[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by greenoval

Apparently, the news on Team-Bhp has gotten Kawasaki to take notice and the company wants an immediate resolution before further bad press.

Like I said initially, a single letter could never have done this. At the moment, there isn't a better platform to take on these companies.

Originally Posted by greenoval

If Kawasaki is watching out for an update on this thread, then my suggestion is make 'no handling charges' a norm for all your dealers and the site will definitely highlight this positive development. On the other hand, if this is a one-off gesture for short-term damage control then its a wasted effort, as sooner than later, some other enthusiast will post his/her experience.

A couple more points from my end. And I am a Kawasaki owner speaking with a decent knowledge of whats happening there, not just simply picking up the bashing stick.

1. Provide proper test rides. While we are on the topic of the Ninja 300 - I just heard a case this week where Yamaha bagged a sale for the R3 (inspite of the bigger price tag) just because how they were able to provide much more detailed test rides. Kawasaki guys were only providing rounds around their showroom nearby lanes! This is in addition to the cases documented in this thread.

2. If nothing - atleast provide test rides. Dealerships keeping no test ride bikes for the best sellers (Like the N1000) just because they sell - isn't really acceptable. There are people who would absolutely refuse to pay 10L INR without even a basic TD!

3. Teach the dealerships a thing or two about customer handling. Send them to the Triumph showrooms - Yes, they collect handling charges and yes - they have cut-throat pricing - But they also know how to treat people who spend a million bucks on a two wheeler.

4. Hiding handling charges under RTO registration and charges is cheating. Not only are you collecting charges that the court has ruled as illegal (Ok, granted others are doing so as well) but giving false information to the customer that its component thats going to state treasury and not dealership pockets. Even if you see the KTM and Suzuki qoutes in this thread, they atleast have the basic decency of informing the customer correctly about the charges being collected.

5. Realize that such press blunders can be devastating to a small player like yourself, selling an average of 150 bikes per month. And this is not the first time!

The best part about the brand is the competitive prices. If not for that, most of your dealerships would have sent customers home and shutdown business already!

[Engine_Roars]

Originally Posted by greenoval

If Kawasaki is watching out for an update on this thread, then my suggestion is make 'no handling charges' a norm for all your dealers and the site will definitely highlight this positive development. On the other hand, if this is a one-off gesture for short-term damage control then its a wasted effort, as sooner than later, some other enthusiast will post his/her experience.

Appreciate your stand on this. You could have easily accepted "Make me happy" offer and I will not say a word more on Team-Bhp sighting the "Agreement" as we have seen in the past here on Team-Bhp.

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by greenoval

I made it clear to him that I have dropped the plan of getting a Ninja for now and also, what happens on Team-Bhp is beyond my control because from my side I had just posted my booking experience.

If Kawasaki is watching out for an update on this thread, then my suggestion is make 'no handling charges' a norm for all your dealers and the site will definitely highlight this positive development. On the other hand, if this is a one-off gesture for short-term damage control then its a wasted effort, as sooner than later, some other enthusiast will post his/her experience.

Thanks for sharing this update and I appreciate the stance you have taken, I would have done the same. It appears as though Kawasaki India is taking the quick and easy route, which is to reign in a vocal customer, rather than clamping down on many (all?) of their dealers who have been operating with impunity. But at least they arent ignoring the issue, so thats a positive takeaway.


A close friend of mine in Bombay owned a Z650 and was looking for an upgrade. But he found the response from the Kawasaki Mumbai dealership very lukewarm which I found surprising as feedback on Amzen had been very positive for quite a while. Eventually he went with HD as their sales experience was stellar (the sales person called him patiently every month for over a year!) and he got test rides and is a happy customer today. That's one sale Kawasaki lost due to the sales experience.


I must share an experience that a fellow BHPian and I had with the Kawasaki Bangalore dealership. We had gone to enquire about the 650s and were asked to give our contact details. I had then casually mentioned that I had already given my details several times, in person and over the website, for test rides but nobody from Kawasaki Bangalore had ever gotten back to me. So I wondered out aloud to the salesman if this time things would be any different. He happily mentioned that they sell enough motorcycles even without giving test rides which is why they dont bother following up with customers who sign up for test rides.


And Kawasaki India wonders why they dont sell more motorcycles!

