Re: It's sad and its long.

["Jonathan Schulster" <Schulster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Patrick,
I really sympathise and know how much it means to you to get the bike in Orange. As I understand it, one swap to paint a fairing in a non-standard colour run takes up a lot of time and effort, which is not justified or covered by the cost they pass on to you. If they lose the production of 3-4 other bikes as a result of changing your one colour they would have to charge you about £30k for the priviledge.  Have I got this all wrong and they can just grab a Daytona fairing set and run it through the Sprint RS paint shop?  I know you have visited the factory on several occassions so perhaps you can answer this?
Just catching up on my recent copies of BiKE mag this weekend and noticed a long article about the parallel pricing scam (July or Aug issue).  It seems Triumph are the only major manufacturer still trying to maintain the price differential between UK and Europe - presumably as those in the UK who will 'buy British' are not price sensitive (my ST cost £6200 in Germany, compared to £8399 in UK).
As planned production goes from ~15,000 bikes/year to 25-40,000 with the new factory I guess they are under alot of stress that prevents the small touches (like an orange T955i) they used to be able to accomodate.   Perhaps they have to be careful not to lose sight of the fact that even a great bike can be made/lost (in terms of sales) on customer service and warranty.
Interestingly it was Ross Clifford who was interviewed in BiKE mag (on the production walk-through article follwing an ST through the shop).

cheers
Jonathan
ps. I'd like a yr 2000 in pink with white spots please :)

>>> Patrick Sutton <sooty@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 27/08/99 16:22:29 >>>
Hi fellow listers,

My 595 is now back to stock condition and most of the extras are sold, I had
tears in my eyes as I took the MAXX off :)

I have ordered a new silver yr 200  955i and have asked for it to be painted
in Lucifer Orange ( it will be a standard colour on the Sprint RS I hear )

Sadly they have told me , albeit politely, to stick my head up my arse and
whistle after spending in excess of £60,000 with them since the rebirth of
the company and the real probabilty of a new 600 AND a Sprint RS sale in the
next 12 months.

How hard is it to spray a Daytona fairing when there is already Lucifer
Orange in the spray gun and an open delivery date !!!....soooo, with all
this talk of blown engines, crap g/boxes, melted wiring looms,frames
cracking, continuos breaking huggers, dragging  headers, falling out rear
lights, poor valve clearances at 6000 miles and horrendous deprecaition etc
etc on the 595s, and on the Sprint ST, crap fuel gauges, iffy wiring AGAIN,
melted fairings, bubbling paint, bolt recall, centre stand recall etc etc,
and a general apathy to customers needs, slow spares supply etc etc , I
think that my faith in Triumph is at an all time low.

Take a read of this from another list :-

snip.

Well Triumph Canada returned my call and indicated that a new gas tank was
on its way but by air and not by boat.

<snip>

The upshot of it is that I am expected now to pay for this warranty work and
then go after the old dealer.  In reality its Triumph who is ultimately
responsible to me.

Has anyone else had this kind of problem??

Peter Tensuda

snip

<snip>
I am seriously considering a change of marque and maybe give the Hayabusa a
try even though buying Japanese sticks in the throat.

I wonder if Triumph realise how hard it will be to get back a lost,
exceptionally good customer who has bought 1 and sometimes 2 bikes a year
back into the nest.

I know by my own business, that once a customer is lost , they rarely come
back to you.  Sad quite sad.

Regards

Patrick









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