Wyder Honda (why not?)

LOL that might explain the MMC mechanics look when I told him where I bought the bike I didn't realise they had a bad rep too anyone know of ANY places in the NW of England with a good rep? I had my bike repaired by Lonsdale Bikes (nr Burnley I think?!) and they seemed ok, anyone any recommendations? anyone used Lonsdale Bikes? C'mon, Stewie n me got MOT's coming up soon! LOL

Originally Posted by stewie

£0-£646 in 40 mins, well impressed still

WTF caused that cost??

beats the sh*t out of JHS charging me £100 to change my indicator wiring!

i though things up north were meant to be cheaper!!

Originally Posted by neio79

WTF caused that cost??

beats the sh*t out of JHS charging me £100 to change my indicator wiring!

i though things up north were meant to be cheaper!!

Id tell you the story but have to be in work in 3 hrs ! lets just say they were overly picky and repaired thing not agreed to and worse off all the bike only done 86 miles before breaking down and is now on the patio in pieces, so I boight Plowsies old bike and lovin it

[Stu]

Originally Posted by Pedro68

6,000rpm was good for about 75mph on the flat (80 down hill, and 65 - 70mph uphill)

Oh dear, I think your clutch is slipping

Originally Posted by Stu

Oh dear, I think your clutch is slipping

Not funny!

Oh ok then ... maybe it was

If it does slip, I'll make sure it ends up right between the ar5e-cheeks of the fat monkey who rebuilt it!

So they gave you a hire bike/bikes to rag round on for 2 months?!?!? A CBF1000 too ... that is 'better' than an SV!! … That is good service!!

As you had a loan bike (at their expense) - surely it is in their own interest to try and undertake the work as quick as possible .... you would think

They have taken the piddle a bit on duration, but as they have given you a hire bike, surely it takes the pressure off? And you yourself accepted you caught them in a holiday period.

As for final price, I can’t believe you are surprised it came in at ~£1k (with labour being what it is and the amount of work required – at £60h it is only 15hrs (2 days) to get your £900 in labour alone!) … they said it’d be <£1k at one point (that instantly to me means it’ll be ~£1k sir)… if you were unhappy with that, you should have pulled the plug then …

It is bad that they said it’d be 700-800 at one point, but £940 isn’t miles away from that … and it IS <£1k they initially said …

[Stu]

Originally Posted by Blue_SV650S

…

Sorry but +1

(also glad you saw the funny side, was only joking I know what you mean about up/downhill you just take it easy rather than sticking to a strick rev limit more a steady throttle opening)

Originally Posted by Blue_SV650S

So they gave you a hire bike/bikes to rag round on for 2 months?!?!? A CBF1000 too ... that is 'better' than an SV!! … That is good service!!

Whether that's better than the SV is a matter of opinion, which you are entitled to ... I'm a new rider, and having ridden both of them I know which I'd prefer - and that's the reason I bought an SV in the first place. Good service it may well be from Wyder Honda Warrington (and I've admitted that they helped me out of a hole in a subsequent post).

Originally Posted by Blue_SV650S

Surely it is in their own interest to try and undertake the work as quick as possible .... you would think

You would have thought so but ...

Originally Posted by Blue_SV650S

They have taken the piddle a bit on duration, but as they have given you a hire bike surely it take the pressure off?

Yes it did take the pressure off (see above).

Originally Posted by Blue_SV650S

And you yourself accepted you caught them in a holiday period.

Yep, them and every other person involved in supplying parts/labour in the process of repairing my bike it would appear. Breakers were also short-staffed (due to sickness/holidays). So there was a delay in getting crank shaft and con-rods. They also had a delay because they forgot to order the bearings - they have no excuse there though.

Originally Posted by Blue_SV650S

As for final price, I can’t believe you are surprised it came in at ~£1k (with labour being what it is and the amount of work required – at £60h it is only 15hrs (2 days) to get your £900 in labour alone!) … they said it’d be <£1k at one point (that instantly to me means it’ll be ~£1k sir)… if you were unhappy with that, you should have pulled the plug then …

Had I known it was going to take them 9 WEEKS to do the job, I'd have most definitely pulled the plug there and then (hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it doesn't bloody help when you don't have the benefit of it).

Originally Posted by Blue_SV650S

It is bad that they said it’d be 700-800 at one point, but £940 isn’t miles away from that … and it IS <£1ki they initially said …

As I've said, I don't disagree with the bill itself ... what I do find hard to accept is that they couldn't give me a better idea of price at an earlier stage. I mean, it took them 2 weeks to get around to stripping the engine out and down. At this point though, SURELY they would have known what was broke and what needed replacing, and more importantly, HOW MUCH it would have cost to repace those parts? I don't think that's unreasonable to ask.

