Trying to get a new bike.... :(

[Akiraprise]

ok, well I've had countless faults with my brand new Derbi GPR 50 2004 model, I was told by the trading standards centre to send a letter to Derbi telling them I want either a new bike, or a replacement with a year's warrantee I can rely on and have little / no problems with, I will be forwarding it also to Mac's - my local garage and teh trading standards place.

please have a little read and comment on my letter so far - deffinately not finished, just need a bit of guidance as to what to say - and for your information my mum wrote a bit of it and thought it'd be best to be written as a letter from them.

https://www.3nergy.net/personal/motorbike/complaint/

thanks

[El_Bandido]

Ouch!

Looks like youve had a terrible time. The letter looks good. I'd say ts ready to post
____________________
Hold my beer and watch this!

[Adam.I]

If I'm writing a letter to someone that I don't know who exactly to it's going (like a company), I address it 'Dear Sir or Madame'.
____________________
Veni Vidi Vici

[stinkwheel]

I would finish with something along the lines of:

[Ste]

If you have them, add in the names of everyone you've dealt with at the dealership you can or at least their job titles.

[stinkwheel]

I took the liberty of re-writing your letter. I have made it shorter, more of a statement of facts and ommited things which imply you have been working on the bike yourself and that make assumptions as to the specific cause of a fault. It is sufficient that there is a fault there.

Feel free to ignore what I have done, rewriting other peoples letters is an annoying habit of mine

Your Address,
Any Street,
Hometown.

Derbi Dealer
Motorcycle Road,
Somewhere.

Copy to:
Derbi UK
Whereversville.

22nd March 2005

For the attention of The Managing Director

Re: Unacceptable quality of Derbi GPR registration
SK04 ABC. Unfit for the purpose intended.



Dear Sir

I am writing to complain about a 2004 GPR50 that we bought for our Son in August 2004.

Our experience of owning a Derbi has been a catalogue of disasters from start to finish.

The bike was delivered to the Motor Cycle Training Ground for my Son, Russell, to take riding lessons before being allowed on the road. It had to go back to the dealer three times before Russell was able to pass the course. The exhaust that was fitted had to be replaced with a second hand exhaust due to it causing the bike to misfire. The other two occasions were reportedly for the carburettor to be cleaned properly as this was not done at the start. The last trip of the week was to fix the bike as it was running very slowly, achieving around 5mph in first gear up a slight gradient. By the time the bike reached the MCT’s centre the bike would not tick over and finally would not start althogether.

The new exhaust that was ordered was improperly mounted – causing the fairing to melt a bubble on the left side fairing. A new one was ordered from Derbi UK, a silver left hand side fairing for a 2004 GPR. The panel was never received, leading me to make a deal for a slight second hand right panel from the dealer.

The ‘carbon fibre’ headlight surround had bubbles melted in it upon delivery of the bike. This was explained to me by the garage as to do with the bulbs acting like a magnifying glass. I was told that Derbi were making a replacement part, however I have not heard back about this.

The ignition system failed after 1000km, the bike was left at a local college for an hour, when upon returning to the bike it wouldn’t start despite repeated attempts. The bike was eventually picked up by the garage.

At 4500 km a fault developed with the charging system. Three replacement batteries have been fitted as well as two rectifiers. The bike will appear to charge the battery when running, but after a few days the battery is totally discharged. At this point in time the tachometer, brake light, indicators, oil light and main lights are severely effected. The tachometer does not show the correct RPM, the brake light is barely visible and the indicators fail to function entirely. The oil light comes on after tapping the front brake lever and the main lights loose power when braking or indicating. All of this is obviously very dangerous and illegal.

If the weather is very wet (heavy rain or fog) the engine malfunctions. In these circumstances it is unable to rev over 8000 rpm, when attempting to rev higher thick smoke comes out of the exhaust and the engine makes an unusual noise. In addition there is very little throttle response and the bike stalls when it is ticking over. On one occasion these problems was so severe the bike could not be ridden and had to be pushed home and collected by the local dealer. Obviously, this fault causes a significant safety hazard to my son when it occurs on the road in busy traffic conditions.

