Central Ky Motorsports — Local services in Lexington

If this review was based solely on the buying experience it would have been a 4 or 5 star review. The true nightmare with this unethical greedy business began a few weeks after purchase. They are very courteous and pleasant when making a sale and taking your money. But the customer focused business model ends there.

I am a 55 year old retired Army First Sergeant who arrived in Kentucky in early January to start work at Baptist Hospital here in Lexington as a traveling Radiology Tech. Renting a house only 2 miles from the hospital I thought an inexpensive motor scooter would make for a good commuting solution. Found Central Kentucky Motorsports on a local google search. Visited their showroom and found a $1700 TaoTao Pilot 150cc motor scooter that I thought would work well. Made the purchase that day and had a pleasant buying experience. Also purchased a moderately priced helmet (very glad I did) and riding gloves. The bike was fully assembled and the only thing I did was put gasoline in the tank. I made no modifications or attempted any mechanical services. The bike ran well, and I was very pleased with how it handled. I made 4 round trips to the hospital over the next week and a half pulling the bike into the same fourth level parking garage parking spot to the left at the top of the ramp. On my 5th trip at 7:30 AM I arrived at the fourth-floor parking garage and all the parking spots to the left were full. Traveling at 5 mph or less I turned the bike to make a hard right to enter an inner deck parking spot and the bike jumped to full throttle with no input from me. I was accelerated into the concrete parking deck wall at an unknown high rate of speed. I went headfirst into the wall and was rendered unconscious and suffered a concussion, broken left big toe, nerve and ligament damage to my right hand.

I approached Central Kentucky Motorsports about the bike malfunction in the hope they could find the source of the fault and replace the bike or refund the purchase. There are only two possible options to what happened that morning either operator error or the bike malfunctioned. I contacted hospital security after I was released to see if they have security cameras on the fourth floor of the parking deck and they said they did not. For an operator error it would mean I was either inexperienced (I have 40+ years' experience riding motorcycles and dirt bikes), intoxicated (I don't drink and it was 7:30 AM and I was arriving for my hospital shift) (also the hospital ran a blood screen for drugs/alcohol as part of protocol) or I was reckless (I was driving at a very slow rate of speed). I am 100% certain that the bike malfunctioned. I just do not know the origin or cause of the malfunction. The person at Central Kentucky Motorsports that I sat down and spoke with about the bike was the day manager Logan. He seemed to be listening to everything I was telling him about the incident. I provided him copies of the police report on the accident, showed him the medical records for my stay and brought the bike to the service department to have them inspect it for the cause of the malfunction. I left the bike with them and Logan told me that he would contact me after he spoke with the owners on how they would address the issue.

Logan called me a few days later and said that he had huddled with the other managers and owners, and they had decided that there was no way to prove that the bike malfunctioned or that what I was telling them was the truth. They offered me an employee discount on a new purchase. This was beyond offensive to me, first that I was basically being accused of lying when I was nothing but honest from the start. I was never attempting to secure any form of payment for my injuries or lost work time although I felt I was 100% entitled to from a product liability standpoint. I believe their motives are even worse than that. I think they did believe me but that I had no way to prove that the bike malfunctioned. They have no morals and burned me for a...

I've tried giving this company a chance of redemption, but owners don't appear to want to respond, let alone resolve. Bought a chain from here, service installed than they drove it in parking lot and immediately broke the clutch push rod. Mechanic said I was lucky I was still alive, that it was a bout to break, but I didn't trust them. While I was sitting and waiting, I got worried cause I overheard them making up previous mistakes to a customer. So I get a uber, hotel, and rental to drive back home to TN. Than I spent gas money driving back and forth with truck and trailer getting her back home. I didn't even ask for reimbursement for these, just labor and parts, and almost two weeks later I'm still feeling pushed aside from owners. Christie has been very responsive and I appreciate her efforts. Tyler and Nolan were also kind and helpful during conundrum.

