Suzuki feel my wrath

[The Mass]

I am today in contact with one of Suzuki Motorcycles UK Directors.

I've had enough of this shoddy workmanship, with bits falling of the bloody bike, totally crap paintwork where the paint has physically come off the mirrors and wheels, paint blotches in paintwork. etc etc... :x :x :x

Their after sales care is utter sh*te, their so-called Suzuki dealers are a f*ck*n joke!
The bike has got a full service history, even though I missed 1 service, and then the fookin thing decided to blow its guts over the M4.

It's f*ck*n rediculous, I paid near on or over 5k for this f*k*n thing only 2 years ago, and it sees more of the garage than it does of riding the f*k*n thing!!!

I'm f*k*d off!!!

I'm a consumer / customer...I want something sorted! :x

[The Mass]

I can't beleive you guys take this sort of **** service from Suzuki??

If you had bought a car 2 years ago, and you had less than 500 miles on it, and bits started to fall off, you would go ****in ape! wouldn't you?
You get it serviced regularly by a Suzuki dealer..game on! you stack up the miles, and replace the parts that need replacing as you should, but you still get those nagging little f*ck*n ****ty stuff, that makes your bike a little less attractive, and you start to think WTF!!! :x

So you take it back the the Joke of a dealer you bought it from, only for him to take the p*ss.

You complain to Suzuki customer service, not only because of the parts falling off, but the poor service you have from the dealer, they take your words, and erm...file them under B for bin or F for f*ck off!

I can't beleive we take this sh*t, paint work that comes off in your hand, replace bits that shouldn't be replaced (According to the service manual) before they're due to be replaced.

What kind of ****e have I bought, someone please explain?

Or have I bought the bike that was put together on a Friday afternoon?

[northwind]

The bike has got a full service history, even though I missed 1 service,

Say what? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you ran it out of oil didn't you?

Are the mirrors painted? Thought they were plastic.

Anyway. I've had good service from Suzuki dealers, they'er independant companies mainly. Maybe you've had bad experiences with some but there's some great ones.

[Biker Biggles]

What's gone wrong with it (apart from the engine)and why hav'nt they fixed it under warranty?If the paint falls off I would think that was a warranty issue,so what excuse are they useing?

[creamerybutter]

I haven't had that many problems, it does look shabby in places but it's done 15000 miles in all weathers. When the paint started coming off my grab rail Streetbike in Brum were very helpfull and got a new replacement from suzuki (which I accidently scratched a month later :oops: :x )

[OldBoy]

Sorry to hear you have had so many probs with your bike.
It looks like you have a Friday afternoon special, I have got about 11k miles on mine now and it has never missed a beat. Although after riding through two winters the nuts and bolts have gone furry. Have noticed that the paint on the forks is just beginning to bubble, which I suppose is a case of 'they all do that sir!'.

[northwind]

What's gone wrong with it (apart from the engine)and why hav'nt they fixed it under warranty?If the paint falls off I would think that was a warranty issue,so what excuse are they useing?

Ah, you misunderstand- I'm asking because I thought the mirrors were unpainted, so I'm just askign out of curiosity.

[The Mass]

Northy,

You're quite correct, but i'm still not convinced that an engine should run out of oil within 2 services, and 7k of miles??

I certainly don't tonk along the motorway for the oil to run out so quickly, and yet, when they opened the engien up, they're was still oil in there??? to my amazement I later found out. :?

As for the paint, both mirrors are now down to the cast metal, I'm not even contemplating taking it back to that ****** Ken Roberts in Newport.
This is the bloke that fitted the hugger to my bike using cable ties, and then fitted the scottoiler to the rear subframe, only for it to crack..just grrrrreat mate! fantastic!

I'm just f*ck*n sick, of taking the bloody thing to the garage or some f*ck*n dealer only for them to charge me more money, or tell me its just wear n tear..the f*ck*n thing is only 2 years old.
And I go back to my original quote "If you had a car with the same problems, you'd go f*ck*n nuts!".