The front fork seals both failed before the bike was 4 months old, at 6500 km, releasing oil over the front callipers, discs and wheel. This caused the front brake to fail and the bike to slide out when cornering . They were repaired yet failed again with exactly the same the same symptoms one week later. In total the seals have failed four times, with the situation being so severe at the moment there is no oil left in the front right-hand fork. The oil is leaking out onto the fairing, wheels and most importantly brakes.

When braking under these circumstances the lever has to be forced back heavily in which case the front dives and the suspension – incapable of supporting the bike- rebounds heavily. If my son were to continue using it in this condition, it would be only a matter of time before a serious accident occured. I am concerned there may have been damage done to the forks whilst there was barely any oil left.

The brakes have also failed on another two occasions, both front and back brakes. They give out a loud screeching noise and applying the front brake has no effect.

There is a loud fuzzy noise when the front brake is applied, which started at 2500km. We were advised that this was the pad wearing in after a service. The bike is now on 9000 km, I feel the brake pads should have bedded in long before this.

The gearbox sometimes jumps out of gear when going over small bumps.

The fuel tap is mounted too far into the fairing, it’s very hard to reach the tap, and when the fuel tap is switched off petrol leaks out from the switch. I feel this is dangerous and presents a significant fire hazard.

When the electric start worked, the bike would stall when going into first gear, with the clutch firmly pressed in, at any RPM. After restarting it engages first gear perfectly.

The starter motor has now failed, with one replacement part fitted to the starter motor, which has since failed. A new starter motor has been ordered but again there is a long wait for Derbi UK to supply it to the garage.

The brake light does not illuminate when the rear brake is applied.

My son has always wanted a motorbike and takes good care of it. As an asthmatic he often relies on it to get him places, and doesn’t want to have to hope for the bike to start when returning to it. I feel these faults are all the result of faulty parts or workmanship and could not have been caused by neglect or misuse.

The service your garage has given has been superb with a rapid response to our problems and I feel you have made every attempt to rectify the numerous faults that have occurred in a timely fashion.

However, the problems we have experienced with this motorcycle have rendered it unuseable, dangerous or illegal to use on the road on no fewer than ten occasions* in the last seven months. The extensive and varied level of mechanical, electrical and quality control failures we have experienced are not what I would consider acceptable for a vehicle of this age and degree of useage. This is backed up by the fact that this motorcycle was sold with a 12 month warranty which is still in effect. As such I have little option other than to reject this vehicle as not fit for the purpose intended as described in the Goods and Customer Services Act 19xx*.

I consider the quality of this vehicle to be totally unsatisfactory and feel it should be either replaced with a vehicle of equivalent value and type to the one I purchased last August or I should be issued with a full refund of the monies I paid for the goods.

I expect to receive a written reply to this letter stating which of these two options is preferrable within the next seven days.

Thankyou for your consideration in this matter.



Yours faithfully,
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Ste]

Nice letter stinkwheel.

And in an effort to continue correcting other people's letters, it's the "Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994"then rather than the "Goods and Customer Services Act" I believe.

[Akiraprise]

Wow stinkwheel, thank you very much that seems like alot more better letter to send out and hopefully will better my chances of the situation being rectified, i am truly greatful of your help .

I have to add a few more bits though, another day another fault.

Basically my rev counter goes hay-wire when revved over 9000km even with the battery charged (i thought it was the battery causing this).

And upon recieving my bike back today I'm appauled at the level of service I've recieved, over two days they cleaned my front fork and brakes and charged up the battery. The brakes are virtually un-usable now as they have barely any force to them, aswell as the forks continuing to be dangerous as allways. Also the starter motor's not going to be here for two weeks (making the wait over 2 months) and forkseals (so they say... tomorrow). They didn't fit my sidepanel or fix the back breaklight.

