PLEASE BEWARE - AK THE TWO STROKE CENTRE - PLEASE HELP!!!

[azrs1]

It makes me so sick how garages/workshops who name themselves the 'best' or 'honest' screw novice riders when they bring their bike in.
I'm new to motorbikes in general, nothing to hide about that, EVERYONE starts somewhere, and was overwhelmed by the sort of acceptance you get when you become a rider, little things like riding down the road and another rider passes and gives you the nod, or when you park your bike up and a biker starts having a conversation about bikes and life in general, it's like a brotherhood, a really good vibe if you know what I mean.
But one thing wrecks this, and it's these cowboy garages/workshops who like to make money out of the vunerable i.e 'novice/beginner'.
And I'm talking about this place.

AK THE 2 STROKE CENTRE Here's their website www.ak-the-2stroke-centre.com (calls himself a specialist with Aprilia RS 125's)

Before I go on, quite simply the guy who owns this place named ASH (the only mechanic) f**ked me over big time.
My Aprilia RS 125 was in perfect order, the bike is a 2004 model, 3 services on its book, everything pretty much new. As I said before, don't know much about bikes but I tried to do some 'maintanance' on the bike.
Somehow the clutch cable popped out of its holding which feeds into the transmision gear box (the left hand side of the engine), this meant taking the cover and gasket off just to pop the bloody thing back in.
PROBLEM!...., I did'nt know how to assemble the gearbox back up again, and could'nt get hold of the workshop manual these dealers have. So I decided to take my RS 125 to this hell raise of a place AK THE TWO STROKE CENTRE, as the guy sounded like a good person on the phone, very fair price for price and I quote him 'it's only a HALF AN HOUR JOB TO DO'.
I thought, man this really is a fair guy and sounds genuine.
Taken my bike there, left it with him, expecting back on the same day or next day.
Rang him the next day, he say's, 'sorry you gonna have to leave it with me, as I'm quite booked up till next week' so it jumped from a day to week and a half wait?
He calls me later that week, and says 'do you know your tyres are punctured?' I tell him you've got the wrong bike if your talking about mine, as there was nothing wrong with the bike when I left it with you.
HE TELLS ME THERE ARE NAILS IN THE TYRES!!! AND THEY KEEP GOING DOWN!! WTF??? I WAS SHOCKED, AND I KNEW FROM RIGHT THERE THAT THIS GUY SMELLS LIKE A COWBOY!
HE THEN STARTS SWEARING AND SHOUTING AT ME WHEN I QUESTION THIS, TELLING ME PEOPLE LIKE YOU DON'T KNOW NOTHING, WHEN ALL I WANTED TO KNOW HOW ON EARTH DID THEY SUDDENLY HAVE NAILS IN THEM. CUT THE STORY SHORT, HE BASCIALLY BRIBED ME, HE KNEW THERE WAS NO WAY OF ME BRINGING THE BIKE BACK FROM HIS PLACE AS I HAVE NO VAN OR TRAILER AND IT WOULD BE MORE MONEY FOR ME TO PAY HIM TO DROP IT AT MY HOUSE, ALL I WANTED WAS MY BIKE BACK, SO I SAID JUST FIT THE NEW TYRES ON (KNOWING DEEP INSIDE THAT HE DID PUNCTURE THEM). FEW DAYS AFTER I GO TO PICK MY BIKE UP, HE TRIES TO APOLOGISE FOR HIS BEHAVIOUR BUT ALL I WANT TO DO IS PAY AND GET OF HERE, HE DROPS THE BILL, £300!!!!! FOR THE NEW TYRES AND 'HALF AN HOUR LABOUR'. WE ARGUE, HE STARTS DOING HIS SWEARING THING AGAIN SO I JUST PAY AND GO.


TEN MINUTES INTO THE JOURNEY HOME, THE TRANSMISSION BOX MAKES A CRUNCHING NOISE!!! AND GEAR SEIZE, I LOSE CONTROL OF MY BIKE AND SLIP OFF (NOTHING MAJOR, SLOW SPEED) I IMMEDIATELY CALL HIM AS I WAS FIRED UP I WANTED TO GO BACK AND BEAT THE S**T OUT OF THIS GUY, HIS PHONE IS OFF, I CALL THE ROAD RESCUE PEOPLE TO PICK ME UP, WE GO BACK TO THE GARAGE AND IT'S ALL SHUT.

