Norton Dealer Network?

Britfan60 said:

Its seems the Norton brand has to almost start from scratch in NA. The earlier bikes got a rocky start with the flaws they arrived with and no parts available in a timely fashion. I think that spooked the consumer and the dealerships were at the receiving end of the complaints. They, after all, are the front line representatives of the brands they sell AND its not a mass produced bike. Hopefully, the new line ups and technologies will spark interest in NA again. Lets face it, there's a Harley dealer every ten miles in the US.

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So even if we supplied the parts to "your dealer"...they won't work on the bike? They still need to remap mine. I rode yesterday and really loved getting off the highway idling at 2k. Tried to blip it down and it stuck on 2400. The local Kaw dealer said he'd work on my bike. He said "afterall, its just a motorcycle." Not sure of the extent of work he was referring to.

Hi,

I have seen the e-mail to Matt and pictures sent to sales.

It was my understanding you purchased a seat at cost to us, as we considered the seat issue you had to be wear and tear. We did this as a gesture of goodwill. and I am not sure if any other manufacturer would do this.

I was also told you were happy with this. If the purchased seat was defective you could have sent it back and we would offer a replacement or a full refund.

I would not recommend servicing your own 961 without dealer training and the correct tools, Norton cannot carry the cost of motorcycles incorrectly diagnosed or maintained, just like any other manufacturer.

Thank you

Simon

Thank you Simon. I was told in writing that the reason for regecting warranty was because the bike had been self serviced and not by a Norton dealer at any time at no time was I told that it was considered fair wear and tear. If you look at my correspondence I did agree to buying a replacement seat at a small reduced price as it was the type I originally tried to purchase last December and told then by Clem it was not available. I also told Clem I was not subsequently pursuing warranty on the seat but was not happy that the claim had been rejected in writing solely as the bike had been self serviced and asked to be informed in writing if this was now Norton policy worldwide as not only would it affect ourselves but it would affect many of your customers overseas as well where like us there are no dealers within reasonable travelling distance. I never got a reply. Hence my question on this forum. In addition as expressed by others on this forum I did take legal advice on this and was told it would be illegal so to do in th UK if the vehicle was serviced in accordance with the manufacturers schedule by a qualified so to do person, which it was in this case.
I repeat the question please can you tell all forum members whether it is now official Norton policy that warranty on any correctly self serviced to Norton schedule bike will be automatically rejected as we all need to know.
This is all I / we need to know.

Thank you.

Fultonrn.

Fast Eddie said:

Regarding spares, have you tried dealing with Phil at Krazy Horse in the U.K.?

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What?! Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought they went out of business. It was the reason given for Norton manufacturing the off-road exhaust units in house.

That is Motad that made the exhausts. Krazy Horse is a dealer in Wales ?

Ah, I see. Thanks for clarifying, Tony.

TonyA said:

That is Motad that made the exhausts. Krazy Horse is a dealer in Wales ?

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Maybe Krazy Horse is a franchise but we have one in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk which is a Norton dealer. I haven't been there myself and plan to pop down this year as I hear that they have a darn good cafe... if anyone here cares to meet up at some point?

italia said:

AF1 Racing is one of the four US dealers and have been quite responsive for me on parts orders.

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AF1 is a superb dealership. Makes me want to move to Austin...yahoo....Great with the phone and email. Only problem is, they prefer to bulk their shipments to save costs. I get it. Shipping from the UK is ridiculous. Unless it was just my latest parts which were the patch kit and the dipstick. Those were free from Norton (thank you) and would have been a loss to AF1. In that case, I really get it.

Hi Fultonrn,

I always try to be reasonable and amicable, as do the guys here at the factory. We have supported this situation above and beyond what we have to 'legally' do. We made a judgement and we were under the impression the situation was resolved.

For clarity........we would never reject a warranty claim of a clearly defective part. I have seen many self serviced bikes by so called experts. Even on this forum people are given bad advice because they do not understand the full situation. If I self serviced my car without having the right tools, equipment and training it would be very difficult for them to honour a warranty for something I have messed with.

The flip side is I appreciate we are a tiny company and some customers (especially state side) live 1000 miles away from a dealer. As such we try and be reasonable all round. If one of our dealers has changed the screw on your throttle bodies then we should cover the cost, sort out the situation and its then up to Norton factory to have the battle with the dealer about who pays, one thing for sure is its not the customer. If the customer changes it why should we cover the costs?

We will always try and help our customers as best we can, hence we gave you a seat at cost.

As far as I am concerned that is the end of the matter.

Thanks

Simon

I'm wondering if some m/c dealers might think again about acquiring a Norton dealership when the V4 and 650's are released.
These bikes will be more acceptable to mainstream owners than the 961 is, and may be an inducement for shops to jump on the Norton bandwagon.
I think the sooner that the new machines are introduced, the sooner we will see more dealers worldwide.

BritTwit said:

I'm wondering if some m/c dealers might think again about acquiring a Norton dealership when the V4 and 650's are released.
These bikes will be more acceptable to mainstream owners than the 961 is, and may be an inducement for shops to jump on the Norton bandwagon.
I think the sooner that the new machines are introduced, the sooner we will see more dealers worldwide.

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I think consumers will proceed with caution. When our bikes landed here, there was nothing in place. Van Epps was a total waste. No available parts, factory getting bombarded with overseas customers with bikes breaking down and puking oil all over the place. Damn. My transmission sat on a desk waiting to clear red tape for months. And that came directly from an employees mouth via telephone. Lemon laws being used, slow production. It made heads spin. I think the company has grown mightily in those depts. They really need to prepare for the worst case scenario. Don't just send a few bikes and expect everything to be hunky dory. I think they've got a shot at succeeding.