Unfortunate News...

[Florida Ever-Glides]

Every TV news station in Tampa and Sarasota covered the recall on the 5:00 and 6:00 news. All of the coverage was negative and talked about the recall, dissappointing sales, and the fact that the Tampa Post Office was no longer using any of their 40 Segways. They had pulled them from use a while ago. One station even went so far as to compare the Segway to a pogo stick, saying that the pogo stick was better (the newscaster was shown bouncing around on the pogo stick).

There was no mention of Segway's proactive safety record or mention of the new i2. They did however interview the 'local' Segway tour operator in St. Petersburg, FL who was not coached how to react to the media questions. He did his best. I talked to him earlier in the day.

Those of us in the business will be answering questions about this recall for some time to come, as some of us did during the battery recall several years ago.

Short term: A few customer quires and comments. Littlel or no business loss.

Long term: A safer more reliable Segway PT.

[Brooster]

...and wondered how this recall will affect the tour operators who depend upon their Seg fleets for their bread and butter.

Will people stay away from Seg tours? Will it cost you more to proactively "advertise" that your fleet is upgraded in order to maintain your market? Or perhaps people just won't care (which I suspect may be the case) ...

I guess the biggest question for tour operators right now, is "how quickly can I get my entire fleet upgraded?" That could a challenge for some, depending upon location.

[S-Tip]

I am really out of the loop. What is the recall? Is it on all models? One of my students who knows I ride a Segway mentioned it, but I don't know anything else about it. S-Tip. (Haven't been around for awhile. I'm teaching 6 classes with no planning, so I'm putting in a lot of extra hours at work.)

[Sal]

S-Tip, take a peek, if you have not already:

http://forums.segwaychat.com/showthread.php?t=13362

Please do call INC to schedule either shipping or get a location for a dealer near you (machine dependent / location dependent).

-Sal

[Florida Ever-Glides]

Broo,

All of my units will be upgraded on Saturday thanks to the dilligence and concern by Segway Inc. for Segway related businesses. I couldn't have asked for any more. Corp. called me directly by 9am to get me upgraded ASAP. They are to be applauded for this quick action twards a 'non dealer'.

I survived the last battery recall without 'missing a heartbeat'. I am lucky that my business is 'very well established' and has a fine reputation. Certainly, I will be fielding many questions, but I don't think the news will have any negative impact. Fortunately September is our 'slowest' month of the year, so the timing couldn't have been better for us. I feel for those who are at the peak of business now, the recall could have a worse impact.

I hope that all other Segway businesses, dealers and independents, can all come out of this 'bump in the road' without a bruise...

[Brooster]

Broo,

All of my units will be upgraded on Saturday thanks to the dilligence and concern by Segway Inc. for Segway related businesses. I couldn't have asked for any more. Corp. called me directly by 9am to get me upgraded ASAP. They are to be applauded for this quick action towards a 'non dealer'.


Excellent, Tom. That's the service and attention to detail that Segway should be all about, and it makes me happy to hear that they're all over it. It sounds not only like this recall was well contemplated in advance, but like there probably are more than a few people putting in a bit of overtime on this project.

That's the way it was with the first recall, with Segway employees busting their butts to fly all around the US setting up "recall centers" in hotels. Our friend Eric Olson (no longer with the firm) did an awesome job in Chicago. The X-Man will back me up on that assessment.

Thanks,
Broo

[sholloway]

they're working QUICKLY to get the tour operators handled. My first visit Monday is to the tour in Atlanta to upgrade their 20 machines. My client running the tour in Asheville will be upgraded by a Segway tech tomorrow by noon. They are showing a great deal of attention to the tour operators and I'm thrilled they're doing so.

[Tarkus]

they're working QUICKLY to get the tour operators handled. My first visit Monday is to the tour in Atlanta to upgrade their 20 machines. My client running the tour in Asheville will be upgraded by a Segway tech tomorrow by noon. They are showing a great deal of attention to the tour operators and I'm thrilled they're doing so.

No question they are moving fast. My units will be done in days, although I'll need to take a ride to get there.

But it's still as shot in INC's foot, Period.

Introduce the "Next Generation" one week and recall a month later is never good for public perception.

Regards,
Alan

[sholloway]

I don't think I implied it is a good thing. I absolutely agree it's not a good thing. It'll very interesting for me because I'm about to meet a BUNCH of segway owners that didn't buy from me. The chit chat during the few minutes it takes to upgrade should be fun! Pure speculation but... I bet there are quite a few companies that might have found such an obscure situation and decided not to do a recall at all. How many people died with firestone tires on fords before they finally were forced to do something? For me, i'm "Probably" the anal type that would have gone for the recall as well but it may have been easy to talk me out of it. I'm glad segway is anal about their safety.

[Tarkus]

I don't think I implied it is a good thing. I absolutely agree it's not a good thing. It'll very interesting for me because I'm about to meet a BUNCH of segway owners that didn't buy from me. The chit chat during the few minutes it takes to upgrade should be fun! Pure speculation but... I bet there are quite a few companies that might have found such an obscure situation and decided not to do a recall at all. How many people died with firestone tires on fords before they finally were forced to do something? For me, i'm "Probably" the anal type that would have gone for the recall as well but it may have been easy to talk me out of it. I'm glad segway is anal about their safety.

No question Scott I agree. Recalls are part of production.

The only reason I'm upgrading is for resale. The odds of me being able to cause that failure are slim to none.

The company just seems a bit "snake bit"

Regards,
Alan

[Florida Ever-Glides]

It took Segway three months to do the battery recall upgrades several years ago. They have sure come a long way since then...

[ElectraGlide]

Riding a Segway is still safer than eating spinach !!