Finally got my Vespa

I thought the worst was over. Apparently, I was wrong.

You can forgive me for being excited at finally taking delivery of the scooter I always dreamed of owning. A rude shock was in store for me. 

Here's what happened earlier today.

Firstly, the scooter was slightly faulty. I took it for its first ride home when I discovered the handlebar was veering slightly towards the left. Immediately, I called the dealership, and the manager asked me to return so that it could be fixed. The lock, too was tight and it refused to release the key. I then went along with a showroom staffer to the workshop, which was located at a Mahindra dealership, around a kilometer or so away. After being tended to (which included the mechanic violently banging the handlebar in the opposite direction to negate the left veer), the mechanic took a short test ride, and the scooter was ready, but on my way back to the showroom (with the staffer), the scooter stopped in the middle of the road. The petrol was over. 

I wasn't asked to bring petrol (to take possession of the bike). In fact, when I told the showroom manager where I lived, he said the scooter would reach the nearest petrol pump. Evidently, he didn't take into account that he was selling me what I believe to be a faulty scooter. After an agonizing wait in the middle of the Taleigao highway, during which I was too irritated to keep time (it was well over half an hour), a mechanic came with a 'little' petrol, put it into the scooter, and by little, I mean really little. The scooter didn't start anyway. After another annoying wait, during which hundreds of passers-by stared at me wondering what I was doing stranded with a brand new scooter and a showroom peon in that posh area, I tried calling the Vespa toll-free number. The person, who figured out I was already a Vespa owner and not a potential customer, told me to call another number for help. Certainly not the rather polite face of Vespa I encountered when I was still a potential buyer. 

After sometime, another mechanic came with more petrol, and after a little while, the scooter started. The mechanic then took it for a short test ride, at full speed, revving the engine, and sped back toward us before slamming the brakes and screeching to a halt. In my mind, I was 'What the fuck are you doing?!' Did that irreparably damage the engine? I don't know as of now. However, I was under the impression that scooters were supposed to be ridden gently, below 40-50kmph, for the few few hundred kilometres, a rule I always stick to on new vehicles. I will keep track of the engine performance and efficiency as I ride it. But I suspect my engine is already destroyed thanks to that incompetent mechanic.

Later, at the showroom, the manager told me that this was not his fault, and that 'these are machines, these things happen', after I angrily told him about my harrowing experience. I may have lost my cool a bit, like anyone else would, in my situation. His explanation, of course, is far from convincing, and I am beginning to regret buying the Vespa. Let's see how it goes. I clicked several pictures of the madness the dealership subjected to, and they're preserved for posterity, and will be used as evidence if I ever take Vespa to court. As of now, it looks very likely. But I will wait.

Nigel Britto,

Panjim, Goa.