Customer service and Motorcycles, an impossible combination?!

Eljahara

Eljahara

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Jul 8, 2018
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As some of you are aware, I had a few issues with Norton customer service prior to and post delivery of my 961 - many other members have had similar issues - however, communication is now MUCH better and as expected. My reason for posting is that it does not seem to be isolated to a single manufacturer or franchise and many of the bike publications carry letters indicating customers being ignored, poor customer service when things go wrong etc ..
I ordered a Speed Twin from my local dealer in February and was given an indicated delivery date of end of March. I called in on 5 April to check on progress, choose number plate and such. I was extremely surprised to find that the franchise had been sold and the new dealer had taken on the showroom on 1 April. The new dealer was not able to access my details from Triumph HQ due to GDPR regulation but assured me that orders were being processed and he should have some clearer information by today. A visit to the dealer today and ....no further information. I am apparently not the only customer in this position as the previous owner did not inform any of us that he was going!
The new owner cannot refund my deposit of £1000 as it was not paid to them and is not in their accounts, he needs to contact Triumph HQ to see what the score is and will “get back to me” it will however still be used towards the balance once the bike is delivered - in May so someone has the money?
Anyway, I don’t think this is an isolated incident with the sale of bikes and does not seem to happen with the same frequency with cars.
John
 
What a convoluted mess. Keep your receipt handy & and I hope you soon receive your bike.
 
This past week I got a set of desmotimes intake port plugs delivered ... wrong size had been clearly listed on their site for my bike .... I could return them @ $37 CAD shipping and they would replace with correct size with another $37 CAD shipping cost back to me .... no honour left in some places .... was only a $20 CAD order plus the same shipping cost to start with .... ended up going to local nut & bolt store and got 2 zerk fitting rubber boots to cover the original intake plugs cost was $1 CAD .... duh ..... so am out the $57 and I have 2 useless intake port plugs for my trouble .. and LT has lost a good customer .....
 
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Learning curve in progress. They would be off of my list after receiving opinion..
 
Blame it on Brexit. Or Trump. Same deal.

(Ducks head and runs...but pretty sure it all starts in a similar place...)
 
John, I’d you paid your deposit via credit card, your credit card company may be able to help you retrieve your deposit.

That’s what I’d try and do, and then place an order elsewhere.

A mate of mine just tested Speed Twin, he absolutely raves about it !
 
Fast Eddie said:
John, I’d you paid your deposit via credit card, your credit card company may be able to help you retrieve your deposit.

That’s what I’d try and do, and then place an order elsewhere.

A mate of mine just tested Speed Twin, he absolutely raves about it !
Click to expand...
Nigel
Yes, looking into that but giving the new company (Lings - they have a good reputation) the opportunity to sort tomorrow.
I agree, when I tested the Twin I found it had the performance of the thruxton with a comfortable riding position (for us creaky old uns)
Anyway, back to topic, it does seem that motorcycle sales and parts for such are not as smooth as for other vehicles - lots of complaints in the press, on web forums - especially for parts for older Nortons
 
Eljahara said:
lots of complaints in the press, on web forums - especially for parts for older Nortons
Click to expand...

Well obviously....

That’s becasue if you did a ‘normal distribution’ study of the demographics involved here, you’d no doubt see us old Norton owners clustered together as outliers in the ‘grumpy old man’ / ‘Victor Meldrew’ sector !!

C’mom, be honest, how many times do you catch yourself wanting to say through gritted teeth “I don’t belieeeeve it” !?!
 
Every time I see someone suddenly offer recently discovered NIB 100% NV parts at discount prices, or some such other breeze blowing through the hole in the seat of my trousers.....I don't believe much of anything until I've seen it or it comes from known reliable sources. Although I've learned to lower my expectations and survive quite well.

...And I am grumpy sometimes. You just don't jack with a man's Norton.
 
Have similar troubles here with our one moto super store : Triumph, Ducati, BMW , Indian , Kawasaki and Suzuki and maybe Yamaha ,I think ... last time I called parts dept. I asked for valve stem seal for ‘07 ST3s , the reply from partsman was “ is that a ski-doo “ .... even with the huge recent expansion ,parts and service are very poor and costly .... glad I have been able to keep my bikes tip top without help from them , I do make the 1&1/2 hr drive up there now and inspect any parts I’m getting from them .... almost like a mobility store if your phone is 2 yrs old no employees have a clue as it is old ...
 
My Triumph dealership has always been good and looked after me have brought 2 new Thruxtons off them a 2013 and a 2016 gave me a good deal for both, the service department is also great to deal with but they have only done first service and a few recall but they did put my Racetec spring and Eclumator in the old Thruxton, it was cheap and they set them up perfect for my weight, the parts section needs improvements and are always replacing staff there, if you need to order parts that aren't in stock can take up to 6 to 8 weeks if it got to come from the factory, but the sales team are like old mates now and we always have a good chat when I come in to get filters etc.
Good service they know you will keep coming back and even better coming back for a upgrade in a new bike down the road.
My local Norton parts shop where I been getting most of my parts from over the last 40 years at BJs in Brisbane the owner can be very rude sometimes but they always have the small and all parts you need without waiting but some of his prices can be a bit much but if you haggle with him he gives into you, but my Norton is pretty well reliable and I don't go there much theses days and if I am in no hurries I go through RGM and a few other suppliers from OS.
But a lot of troubles happen with staff who don't know what they are doing, Triumph Australia are always sending imformation all the time about their dealers and how you were treated as a customer and if they aren't up to scratch they don't last long selling Triumphs.