NOW I'M BACK AT MY HOUSE, I'M REALLY LOOKING FOR ADVICE ON WHAT TO DO? WHAT SHOULD I DO? WHAT ARE MY RIGHTS WITH SOMETHING LIKE THIS?

[TOM M]

Go to citizens advice, try not to mess with anything on the bike untill you have been down.
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Now owner of a 1200 Bandit

[Knowlsey]

did you get a receipt for any work done, if not he will deny all knowledge probably, best thing is take a mate with you, so he can be there to witness him admitting to the work, or go yourself and take one of the recorders with you, if he does not agree to put it right then go home and ring him then play the tape back at him, i have done this before with the council telling me one thing and another employee saying another, they shat themselves when they realised i taped them

[RS125_Tecky]

What a wanker.

I'd be round at this shop first thing tomorrow morning.

So now you've got a f**ked gearbox? and the bike has been crashed.

Not only that, you dont have to take the casing off to pop the cable back on. You simple have to drain the gearbox oil, unscrew the clear window and pop the cable back on, then put the same/new gearbox oil into the window until theres 600ml in there, then screw the window back in.

One reason I never use dealers.

[The View Askew]

That story really makes my blood boil, i would love half an hour in a locked room with him and a nutcracker.
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"Do what you always did, get what you always got"

[Black Knight]

Forget CAB. Take some proper legal advice.

ake a diary of all events, simalar to what you've written above.

Keep all documents/paperwork.


If all else fails....BCF meet anyone?


Has anyone else used this dealer? Where abouts is he based??
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Where does a turn end? 'Where you can do anything with the gas you want to, where you are brave again, where your attention is free from the turn, where you are sure you can do it better next time; that's the end' - Keith Code.

[PsychoHippy]

[Delvard]

[Suzuki]

If he knew that the work he'd done on your gearbox was such that the bike was unsafe for road use, then you might have a case of criminal negligence that you can bring against him.

You should go to the citizens advice bureau and see what they say. Wont cost you anything to talk to them.

Oh, and welcome to BCF.
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<Simple> no I'm shaven Jon
<Simple> it is a big enough hole.. I'll leave it now
Ride: 1999 Suzuki GSXR600 (yellow/black) IRC: Stats - Relationship Map

[paulthewitt]

yeah ive had dealings with them.

for parts they are great, however, when i binned the bike i took it there to get the bits and bots and they helped fit it. there used to be a guy called dave who worked there, he was a nice guy, knew what he was talking about.

ash - the owner was an idiot. not much more you can say about him.

i say again, great for spares, but do not give them your bike to repair (sorry you found this out the hard way)
also sounds like dave has quit. probably due to ash' rantings

the nails probably came from that courtyard. its out by bristol airport for those that want to know

Paul

[azrs1]

but I think suzuki roger has a very valid point which I didnt think of, if the ass h*le knew my bike was dodgy to ride (and yes it did cross my mind before leaving his garage) then man, he had it in for me, dangerous assumption to make I know, but seriously if you was in my shoes right now you'll know how I feel.

[paulthewitt]

oh yeah, when i was there, my brake lines needed replacing, but ash said dave couldnt help as they had too much to do.

so i had to ride from there to fowlers (and another £120 bill) with NO brakes. as your probably aware there are some STEEP hills on the way back into bristol, so it took me 3 hours (a 10 mile journey) most of this spent going down hill using the ignition cut off and boots as barkkes....yes i went very slow. and my boots were wrecked!

this was because dave had bled them ready to do them, before being dragged away.

Paul

[azrs1]

everytime I call, he doesnt let me say anything he just swears saying f off all the time, and all this son I'm gonna track you down one day bullshit.

