Fudged bolts / Suzuki Assist
 

Felt like posting this to IB, but I knew those that must be obeyed (respectfully) would move it here anyhow.

Had the battery off the SV today because I've been doing some work with units that are usually mounted to a forklift truck (and so take a 12v power supply).

Went to put the battery back on, and fudged some bolts. Namely the one holding the black plastic on under the tank (left side) and the one holding the main seat on (same side). Don't ask how I got to this bolt, it's a secret!

It's raining outside, and I can't be bleeped fixing it in the rain, so I've called Suzuki Assist to get them to sort it out.

I'll report back later as to how they performed ;)

Erm, couldn't you just ride it home with the plastic off and with one bolt in the seat?

Benji, good idea, but you fail to see the point that I had no battery in the bike at all. I'd removed it earlier in the day, and fudged the bolt when I went to put the battery back. At first I was going to drill the bolts out & do exactly what you suggested, but it was raining, and I really couldn't be bothered after work, so I just called them out to it.

So anyway, the story...

About 10mins after I called the call centre, I got a call from a mobile number "Hi, it's [insert name here, I can't remember it] from the AA, I'm just calling because I need some more details, they've got me down as having a bike trailer, but I haven't, so if you can explain the problem a little, I'll see if I need to get someone else to attend or if I can take it"... After re-assuring him that given a hammer, I could fix it myself if needed, so the trailer wouldn't be needed & I'd be riding it home, he agreed.

Next, came the farce of giving him directions. When I asked him where he was coming from, his reply was "Good question, I'm in the middle of nowhere." Least he made me giggle at his misfortune, and I heard "Plotting your route now" in a female computer voice coming from his sat nav. After he told me where the sat nav was going to take him, I gave him exact directions to the bike, and he said he'd call me when he got there. Good man.

So he arrived, he looked like he was fresh from AA training, didn't have much of a clue about anything, and told me that he hadn't been trained on bikes at all, which is why he didn't have a trailer. So I showed him what was wrong, gave him my allen key tool set, and let him have at it. Took the panels off, put the battery in, screwed the terminals on, put the seats & panels back on, and job done.

I signed his bit of paperwork, he duly waited for me to set off, after wishing me a safe trip - nice touch I thought, but he also had a look in his eye as if to say "I've gotta say this, but I know you're late for home, so I know you're just going to nail the bike anyway". I went, he pulled out of the car park.

Overall, good service. They turned up when they said they would, clarified the problem before getting there, so he didn't turn up then have to call someone else to help him, and had a nice chat, in the rain.

Downsides? A call out from Suzuki Assist to help a biker, and someone without any bike training turns up. Hmm. Not a big deal this time, but could be in the future.

How long does Suzuki assist last for. i.e. am I covered? now that I have my warranty up & running.

Stu, check with them. 0800 9170656.

I'm told that I have it for the period of the warranty. Great. Two years.

However, I've read on the t'internet that it applies to all suzuki vehicles, so long as it's less than 10,000 miles and you're a suzuki member (costs a few quid to join apparently, but I haven't looked into it).

That would be the fact that they use the "time to get a warm body, any body to the call out" metric for their stats.

Now if they were measured on "time till member sorted out" metric (with any time in the van being "Relayed" being deducted because it would be poor to penalise them on traffic/distance from home) then we would get the right guys, with the right training, the right tools and the right equipment first time.

Probably the guy in your area with the bike trailer already had a bike on it and wouldn't be free for an hour or two.....

Which in this case, and so could be quite common, was the right thing to do. If you wanted a jump start on your bike you would want to wait an extra hour for a bike trained mechanic - or would you?