Also, at this point, they would have known how long it would have taken to strip the engine, so they must have some idea how long it would take to rebuild it. They are a garage FFS, they must have done engine rebuilds in the past, so SURELY they have some experience to base a decision on as to how long it would take to rebuild, and therefore how much effort was going to be involved in doing so? Again, I don't believe this is an unreasonable request at this stage and from a supposedly reputable dealer.

However, my biggest gripe is the FACT that they mislead me. I was told that the price would definitely not be more than £800 (INCLUSIVE OF VAT). So when I'm told that, at a later date, so I have reason to believe it is a more accurate and reasoned assessment of the costs, then I don't expect them to ADD ANY AMOUNT TO THAT ... let alone an extra £140 which may not be a lot to some people, but it is to me.

Their labour charges were reasonable ... £40/hr for 10.98 hours of work.
They said they could strip/rebuild the engine in a day. To that, I also requested that the brake pads be changed (based on their assessment of the wear on them), so I would expect a few hours over a day "all told", and that's what they have charged me for. As I've said, I've no real argument over the actual cost. I just find it unacceptable that they quoted me "no more than £800" at a time when I would have thought that the quote would be MORE ACCURATE. If they'd said to me at the beginning, "This is gonna cost you the best part of a grand and we'll have your bike back to you whenever we have the time (say 2 months should cover it)", I'd have told them where to go! If they'd told me "it'll cost you the best part of a grand, but you'll have your bike back in 2 weeks", I'd have accepted that. Kind of like paying a premium for a fast service. But to have the bike off the road for 2 months (9 weeks), and then to have an extra £140 thrown on the latest and most accurate (I was lead to believe) quote, for good measure really does take the P.

I know that labour/parts cannot be charged on a sliding scale (quicker they do it, the more they can charge, slower they do it, the less they can charge - if only! LMAO), and I did get loaners for all of the time my bike was off the road ... but to be given a verbal quote that they do not stick to and then deny is dishonest. Regardless of the price!

Put yourself in my situation ...

Your bike is not going anywhere (it won't start, so can't be ridden anywhere) and it's with the nearest place you could find ... the garage tells you that they don't know how long it will take and they don't know how much it will cost, but they guarantee you it won't be more than £1K.

What do you do?

I asked them to strip the engine, find out what was wrong, and give me a better idea of price and time on the job. Not an unreasonable request?

So they strip the engine ... and after repeated phone calls, they finally say, ok, well we can do it one of 2 ways ...

Option 1. Recondition your crank n con-rods, etc. turn-around time on reconditioning is about 3 - 4 weeks, and then we need time to fit it all back together and test it.
Option 2. Get a replacement crank n con-rods from a breaker, turn-around time 1 - 2 weeks and then we need time to fit, etc.

Option 2 is cheaper than option 1 by about £50.

All in all, the total bill will be NO MORE THAN £800.

I ask if that includes VAT and am told, yes that's everything, parts, labour, VAT. THE LOT.

What would you do?

I told them to go with option 2 ... because it was quicker and cheaper.

THAT WAS 6 WEEKS AGO!

At what point do you tell a garage that has your bike in bits that you don't want them to continue with any repair work?

I'd have been charged for parts already ordered.
I'd have been charged for labour already spent stripping the bike.
I may have been charged labour for them to put most of it back together if I wanted it collecting.
I would have been charged for recovery of the bike.

It just seemed the easier option to let them get on with it, and they obviously knew this but took the f*cking pi$$ with it!

So c'mon brains, what SHOULD the solution have been?

Garages KNOW they have you over a barrel, because if you refuse to pay, you don't get ya bike back, hence they have carte blanche to give you false quotes, lie about the prospective job time and costs, and then deny it all and charge you whatever they like, and we the customer get a right royal shafting ... it ain't right.

If I carried out my work the same way, I wouldn't be "in work" for very much longer

Apologies for the long rant (again), but 9 weeks takes the biscuit folks ... and I feel like I've been shafted by the garage on this. Sorry Blue n Stu, but I disagree wiv ya both. You're saying it's ok for a garage to give you a quote AFTER they've assessed the work, and THEN charge you more? That's wrong guys. Had it been an "unexpected" problem, I could understand ... but it wasn't.

Originally Posted by Stu

(also glad you saw the funny side, was only joking I know what you mean about up/downhill you just take it easy rather than sticking to a strick rev limit more a steady throttle opening)

Yes, I do have a sense of humour - despite some of my posts today

Don't you worry, I will be gentle with the throttle ... but I'm in the cage today (gotta go pick kids up later, and the weather was really awful this morning).