ecko_nzed

I'm pleased to report that, although somewhat elusive, good customer service still exists in some NZ businesses.

After coming home and grumbling and the rude little fuck that served me when buying a juice and lack of customer service in this country, I logged on to my email and found that it is still alive and kicking in some companies. The email I refer to was from Wellington Motorcycles servce manager, informing that they had accepted responsibility for a mistake made when replacing my fork seals that lead to premature failure of one of the seals and would cover the cost of the replacement seals etc.

The seals had been replaced when the bike was going through the compliance process to get it back on the road (I brought it as a write off, stolen & recovered). When they failed I thought it might have been something more serious as I expected the seals to last longer than a couple of years. So I got on the phone to Robert Taylor of CKT fame, as everyone had told me he is one of the best in the business. To be honest after speaking with Robert, I was left wondering how he manages to stand up? The size of his brain must surely mean he has a head the size of a small moon! My intention had been to pick his moon-brain about possible causes of the failure and advice on what to do. That plan quickly went out the window when I had a list as long as my arm of reasons why it could have failed and things to get checked. Only one sensible thing to do, send the forks to Robert in New Plymouth and have him inspect them.

Of course I may have had an ulterior motive of thinking it would be the perfect opportunity for the forks to be upgraded to better suit my weight and riding style, while disguising it as much needed repairs to the better half.

Robert found that the spring in the leg of fork that failed had been installed upside down, causing it to scrap metal off the wall of the fork tube, contaminating the fork oil and causing the seal to fail and bushings to wear.
After initially being angry about the spring being put it upside down I calmed down and realised that mistakes happen, even the most experienced people make fuck ups. So I toddled down to Wgtn M/Cycles to speak with the service manager. Bruce listened to what I had to say and then told me that he would look into it and speak with the owner. I forwarded email Robert had sent me outlining what he had found and a copy of the original invoice for the work Wgtn m/cycles had done.

Now this original work was done over 2 years ago, so I was almost expecting to be told that there was no way they would accept responsibility. Instead I was chuffed that they instead contacted Robert directly, discussed the matter and then made the decision to cover the cost of the replacement seals and bushes etc.

Well done Wellington Motorcycles, Top marks for customer service. I will continue to spend my hard earned coin with your business.

So don't lose faith fellow kb'ers there are some bike shops that know what real customer service is about. After all, it's like old Alan Martin of L.V. Martins fame used to say, "It's the putting right that counts".

Now all I have to do is to see what magic CKT have done with my fork upgrades