If you are attending festivities in Key West Florida the week of Fantasy Fest and intend to rent a scooter while you are there, you might heed this warning first. Our experience at one merchant in particular - Sunshine Rental, on 1910 Roosevelt Avenue, was difficult for us to even believe after local merchants warned us because their story was seemingly so preposterous - until it happened.

We responded to their advertised 2-day $99 scooter rental. Out from behind the counter came a very lengthy contract with so many outlandish provisions (to steal your money) it appeared more like we were purchasing a home than renting a moped. It turns out their dilapidated machines are frought with electical problems of such severity that they are inoperable at night and the next morning the management flatly refused any redress of this problem. But our troubles were only beginning.

During encounters with some local merchants and residents during the day, we were warned to watch our credit card statement while dealing with Sunshine, the implication being that Sunshine Rental had been known to tack on hundreds of dollars in unexplained charges. Sure enough, the scooter disappeared that night, despite our having locked it with the cable lock they had provided - around a sturdy pole, no less. We went to the police about the matter and they could only tell us that scooters are stolen on the island all the time and the problem is especially rampant during Fantasy Fest. They also informed us that it is not the practice of the police to cut locks and confiscate scooters if they happen to be illegally parked, but only to ticket them. We noticed several scooters nearby where we had locked ours up had parking tickets from the police on their dash panels. We could only presume that ours had, in fact, been stolen.

I recalled the warnings earlier in the day from merchants to beware of Sunshine Rental and what they might do. I then remembered that I had seen a flatbed trailer being pulled down crowded streets by the local towing company and it was filled to capacity with mopeds, which I now recalled were all, or nearly all, bright yellow in color - Sunshine Rental yellow, to be precise. So, we made a call to Key West towing, on a hunch (we probably never would have learned the fate or our rental otherwise) and they admitted that they had it. They wanted nearly $300 on the spot to release it and never offered any explanation of why they took it in the first place. We didn't have this kind of money and, as it was after hours, all we could do was leave written word at Sunshine's office of what we knew.

I got quite a sticker shock from all this: A credit card bill for nearly $900 (more than their machine could have possibly been worth, even new) which also included a bill from a garage for unexplained "repairs" which I doubt were actually ever performed.

Keep in mind through all this, that Key West is at the end of a singular roadway that is over 100 miles long. There is but one way in, and one way out. As one can imangine, this contributes to making the legal system in that part of Monroe County somewhat unique and holding anyone civilly liable down there is all but a waste of time and it doesn't help that it was not all that many years ago, as I understand, that a lion's share of the local police department were themselves jailed for, among other things, selling illicit drugs right out of their own evidence lockers.

It is entirely possible that Sunshine Rental has enjoyed making the most of this situation for some time now.