Motorbike shop punished for sluggish repair

[HenryDorsetCase]

[youtube]VeBYqL8nuSw[/youtube]

relevant........

[scott411]

I havent researched it but I am not sure that they can: if you are a "Consumer" then they can't contract out: certainly that is the case under the fair trading act because it prevents the fine print in the contract including an all purpose contracting out provision.

edit: to clarify: you are referring to the Consumer Guarantees Act , whereas the OP has listed a case resolved under the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal. Both (along with the Fair Trading Act) are very powerful and fairly user friendly pieces of consumer protection legislation. The MVDT costs bugger all for an applicant so thats why they probably used that track, vs Court proceedings for the other. Having said that it is in the Disputes Tribunal arena too: they go up to $15k now I believe. /edit

Not that I am giving any excuses but part of the problem is that we are a wee boat containing 4.5M people, sailing off the edge of the world: no one in Italy or Hinckley or the US or Japan gives two shits about this market. 82 bikes a year? they're hardly making money out of that are they?

you are correct, you can not contract out of the law,

[Edbear]

you are correct, you can not contract out of the law,

Was he perhaps meaning the Manufacturer's Warranty, in order to be able to source parts from other sources?

[Gremlin]

I did hear that the same importer may be adding BMW to his stable. There was concern about that importer being able to offer a sufficiently rapid level of service. (His reputation preceded him?) Apparently he assured BMW that the new agency would be different. Yeah right!

I mentioned these concerns to my dealer (I've uh... extensively... tested their parts delivery) and I was told it's partial, with them handling bikes, but parts still coming from the fatherland...

I will not be impressed or put up with that importers shit, when I know how it is (was)...

[scott411]

Was he perhaps meaning the Manufacturer's Warranty, in order to be able to source parts from other sources?

it does not really change the issue, the manufactures warranty is just part of the back up a dealer provides by law, the CGA states that things must last as long as a reasonable person paying the price must last, most MX bikes do not come with any manufactures warranty, but they are still covered by the CGA and must be fit for purpose, and have to be backed up by the dealer, the CGA also mentions the distributor or agent, so they are not totally out of the picture either,

the dealer can not contract out of the CGA, so any deal you come to about not honoring the warranty is not worth the paper it is written on for the dealer, because the motor vehicle disputes tribunal will ignore it,

the dealers source the parts though the distributor because that is who pays for them on warranty jobs,

[Edbear]

it does not really change the issue, the manufactures warranty is just part of the back up a dealer provides by law, the CGA states that things must last as long as a reasonable person paying the price must last, most MX bikes do not come with any manufactures warranty, but they are still covered by the CGA and must be fit for purpose, and have to be backed up by the dealer, the CGA also mentions the distributor or agent, so they are not totally out of the picture either,

the dealer can not contract out of the CGA, so any deal you come to about not honoring the warranty is not worth the paper it is written on for the dealer, because the motor vehicle disputes tribunal will ignore it,

the dealers source the parts though the distributor because that is who pays for them on warranty jobs,

Certainly true. I was thinking that if the dealer was unable to go elswhere for parts in order to get them in a reasonable timeframe, opting out of the manufacturers warranty would allow them to honour the bike's warranty in a better way. Not sure of that would be okay for other bits and pieces though.

[cheshirecat]

lol. That certainly brought me to an abrupt stop for sure mate! But I never took RR seriously after my time at Boyles. Never did the Nats ever again. Only dabbled from time to time to piss some of the others off and have a few laffs/beers with the peeps that still raced who I liked sharing beer and stories with.

Boyles - is that where you learnt how to make coffee.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Boyles - is that where you learnt how to make coffee.

Nope. I did my coffee making PHD at the IHC.

[Hitcher]

By "contracting out" I'm really endeavouring to draw the retailer's attention to the fact that the warranty they are promoting is worthless. A two-year, unlimited km warranty may sound nice, but in Aprilia's case, that's where it ends. Seriously. The distributor has no intention whatsoever in honouring it, and that should be a point worth making.

It's a pity that there is no way of communicating directly with Aprilia on these matters.

[Hitcher]

you are correct, you can not contract out of the law,

Indeed. But if a manufacturer's warranty was worth more than the paper on which it was printed, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

[cynna]

It's a pity that there is no way of communicating directly with Aprilia on these matters.

virtually impossible to talk to anyone at triumph as well. sometimes you need to talk to someone above the dealer to get answers - im my case i had no problem with the dealer just triumph

[AllanB]

If the customer ordered genuine makers parts ex overseas (as I have done with Honda parts) and they come in a genuine 'makers' bag with logo, part number etc printed on it, and the dealer fits them to the bike under warranty, then I fail to see how a warranty could be dishonoured in any manner legally.

Maybe if the previously mentioned dealers started doing this then the importers would get their shit sorted.

[Erelyes]

The fact that the dealer is getting all the bad press in this instance is quite simply shithouse.

Not really.

If the dealer has got themselves into a position whereby they are forced to use factory parts from the factory, and there is no service level agreement for getting said parts (nor penalties for breaking that agreement); then they have contracted themselves between a rock and a hard place. Making this the customer's problem is not only bad business but it's unfair. They are dumb for getting in that situation in the first place, especially with Italians.

If Aprilia Italia won't allow NZ dealers to source parts elsewhere, even though we're, what, 82 sales out of however many - then just set up as a non-official dealer. Clearly the advantage to being official is fuckall anyway, and I doubt many sales would be lost due to being unofficial. In fact I'd say more damage is being done through the shitty wait times, than any damage being 'unofficial'...

Would I own another Aprilia? I am seriously lusting after the new Caponord. However any purchase of a new machine would be on the basis that the dealer contracted out of the two-year "manufacturer's warranty" for a discount of at least $2,500. The way Aprilias are marketed in New Zealand, that warranty is worthless, because the distributor will sit you out if you make a claim.

I'd argue that in 90% of cases warranties are worthless for the consumer anyway. In theory they are 'icing' on top of the CGA cake. In most cases they are just an excuse for the vendor to argue they 'don't have to fix it'. Sometimes warranties are realistic (say, 5yr/50thou km for a vehicle) - but a 1 year warranty on a washing machine? Yeah, cos I expect to buy one of those every year....

[rocketman1]

I was considering an 750 Aprilia as my next bike.
Bit worried now.
He sure go a bum deal there.

[HenryDorsetCase]

Certainly true. I was thinking that if the dealer was unable to go elswhere for parts in order to get them in a reasonable timeframe, opting out of the manufacturers warranty would allow them to honour the bike's warranty in a better way. Not sure of that would be okay for other bits and pieces though.

business to business it doesnt apply (they arent consumers) and so it is straight up contract law. And the contracts say "You must source parts from us" on the one hand and "We contractually have to do fucking nothing for you, but you have to suck it up, princess"