Cypher
New member
Seeing how we have a thread to name and praise dealers, why not have a name and shame thread so that we can warn others about our bad experiences. I don't think this should be disallowed as this is a free world we're living in and I personally don't see anything wrong with informing other people of my experiences.
I'll go first...
As all/many of you know from my ramblings I've had the camchain noise fixed several times.
I bought the bike from Lamba Motorcycles in Carshalton and there's not one bad word I can say about them, they've been absolutely superb in all regards - pre and post sales.
My only "gripe" with them is that they are quite far from where I live - about 20 miles - and it usually takes me more than an hour to get them. I wouldn't be complaining if not one fact - there is another dealer literally 2 miles away from me - Woodford Motorcycles - so you can understand why I'd prefer to use the closest one.
When my camchain started rattling the first time (before the first service, before I knew what it was) I called them up and said that I have a weird noise coming from the right side of the engine. They asked who I bought the bike from, I said Lamba and they said "Oh, well, in that case you have to go back to your dealer and see what they say. It's their responsibility to fix it." Alright. So I did... Had the noise fixed during the first service but it came back after a while I decided to try my luck with Woodford Motorcycles again.
I call them up a few weeks ago and speak like I've never spoken to them and say that I have noise coming from the camchain. First question the lady asks is "Did you buy the bike from us?" to which I obviously say no. Her reply - "Oh, in that case you have to go back to your dealer to get it fixed". I start saying that it's clearly a warranty repair but all she has to say is "You are a secondary client to us if you bought the bike from someone else and for such clients we don't do any warranty repairs". I was a bit baffled by the fact that they call themselves an "authorised Yamaha dealer" to which her reply was that they're a private company and they can make their own rules.
It felt like someone had just told me to f**k off even though it was their responsibility to do the repairs. I ended my conversation by saying that this wasn't really a way to gain new clients and I would certainly not be coming back and that I would contact Yamaha UK to clarify the situation but of course she didn't seem to care.
I called another dealer up in Shepherds Bush called Motorcycle Store, which is the dealership I bought my previous bike from and one I was very happy with. The guy also suggested I send an email to Yamaha and said - if they won't make Woodford fix it come to us and we'll sort you out.
I have to mention at this point that even though he didn't say - come over, we'll fix it, they have been helpful on more than one occasion and I can highly recommend them.
Eventually I did send a long email to Yamaha UK explaining the situation and expressing my disappointment at their after sales support and here is the reply:
I eventually opted for going back to Lamba as I like the guys. They fixed it in 40 minutes, ordered a new part and already received it the following Wednesday so I'm going back to them this Saturday to get it fixed once and for all (hopefully).
TL;DR
Woodford Motorcycles suck donkey balls, Motorcycle Store in Shepherds Bush and Lamba in Carshalton are highly recommended!
Apologies for the long post but the world has to know
I'll go first...
As all/many of you know from my ramblings I've had the camchain noise fixed several times.
I bought the bike from Lamba Motorcycles in Carshalton and there's not one bad word I can say about them, they've been absolutely superb in all regards - pre and post sales.
My only "gripe" with them is that they are quite far from where I live - about 20 miles - and it usually takes me more than an hour to get them. I wouldn't be complaining if not one fact - there is another dealer literally 2 miles away from me - Woodford Motorcycles - so you can understand why I'd prefer to use the closest one.
When my camchain started rattling the first time (before the first service, before I knew what it was) I called them up and said that I have a weird noise coming from the right side of the engine. They asked who I bought the bike from, I said Lamba and they said "Oh, well, in that case you have to go back to your dealer and see what they say. It's their responsibility to fix it." Alright. So I did... Had the noise fixed during the first service but it came back after a while I decided to try my luck with Woodford Motorcycles again.
I call them up a few weeks ago and speak like I've never spoken to them and say that I have noise coming from the camchain. First question the lady asks is "Did you buy the bike from us?" to which I obviously say no. Her reply - "Oh, in that case you have to go back to your dealer to get it fixed". I start saying that it's clearly a warranty repair but all she has to say is "You are a secondary client to us if you bought the bike from someone else and for such clients we don't do any warranty repairs". I was a bit baffled by the fact that they call themselves an "authorised Yamaha dealer" to which her reply was that they're a private company and they can make their own rules.
It felt like someone had just told me to f**k off even though it was their responsibility to do the repairs. I ended my conversation by saying that this wasn't really a way to gain new clients and I would certainly not be coming back and that I would contact Yamaha UK to clarify the situation but of course she didn't seem to care.
I called another dealer up in Shepherds Bush called Motorcycle Store, which is the dealership I bought my previous bike from and one I was very happy with. The guy also suggested I send an email to Yamaha and said - if they won't make Woodford fix it come to us and we'll sort you out.
I have to mention at this point that even though he didn't say - come over, we'll fix it, they have been helpful on more than one occasion and I can highly recommend them.
Eventually I did send a long email to Yamaha UK explaining the situation and expressing my disappointment at their after sales support and here is the reply:
Notice how there's not a single word about Woodford Motorcycles. Sounds like the fact that an authorised dealership isn't doing warranty repairs doesn't really bother Yamaha. After all, dealers are the ones making them money so they can't really punish them so customer essentially comes last...
I eventually opted for going back to Lamba as I like the guys. They fixed it in 40 minutes, ordered a new part and already received it the following Wednesday so I'm going back to them this Saturday to get it fixed once and for all (hopefully).
TL;DR
Woodford Motorcycles suck donkey balls, Motorcycle Store in Shepherds Bush and Lamba in Carshalton are highly recommended!
Apologies for the long post but the world has to know
