Warranty claim settled at glacial speed
On Saturday 12 December I retrieved my Aprilia SL750 Shiver from TSS Motorcycles. It now has an operating speedometer, odometer and thermometer.
The work done was a warranty claim, lodged with and accepted by the New Zealand distributor on 6 March -- just a whisker over nine months ago.
This speedo sensor issue is a well-documented fault for the early model Shivers, of which mine is one. Rather than issuing a general recall, Aprilia has instead opted to deal with this on a case by case basis. Fair enough. Mine was one such case.
The main reason that this case was resolved in such a "timely" manner (before the two-year, unlimited kilometre factory warranty expired) was because I repeatedly harangued "New Zealand's most customer focused and experienced importer of European motorcycles", eventually suggesting that this matter be dealt with by a certain date, or I would be returning the Shiver to them in return for a full refund, as I am entitled to do under New Zealand law.
That resulted in a sensor unit being "found" in Taiwan and being "urgently couriered" to New Zealand -- a journey that required follow-up by me to complete.
Rather than delivering this sensor unit to TSS, the dealership through which the warranty claim was lodged and accepted back in March, it was sent to Motorad in Wellington with, as it turns out, instructions not to release it to TSS. That would have been OK had New Zealand's most customer focused and experienced importer of European motorcycles seen fit to inform me of this.
My priority has always been to get the necessary work completed. If Triumph had informed me that Motorad was their sanctioned service agent in Wellington and that I should get this work done there, I would have. Instead I booked my bike in with TSS for the necessary work to be completed prior to heading off on a week's holiday, during which time more detective work was required to hunt down the recalcitrant sensor unit and finally get it delivered to TSS for the job to be done.
My expectations may be poorly calibrated, but I think that this is nothing short of appalling service on the part of Triumph New Zealand. Their attitude to this case has been blase and communication pitiful. Their last act in terms of sending the unit to Motorad instead of TSS, without notifying me, is childish and spiteful.
I bought my Shiver on 4 January this year, after much umming and arring. The two-year, unlimited factory warranty was a major driver of my purchase decision. The attitude and performance of the Aprilia New Zealand distributor ostensibly makes that warranty worthless.
My big fear is that something on my Shiver (which I love to bits, by the way) will fail or break (e.g. a clutch or brake lever, or stone damage to the headlight) and I will have to go through this performance again with Triumph New Zealand who I suspect has no parts other than filters in stock for Aprilias.
I strongly caution anybody considering buying a new Aprilia to get a written statement from Triumph New Zealand that they will honour Aprilia warranty claims in a timely manner. Nine months, I suggest, is not timely. If this hadn't been a warranty claim my bike would have been fixed by early April, with a US$80 component imported either from AF1 in the USA or from Aprilia Australia.
I keep telling myself that I should be happy to have a fully functioning Shiver with very few kilometres on its odometer (2,270 to be precise). Instead I am disappointed, frustrated and angry with a distributor clearly missing in action. Aprilias are great bikes. They deserve better.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Blackbird
Bookmarks