I sincerely apologise for my language folks, I'm just past the point of boiling.
The clutch cable is now f*ck*d, and I'm sure that's down to some other f*ck up!

I may be wrong, and just go along with the general way of thinking on this, but surely this isn't right fella's?

And yes, my warranty is now void on the engine, and penny to a pound of sh*t*, i'll take it to "A" dealer, and they'll say this isn't under warranty either.

[fizzwheel]

I'd be annoyed to. But you have to bear in mind. That you've done more miles in two years than most bikers do in a lifetime.

Liz's bike has done 14500 miles in 10 months. She hasnt a had any problems at all. Shes worn out tyres etc etc but no major problems. The only thing we've noticed is that the paint is begining to come off the forks and all the bolts etc have gone furry but you could argue that that is our fault for not cleaning her bike frequently enough.

I just really think you've been unlucky / have a friday afternoon special. I doubt your clutch cable will be covered by warranty though.

Do you know what I'd do if I were you. I'd sell your SV and bymself a Honda or a BMW.

I bet you could pick up a Cheap CBR600F or a Blade and IMHO thats more likely going to stand up to long distance commute / high milleage than a SV is

[The Mass]

Fizz mate,


You're not wrong fella, it's exactly what's on my mind.

Nagai is down this weekend, and me thinks I'll be having a long chat about the build quality etc etc...

Will keep you posted on what the Directors of Suzuki have to say. Not holding out much hope though. :roll:

[northwind]

As for the paint, both mirrors are now down to the cast metal, I'm not even contemplaiting taking it back to that w*nker Ken Roberts in Newport.


Ah right, the mountings not the mirrors yourself. You're right, those shouldn't have flaked. No good, that. As for the clutch cable, I'd've thought that ought to be checked and lubed on the services. I know my old bike always was.

[The Mass]

Northy mate,


I am past really past the point of caring, it's just a joke.
I've paid a fortune out on servicing, knowing full well the amount of miles I do.

As I said in my post earlier, I'm just hoping I get a little response from some of the Directors of the UK business, as it's gone past the point of speaking to their customer care dept. You only have to look at the responses I had to the
"Gear lever/ change" problem some of us folks had, with it falling out.
And the response we had from Suzuki was just awful!

Will keep ye posted :wink:

[Flamin_Squirrel]

Northy,

You're quite correct, but i'm still not convinced that an engine should run out of oil within 2 services, and 7k of miles??

Normally they wont, but sometimes they do. Going 7,000 without doing an oil change is bad enough, not even checking it at the service interval is asking for trouble. Dont think you can complain about that too much.

[weazelz]

You're quite correct, but i'm still not convinced that an engine should run out of oil within 2 services, and 7k of miles??


engines use oil. you need to top them up from time to time. 7k miles sounds like more than enough time to run low enough to damage the engine

[northwind]

You only have to look at the responses I had to the
"Gear lever/ change" problem some of us folks had, with it falling out.
And the response we had from Suzuki was just awful!


Yup, that was rubbish too, good point.

[The Mass]

FS,

Mate, I can take that one on the chin mate. I agree, my fault.
But you shouldn't run out of oil that quickly - surely, and then them tell you afterwards that they found oil in their???

It's all the other stuff, the bits falling off, shody paintwork, their dealers, parts not fitted properly, etc etc...

it really is ****ing me off!

Sorry mate, just how I feel :oops:

[Flamin_Squirrel]

You don't have to run out of oil completely to bugger the engine.

As for the finish not being great, that unfortunately seems to be a feature of the SV, and high milers find this out sooner than most :(

The rest of what you've had to deal with is a ****er, though.

[Ceri JC]

I think the problem with the way bike companies (all of them, not just Suzuki) get away with this sort of thing is that a large proportion of bikers fall into either of the following 2 stereotypes:

1. Does about 2K miles a year, in fair weather. Cleans it as much as they ride it (hence less deterioration of paintwork, etc.) Never uses it enough in the 6-10K miles they have it for in order to experience enough problems to get really annoyed, particularly not within the warranty period.

