Suzuki dealer has wrecked my bike

Thanks for sharing your pain with us. I test rode an SV650S from them on Tuesday and was all set to go in to order one until I read your horror story.

Instead I have been to Bill Smith in Chester and ordered one from there. Should pick it up next week

Hope you get sorted soon,
Cheers,
Ray

Originally Posted by artran

Thanks for sharing your pain with us. I test rode an SV650S from them on Tuesday and was all set to go in to order one until I read your horror story.

Instead I have been to Bill Smith in Chester and ordered one from there. Should pick it up next week

make sure you let them know *why* you haven't ordered one from them!

Originally Posted by Mike1234

make sure you let them know *why* you haven't ordered one from them!

Good point Mike

Originally Posted by BillyC

So... what's the latest?

As for an update i have contacted the garage and spoke to one of the managers/owners (husband and Wife ownership) and i spoke to him ... i aired my views that i had not got any sort of service from them apart from taking money off me !

He wanted to know why i felt like this, i then started to explain to him that the bike came back in a worse state than when it went in and it also came back in bits....
he said that the wiring damage was exceptable to them and they are willing to stand by the mechanic who did the work
when i asked why he hadn't repaired the damage he said that who ever was going to carry on with the work would have to have access to these areas for checking when i said that it wasn't neccasary to strip wires to check the wiring he wasn't happy and basically told me i didnt know what i was talking about ( That was a good one for customer relations )


When i challenged him about the bike coming back in bits... he turned round and said " well yes, you put a time limit on it of 3 hours and we got to the three hours so what do you expect work for nothing "

When i told him the mechanic had requested that the panels were on when i dropped the bike off ( i had the panels off because i was checking bits) he didnt believe me and said "what ever the mechanic has said to you i dont know so im not going to comment on that"

He then asked "Why are you telling me all this anyway

I said that i want a refund and also the damage repaired to the wiring loom... i was told that a refund will not happen becasue they spent the three hours working on it that i requested and that they are happy with what they have done

as for the fairings being put back on the bike.... (at this stage he was getting the ar*e ache with me and kept talking over me.......... which after a couple of times really PI**ED me off

he said that the fairings would have to be removed again by who ever was going to work on the bike.... i was getting really fed up with the tw*t at this stage and i said thats not the point as you have given me back a bike in bits which isn't acceptable and that i had said to only spend 3 hours on it which they had..... but that still no ground to give the bike back in bits

This went on for about Half an hour and we just kept going round in circle's....

Now the fact that the bike came back in bits i was complaing about because of the princible of it, that what they had done and that its unaceptable, he finally said FINE YOU BRING THE BIKE DOWN AND WE'LL PUT IT BACK TOGETHER (in rather a stroppy 12 year old type of manner)

strike two for customer relations He TOLD me to bring the bike down at lunchtime,

Which i havn't done I don't want any of these muppets anywhere near me or my bike again under any circumstances

And im sorry for those who want to know what all the complaing about is for if im not going to let them pit the bike back together but is more the ...principle behind it.

If they had offered to replace the damaged wiring then that would be a different matter.


Finaaly all i have to say is that the matter isn't finished and that SINGLE TRACKER IN CREWE IS THE BIGGEST PILE OF SH*T GOING, and i advise anyone to stay well clear of these cowboys

[northwind]

I think that at this point, giving them the bike back would be a very bad idea... So personalyl, I'd get to another Suzuki dealership, get all the repair work costed, and take them a bill.

Originally Posted by embee

Go straight for County Court Small Claims....
Very often as soon as you wave a "Small Claims" document in front of the other party it shows you mean business and they suddenly remember they meant to settle with you. Try quietly going into the shop with the documents and asking politely if you can just check that you've got their details correct for the Claim form

Originally Posted by northwind

So personaly, I'd get to another Suzuki dealership, get all the repair work costed, and take them a bill.

I like this. Repair bill, and legal documents to boot. They'll stop messing when you threaten legal action....well - they will if they have any sense

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

I've always found Suzuki helpful, I suppose it depends what you want from them.
When complaining about dealers to Suzuki, remember you didn't buy anything from Suzuki and thus have no contract with them, you have a contract with the dealer, if Suzuki foul up by all means blame them, but don't go blaming the importer when they aren't involved in the transaction which is in dispute.

That's a fair point Ian and I do agree with you but my problem with them is to do with their product which I said was not fit for it's purpose, I'm talking about the rubbish Suzuki crash bungs for the faired bikes which crack the fairings and do little else, and customer services refused to deal with it.

