Dealer fury...

[Jp1923]

Where to start....

Basically i bought a chinese 125 sunday & collected today , 5 year unlimited mileage warranty...what can go wrong i thought.
Obviously the quality has improved over the last few years for iit to be so long on a 125.

Plus iv read alot of reviews from people saying the same & the dealer telling me in over a year of selling this model not one had been recalled.

I pick the bike up, dont do over 45 for the first 500 miles whilst the engines running in, which is fair enough i suppose.

so i'm riding along,literally done just shy 50 miles on the thing when come to an island which wasn't clear & as you do apply the front brake to stop...to my horror the bike just carried on taking me into the flow of traffic & nearly getting wiped out by a van.

I look down to see my front brake literally hanging next to the wheel.

WTF, tried to contact the dealer to let loose & couldnt at first so i phoned a friend to pick me up in their van,

on the way back the owner contacted me asking for my address to come inspect the bike to ensure there wasn't a manufacturing defect so they could recall the bike if there was.

i got home the guy turned up about an hour later with a van, looked at the front brake & said there was too much play on the bottom fitting & he would replace it (the front brake) there and then.
I advised him that if this was the case then shouldn't he be contacting all his customers that had bought the bike in case it happened again

now wasn't convince this was due to the parts & more human error as the screws had good thread & no real damage to the brake pads, i walked around the bike & checked the other nuts to find the nut holding the suspension come loose with barely any effort.

At this point i lost my shit, whoever carried out the pre "safety" check had obviously not checked it correctly.

In short i basically told him to get the fuck off my property before i ended up kicking ten bells of shit out of him.

Either him or one of his mechanics had cut corners & as a result nearly ended in me potentially killing myself.

he wanted to take the bike back there & then he was going to fire the mechanic responsible, i refused & told him i would get it independently checked then contact him once i had done so.

which at least gives me time to cool off & consider my options

Where do i stand with this?

Any more experienced riders, what would you personally do?

I don't think it was right just letting him take the evidence of substandard/dangerous work

[WD Forte]

Didn't I just see a condensed version of this on the workshop section?

Make, model, dealer and Pics or it didn't happen
____________________
bikers smell of wee

[ackack]

Is your mum posting as well

[Alex A]

hmm. Smear campaign?

To humour you for a moment..

What do you hope to achieve/gain by not letting them repair it? Do you think a CSI unit will turn up to record the evidence? Video and photograph what you want as evidence (just in case), then let them take the bike and remedy the issues. Ask for a refund if you like.

If I lost all sense at some point and decided to buy a brand new Chinese bike, I wouldn't trust any dealer/importer of such things to build and PDI it diligently. So the first thing I would do (before riding it anywhere) is check that every bolt and fixing was nipped up.

[Jp1923]

Appears so, mothers panic lol.

Andd yeah, it did happen...unfortunately.

Iv been riding about 3 years now, albeit 125's.
If some 17 year old who had just passed his CBT was in that situation, he would be dead right now.

the guy was genuinely more concerned about the reputation of his business than the safety of his clients.

From googlling, it appears trading standards is the way forward?
[/quote]

[Alex A]

[Jp1923]

[Alex A]

But it did. So, what do you want to happen now? For example:

- Do you want your bike fixed?
- Do you want your money back?
- Do you want an apology?
- Do you want some form of additional compensation?
- Do you want the mechanic fired?
- Do you want the internet to share your anger?
- Do you want negative press for the dealership?
- Do you want the dealership to go out of business?
- Do you want the specific model to be investigated by the DVSA?
- Do you want to feature on Watchdog?
- Do you want the EU to 'do something' about it?

Depending what you want, there are various things you can do to try to bring it about. Some are more achievable than others, obviously.

Or you could just be thankful that you weren't hurt, re-affix your brake (properly), chalk it up to experience, and get on with your life?

[iooi]

[Ichy]

[Baffler186]

I think you've shot yourself in the foot. They offered to fix it there and then, and inspect the bike with a view to resolving the issue, but you got angry and told them to do one.