2. An "enthusiast" who whilst they do far more miles, doesn't see unreliability/cheap parts as too much of an issue; they love any excuse to spanner and fix or replace the offending parts themselves, comparatively cheaply. They see it as "character" in the bike.

Unfortunately, as someone who does high mileage, on a budget bike, who pays for all their servicing to be done at a dealer, you probably get the rawest deal; high cost of running, rapid deterioration of the bike, etc. I can't complain, I managed to get a clutch (which I'm informed is technically a consumable) replaced under warranty. I do enough of my own servicing/mechanical work to keep running costs lowish.

The above about most riders, coupled with the fact that the SV is a budget bike (personally I don't think "only" £2K less than a vastly faster, better braked, suspension, etc. GSX-R 600 accounts
for the low quality of some of the finish) and people tend not to complain, or just roll over and take it. Even things which are unarguably disgraceful like their attitude to the gear lever debacle don't seem to engender the outrage they should. I think biker's own attitudes shoot us in the foot, really; the fact that a lot of people fixed it themselves when it happened and didn't raise the issue/see it as a big problem doesn't help. It doesn't matter if you can fix it; you shouldn't have to! If it happened on a car (say gear lever came off in your hand in the first 500 miles), most people would make no effort to fix it and would instead ring for the AA and the problem would be acknowledged far more widely.

I know it may not be what you want to hear, but have you considered selling your SV (with the "newish" engine, if you can back it up with proof, you may be able to get more than you'd think for a 28K mile bike) and buying something a bit less fun, but more suited to you commute (which I believe you primarily use it for)? The new Deauville looks good (at what it's designed for) and if it's like the old one, runs forever, cheap to run, hard luggage, better comfort, more resistant to skipping/longer servicing intervals, etc. Not as pretty/fun, but as a "workhorse" it may be the answer.

[northwind]

Mate, I can take that one on the chin mate. I agree, my fault.
But you shouldn't run out of oil that quickly - surely, and then them tell you afterwards that they found oil in their???


Like FS says, it doesn't need to be dry to kill it. The broken engine I got off Ebay still had about half a litre in, but remember the case capacity is over 2 litres.

Ceri made a point about the price difference between SV and GSXR- GSXR finish isn't all that, either. By and large they get better care and less harsh use though
(not a dig at The Mass- in general though, it seems like a lot of the reason that SVs and Bandits can go downhill so fast is that they're just less loved bikes, by and large. It's like saying that RS125s have chains that rust easily- they don't, they just lots of riders that never oil their chains)

Take mine for example, 6 years old and (until I painted it) the finish was better than some bikes a year old. Very minor amount of corrosion, otherwise pretty much perfect, despite being a winter commuter. The convensional wisdom is that if you don't wash it daily in winter an SV will fall apart- I washed mine 3 times all winter and it's still fine, bar a corroded starter motor and a wee bit of engine paint that's dropped off)

Conclusion? It's all YOUR fault. No, not really.

[k3lls]

from previous threads, it does seem that the SV will burn varying amounts of oil depending on use.

http://forums.sv650.org/viewtopic.php?t=26322&view=next&sid=c55b12043884cc8b8dfc5d9e028dff68

[instigator]

My T-Reg SV650 rides like a dream and has a great finish.

*doesn't dare buy a new one now* :shock:

Out of curiosity, do you like...wash it and apply wd40/fs365 to keep the finish good?

[Flamin_Squirrel]

I just leave a protective layer of grime over the bike 8)

K4 SVS used through 2 winters and although it's not spotless (we'll ignore the crash damage) it's still in pretty good condition. I dont know why some seem to rot that much more than others.

The only thing I can think of is the roads I use dont tend to be too heavily salted in winter.

[The Mass]

fella's,

This thing get cleaned almost every weekend, with the amount of sh*t* on the roads. she gets a good soaking with dirt off, then the polish and wd40 on all the bits.

She's not that bad to be truthfully honest, I'm more p*ss*d about the general can't be arsed attitude of anyone remotely to do with Suzuki.
Surface rust yeah, I can deal with, but paint coming off..WTF!! :shock:
and bits falling off...come on, give me some cred, this sh*t aint natrual wastage for a bike 2 years old.

