Why I Bought a Honda

Troll · 09-05-2003, 1:48 AM

I started having problems around January this year with my 954 hitting false neutrals between 3rd and 4th gear. It was very intermittent to start off with and when I took it to the dealer the mechanic couldn't replicate the fault. The service manager said he would log it anyway because I wouldn't have mentioned it if I didn't have a problem...

A few months later and the problem had got worse. I couldn't even use 4th gear - it would 'kick' out and rev freely. After checking the forum I noticed Housten954 (?) was having similar issues. Thanks to abtech, the problem was found to be worn shift dogs. I took the bike back to dealer over winter.

I picked it up this morning with a brand new set of internal gears! (90% of them were starting to wear) all done under Warranty! Honda rocks, and the Service manager was more than happy to check this website as confirmation of similar faults!

On top of this while the bike was in ~6 weeks, they replaced the fork seals which were leaking, for nothing, as a 'Sorry it took so long' type deal... I am one VERY happy guy today

BladeRider · 09-05-2003, 1:56 AM

Good deal man, but it is more the part of the dealer then Honda, there are plenty of Honda dealers out there that would have made your life allot more miserable I know from experience. Glad it worked out for you.

Troll · 09-05-2003, 2:06 AM

I'd have to say this dealer is the best in Perth, Western Australia. The sales staff organise full ride days (and come along...) the owner puts on bbq's afterwards. If any bikes are damaged on the rides (on and off road) they offer discounted repairs / parts. And it seems that customer service is their number 1 concern. If only every one was like this.....

fumbducker · 09-05-2003, 2:12 AM

Good for you!!!
With my local stealership I would have had to yell and scream and kick some ass...just to get an appointment. Want to know the worst service department in the Inland Northwest...PM me.

J

SuperDave · 09-05-2003, 9:02 AM

Excellent, you are quite fortunate. Like others have replied, there's no way my stealership would have checked a web site or have done anything else unless it was absolutely obvious, let me repeat that, absolutely, without a doubt obvious. Then, I could foresee a challenge whether this would be covered under warranty and so and so on.

Did you still have to pay a 'diagnostic' charge, the labor time it took them to test ride and acknowledge there was a problem? (probably not - that only happens to me).

You wrote this was repaired over the winter? How long did the deale, oops, stealership have your bike?

If this happened to me, I would be buying lotto tickets out the $ss!

Congrats!

P.S. - I never used to refer to dealerships as stealerships, just too many jaded experiences. Both vehicle and bike.

ND4SPD · 09-05-2003, 9:36 AM

Ask the owner of the dealership if he wants to start anything up stateside

Congratulations man!

HondaGal · 09-05-2003, 11:18 AM

Good to hear you got everything fixed! Also good for you for diagnosing the problem and helping the dealer fix the problem. Always nice to hear good dealer stories. There are a few out there....just gotta look really really hard for them.

Purpdust · 09-05-2003, 11:52 AM

Hey, Troll what dealer, I was very fond of Prestige Honda when I was there.

houston954 · 09-05-2003, 12:15 PM

that's awesome that they fixed it for you, lucky bastard.

do you guys think preloading the shift-lever before each shift, and using the clutch will make the shift fork and gear dogs last a little bit longer or just engage better?

bryan

Smitty · 09-05-2003, 1:02 PM

Now there is an amazing Honda dealer for you. I doubt if Honda dealers in the States or Cdn would act like that.

Red Rider · 09-05-2003, 1:41 PM

Troll...worn dogs, leaking fork seals? You do a lot of wheelies by any chance? Just curious...

Heavy-Dee · 09-05-2003, 3:48 PM

Honda dealer here is dragging it's feet fixing the CCT on my buddies F4i. He took it in while under warranty and before it got real bad and they said it was nothing to worry about. now it is bad and the warranty is history. The dealer said they would talk to honda and see if they could 'good will' it, but now won't return any phone calls.

HD

Troll · 09-08-2003, 5:11 AM

I guess I am really lucky!

The Dealer is The Honda Shop -Midland Perth, WA
(I've had a mate use Prestige and he wasn't happy with them, now he uses honda shop too)

The bike was there for six weeks. They estimated it would be about 3 and a half weeks, but apparently Japan has a national holiday for 2 weeks or something, and they had to get parts from the factory. Thats what I got told anyway. I was away for 2 weeks on holiday and the weather was absoulutley crap for another 2 weeks, so i'm not complaining much.

(Oh and I do *occasionally* have to look over the windscreen while on one wheel, but generally only in rural areas, or what you guys would call the Outback. hehehe)

Zeeman · 09-08-2003, 5:33 AM

Nice to hear some positive feedback about dealers

Z...