El Toro
Innocent Bystander
I bought a used '08 FJR 1300 AE from this dealer back in early October. I signed the usual paperwork, acknowledging that the bike was sold without warranty, expressed or implied. It was low mileage, and it showed no signs of issues in the 20 mile test ride, so I was comfortable with the no warranty concept. It's pretty much the normal situation with a 7 year old used bike.
On the first attempt at a long ride, the bike failed and I had to limp home. Some simple attempts at repairs led to a second chance to limp home the next day. So I called the dealer, made no demands, but asked for their input on the issue.
They expressed sincere apologies for the trouble and offered that, if I would bring it back and let them try to sort it out, that they would be happy to work to solve the problem. They said "we will make it right."
I took the bike back to the dealership, and they stayed on it through 6 weeks of part swapping. The time frame was impacted by the problem that several of the candidate parts weren't stocked in the US and had to come from Japan.
When they finally thought they'd sorted the problem out, they did extensive test riding on sequential days before they were ready to turn the bike back over to me.
When I picked the bike up today, it was clean, and the problem did not return during my own 60 mile test ride late this afternoon after returning home.
One minor disappointment is that it appears that the ambient air temperature sensor is no longer working, but I'm just going to set that display on mpg average and forget about it, at least for now.
I was impressed that the dealer spent quite a bit of diagnostic time, directed by Yamaha's technical support, to get to the end of this problem. They stayed with it, never wavering from their position that they would "make it right." My guess is that they spent on the order of 10 hours of test riding, and probably more than 10 hours in R&R of parts. In the end, the part that fixed it has an msrp of over $1,000 ... This was a pretty serious commitment on a bike that was sold with no warranty expressed or implied.
Cycle World of Gadsden, Alabama appears to me to be serious about dealing with integrity. Such dealers deserve support.
Added on 12/11/15: The problem with the ambient air temperature sensor (the Thermistor) was that it was unplugged. They offered to take care of it, but since they're 180 miles from me, it was easier to just plug it in myself. So everything works on the bike at this point, and I am pleased with the commitment to customer service at this dealership.
On the first attempt at a long ride, the bike failed and I had to limp home. Some simple attempts at repairs led to a second chance to limp home the next day. So I called the dealer, made no demands, but asked for their input on the issue.
They expressed sincere apologies for the trouble and offered that, if I would bring it back and let them try to sort it out, that they would be happy to work to solve the problem. They said "we will make it right."
I took the bike back to the dealership, and they stayed on it through 6 weeks of part swapping. The time frame was impacted by the problem that several of the candidate parts weren't stocked in the US and had to come from Japan.
When they finally thought they'd sorted the problem out, they did extensive test riding on sequential days before they were ready to turn the bike back over to me.
When I picked the bike up today, it was clean, and the problem did not return during my own 60 mile test ride late this afternoon after returning home.
One minor disappointment is that it appears that the ambient air temperature sensor is no longer working, but I'm just going to set that display on mpg average and forget about it, at least for now.
I was impressed that the dealer spent quite a bit of diagnostic time, directed by Yamaha's technical support, to get to the end of this problem. They stayed with it, never wavering from their position that they would "make it right." My guess is that they spent on the order of 10 hours of test riding, and probably more than 10 hours in R&R of parts. In the end, the part that fixed it has an msrp of over $1,000 ... This was a pretty serious commitment on a bike that was sold with no warranty expressed or implied.
Cycle World of Gadsden, Alabama appears to me to be serious about dealing with integrity. Such dealers deserve support.
Added on 12/11/15: The problem with the ambient air temperature sensor (the Thermistor) was that it was unplugged. They offered to take care of it, but since they're 180 miles from me, it was easier to just plug it in myself. So everything works on the bike at this point, and I am pleased with the commitment to customer service at this dealership.
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