And yet funny that. I'm still waiting for one of their uk directors to call me back....

:smt017

This sounds familiar....

[socommk23]

how much general maintenance do you do yourself?
i know plenty of people to do their own, past the normal oil change and run reletivly problem free. im one of them. i have a 4yo naked sv and done all the work on it myself (exept the output driveshaft(long story)).

how ever i know people that just ride! and ride! and do very little work themselves. and then they break down!

not saying this is what you do...just wondering how much maintenance you do yourself...bar the cleaning.

[The Mass]

Since having the 1st engine go bang, the oil gets checked every day.
Topped up etc etc.

As for the major stuff, on order are new sprockets, chain, pads...

But since I was forking out for a service nearly every month. They would be doing this sort of stuff anyway.

Funny that I'm starting to lose the enthusiasm I first had when I bought the SV.

[Warren]

get yourself a CBR :)

40k im on now, used in all weathers every day of the year, stored outside. (since 2001)

replaced chain and sprockets once, CCT once (under warranty 3yrs after the warranty expired) pads and spark plugs and filters, and just had the fork seals replaced.

serviced by myself
never needed oil topping up.

thrown down the road twice, never needed new levers or pedals.

still handles like a dream, still goes like a missle, still never let me down.

http://images6.theimagehosting.com/cbr.jpg

sorry, dont mean to rub salt in the wound.

[sv650s_guy]

i had loads of probs with mine my sv done 6800 and i have just had to have a new coild and at 5k my valve and throttle bodies had to be sorted

[steveg]

I can vouch for cr#p suzuki dealer service , my brand new SV broke down with in first week of onership & the service I got was c##p until I complained to Suzuki GB & bike was picked up & fixed within 24 hours.
Since then have had no problems touch wood , mileage is now 4200 getting 2nd service next week , I check oil level everweek & it has not used a drop .
My Yamaha fazer was serviced every 6k & never used a drop of oil .
A kwak I owned used loads of oil & even though I kept it topped up the engine went pop , but it had done 50k miles.
I use the bike fairly hard , however it was ran in correctly which can make a big difference to oil usage .
Cheers Steve

[mart]

ill say it again dont use suzuki dealers to get it serviced

[northwind]

Why tar hundreds of independant companies nationally with the same brush? I'm sure you can find examples of bad dealesrhips all over. I had literally criminal service from a Yamaha dealership, should we avoid every Yamaha dealership? These are totally seperate, unconnected companies who just happen to carry the same product. I had terrible service from PC World once, should I refuse to shop at any Sony dealer?

[empty]

Why tar hundreds of independant companies nationally with the same brush? I'm sure you can find examples of bad dealesrhips all over. I had literally criminal service from a Yamaha dealership, should we avoid every Yamaha dealership? These are totally seperate, unconnected companies who just happen to carry the same product.

True, however, from my experiences of main franchised dealers, of any make, both car and bike, you are always much better off finding a small garage run by an expert. Simply it will be cheaper and the standard of work better (as it is somewhat unlikely to have been done by the work experience trainee, rather it should be done by a person who knows bike/cars and has worked on them for many years). A typical one was when I had a renault 19, over £200 for a service from a dealer, £90 all in from my local man.

I had terrible service from PC World once, should I refuse to shop at any Sony dealer?

Yes. From experience they are both staffed by people who cannot tell their @rse from their elbow. However, the point is valid.

MT

[mart]

Why tar hundreds of independant companies nationally with the same brush? I'm sure you can find examples of bad dealesrhips all over. I had literally criminal service from a Yamaha dealership, should we avoid every Yamaha dealership? These are totally seperate, unconnected companies who just happen to carry the same product. I had terrible service from PC World once, should I refuse to shop at any Sony dealer?
yes you should ive tryed three london dealerships one dident put enough oil in one adjusted the idol speed wrong after i told them to check the fast idol warm up the other one dident fix the gear linkage back properly that fell of on the motorway and the other one put a hole in my seat and lubed the chain with two gallions of motor oil which spead all over the bike and me so yes i dont trust suzuki service centers

[northwind]

From your sample of 3. I've used 2 independants, they were both rubbish. You get good and bad in every field, simple fact of life.