Your options now? Apologise and hope they don't take the stance of many dealers out there by saying "you broke it and refused our terms of resolution, bye"
____________________
Current: 2009 SV650 S, 1990 Kawasaki GT550
Previous: 2009 CBF125, 1998 GSF600, 2004 FZ6 Fazer, 1978 CB400a Hondamatic

[doggone]

So what happened - the calliper mounting bolts had worked loose presumably due to not been tightened enough or has something literally broken off?
With a new bike there is always a risk of bolts working loose and owner should be quickly checking important items daily.
It's unlikely the long bolts would come out all that quickly so I'd expect some odd noises before anything literally fell off.

Falling out with dealer and mechanic is hardly sensible when you are expecting them to fix stuff for you

[pompousporcup...]

[BTTD]

I get that you're all rage face about this and demand vengeance and great justice, but lets be realistic. You're not going to get either.
What you can get is the bike fixed up the way it should have been and maybe a free first service if you play your cards right.

Go in and see them, apologise for losing your temper, but ask them to understand that you were and still are really pissed off about nearly being deaded, but you've had time to calm down a bit. Hopefully they'll be all apologetic and want to fix the bike.
Ask them what they're going to do to resolve the situation. Is what they suggest reasonable?
If they ask you what you want done, tell them - I want it collected, properly pdi'd and a free first service.

Walk away a winner.


Or rage face some more and get nowhere.

[MarJay]

[Rogerborg]

You got a fright, but suffered no loss. Lucky escape, but long term it'll be a funny anecdote.

Fact is, you bought a cheap Chinese bike that came partially assembled in a crate and was put together by a spanner monkey who couldn't get a job in a real dealer.

Either the monkey didn't do the caliper bolts up properly, or alternatively he did them up exactly to the torque specified by the manufacturer, and they still fell out. They'll claim the latter, and you have no evidence either way.

If you're determined that great justice must be done regarding torque settings and don't mind having it off the road for a while, then:

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-recalls-and-faults/report-a-serious-safety-defect

However, it's very unlikely that they'll touch it since it could and should have been "found during routine maintenance and servicing" (i.e. the PDI).

I'd strongly encourage you to follow the advice to kiss and make up with the dealer, including apologising for losing the rag with a chap who was trying to help you.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Silver_Fox]

While I appreciate it pays to be diligent, if you're selling bikes you have to assume responsibility if you provide something that could prove potentially dangerous. We can all say "do this/check that" but in reality we'd all be pretty seriously angry had we nearly come a cropper. The "dealer" needs to be aware of the potentially deadly situation they caused and hugely sorry for that (in whatever form that takes). That could have been someones life
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CBR600 F3 FV
CG125

[Rogerborg]

You can be angry but still act rationally. A cold Saxon fury rather than some tawdry Latin tantrum.

Sounds like the dealer has been made well aware of the totes SRSness of the situation.

The issue is: what do?

Since no actual loss has been suffered, and the only evidence is two missing caliper bolts, practically speaking I'd let the dealer pop two new bolts in, check the rest of them, and see what freebies can be blagged. Turn it in to a win.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[MarJay]

[Snowdonia Rider]

Let them fix the bike/rectify the situation and then when you get the bike back, go around checking every bolt/nut/screw yourself. That way when (if) anything happens again you will have no one to blame but yourself.
____________________
I want your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle.
Suzuki GP125 Suzuki GSX600F Suzuki SV650S KTM EXC250F SkyTeam Bongo 125
My YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/SnowdoniaRider

[BTTD]

[Snowdonia Rider]

Shouldn't there have been some warning? Something not feeling right? I'm assuming there were 2 bolts on the caliper, is OP saying they simultaneously fell out and caliper was hanging there by brake lines? And that prior to the island the brakes worked fine? Fook me those bolts fell out fast.
____________________
I want your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle.
Suzuki GP125 Suzuki GSX600F Suzuki SV650S KTM EXC250F SkyTeam Bongo 125
My YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/SnowdoniaRider

[Ste]

[Snowdonia Rider]

[Ste]