However, upon me complaining about me needing the bike for college commitments i've been promised a 'courtesy' bike for whenever my bike's in the garage.

[jimster]

Ho hum, I only read it quickly but I think you should mention under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 that the bike must be fit for the purpose and in reasonable condition.

Also give them 28 days to reply and say "if you deny liability please explain in detail why you are not prepared to do admit liability. Should you deny liability I will issue a letter before action with the intention of issuing proceedings in the County Court, in accordance with the general pre-action protocol set out in the Civil Procedure Rules".

This does two things - if you eventually have to sue them, you'll get more costs (because you complied with the civil procedure rules) which are set out here:

https://www.dca.gov.uk/civil/procrules_fin/menus/rules.htm

The second, more practically useful, thing it does is scare the crap out of the dealer because it shows that you know the rules on how to sue someone!

[stinkwheel]

I would be tempted to leave threats of legal proceedings 'till the second or third letter. You want to be formal but polite initially, wading in with guns blazing can have the effect of making people dig their heels in on general principle.

You would be expected to write more than one letter about the subject before resorting to legal proceedings. Just a 'good form' type of thing, you can then show you have been reasonable in trying to sort things out without resorting to the courts which can only be to your benefit.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Akiraprise]

thanks again for comments, however I do not want to get on the bad side of my dealer...he's the only Derbi dealer on the island and who carries my warentee, so don't want to upset him too much...

[cagiva gezzer]

[Akiraprise]

yea, but the reason I Brought a brand new bike is I wanted it to be reliable, and not have to fix loads of broken parts myself - as i'm not that mechanically minded, although I really want to learn, nor to have huge repair builds, but my bike is basically like a second hand bike at twice the price.

I know people with better bikes brought for £600...

[Reevo8]

I felt the same. And after having problems with my brand new scooter,whilst my mates had R reg and x reg's which lasted longer I was very pissed off.

The bike would rev well, run fine, but after about 15mins (half of my 20mile journey to work at 0500) it would seem starved of fuel and die. I would then have to wait for 5-10 mins for it to start again, sometimes only for it to fail 2mins up the road. The scooter failed at roundabouts, and in front of cars, and because the battery was so weak, after a little while of keeping my indicators on it would need to be kickstarted, which also often failed.

I told the garage, and they kept saying that they have found water in the carbs, and it would be fine for 2 weeks before the problem resumed. Carb icing seemed to be the problem. And after 8months of hassle, I heard them say " well mrs plum had a carb heater fitted to hers last year, as it was a common fault with speedfights". Nice of them to tell me, they had this fixed in April, which was ok because I was about to start trying to sell it, but pants, because they had strung me along for 8-10months with BS stories, and lies. In this time, I had already covered at least 9,000km. Having it break everyday without fail. Through rain, snow, ice and hail. And it could have been remedied even before december.

Thanks a lot Andover Motorcycle Centre
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05 ZX10R, (**05 WKR)

[Akiraprise]

it's annoying isn't it? However I really dont get their reasoning, WHY NOT DO A THOUROGUH JOB? I mean, 10 mins extra, and it wont be back in for a while but it's just allways back there and they've lost sooo much money on it.

[scottiel]

Check with trading standards again on the wording of the ACT. I think it is "under the Sales Of Goods Act 1979 all goods must be free from defects"

It is better to get it right first time as they may check if they are going to be arses about it, and if it is worded wrong they might think you are trying it on and not take you seriously.

If on the other hand you have it right they will know you mean business.

As already stated your "contract" is with the dealer you bought it from, and their's is with Derby etc.

So just keep Derby informed but tell the dealer that you have sent a copy to Derby. Also mention that you may if unsatisfied be dropping a line to various major bike mags and MCN, they hate bad publicity.

GOOD LUCK