Yamaha Customer Service

I thought this was worth sharing with everyone. I very recently had the dreaded ignition failure on my 06. I wasnt happy with my dealer as I have been very vocal about on this forum. Anyway, a painless call to Yamaha Customer Service, and BINGO, all is well. Here is there number if any body is interested, 800 962 7926. Below is a letter that I just sent to a Shaun Ryan, he is the manager of the Yamaha Custmer Service rep that took care of me. I know alot of people are pretty dissatisfied with there local dealers but a nudge from YAMAHA seems to do the trick. :clapping:

Ron Roberts 6/9/08

2006 FJR 1300

Shaun,

First let me apologize if I have spelled your name wrong, just too many ways to spell Saun, Shaun, Shawn….. you know what I mean.

I just wanted to take a moment to recognize Grant Cooper.

I called Yamaha Customer Service concerning an issue I was having with my 2006 FJR 1300 Motorcycle. I bought it new, it was a leftover and at the time of the problem it was only 10 months old and still under the original factory warranty.

I had an ignition failure, which is a highly documented issue for the 06 in the FJR Forum. https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=26098 My dealer did handle the problem but not to my satisfaction. The part was replaced by Yamaha and I had requested that they swap the lock cylinders from the old part to the new part so that I would be able to continue to have just a single key for the ignition as well as the side bags, top case and gas cap. The dealer said that they would try. I picked up the bike only to be handed a new key to go along with the new lock. They never tried and said that Yamaha was only willing to pay for .8 hours labor. I asked for the old lock and told them that I would do cylinder swap myself and they refused. They said that they would do it but they wanted to charge me. I asked that they call Yamaha Customer service to see if you would help and they refused. They did give me the number to call though.

I did call and spoke to Grant. After taking my information he called the Dealer himself and arranged with them to perform the service. He called me back within 10 minutes of getting off of the phone with him and instructed me to call the dealer to set an appointment to have the lock cylinders swapped. I did and they are swapping the cylinders for me this coming Monday, 6/16. THAT’S WHAT I CALL CUSTOMER SERVICE! The FJR is the first Yamaha product that I have purchased. I love the bike and now I love the brand.

Grant was caring and proactive and because of him I will have no hesitation in shopping Yamaha again.

I don’t know if you are the person to address this to but I still have concerns about the ignition switch and why Yamaha isn’t taking any action to improve upon this failure. Please take a look at the link or pass it on to the person or team responsible for such things. This is a very, very dangerous situation and I’d hate to see somebody get killed over it.

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=26098

My bike was one of the ones that the switch failed while I was riding. I was lucky and had just pulled into the parking lot at my place of work. I ride almost every weekend to a lake where I keep my boat. Its 15 miles of twisting single lane mountain road with no rail guards. This could have been a very different story if this had happen just 24 hours earlier.

Thank you and thanks again to Grant.

3 word answer on why they (probably) won't do anything about the problem. Cost Benefit Analysis! Its a shame but any one of us could be considered an acceptable loss to them. Besides ; god forbid there was a fatality due to a failure, who's going to pinpoint that failure as the cause? Which group of accident investigators that you know of has any clue about the problem. The bike would probably be so f'd up no one would notice the red or brown wire pulled out of the switch. So back to the original answer cost benefit analysis ; what does Yamaha have to worry about???? Not much as far as I can tell.

Good job getting the dealer to do what you want though. I hate to take no for an answer and never do, less of course its from the wife! just keep badgering them, wear them down and they usually give in. That may work on the dealer too!