Report on our recent trip and review on Apple Scooter

[bafleyanne]

We were at WDW Nov 9-17 and had a great time! We stayed at CBR and got both our room requests (first floor and refurbed room). I was a little nervous about our scooter rental with Apple after reading some recent experiences but personally, I could not have been happier with them. We arrived at our resort around 8:30 am and the scooter had already been dropped at Bell Services for us. It took a little trial and error to get it into the car since I don't normally use one, but we got it figured out and headed off to Epcot. We were doing Food and Wine that day and got about 1/3 of the way around World Showcase before noticing the battery appeared to be dying. We had been in the park about 2 hours at that point. I called Apple and they immediately answered and sent someone out with a new battery for me within half an hour. I was really impressed with their service--they brought a completely new scooter in just in case they needed to replace the whole thing.

We spend long hours in the parks and I knew I'd be pushing the scooter to its limit! One day we were in MK from morning EMH until about 11:30 pm and that day I did do a little topping off so the battery would last. Our last day in the parks we again had battery issues and on this day we left the charger in the car, so we called Apple and they brought new batteries within 20 minutes.

I can't emphasize enough how much better this trip was than our last for me pain wise. I could do things like help my son with Sorcerors of the Magic Kingdom where normally I'd never be able to do that much walking. And it was so nice to arrive back at the hotel in the evenings with a little energy left. (Good thing, because my poor husband was always exhausted!) I think this was a great choice for me. Thanks to everyone here for being so patient with all my questions and concerns.

 

[Bete]

Sounds like your trip went pretty good.

I still think it's disappointing about the battery problem with the Apple scooter. I don't want to spend my time waiting on Apple to do the right thing. I have heard so many complaints about the batteries from Apple. We ran into the same problem last time we went two years ago.

 

[dawnhaze]

I had the same issue on my last trip with Apple - they replaced the battery ASAP, but it's still annoying that this appears to be an ongoing thing for them. They really should do a full refurbishment of their entire fleet of equipment and replace anything that doesn't meet certain performance standards under testing. It seems like a lot of their scooters and batteries are just worn out.

 

[bafleyanne]

I had the same issue on my last trip with Apple - they replaced the battery ASAP, but it's still annoying that this appears to be an ongoing thing for them. They really should do a full refurbishment of their entire fleet of equipment and replace anything that doesn't meet certain performance standards under testing. It seems like a lot of their scooters and batteries are just worn out.

I will say my scooter was not in great shape...had a good number of dings and scrapes around the bottom. Still it was ok for what I needed it for. Unsure whether I would rent from them again in the future, but they were very responsive to the issues I had this time.

 

[dawnhaze]

I will say my scooter was not in great shape...had a good number of dings and scrapes around the bottom. Still it was ok for what I needed it for. Unsure whether I would rent from them again in the future, but they were very responsive to the issues I had this time.

Both times I've rented from them, I got a dinged up scooter that looked awful. I don't mind that either though - the first time (October of last year) my battery was perfect, and I remember commenting to a bus driver that I didn't mind that it looked terrible because it ran great! The second time (this past August) was when I had battery problems.

I'll rent from them again when I need to, because they did address the problems in a timely manner for me, just like they did for you, and I think that's worth something. I just think it's kind of disappointing that they can't/won't test and replace the underperforming batteries.

 

[ttintagel]

We were much happier with Apple than with Walker. We had the exact same battery trouble with both companies, but at least Apple actually made the effort to come out and make it right. Walker never answered the phone when we called, leaving us stranded in the parks to shift for ourselves as best we could. They only brought us new equipment the next day after getting the multiple voice mails we left. I asked guest Services in the MK there was anything they could do to help me and they *literally* laughed in my face. They said they could call me a taxi, but I'd have to get out even further past the bus stops to catch it. I had to "steal" a rickety manual park wheelchair from the Magic Kingdom and slowly propel it with my one good foot to get it to the bus stop; it took me nearly an hour of pain. And Walker didn't even call us to let us know they had replaced the broken ECV; we just happened to spot the new one with our party's name on it when we passed Bell Services at our resort.

The only thing that ever stopped Apple from getting to us immediately was a Magic Kingdom parade, and they kept calling us with updates and apologies.

 

[JoeyAnyc]

Thank you for sharing your experience. As of yesterday, I torn my achilles tendon. So I'm searching DISers reviews on scooters, being that my trip is next week. Apple sounds like they have great recovery service, although I hope not to need it

Very helpful. Thank you.