Man, I feel your pain. It really just comes down to the old saying: you get exactly what you pay for. With Vivi, you are paying dirt-cheap prices purely for the hardware itself, and for the vast majority of people, the bikes arrive totally fine and are actually pretty solid little entry-level cruisers for 400 bucks. But the tradeoff for that super low price is that if you happen to be the unlucky 1% who gets a dud battery out of the box, their overseas support is going to be a nightmare to deal with. That's why Lectric costs double—you're literally just pre-paying for the guarantee that an American support team will instantly mail you a new part if something breaks. If someone is on a super tight budget, a Vivi is honestly still a decent starter bike to get into the hobby, but if you want total peace of mind for your first ride, you're 100% right that paying up for Lectric is the way to go.