[mart]

ok but did i say to use an independant company at any point in my previous posts

[northwind]

No, but you said all Suzuki dealers are bad after using probably 1% of them in the UK.

[mart]

does that not go for what you said as well

look ive had bad experiences with them and it looks like a few more have had the same problem
main dealers dont need to be ultra careful with your bike because they have you by the b@lls if you want to sell the bike on because of this full suzuki service history and the fact that some people are so naive to believe that not having a suzuki dealer do the servicing would void the warranty so people take the machines there to have some trainee mess it up


personal note i would not buy a bike that had a full service history from suzuki yes there may be good and bad but im not going to take the risk

[Valman]

I've got to agree with Mass here, I've dealt with two Suzuki dealers and Suzuki GB and I've been treated like crap by all three, you'll find the latest episode here (http://forums.sv650.org/viewtopic.php?t=39882&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=).

The first dealer, from whom I purchased the bike brand new, left my rear brake lever loose and also didn't top up my coolant, despite it being under the lower level mark. They also managed to scuff my top fairing on the edge and put a scratch on the fork leg as well. They didn't tell me either, they just touched it up and hoped I wouldn't notice, which I didn't until later nut as my top fairing was already damaged I didn't kick up a fuss. They also didn't want to know about the rubbish Suzuki crash bungs the had supplied.

When I had an accident the Suzuki crash bung just bent in and caused more damage to the bike, so I thought I would give Suzuki GB a call. Suzuki GB have the rudist customer services advisors ever, I've worked in retail for over 6 years and have never experienced anything so bad, and they didn't want to know, in fact one of them said to me that "crash protectors are not supposed to prevent damage in a crash", and I really am not joking. I then contacted a director, Charles Dennison, who actually seemed interested and said he would get someone to look into it and call me back. Months went by and I heard nothing, so I called up believe it or not the customer services advisor said the director didn't want to speak to me :shock: . I asked to be put through to him so he could tell me himself, but they refused.

The latest problem involves another Suzuki main dealer, which you can read about in the other thread mentioned above.

My bike, despite only being purchased in December 2004 and covering less than 5000 miles while spending most of it's life under a cover, even when I take it to work, and being always covered in WD40, Scottoiler FS365 and now ACF50 has still suffered badly IMO. Both the fork legs have signs of pitting and chain adjuster plates are furred up aswell, although mine are better than most that I've seen. I've also got the idle problem that is mentioned in the other thread. That's really not what you would expect from a bike only 19 months old with such little milage.

[northwind]

does that not go for what you said as well


Nope, because I was just putting out a pointless counterargument ;) All I'm saying is, don't paint every one with the same brush, just the same as I don't assume they're all great because my one is. Suzuki themselves are outright bad IMO, and don't vet their dealers well either, but that just allows the dealers to be bad, it doesn't mean they automatically will be. It'd be pretty poor if people were put off using good dealers like Jordans or (formerly Alvins) Saltire just because they're main dealers.

*edit* Just saw your other thread and realised it's Jordan's you have your current beef with. Very surprised to hear it, not to doubt you of course*

[mart]

never used Jordon's my beef is with metropolis wheel power and that other one in king cross who is also a ducati service centre

maybe we should start a thread naming and shaming all the dodgy mechanics

[northwind]

Big legal issues there, though... For individuals to pass on bad experiences is great and I encourage it- I've slated Carrick Yamaha on every website in the UK, most likely, because they're either criminally negligent or just thieves. But the site needs to be careful of what's said and hosted I think. Though I'm not a lawyer ;)

[steveg]

Just had 4k service at dealer I bought bike from
Bike came back in a dangerous state IMHO

Rear brake disk contaminated with oil , therefore hardly working.
A gallon of oil used to lube chain , result 2 inchs of rear tyre covered in oil.
Chain with zero slack when sat on bike

I won't name the above or it will be yourway or the Highway , however I won't be using them again .
I will complain to Suzuki GB in writting , however after speaking to their Customer Service department in the past don't hold at much hope .

