reluctant dealers

[Eric Sheley <eric@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Sorry about the length of the following - below is Jonn Fitzwater's
response to James Gillespie's post about having a problem getting a local
dealer to do the bolt recall on his ST that he bought from another dealer.

After Johns part, you will find my response that I just sent along to the
Triumph Digest.

- - Eric

>Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 13:13:24 +1200
>From: "John Fitzwater" <johnfitz@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: RE: Recall work (from a Dealer's perspective)
>
>
>>     Could my friendly local dealer be trying to squirm out of doing
>> unprofitable recall work?
>
>
>Yep, and I sympathise with him to a certain extent. From his perspective, it
>grates more than just a bit to have to do warranty work that your local
>dealer knows is going to cost him loot after another dealer has made the
>loot on the sale (speshly if he got that sale by undercutting your local
>dealer). I think most dealers will happily accept that performing warranty
>work on a bike that they made a margin on is part and parcel of business.
>
>
>Call Triumph and tell 'em to start paying their dealers a fair warranty rate
>and this sort of thing will stop.
>
>
>To put it all in perspective Jim, Triumph paid Thunderbike the grand sum of
>NZ$287 (labour) to fix the failed gearbox in that T509 you used while on
>tour with us recently... (for the uninitiated, this was no fault of Jim's,
>who absorbed it all  like a gentleman with good humour and patience...)
>
>
>That NZ$287 (UKP90  or USD150) was supposed to be a fair rate for picking
>the bike up from Roxburgh (close to Te Anau where it failed) and taking it
>back to Nelson - a 3000km/ 1500 mile salvage trip (there's no local dealer,
>and the closest dealer in Dunedin would in all likelihood given the same
>story as your local dealer), removing engine from frame, fully disassembling
>it, replacing the damaged parts, reassemble engine, refit to frame, clean
>and road test the bike.
>
>
>If I recall correctly , the Triumph flat rate manual says this should take
>8.2 hours to replace the gearbox on a 509 (it took us 9.75), and they pay us
>the lordly sum of NZ$35/hr (UKP11.5/hr or USD18.5/hr) for those hours, plus
>parts, and consumables like oil. The salvage costs alone were over NZ$1800
>if you factor in vehicle running costs and the driver's wages. There is no
>allowance for the hours of paperwork that is required, and we're expected
>to pay for the parts up front until Triumph reimburse us 2-3 months later
>(Ho Ho..)
>
>
>The simple truth is that the average  non-metro ( i.e. resident local
>population of less than 100,000) dealer just doesn't sell enough new bikes
>to justify the loss it suffers through meeting warranty requirements. We're

>already punch drunk from the T5 frame debacle, where we were paid
>NZ$280/UKP89/US$148 per bike to replace the frames.
>
>
>To be perfectly frank, if Triumph don't get with the program soon,
>Thunderbike will have to make it a tough decision of whether we remain with
>them. This is just the situation that led us to resign our Moto Guzzi
>dealesrship last year.
>
>
>Sad old situation really, and frankly, who needs it?
>
>
>Having said I sympathise with your local dealership though Jim, if you'd
>like to call Scott and book in, Thunderbike would be happy to perform the
>warranty work on your ST for you...  :-)
>
>
>You can go basejump off a tall building while wrestling a rabid Great White
>Pointer (or what ever you're doing to get your kicks these days) while we
>fix it for you..  :-)
>Just sign this disclaimer here, here and here.....
>Thank you Sir.
>
>
>Your whining Kiwi Triumph Dealer Pal...
>John Fitz
>

John,

I was concerned when I read your original post, so I decided to check
further for my own curiosity. When I see a post from an unknown source, I
take it with a grain of salt - of course a dealership would like more for
warranty work - who wouldn't ? But, of course, knowing you (although we've
never met, John has given me much free advice) and your high level of
customer service and support, such a statement much have some truth to it.
Seeing a dealer of your level, make the comment that you may not remain
with Triumph worries me greatly. 
Anyway, as everyone knows, I bought the ST - because of John's
recommendation ;-) - and therefore am subject to the bolt recall that is
currently going around. I think Triumph did a good job of identifying the
problem, but from there, to the present they have handled it poorly.
Communication has been poor or confusing and now you can call three
different dealers and get three different stories. And on top of that, I
have had many people complain to me or to the ST List that their local
dealers will not perform the replacement "oh, that's only necessary if its
leaking ...." . 

So while sitting around at the dealer waiting for my ST on Saturday, I
posed some of these very questions. I found exactly the same thing. I
questioned, specifically on the recall, what they were getting for the
work. They are allowed to submit a claim for 1 hour and 51 minutes for the
Sprint ST .... as a comparison, the Speed Triple is allowed 1 hour and 45
minutes! That means that Triumph is allowing 6 minutes for the complete
removal and reinstallation of the fairing .... who comes up with these
times ? Some accountant in some dark back room? And I'd like to see the
quality of work that allows a 1 hr 45 minute replacement of the bolts. I
personally would like to know that the job was done right .... As mine was
being done, the technician, in his normal thorough manner, was checking
each bolt before replacement. As he pulled one of the new bolts and looked
at the threads, he found that the threads had been severely damaged during
the shipping process - does the 1 hour 45 minute replacement allow for the
techs to check the bolts in this manner? What would have happened if he had
been in a hurry to meet the time constraint and had tossed it in with the
air wrench ? ...... My replacement by the way, ran around 3.5 hours - so
the dealership is going to eat 1 hour 40 minutes of labor, just on that one
bike alone.

And as I listened and watched, in walked an upset customer that had made a
multiple hour trip to the dealer as a last hope for repair on his 595. He
had been to three dealers local to him and none of them were able to help.
So of course, Triumph sends him to my dealer in hope that my dealer will
TAKE THE TIME to fix the problems. Where is the dealer's incentive to do this?

So where will Triumph send their customers when all the good dealers are
gone? or do they only want dealers that tell their customers that the
recalls aren't mandatory ?

Do they enjoy seeing the damage done when owners can't get warranty work
done anywhere but at the dealership where they purchased the vehicle?

I'm not saying that Triumph needs to be exorbitant in reimbursement - only
that they need to pay a reasonable rate that will (1) allow dealerships to
continue to give the level of service that we expect when purchasing a
Triumph Motorcycle and (2) allow the dealerships that provide that quality
service to stay in the Triumph business.

- - Eric

http://www.TriumphNet.com/st
		

 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
 The ST Mailing list is sponsored by the Unofficial ST Website
   http://www.TriumphNet.com/st for ST and Mailing List info

=-=-=-= Next Message =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=