Ashley
 
Ashley,
Your experience with your Triumph dealer sounds very much like my own - I bought 4 bikes from them over the last 10 years - a tiger 800, a street triple and two Sprints. Service team were excellent and would not charge you for unnecessary work etc.

However, when I ordered a Speed Twin in February the owner and sales staff neglected to inform me that the business had been sold, I have since found out that they were going to close at the end of March whether the franchise had been sold or not. I was asked for a deposit of £1000 to place the order - the new company don’t have this on their books!
In the end I guess it just came down to how much they could take from the company before they left, as I said there are 4 other customers in the same position with the new company trying to sort the mess with Triumph HQ.
There are, of course, some good stories of excellent customer service but there are many many more where motorcyclists have been treated badly.
John
 
Hi John, hope everything works out good for you, when I ordered my 2 Thruxtons over the years I only put a $100 deposit on each one, but they are a big dealership network, but you hear a lot of dealers going bust and still take deposits for bikes knowing quite well they are selling up or closing down, hopefully Triumph should do the right thing and look after you and take legal steps against the old dealer, in away its theif and if you have a recite for your deposit its a legal document.

Ashley
 
I contested my issue with vendor
“ DesmoTimes” through PayPal .... guess my sense of FairPlay is still realistic , have received a full refund including shipping costs ... yeah ! one win for the little guys !
 
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Dishonest sellers don't like PayPal but its protect buyers, glad it worked out for you and another good thing going with PayPal is the sellers don't get your CC details.

Ashley
 
ashman said:
...My local Norton parts shop where I been getting most of my parts from over the last 40 years at BJs in Brisbane the owner can be very rude sometimes but they always have the small and all parts you need without waiting...
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Used to get all my bits from BJs and yeah, they can be a bit abrupt at times - but they always had the bits and would ship them out promptly. Switched over to Road 'n' Race a few years back as they were within cooee - well, at least in riding distance - and haven't looked back.

As for service, well, I have a bit of a story about a brand new SWM Superdual I bought late last year with the intention of an off-tarmac ride to Cameron Corner with my brother on his DR400. Grab some popcorn...

I've never been impressed with the fuel consumption of the Superdual. At the end of January I found out why when I discovered a puddle of petrol around the sidestand after parking up from a ride. I don't have a bike trailer and there's no convenient public transport to the dealer, so I decided to investigate further myself. I took the tank off and discovered that fuel has been leaking from the sender. Quite a bit of it! Took the tank to the dealer next Saturday morning and they acknowledged the problem, claiming it was a known issue and that they'd be right on it. There's a SWM service bulletin covering the problem.

Great. Next Saturday I was back to collect the "fixed" tank. Couple of weeks pass and I'm still not chuffed with the fuel consumption, but have just been putting it down to rather "spirited" riding now it's ridden in. Still, I'm sure I've been getting a whiff of fuel in the shed, but is that just the mower?

Getting the bike ready on the night before a 4-day ride and I'm sure I can smell petrol. Bugger me, there's fuel on the floor under the bike! Was on the 'phone to the dealer the next morning and to my surprise, they were not best pleased to hear from me. I was rather taken aback to hear that they'd already made a service claim against SWM Australia for this fix on this bike and they weren't sure they'd have any further recourse in this matter, but please, drop the bike around and we'll look into it. Hang about??? What the hell? What do I care? The bike is only months old. You've had it, you've worked on it, you fix it. What concern is it of mine who's going to pay for it?

A week later I'm back from my ride and finally got some time to look into it. Can't see any issues with fuel lines, so decide to take the tank off. Looking into it a bit further and loosen off the sender. You've got to be friggin kidding. The sender and seal have not been replaced, it's just been bodged over with sealant. Got it out of the shop, but not much further huh. Nah, look, I'm really, really miffed. It smells like BS here and worse I could have been smelling my backside on fire.

I contact the dealer that night with a rather abrupt and direct email. We speak on the phone the next day and I eventually calm down. Come the weekend and I've made the trek to the shop with the tank one more time. They say they'll be right on it. Mid week I get a text saying it's ready to be picked up and I'm thinking great, that'll be the end of it. Thursday I get a call from them to hear that they've checked the mounting face for flatness, it’s not good and they'll have to get me in a new tank. Come Saturday it’ll be 7 weeks ago and I'm still waiting. The bike's now been off the road for well over a quarter of the time I've owned it. You might just think this a mild case of inconvenience to me, but when I consider this and the possible risk to my backside, it’s no longer a laughing matter.

I'm done with the dealer. They are clearly incompetent and did not even perform the pre-delivery seal inspection as described in the service bulletin, let alone replace the complete sender as per the same document's procedure. I've contacted the importer and SWM Australia and even SWM Italy, but all treat me like I'm just a trivial inconvenience to them and no-one seems to be able to expedite matters or even give me a date when I'll have the bike back on the road.

I really like this bike, but I'm now well past the point where I'm prepared to give it up. I'll be getting in touch with Consumer Affairs to see what my options are over the next couple of days.
 
Did not mean to stall this thread, if deemed unsuitable to the topic, please let me know and I'll delete it.
 
Hi Dave,
All good - some threads just peter out. I guess folks prefer to look at the positives and help each other fix the problems. I think your account is not uncommon and I still believe motorcyclists get a s**t deal more often than is acceptable, it could be the reason why sales rooms change hands or go out of business frequently.
A local franchise lost Honda, then Yamaha then Suzuki - same staff each time getting poor reviews and low sales. It was bought by BMW with complete change of staff and gets fantastic reviews for customer service
Enjoy your day/night
John
 
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