Cheers Steve

[jenni]

Just had 4k service at dealer I bought bike from
Bike came back in a dangerous state IMHO

Rear brake disk contaminated with oil , therefore hardly working.
A gallon of oil used to lube chain , result 2 inchs of rear tyre covered in oil.
Chain with zero slack when sat on bike

I won't name the above or it will be yourway or the Highway , however I won't be using them again .
I will complain to Suzuki GB in writting , however after speaking to their Customer Service department in the past don't hold at much hope .

Cheers Steve

:shock: :shock: this thread is really worrying, for someone who really doesn't know much about bikes. I'm glad i've gone done the route of my own servicing, because at least i know exactly what has and hasn't been done. :?

[steveg]

The only reason I'm using Suzuki Dealer to service my bike is that I have free service vouchers , after that will service it myself / get trusted local independant to do trickier jobs ( valve clearances )

Checked tyre pressures today , they had set rear tyre to 30 psi , enough said

Muppets !

Cheers Steve

[Lissa]

We've never had our bike serviced at a dealers. Done all minor servicing ourselves, and gone to JHS for the 15,00 mile services.

Had 50,000 miles of totally trouble-free riding, and the bike finish is still stonking too. :D (mind you, we do keep it in the house, and I AM obsessive about keeping it clean :oops: )

[JUICY LUCY]

I live in Wales and we have a TV programme called XRay. They also have a website which seems very helpful. I have put a link to the website below (I hope)

Hope it helps.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/x-ray/x_guides/cars/car1-1.shtml

[Blazingsvbiker]

i think its you thats sucks instead of suzuki !

(note: i have also a bit of trouble with corrosion on the forks, and a bit of paint comming of the engine after 30 000 Km (2 years of riding everyday) but hey what you want it had a hard time to stand trough: wind, rain, heat, cold,...... so iam verry happy woth my Soes bike!!!!!

True Japanees muscle :twisted:

[The Mass]

i think its you thats sucks instead of suzuki !

(note: i have also a bit of trouble with corrosion on the forks, and a bit of paint comming of the engine after 30 000 Km (2 years of riding everyday) but hey what you want it had a hard time to stand trough: wind, rain, heat, cold,...... so iam verry happy woth my Soes bike!!!!!

True Japanees muscle :twisted:

Carry on my good man,

I'm sure she'll last you oooohh...all of about 6 months, before something falls off, you can't undo something because of the chocolate bolts, she runs out of oil unexpectidly, then you 'll take it to your splendid suzuki dealer, and they'll put it all right for you i'm sure :wink:
:roll:

[The Mass]

Oh forgot the update on this:

Spoken to the Suzuki GB finance director: What a surprise - Didn't want to know

Called the Customer Service Director - There isn't one :? - Supervisor then - Oh yeah..just hang on.... so I did, and the phone went dead :lol:

Then one day in work - I got a phne call from their "Customer Spleen" dept.
Only to tell me that the bike is still in warranty, and if I took it to....wait for it...

KEN ROBERTS...... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

They would look at it...

Game on !

10/10 for customer service Suzuki......top class quality act....nobs!

[Marshall]

Just had 4k service at dealer I bought bike from
Bike came back in a dangerous state IMHO

Rear brake disk contaminated with oil , therefore hardly working.
A gallon of oil used to lube chain , result 2 inchs of rear tyre covered in oil.
Chain with zero slack when sat on bike

I won't name the above or it will be yourway or the Highway, however I won't be using them again .
I will complain to Suzuki GB in writting , however after speaking to their Customer Service department in the past don't hold at much hope .

Cheers Steve

I think i know which one your talking about. And yeah generaly rude, and useless, i asked for a sump plug washer and they sold me the toaly wrong thin, even after i had asked and double asked them to check. there sales guys are rude and unhelpful aswell.