[Kickstart]

Hi

Do not touch the bike yourself. Do get some legal advice (possibly from your credit card company, possibly from the AA / RAC if you are a member). I suspect they will tell you to get an independent opinion of what has been done.

My guess would be that they have either not replaced the gearbox oil or they have left something in the gearbox. These are very much guesses though, based on what you have said.

Couple of things. It is possible to put a new clutch cable onto an RS125 without taking off the clutch casing, and you do not need to drain the oil either. You will need to take off the clutch casing if the end of the cable has come off (not likely unless someone has bodged the cable in the past). Were they refitting the existing cable or fitting a new cable?

It might be amusing to ring him up from the CAB office with him on a speaker phone .

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[spatulaboy]

I can't believe this!! my old man had a fight with him!!!
no bull shit,
Ash is the kinda bald short one, and your wrong he's not the only mechanic, there's actually three of them, since we last went, I went to get my MOT done there and that cunt ash failed my bike on things which could of passed.
he tried flogging parts on his shelf and my dad just smaked him one cuz he getting all patronsing.
mate what area you from then? I could back you up on this if you take this to court or something, he can't carry on doing this to people, and my
dad hitting him was like 2 years ago... so he's still the same then huh?

[mrtEE]

[stinkwheel]

It is not citizens advice you want. It is trading standards. Call them for advice.

You will need some WRITTEN correspondance. The guys at trading standards will tell you a few select phrases to include. Your letter should contain a statement of your recollection of what has happened, why you find this unacceptable (be specific, this is the place for the phrases and acts of parliment trading standards give you), what you want him to do about it and finally a period in which you require a written response (seven days).

Send it recorded delivery, keep a copy of the letter and staple the delivery receipt to it as proof you sent it.

Keep the style of your letter formal, stick to facts, do NOT get personal. Below is a copy of my letter of complaint to the guys who sold me my bike (slightly different situation, but that is the type of thing you should aim for). Do not imply that he damaged your bike deliberately but do mention that he has used discourteous and abusive language over the phone to you.

If the guy is anything like your description, he will throw it in the bin. You will probebly need to send a second, stronger letter threatning legal action, mention you have consulted with trading standards. He will probably throw this in the bin too, at this point trading standards should be showing an interest in paying him a visit.

It may be worthwhile seeing if you can get a REPUTABLE motorcycle mechanic to do a report on the damage to your bike and if possible what caused the seizure (no gearbox oil would be my favourite). Unfortunately, this will cost you.

[paulthewitt]

excellent advice.

[Suzuki]

Do what stinky said.

Fantastic advice there.
____________________
<Simple> no I'm shaven Jon
<Simple> it is a big enough hole.. I'll leave it now
Ride: 1999 Suzuki GSXR600 (yellow/black) IRC: Stats - Relationship Map

[dodger]

[tintin]

Are you 100% sure that there were not nails in your old tyres? Also did you ask to see the old tyres?

I once had a run in with a garage over my wife's car - the cambelt snapped and the car was recovered by them. They told my wife they copuld do the work and put a new cambelt on. However (despite me asking them to) they made no attempt to check the valves, one of which was bent. The car would not run properly, the seats were covered in oil and grease, they charged me £200 for a £60 job and when I complained the owner held me up against the wall by my throat and threatened to smash my face in, adding helpfully that he knew where I lived if I decided to go to the police. When I contacted the Recovery company (Green Flag) they didn't believe me.

Sometimes you just have to accept that there are some complete bastards in the world.

Good luck though....
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The older I get the better I was

[DucatiEVO]

[GearboxGeezer]

Thats a horrible story, Really sorry to hear that... None of the bike shops are that bad round my area, Ok, one of them sold me a secound hand alarm, for £25, but when I paid for it he said his reciept machine was broken... so I said ok never mind, without thinking, The alarm did not work so I brought it back and surprise surprise, he says
"Sorry, I dont rember selling this to you! and im not taking it back without a receipt... "

Nothing on the scale of what happend to you but even that really pissed me off.

[Brick_Top]

Ring him up again, does your mobile have the option to record calls? If not get a recording device from somewhere and record the threats/abuse.

[numark1]