[ST] Another Booh Update (very long)

[pattib@xxxxxxxxxx]

Booh is still in the shop, but progress seems to be being made.

[ Background: he broke down in Death Valley, with a weird electrical
problem that showed up the first time on my way home from 6K service.
I wound up renting a truck and hauling him back to San Francisco from
Las Vegas, and dropping him off at CalBMW. ]

When I dropped the bike off, they assured me that it would be fixed in
two weeks, worst case, but that they expected it would be sooner, and
they'd move it to the top of the priority list because of all the
problems I'd had.

About a week after I'd dropped it off, I called to get status.  They'd
replaced the shift linkage that broke during transport (my fault), but
couldn't reproduce the electrical problem.  They asked if it was OK if
they put some miles on the bike, and I agreed.

I called back the morning of the day that they'd promised me as a
worst case, and the service department basically gave me the same "we
need to put some miles on the bike" story.

At this point, I'd had Quite Enough Of This, and wrote a very detailed
letter to Kari, the shop owner, explaining why I was unhappy, and
informing him of what I expected from them, and what I'd be doing if I
didn't get it.  I was very polite, but very firm.  I sent it both via
email and overnight mail.

A few hours later, I received a phone call from Mike Meissner, the
Triumph brand manager at CalBMW.  He was taking over as the point
person, and spent a lot of time talking to me about the problem, and
asking me for a very detailed description of the problem.  He seemed to
be quite technically knowledgeable, and I expected that he would do the
right thing.  A few minutes later, I got email from Kari apologizing
profusely, admitting that they'd "f****d up", telling me what they were
going to do about it, and thanking me for remaining civil.  This was on
5/30.  Apparently the management had been out of town for several days,
and had failed to communicate the priority of this problem to the rest
of the service staff.

Last Thursday, I sent Mike email asking for a status, and then called
the service department when I didn't hear from him.  They did manage to
reproduce the problem, although it's intermittent, and were working
with Triumph to find a solution.  He walked me through the steps that
they'd taken, and what the current status was.  Among other things,
they'd replaced a control module, but it's still failing.


I'm extremely frustrated.  At one point, I understand completely that
an intermittent electrical problem is going to be a bitch to find, but
I also want my bike back.  I haven't ridden in a month, and the other
day I found myself very close to buying a used Ninja 250, just because
I want to ride.  CalBMW dropped the ball badly at least once, but it
does seem like they're doing the right things at this point.

According to http://caag.state.ca.us/piu/lemon.htm this bike clearly
falls under the lemon law (more than 30 days in the shop in the first
18 months.)  It's been in for 24 days now, just since I trucked it back
from Las Vegas, and that doesn't count the first time I had it towed
back for electrical problems, or the three times I've had it in for
fuel sender replacement, or twice that it's had an oil leak, or the
broken wiring harness that it had when I first bought it.


So, the score as it stands right now:  my bike doesn't run reliably,
and they don't know why.  The bike landed on its right side while being
loaded onto the tow truck in Death Valley, and has a couple of tiny
nicks because of that.  It spent about an hour riding on its left
side in the back of a U-haul (my fault-- I forgot to put it in gear
when I tied it down), and has some relatively minor body damage
because of it, and the shift linkage snapped and has been replaced.
I spent $400 having the bike towed from Death Valley to Las Vegas, and
$250 trucking it from Vegas to San Francisco, plus $80 in extraneous
cab fare and $150 in car rental because I didn't have reliable
transportation in Las Vegas.  

I think Tuesday morning I'm going to swing down to Mountain View and
have a chat with them in person, plus just grab some random bike from
the lot and take it for a test ride, just to get a riding fix.  (But I
don't have an addiction problem.  Nope, no sirree.... I could quit
riding at any time.)  If they can't isolate the problem by Friday, I'm
sorely tempted to invoke the lemon law and get a new bike.

I've been in touch with Jerry Parrish at Triumph of North America, and
he's assured me that if this turns out to be a manufacturing defect,
Triumph will do something about the towing and truck rental charges.  I
think I'll use that to try to get them to replace the damaged plastics
(left and right side fairing panels, and both left and right luggage
lids) that occurred as indirect results of this fiasco.


That's the news from Lake Sprintless Woebegone.

- -Patti


P.S.  Here's the letter that went to CalBMW when I was just totally
bloody furious at them.