After several pointless phone calls to customer services I got fed up and started dialling other Suzuki numbers and finally got through to someone who was not part of customer services who was more than happy to put me through to someone called Charles Dennison, who seemed like a nice person and is supposed to be the customer services co-ordinator. He promised to look into the matter and said they'll investigate and get back to me.

I heard nothing for a month so I called but could not get through to him and so I emailed him, but didn't hear anything. I then emailed him again and left a few more messages and finally I got an email from him saying they're still investigating but he will get back to me very soon. Another month went and still nothing, so I tried calling him again but could not get through to him, so I tried getting customer services to put me through and this is where it got interesting.

They refused to put me through to him and said he did not want to speak to me, but they didn't even put me on hold to check with him so how could he have told them this. When I asked to be put through to him so I could hear it for myself from him they refused to do that as well. I then asked them if they knew what was going on, so they decided to put me on hold and ring my dealer to ask about how my accident happened.

To my astonishment they then get back to me and tell me my dealer said I was going quite fast and so they had no chance of preventing any damage to my bike so that was the end of the matter, even though I have an independent witness to confirm I was doing no more than 5mph. I then rang the dealer to find out exactly what he had said to them, and he was shocked as what he had really said was that in his opinion the crash bungs are only there to stop you doing major damage if you drop the bike at a stand still or walking pace and nothing else and obviously since he was not present at my accident he had no idea of what had happened other than what I had told him. He also said he's more than happy to do what they want.

So I ring them back only for them to admit they had misinterpreted what he had said, and after several more pointless exchanges the customer services manager came out with " ...a crash protector is not there to prevent damage in a crash" followed by "you bought them off your dealer so you need to go and see them as your consumer rights are with your dealer and not with us", and that is exactly what she said. I just said thanks for nothing and put the phone down still in disbelief and I just emailed Charles Dennison again explaining the telephone conversations and left it at that, and I've still not heard anything from him.

So if Customer Services feel they can talk to you with very little respect, yes they were rude and abrupt with me as well, offer very little help, refuse to let you speak to the people who were dealing with your problem, lie to you about what has been said to them etc. then I fail to see how it is anything but diabolical at best.

In my limited experiance i too can say that i am very dissapointed with bike customer servie... my first bike a lil aprilia RX 50 i had for 1400ks, yep k's before my clutch cable snapped......

ok so its only £14 but thats no the point..its 3 months old...

after numerouse calls to aprilia customer services, I question y an inferior part was fitted to my bike...... I was told that it wasnt an inferior part.... to which i answered.."so y did it break" ??

and so on and so on....

what windsme up mor ein life is that if i were to buy a stereo for £100 and it were to break within warrenty or the casing were to crack etc.....

it would be replcaed, usually with very little quibbling...

but we spend thousands on cars and bikes...and yet defects except thoses that are serious..ie safety recalls are ignored.....or poor attempts are made to rectify the sittuation..take the KA convertable...and the Citroen C2 convertable...both leaky ..but not the manufacturers problm apparently.... what a load of crap....

What i find so intersting is that the level of service we get varies so much from company to company.... Ie Mint....brilliant.... Suzuki...crap.... money involved with mint = £20 refund - Money involved with Suzuki £4000.....

does seem very strange to me that the smaller the money the better they are....

I think if you have told them to work on the bike for only 3 hours, you havent got a case. they have done what you asked them, if they put the bike back together, you are no better off, you still have a bike that doesnt run, the same as when you took it to them.

Having said that, they have treated you badly and should have explained why the bike was returned to you in that state. I dont suppose that the loss of your business will worry them.

I had an intermittant electrical fault on my bike and two dealers couldnt find the problem. they said it would be better if it stopped completely as then they could test seperate items using a donor bike.

Hope you get sorted soon

This matter is still on going and i am writing a few letters..... Trading standards for one and MCN may recieve a copy as i am shocked that suzuki GB have NO interest in what and how THEIR dealers are carrying out work under the suzuki name

As for the electrical fault i am still no better off , bits i know that ARE ok and not causing a problem are:

Starter switch
Kill switch
Neutral switch
Side stand switch
starter relay
Starter motor
All fuses in fuse box
Main fuse

The engine turns over but there doesn't seem to be a spark, and i have all other electrics ie lights horn etc etc

I have convinced myself that it is a break in the wiring somewhere

I have been able to check parts by putting them on debb's bike rather than a test meter

Any one have any ideas as to what it could be