lost faith long post

[Kenny]

Well enjoy buying a Kawasaki and experience their customer satisfication !! I'll never EVER buy another Kwacker ( but won't go into it here )...and yet before this I had a Triumph where their customer service was excellant..yet others have had a poor service from them

I'll dump the Kwacker as and when ( manufacturers just don't realise how it puts you off a bike when customer care doesn't go the customers way, when it should )

As said before, there are good and bad versions of each model/manufacturer...so I hope you now get a good run with the 1150

I'll be returning to the Triumph fold for my next new bike ( Won't be that horrible new Tiger though

 

[Timolgra]

Well enjoy buying a Kawasaki and experience their customer satisfication !! I'll never EVER buy another Kwacker ( but won't go into it here )...and yet before this I had a Triumph where their customer service was excellant..yet others have had a poor service from them

I'll dump the Kwacker as and when ( manufacturers just don't realise how it puts you off a bike when customer care doesn't go the customers way, when it should )

As said before, there are good and bad versions of each model/manufacturer...so I hope you now get a good run with the 1150

I'll be returning to the Triumph fold for my next new bike ( Won't be that horrible new Tiger though

OY!! it wasn't so long ago that you were moaning about Triunph dealers when you had problems with that Green thing.
Loss of memory...hmmm must be your age

 

[Shep]

The dealer might, but in my experience, BMW UK don't a 4X. When I had problems with my 2002 GS, the dealer was brilliant, BMW UK were effectively not interested.

Not in my experience, they're not going to throw money at you but if you are polite, insistant, consistant and fair then a deal can be made, BMW Mottorad GB have stepped in twice now to sweeten the deal, the first time i had to fight, the second they did the deal with no prompting, as always, the dealer needs to be on your side but essentially BMW have come up with a fair wedge over the last few years to keep me on a BMW, and i am happy

Shep

 

['Nuffsaid]

What could I expect to pay for GSA12

a good deal from BMW sealed the sale for the GSA, and although i've only done 9000mls, they have been faultless and fun and i cant ask for more than that Shep

Shep, I keep getting told by Vines that there "are no deals to be done on a new GSA" In your experience is that strictly true? - Should I expect to only haggle on extras? Or should I look to another dealership ?

 

[Shep]

Shep, I keep getting told by Vines that there "are no deals to be done on a new GSA" In your experience is that strictly true? - Should I expect to only haggle on extras? Or should I look to another dealership ?

The deals were done on mine due to a problem with the replacement bike they gave me when the first GS turned out to be a lemon, so I feel the deal was more of a boost to the p/ex value of the GS rather than a discount on the GSA, it did end up a very good deal in the end and it was not hard to make the decision to swap.

Haggle on P/ex, extras, clothing, first service costs and sometimes even finance, these all have an element of flexibility in them. I don't believe you will actually get a discount on the bike itsself JMOYU

Its a crap time of year for dealers, but if you go into the shop with dribble on your cheek and a wide eyed look, the sharks will descend and you will pay a premium for your new pride and joy

Shep

 

[Rhino]

aye I know that. IO wont say more on here right now as we all know the dealers and so one read the forums hell it was them that sent me to UKgser in the first place

 

[Kenny]

OY!! it wasn't so long ago that you were moaning about Triunph dealers when you had problems with that Green thing.
Loss of memory...hmmm must be your age

Not me son ( it's you and your age getting mixed up - I do believe you are 50!! )...only praise for Triumph

I actually moaned that the dealer put in a sender (magnet) unit in wrong when he put new tyre on front..cost ME £100 or so to sort out...now that DIDN'T impress me one little bit

Cheers Kenny

 

[Timolgra]

Not me son ( it's you and your age getting mixed up - I do believe you are 50!! )...only praise for Triumph

I actually moaned that the dealer put in a sender (magnet) unit in wrong when he put new tyre on front..cost ME £100 or so to sort out...now that DIDN'T impress me one little bit

Cheers Kenny

Now I'm really confused. You moaned about the dealer wrongly carrying out work for which you had to fork out £100

or was that at C. Bay? I can't keep up, you change your bike so often

 

[pnewm]

Yep ...

Not so many problems as you, but then I haven't done so many miles. One dealer fitted PIAA headlight popped on the M23 at night - dealer replaced. Left hand indicator unit goes wrong leaving me with left, right or hazards stuck on, then when the engine is switched off the sidelight stays on - dealer fixes after 3 days. Send an email to the dealer saying I was unhappy and that if it went wrong one more time they could have it back and three days later I go out and the bugger wont start.....

I see you've got comments about the bike being 'not fit for purpose' and that's the position I'm going to take with North Oxford. And I'm going to go back to Jap bikes.

Good luck whatever you decide to do - make sure you post and let us all know what happens.