BUT the service i got for 'All Bike' in wolves had been nothing but brilliant. Helpful polite and better service than id ever had from any car/bike garage.

[clauster]

Sad fact of life..........gradually over the last decade or two 'bikes have moved in the market place from being transport to playthings for the middleaged. Many are not ridden in anything but dry sunny conditions, get cleaned nearly as often as they're ridden and get serviced according to time rather than mileage so they're only clocking up 2-3k miles before getting checked over. The manufacturers know this and build their bikes accordingly. Yes, even BMW these days, and my neighbours CBR is a lovely rust red beneath the fairing. In their minds, anyone who does more miles is an enthusiast and probably knows how to spot early warning of signs of trouble and take appropriate action.

Fact of life..... The SV is a V-twin. It vibrates. This shakes things loose and you have to tighten them up (loctite can delay this process but won't ever cure it) or they will fall off. If you think the SV is bad try a proper supermotard. More spannering than riding there.

Another fact of life.... there are good and bad dealers out there and most of them are good at some things but bad at others. Problem is, when it comes to servicing you're not just gambling with value for money (ie will they do the job you're paying for) but your safety (will they do it properly). Learn to service your bike. Most of it's easy and the tools can be bought for less than the cost of a dealer service. Even valve clearances ain't that tricky. It's even possible to work on a lot of FI units these days with products like tuneboy and tuneedit.

Final fact.... whatever happens in this world 10% of all manufactured will be put together on a friday afternoon!

[tee jey]

A very interesting read, The Mass sorry you are having such a torrid time trying to get some sort of action from the scum bags at Suzuki GB.

The amount of use our bikes get is irrelevant, be it a summer toy covering 1000 miles per year or a serious mod of transport it MUST be FIT FOR PURPOSE even when beyond the limit of the warranty.

The fairing bracket on my 03 pointy fractured (11k miles), the dealer replaced it but it cost me £120 plus £60 labour. The new one is made from much thicker tubing which suggested to me that the original was inadequate (NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE) and should have been replaced under warrantee or recall. The sleaze bag at Suzuki customer service did not want to know so I wrote to the directors ---- still not reply after 9 months. I put it down to a bad experience that I will take into consideration when deciding which manufacturer to buy from next time. ( I would have pursued it further if I had the old part but the dealer binned it????!!)

There are parallels in other walks of life, my other hobby is caravanning :oops: (I can hear the booing and hissing), not the 2 weeks in the summer but serious all year round 80 to 90 nights away per year. A bit breaks on my caravan and I'm told I use my van to much sends me into a rage. To be told that my gas powered fridge keeps breaking down because I'm using it too much and that it is only designed to be used for a couple of weeks per year is a load of bol***cs . The real problem is a crap design and poor product testing but the manufacture won't admit that as they would have to replace all the fridges they supplied at a substantial loss. No, they just bluff it out, hide behind warranties/guarantees, refuse to take action, don't answer fone calls or letters and hope you go away.

How do we tackle the problem? Don't let them get away with it, pester them, complain, bad mouth them, don't let them hide behind warranties, use your statutory rights as a consumer to be sold goods of 'merchantable quality' that are 'fit for purpose' beyond their self imposed limit of 12 months. Use your right under the consumer legislation to get it replaced or put right.(although the latter may affect your statutory rights to claim a refund at a later stage.)

[Habitual]

Just had 4k service at dealer I bought bike from
Bike came back in a dangerous state IMHO

Rear brake disk contaminated with oil , therefore hardly working.
A gallon of oil used to lube chain , result 2 inchs of rear tyre covered in oil.
Chain with zero slack when sat on bike

I won't name the above or it will be yourway or the Highway , however I won't be using them again .
I will complain to Suzuki GB in writting , however after speaking to their Customer Service department in the past don't hold at much hope .

Cheers Steve

Mine went to the same place for its 3rd service, same problems pretty much but they also managed to leave the bolt out of the bottom of the radiator! Bike was filthy with oily handprints when I went to pick it up. I'll never EVER go there again.

I do all my servicing myself now its out of warranty anyway.