[a4anurag]

Rush Lane covers the issue

Kawasaki, BMW dealer threaten buyer to cancel booking – If handling charges are not paid

While two wheeler buyers have to contend with price hikes, increased insurance costs and rising fuel rates they are also being burdened with high handling costs which are being levied illegally at the dealer’s discretion. A Kawasaki dealer cancelled the booking of a Ninja 300 when he was questioned by a customer about the additional charges being levied. This was also the case at a BMW Motorrad dealership in Pune. The customer Mr Deelip Menezes purchased a bike from the dealer.

SOURCE

[sumithb]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

1. Provide proper test rides.

This was the single biggest factor in me buying a Triumph. I had narrowed down my choices to Street Twin and the Versys 650.

My first stop was at Shaman Triumph. Those guys happily offered me a 25 KM test drive, also offered me the bike for the weekend.

Next stop was at Anzen Kawasaki where they said we don't offer test drives, but you can take if around the building if you like.

Guess what I ended up buying

[Captain Slow]

This is a common practice among all dealers across the country.
This happened to us today!
We went to a Bajaj Showroom - khivraj bajaj

Bike in Question- a humble CT 100

Ex-Showroom 34131
LTT - 3789
Insurance 7747
Service Charges - 1887

On asking the Salesperson what exactly is a service charge he tells us its handling charges to bring the bike to the showroom and other charges,
I have got this quotation from an authorised dealer with his name, phone number and signature.

What is worse this salesperson at this branch went on to say that we can not buy our own insurance as it would cause problems with the RTO

All rules are there only in Paper but nothing is followed,

When someone is asked to pay almost 2000 for a small bike you can imagine how much they would charge for bigger bikes?

[Shumi_21]

I was also contacted by Kawasaki Mumbai indirectly by someone on their behalf on October 9th. I choose to put it this way because I have not yet gotten permission from the person who contacted me to divulge the mode of contact and it's only fair that we respect his/her privacy.

Anyway, I was asked to either pass on my contact information via the concerned person or get in touch with the showroom manager to discuss my earlier post detailing my experience on this thread. While I appreciate the initiative taken by the dealership to get in touch with me, I am not interested in the Ninja 300 anymore.

While I could have lived with Kawasaki's high service costs, the condescending behaviour was the point that made me decisively strike off the N300 from my upgrade list. Getting in touch with Kawasaki again would be nothing but an exercise in futility. Hence, I have neither forwarded my contact information via the aforementioned person, nor tried to contact the showroom manager on my own.

Originally Posted by greenoval

If Kawasaki is watching out for an update on this thread, then my suggestion is make 'no handling charges' a norm for all your dealers and the site will definitely highlight this positive development. On the other hand, if this is a one-off gesture for short-term damage control then its a wasted effort, as sooner than later, some other enthusiast will post his/her experience.

Can't really add anything to this post. Although I would thank @greenoval again for creating this thread. In all probability, I would not have posted my experience if this thread wasn't created.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

1. Provide proper test rides.

To play the devil's advocate, the test ride was the only high-point from my train wreck of a visit to Kawasaki Mumbai. The form that they handed over to me while keeping my licence, even mentioned a 20km test ride, so no complaints there thankfully.

Completely concur with all other points you have made. Kawasaki makes some awesome bikes, if only the dealers could be only 5% as awesome, we would all be riding Kawasaki's.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

At the moment, there isn't a better platform to take on these companies.

Without a doubt!

[AbhisheKulkarni]

I will add my extremely pathetic experience with Kawasaki Pune (Kundan Kawasaki) to this thread.

I had approached them looking to book either the Z650 or the Z900.

I was given a quotation for the Z900 that included handling charges amounting to 40,000 INR which were included under the category of RTO registration charges. I informed the dealer contact categorically, that I need a revised quotation with the handling charges deleted from the on-road price. Only then would I walk into the showroom to make a booking.

Post this request, no one from Kundan Kawasaki Pune bothered to connect with me.

I have decided to never buy a Kawasaki product and will dissuade anyone who asks me for an input, from doing so. The treatment they give to you is so rude and unethical that it seems like borderline abuse.

If anyone from Kawasaki's management team is reading this, I'd be happy to provide a copy of the quotation which contains the illegal handling charges.

[wolfy]

Kawasaki Bikes sell themselves despite all efforts from their dealers not to.
The experience is the same irrespective of which model you walk in to book or seemingly (from the above posts) which dealer around the country.

I have walked in twice, called them twice about booking the 10r. Nobody there wants to sell. The experiences in Triumph (it tops my list of showroom experience), Ducati and BMW is amazing. I still get calls, emails and invites from all these 3 places. You actually feel like spending your hard earned monies in these places. Not so much in Kawasaki, save for their lovely motorcycles.

