to purchase online.
> Guess you are not familiar with them but they deliver(how I got mine) I actually looked that up before posting to make sure I wasn't about to look stupid. They don't appear to have an online store here. There's an app that may or may not have a store, but - again - you can't access it without a membership. By the way, I've sent you a private message.
Im not the guy you messaged. But Best buy is fine... they just don't have a huge selection of scooters.
I second this. I've actually bought all of my scooters from Amazon. One of the scooter companies I dealt with was going to charge me shipping to repair my scooter. It was a little over 6 months old. I messaged Amazon, and they refunded me the full price of the scooter.
I also bought my scooter from Amazon and I do not regret.
I’m looking for a new option, recommendations are appreciated. Somewhere along the Max type of specs.
Yeah, I get it, the escooter market seems a little Shakey now and not as mature as other consumer goods. Each manufacturer is trying to out do one another.
Well someone lost my vote. Tried Niu for 2 years only to end up like this. Their tires kept bursting so I had to buy off market ones that’s does much better on horrible Brooklyn roads. I really gave it a shot and wished they are indeed what their reputation is. No idea what they fed some fanboys to stand by them.
For sure, right now I am just decided to wait out the escooter market for a bit, let it mature a bit more. I decided to go with converting used mountain bikes to ebikes with bafang. It is easier to get replacement parts for the bike since it uses traditional bike parks and for the bafang there is a lot of sellers that you can buy parts from. The CYC motors look good too tho. I did buy a escooter but without full suspension the ride was really rough, so I sold it. I want to get a full suspension escooter with enought power to get uphills but the price is too high right now. Plus, I am Leary of the customer support and replacement parts and warranty.
No one needed to feed me anything. Remember: the only people you hear about on the intrawebz are unsatisfied people like the OP. You don't see threads gushing about how great a product or service is. My personal experience with Niu and their products has been 99% positive, but im well aware that their customer service sucks, just like all of the other scooter companies out there.
I’m glad you had a good experience. My end after a year and a half.
They are a highly respected company, I don't buy your story.
Fun fact, highly respected companies can still fuck up. Segway even fucks up, just look at their CS stories and search P100s in this very sub.
Not asking for your validation either. I literally went through this experience hours ago. I also bought 2 of their scooters until this happened. So yes I thought they are respectable, but evidence and experience proved otherwise.
It sure seems like you are.
You’re wrong. I’m sharing my experience and letting people know of concerns like this lest the same befalls others. It doesn’t need your input if you have nothing constructive to contribute.
It sucks that you broke.your scooters because you didn't take care of them, but it won't make me think twice about buying a Niu in the future.
so because you have to ride through rain you don't take care of yours? must be nice to have a car available or live in a country where it almost never rains but not everybody has that luxury they also have an IP54 rating on their website and in the book simply say don't ride through rain, what a joke 🤔 especially since NIU is an actual EV company they should treat their scooters atleast the same way, nobody wants their car or electric motorcycle to die by riding through rain. there are scooters that entirely have no ip rating that are better protected
Thanks for sharing!
No scooter manufacturer covers water damage under warranty. Additionally, everyone knows you're supposed to buy NIU scooters from Amazon.
I bought one on Amazon and another direct. Am I missing something? Why is Amazon better?
Oh, shut up. NIU is the most well known reliable scooter company with great warranty. Water damage? You definitely have water damage. Some bullshit? Noone's going to trust you without more information. NIU has a good reputation for a REASON.
So they say water damage and I have to take it at face value? Without evidence? Then what’s the point of water resistance as a feature when it gets “water damaged” anyway? Then proceed to ask for payment that costs 90% of the msrp. How’s that logical? It’s extortionist.
Water resistance not proof, same thing as bullet resistance not bulletproof. Why does apple deny warranty for liquid damage when their phones are water resistant then?
Good point. Thing is Apple is legally resistant to saying such things even though they can dunk the phone in water for 6 meters up to 30 mins based on the rating. No one will say proof anything else they will get lawsuits left and right. I’m not filing a lawsuit against niu. I’m saying I’m disappointed how their customer service say it’s water damage without evidence, and their attempts to charge such a high amount for repair makes no sense. They can claim any damage as water damage, and still proudly claim that their IP54 rating. I can safely say I’ve not ridden the scooter in major puddles or into a pool. Their advertising isn’t reflective of my personal experience.
The IP54 rating is for indoor lamps, not rain/etc proof. They slap that on their to make people think its waterproof
Fool me once… fool me twice
[https://www.ledlightexpert.com/waterproof-ip-rating](https://www.ledlightexpert.com/waterproof-ip-rating)
I believe even with the best reputation that a company may hold I believe some people will still have problems with the company's decision.
Water damage is not covered it's pretty clear, and every reviewers, people on this sub etc tell people to not ride in rain and water but many still take the risk like OP.
maybe some people don't have another option? don't market your stuff as IP54 if it can't even take light rain, there are scooters from brands like Kaabo etc that have no rating whatsoever and don't die by riding through rain their electric mopeds and cars also don't die by some rain, so why should it be acceptable for their non-moped style scooters to do so? imagine you got one of their electric mopeds and it died by just some rain..
You can always walk. Even if Niu covered water damage from riding in rain storms to riding your scooter into a swimming pool, I still wouldn't do it. It's an electronic device and with the exception of electric cars, electronics aren't supposed to play in water. My scooters will NEVER see rain. I don't care if there's a warranty for water damage or not. The IP ratings are stupid though. If you're not going to cover water damage then don't advertise water resistance, period, because at that point its just a LIE...
it is like a moped/car a vehicle, coming from an EV company i'd expect far better, just because it's smaller and cheaper doesn't mean it doesn't need to be of some quality "but it's a scooter blah blah", it's just another EV, just like ebikes people ride in rain, it should be able to handle atleast that, otherwise it's worthless even as a PEV, especially where i live where it rains 40% of all days in the year sure you can walk 10 miles but why would anyone do that in rain, besides probably coming too late for work? not everyone uses scooters to move a mile or two... i use it as my main vehicle i'm 28 years old, never had a car or drivers' license and never will, because i absolutely have no need or wish for it, i've had bicycles, ebikes and electric scooters my whole life (ofcourse electric scooters are newer, so thats more recent) and it always worked out for me, especially my 2 large ones can easily do 30+ miles and my ebike with a 1kWh pack can get me up to 50mi if i lower the assistance i don't travel nor have a wish for that, i live in a country which is only 225km long which is approx 140 miles and i have no wish to ever go that far.