have i been ripped off?

[Red ones]

Originally Posted by mac

They know they have you by the balls whilst its still under warranty

The thingy wotsit block agreement ruling from Europe was supposed to sort all that out - but didn't. I say just put a regular sum to one side in a tax efficient corner of a bank and then self-insure for the warranty claim that is rarely made.

[northwind]

Not really... The requirement now is that it be done by a competent mechanic (regardless of what it may say in the book) The fun part as a DIY servicer is proving competence. If your crank snaps at 8000, would preventative maintenance at 4000 that you failed to detect was needed have prevented it? Would a trained mechanic have seen it? That sort of thing.

Servicing isn't just doing what's in the book. Good home mechanics can fix anything, but really good home mechanics prevent a lot of it.

[Red ones]

If the crank snaps at 8000 there is nothing in the service schedule that would have spotted or warned of any problem, but that is me being picky!


Competenace is always amusing and always going to be hard to prove, or disprove - just look at some of the "competants" in dealerships! -


I save my money from doing it myself and putting the saving in a high interest tax efficient account and bank the lot - when the bike is sold I think yippee and then keep it in the account to self insure for the next bike! The result is a lot of interest and a good looking bank account.

Competenace is always amusing and always going to be hard to prove, or disprove - just look at some of the "competants" in dealerships! -

Indeed.............

[northwind]

Originally Posted by Red ones

If the crank snaps at 8000 there is nothing in the service schedule that would have spotted or warned of any problem, but that is me being picky!

That's just it though, slavishly following the service schedule doesn't look after a bike. It's awareness of rattles, wee things going slack that shouldn't be slack or tightening up that shouldn't... This is my weakness, you can adapt to anything if it happens slow enough and never realise it's wrong. Bike just seems a little noisy or the clutch just seems a little heavy, things like that. maybe in my (terrible) example, your dealer might have noticed a tiny amount of big end rattle that you'd overlook as you're used to it, and the engine could have been refurbished for a couple of hundred quid- but now it's blown up and to return to original condition will cost several times more.

OK, I give up, my example was rubbish!

I know of a CBR600F owner who ignored cam chain rattle since all the internet guys said "They all do that", then the tensioner disintegrated, the bike ate all its valves and bits of tensioner fell down the chain tunnel into the big end. Home servicing wasn't cheap for him

Not to put people off home servicing of course, just that it's really important not to just follow the schedule, a big part of routine servicing should be preventative medicine.

zsxd......


thats what I was quoted at a franchise dealer so IMHO, no, if it was done at a franchised dealer then the price sounds about the norm

[Viney]

My bike goes to a dealer once a year'ish

You have any smaller garages near you? My dealer quoted me £120 for a first service (if it wasn't fee labour) and another quoted me £70.

But a lot of them are b*astards. Some aren't, but you don't come across them very often.

[Stu]

Is it safe to assume you went for the £70 quote - that ****ed your bike?

[BillyC]

It's expensive, but as pointed out - not horrendously so.

Remember you did ask them to do something specific and look into your gear changing problems in detail! 30 minutes doing this easily adds £30 to your charge, so you really have nobody to complain to but yourself for a £150 bill.

Chances are it needed the oil change - can improve gear shifting no end; or you just needed to clean your gear shift linkage. This is all very basic maintenance for your SV - you will need to learn to do it yourself - plenty of advice on this site.