It took almost two weeks to get parts, but in hindsight I should of messed with bike sooner. Mechanic had installed chain without sizing it up. Chain was two links too long and even with axle all the way back, the chain was visibly too loose. It's baffling that you pay $125 an hour for mechanic work and they don't even know how to install a chain properly. When I called, the mechanic said he thought it was tight enough. You are supposed to use a tool to measure the slack in the chain, based off the bike. This clearly wasn't done and the bike should of never been driven with that loose of a chain. Your "mechanic" broke my motorcycle, and I don't believe he was naive to the fact because looking back, he was being super nice telling me he'll give me discount on labor and that I can pitch my hammock underneath stairs. It was undoubtedly the actions of someone who was guilty.

Updated: Fifteen minutes after posting review, I had received a call from Christie and than immediately a call from Drew, who I assume is a owner. Talking with Drew was almost as frustrating as paying for a obvious non certified mechanic. He tried to blame his unresponsiveness on his employees, but I have more faith in Christie forwarding my emails than him actually caring a bout me and all the stress and inconvenience his dealership brought. After his "investigation" all he talked a bout was the review. He didn't comprehend that installing the chain with the axle all the way back meant his mechanic had no right to be touching my motorcycle. There was no admittance to fault, no apology and didn't pay for all expenses (uber, rental, gas). His reasoning to not pay for those expenses is I could of stayed the night and they fix it the next day when the parts had at least a five day wait to be shipped. When picking up motorcycle to take back home, the mechanic tried talking me into gerryrigging it, which was a horrible idea and I hope the owner of the dealership wasnt suggesting that was the right move.

Thanks for at least paying for a little over half the cost (~$350 for parts and reimbursement) but considering I literally asked you to stop talking a bout the review, and you continued to do so, you will also continue to have one star. Mechanics not knowing how to do a simple chain swap is NOTHING to be proudful. You didn't even ask for receipts, you just rushed to "solve" the issue when all you did was add wood to the fire. We both know I wasn't ever coming back, but now I will speak the truth anytime I hear your name. Such a shame cause your staff in whole were super kind and friendly, and if they happen to not tell you of the issue, I understand why cause Good Lord.. You need work on your...

My fiance called me and asked if I could pick up a tire for his bike. He said it was a 140/90 15 on sale for $95, but to ask if they had a 150/90, if it wasnt much more. When I walked in an asked for the guy, he said I have the 150/90 for him. I was confused but said, "ok, he said he would prefer a 150/90 if it wasn't much more". The worker stated, "yeah it's just a few dollars more", but never told me how much. I then asked if he had a spoon set and rim protectors to change the tire. Worker said they didn't have rim protectors but they had spoons. When I asked how much they were, he said Worker said they're right over there, I'll grab it for you, but never answered how much. He then grabbed what I thought were spoons, and some other pieces, and said "and I always like to use this too for the rounded part." He didn't tell me that additional piece, that I did not ask for was $20.99. My total ended up being $130+ so I was a bit shocke, especially sincw I asked how much the sppons wefe but wasnt answered. I get home and my fiance is pissed bc what they gave me wouldn't work to get a tire off the rim. It was just 2 cheap metal sticks, and the extra bar I didn't ask for. So he ends up calling and asking if they can change the tire. He carried the tire on the rim and the new tires in, as well as the tools to get a refund since they weren't what we asked for and wouldn't work. He was told that they wouldn't give a refund for the tools the guy rang up, without me ever touching or asking for the one. He never asked how much the they would charge to have the tire put it on, ite normally $30, but while He's waiting for the tire to be changed, a guy suddenly comes and says that he needs a new tube even though the tube was brand new, literally, has onlt been a handful of months. They said it would be $20 for the tube and $2 for the rim band, so he just said ok. They finally get it done and suddenly the bill is $79+!! Apparently, they had to use a more expensive tube and didn't say anything. They charged $29 for the tube, $4 for the rim band 9.00 for shop supplies, and $1 chemical fee then $31.99 for labor. This is absolutely ridiculous. A tire that was supposed to be on sale for $95 turned into $220!! He doesn't know for sure but he's pretty certain that they'll guy busted his tube, bc the tire said tubeless, so he probably wasn't worried ans just went to jerk it off, bc why else would he need a new tube after 3 months?? Regardless, it's absolutely dishonest business to not tell people the price, even when they asked, give someone something they never asked for, then refuse to take the tools back when they obviously wouldn't work. From reading other reviews (which I see the owner then attacked the customer for posting), it just makes it clear that this isn't an honest business, and definitely not one my family...