[greenoval]

Originally Posted by Shumi_21

Anyway, I was asked to either pass on my contact information via the concerned person or get in touch with the showroom manager to discuss my earlier post detailing my experience on this thread. :

Originally Posted by AbhisheKulkarni

I will add my extremely pathetic experience with Kawasaki Pune (Kundan Kawasaki) to this thread.

Post this request, no one from Kundan Kawasaki Pune bothered to connect with me.

I have decided to never buy a Kawasaki product and will dissuade anyone who asks me for an input, from doing so. The treatment they give to you is so rude and unethical that it seems like borderline abuse.

If anyone from Kawasaki's management team is reading this, I'd be happy to provide a copy of the quotation which contains the illegal handling charges.

Originally Posted by wolfy

Kawasaki Bikes sell themselves despite all efforts from their dealers not to.
The experience is the same irrespective of which model you walk in to book or seemingly (from the above posts) which dealer around the country.
I have walked in twice, called them twice about booking the 10r. Nobody there wants to sell.

Now, this is what Kawasaki needs to understand. Pacifying few disgruntled customers on a case-by-case basis is not enough. They need an overhaul in the way their dealers function - right from quoting ad-hoc illegal handling charges to post delivery service experience.

[ach1lles]

It's weird though. I had an excellent experience with Kawasaki Delhi when I went in, just walked in to check out the N300. It was a very nice, friendly visit. I was offered a test ride for any bike, and without a time limit. This continued for a few more subsequent visits, and I took maybe 3 or 4 test rides lasting for more than an hour. I was happy and satisfied, and only didn't buy the 300 because I wanted to wait for the 400.

This last time, I got a call from them that I can come in for test riding the 400, but when I reached there, they said they made no such call, and their attitude was quite hoisty, similar to what people have posted here. My questions about the bike were answered in a condescending manner, and these questions did not include the price or anything related to it. I was quite amused by it, and took it lightly, but it could have been annoying all the same.

FWIW, the guy who I was in touch with earlier wasn't present this time.

[rascalangel]

Slightly off topic. Only if we had good third party servicing centres we could easily recovered that cost through cheaper servicing outside the showroom. Related to this cant we just plainly give two options to the dealer: charge me handling and I service the bike outside for life or waive it off and I will service it at the dealership?

[udainxs]

Originally Posted by rascalangel

Slightly off topic. Only if we had good third party servicing centres we could easily recovered that cost through cheaper servicing outside the showroom. Related to this cant we just plainly give two options to the dealer: charge me handling and I service the bike outside for life or waive it off and I will service it at the dealership?

Warranty is usually the only thing keeping anyone from getting the bike serviced outside.

Tell the dealer that, and he'll mention the warranty only

[BowMan]

Originally Posted by greenoval

Just when I thought that my 'born-again biker' dream was nearing fruition, Kawasaki Thane dealership decide to throw a spanner in the works. After being initially promised the deivery of Ninja 300 around Diwali, the dealership this week notified me that they have cancelled my booking and will be refunding the initial booking amount.

The reason? I had the audacity to write to Kawasaki India about the atrocious amounts that the dealership was charging under the garb of RTO charges. I had expected the company officials to get in touch with me to understand the issue.

On the contrary, all I receive is a WhatsApp message from the dealer informing me that since I am not in agreement with the terms, booking is cancelled. They don't even want to discuss or pacify the customer! The attitude is we are doing you a favour, take it or leave it!

Not surprised by this but indeed appalled. My own experiences as a potential Kawasaki customer are similar. These guys are used to 'kids in a candyshop' customers but I don't think they are well equipped to serve serious bikers.

[bikerzindia]

Being owner of a Lemon Kawasaki, I am sure nobody has seen more indifference from multiple Kawasaki dealers and India Kawasaki Motors themselves. In this case here, I do not know if I should feel sad or happy reading this thread.
Sad:
Seeing the pathetic behavior of Kawasaki & their dealers towards customers for peanuts.
Still I see some people seeing product & service as two different things and not as a package.
Kawasaki just wants to dump its products onto Indians without taking commitment of providing a decent customer buying/ ownership experience based on its engineering legacy. I guess its high time we Indians see through this.
Happy:
Happy to finally see people waking up and putting their foot down and demanding proper treatment or being ready to walk away.
Kawasaki India digging their own grave at a fast pace.
Hopefully soon I too shall be one hitting a nail in the IKM coffin and burying it deep at sea.

Greenoval Kudos to you for taking a stand and not taking the candy offered.