 

[Flipfly]

Reminds me of the two Peugeot 306's I had. The engine dropped out of one and the other I had for 18 months and I worked out it was in the garage being repaired once every 3 weeks and it was in for an average of 2 days at a time!!!. It was on Contract Hire and it took 18 months for them to agree to take it back. The worst car I've ever had, but others say they are brilliant. My Ford Focus did 127 thou and only required one set of shocks, one set of brake discs and pads and a fuel pipe!!!
You obviously have a Friday afternoon bike. I know plenty of people that love their 12's. I have an 1150 and it's been uber reliable (except the batteries now flat ). That's not to say that there aren't some bad 1150's out there that'll be as much of a nightmare as your current 12. I would get the bike exchanged for another 12. You'll probably find that that will solve the problem.
Best thing you can do is find a good dealer (not the drug type of dealer either!!!!).

 

[steviep]

GS12 failures...

Rhino, bad news re your GS12. Opinions differ re which model you'd best go for now, but everyone seems to agree it sounds as if you got a bit of a lemon!!I'm pretty new to BM's and opted for a new GS1200 last year '05 model(spoke wheels-stronger and look better, abs and grips) and have only suffered one fault, the onboard computer/key code recogniser failed. Still, it was a bit 'twitchy' at the time as i was on a night ride across the Barrier H'way in NSW, had run the tank pretty well dry to figure out max range (413kms with 10kms left on the display) topped up from my jerry can, key in the slot and nothing! The only thing that turned over was my stomach!! The bike eventually started as normal... ...and i had the onboard replaced under warranty. Other than that ( after following some of these threads perhaps we need a 'touch wood smilie'????) my kms have been enjoyable and problem free.
Whatever you go for i hope your mls are safe and problem free

 

[Rhino]

well the saga still goes on. Was so close to getting that black 04 1150 gsa till bmw finance pulled the rug from that one ( I had a row with My credit card co and they have screwed My credit rating) seems the fact that I have been paying BMW finance ever month and the amount that needs transfering between bikes is a quater of what the new bike is actualy worth counts for nothing.
I am still talking with BMW customer services, one thing they didnt like to hear was the dealership only offering me the book price for a stock bike where as Mine has panniers and so on fitted.They seem to feel the dealership wasnt being as helpfull as they expected them to be in the circumstances. The other thing is it seem the warantee claims on the bike appear to have disapeared off the system. The manager at the dealership told Customer Services he didnt know anything about My issues and that He could see nothing on His system about the brakes failing, so couldn't see what I was upset about. I rang up his service dept and they said yep thats right, there is nothing on the warantee history..but....yes we did get paid by BMW to replace the ABS unit ?
I am looking at a slightly older gsa in silver which would only need Me to put another £1k in the pot and gets me a bike I want and clears the credit with BMW finance.
Watch this space.....

 

[MikeP]

Rhino, I hope this one pans out for you.

(Ever thought of changing your forum name to Lucky? )

 

[Rhino]

lol MikeP didn't know you really knew Me :0
try hitting a vovlo that turned across your path and then as you land in the road have a truck run over your left side
then when they drag you in to hospital find out one of the worlds leading hand surgeons is in the same hospital and saves your arm and hand ! Now thats Lucky

 

[Bert]

I'd say you did a cock-au-vin

in selling your 04.....
Mine still going strong, 23000 miles
only rear seal went at 18000 but that's almost in the handbook for all 1200's at that mileage
Hope things improve mon ami.

 

[Brian ROSEN]

Problems

Sometimes I wonder how much of the reliability of modern bikes rests with the quality of the dealership. The dealer I use has a workshop full of keen young lads - all whizz kids on the computer no doubt - and that is very important these days; if there is some delicate job to be done the boss is always around to supervise it or do it himself. They have a very high reputation & of course charge accordingly.

 

[JohnC]

Sometimes I wonder how much of the reliability of modern bikes rests with the quality of the dealership.

Or the quality of the owner

Seriously, 8500 miles here, 6 month old 06, no real problems apart from eating two sets of rear pads, sticking front pads (perhaps due to my lack of winter sympathy) and a dicky gear indicator which has been cured by a bit of WD40.

It's a machine made from lots of whizzing wee bits of metal, so I am keeping my fingers crossed they remain whizzing correctly

On the plus side there is no other bike atm I'd rather have (KTM included) for my pita 90 mile 'death commute'

 

[SkyGod]

Mines a July 06 with 3500 miles, just started a daily commute to Belgravia from Hemel and mines never missed a beat yet ( he says touching his wood).
Think you got a Friday afternoon one Rhino,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I hope.

Good luck with the next.

 

[MrIFan]

Having riden a 1200...........not bad but wouldn't want one

Having owned an 1150.......not bad but not quite perfect

Still owning an 1100..........so please remind me, what is the definitive definition of progres??

 

[Bigtwin]

Shep, I keep getting told by Vines that there "are no deals to be done on a new GSA" In your experience is that strictly true? - Should I expect to only haggle on extras? Or should I look to another dealership ?

You should look for another dealer for that and all other reasons - my experience with Vines has been that they are totally crap. presumably too many rich weekend warriors' wallets to empty. No idea at all about customer service, and so much shite about prices etc coz they don't really care if they sell to you or not. Very very bad experience with their workshop quality control too. My advice would be to avoid at all costs.