[pramodkumar]

My friend at work bought a preowned Thunderbird and it was previously owned by a guy who had back issues, this guy couldn't ride the bike at all so practically this bike was brand new. When he bought the bike, along with the transfer of ownership he got the warranty also transferred to his name. After that he has been regularly getting his bike serviced at the Royal Enfield's authorized service center.

When he bought the bike there was a small crack on both the side of the meter console, and that was attributed to excessive vibration, his meter console was supposed to be changed under warranty and since they didn't have the parts in stock they asked him to wait for the parts to arrive.

finally one day he gets a call from Enfield and was asked to bring the bike, when he got his bike delivered the meter console was not changed. When he checked with the SA, he in was informed that RE had rejected the warranty claim. when he asked the reason to the claim rejection, the reason given was the previous owner had missed 2 services. The previous owner was in not physical condition and how should this affect the present owner is beyond my comprehension.

He spoke to the Region Head of Enfield and the response he got from the region head was even funnier. He said "honestly" RE is trying to sand bag this whole thing and push it on to October since his warranty expires in September.

I will post some pics of the damage, the console costs 12k, if it was under a few grand my friend would have replaced it on his own.

So much malpractice and finding weirdest reasons for rejecting warranty claims have made me think, why offer it in the first place.

Enfield has today lost a prospective customer, I was thinking of picking up their continental GT, I wont anymore.

Pramod

[roy_libran]

6 OEM complete chain sprocket sets in 35-40000 kms. on my old Thunderbird. The sprocket teeth used to shear, no less! (I regularly clean and oil the chain and sprockets on all my bikes).
Countless OEM cable replacements.
Horrible brakes needing multiple OEM replacements.

Piece of trash. Enough said.

[Bottom Torque]

I own a RE Thunderbird 350 (2015) model. Single-handed bike. Have replaced Speedometer twice. The first I replaced it was after Dec'15 Chennai flood where the bike had all its electricals replaced, oil changed (total cost was Rs.24000 and insurance gave only half, so I had to shell out Rs. 12000) to bring back the bike to running condition. However, the fuel gauge always showed low fuel and had to replace the gauge in the petrol tank (Rs. 800). Second time was about 8 months later that new instrument cluster (replaced during the flood) developed crack on the glass surface.. water seeped in during rains and I had to replace for Rs. 7100. The new instrument cluster again show ed low fuel and the fuel meter keeps blinking. I knew the gauge should be replaced. But I have found an alternate way. I simply reset the Trip meter after filling full tank. About 400 km, I refill the petrol tank. Had to ignore the low fuel indicator though.. I am tired of arguing about this faulty fuel meter to RE guys. They simply give lame excuses and refuse to replace or correct the fault..

[am1m]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

Enfield has today lost a prospective customer, I was thinking of picking up their continental GT, I wont anymore.

Pramod, this is exactly why I will never buy another RE again, no matter how great their bikes get. And the new Interceptor is actually a pretty awesome package for the price. I've owned a TB for almost 13 years now and while I have no complaints about the bike or it's quality, the service quality of RE is a whole different ball game. Have not had even one single trouble-free service with any of the authorized RE service centers in Bangalore. And I've tried at least 4 different ones. Not a single one has gone by without me having to go back to them to fix either something they forgot to fix despite my having explicitly told them to, or even worse and very often, having to fix some issue they have introduced during their service! And this is despite personally knowing the service advisor at one of the places from his TVS days when I used to give my Shogun for service! (He ultimately left RE as well.)

The entire attitude of RE dealers in Bangalore seems to be once sold, forget the customer, anyway there are people queuing up to buy the bikes and the 'heritage brand' despite all the issues.

On the other hand, have had good services experiences with authorized RE service centers in Bombay, Delhi and even Gujarat. Bangalore RE dealers definitely have issues.

[navin_v8]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

I will post some pics of the damage, the console costs 12k, if it was under a few grand my friend would have replaced it on his own.

Pramod mate are you sure the instrument cluster costs as much as 12K?

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

My friend at work bought a preowned Thunderbird and it was previously owned by a guy who had back issues, this guy couldn't ride the bike at all so practically this bike was brand new. When he bought the bike, along with the transfer of ownership he got the warranty also transferred to his name. After that he has been regularly getting his bike serviced at the Royal Enfield's authorized service center.

When he bought the bike there was a small crack on both the side of the meter console, and that was attributed to excessive vibration, his meter console was supposed to be changed under warranty and since they didn't have the parts in stock they asked him to wait for the parts to arrive.

finally one day he gets a call from Enfield and was asked to bring the bike, when he got his bike delivered the meter console was not changed. When he checked with the SA, he in was informed that RE had rejected the warranty claim. when he asked the reason to the claim rejection, the reason given was the previous owner had missed 2 services. The previous owner was in not physical condition and how should this affect the present owner is beyond my comprehension.

Pramod, this certainly is unfortunate to hear and it is quite surprising given that Royal Enfield has put in a lot of effort into improving the service experience. While the missed services by the previous owner might give RE some justification for denying the warranty claim, the fact that your friend has got it serviced regularly at the authorized SVCs should be enough grounds for RE to process the replacement under warranty.

To my knowledge, the process followed in RE is the service advisor provides all the details to the head office team in Madras for warranty and / or replacement under goodwill claims. The actual decision on approval is taken by the head office and then the parts are ordered under this approval. I suspect that the SA assumed that the warranty claim was going to be easily processed but he appears to have erred in not informing your friend about the rejected claim in advance. Nonetheless, I would suggest that you write to the customer care email ID with the facts pertaining to this case. I know that they take such cases seriously and they will definitely look into it.

Originally Posted by am1m

Pramod, this is exactly why I will never buy another RE again, no matter how great their bikes get. And the new Interceptor is actually a pretty awesome package for the price. I've owned a TB for almost 13 years now and while I have no complaints about the bike or it's quality, the service quality of RE is a whole different ball game. Have not had even one single trouble-free service with any of the authorized RE service centers in Bangalore. And I've tried at least 4 different ones. Not a single one has gone by without me having to go back to them to fix either something they forgot to fix despite my having explicitly told them to, or even worse and very often, having to fix some issue they have introduced during their service! And this is despite personally knowing the service advisor at one of the places from his TVS days when I used to give my Shogun for service! (He ultimately left RE as well.)

The entire attitude of RE dealers in Bangalore seems to be once sold, forget the customer, anyway there are people queuing up to buy the bikes and the 'heritage brand' despite all the issues.

I have serviced my bike at the RE SVCs for 4 years and it was always a good experience. The company SVC opposite the Madiwala lake is by far the biggest and best SVC and I would recommend them if you havent taken your bike there so far. I have also taken my bike to the Koramangala SVC which is also pretty good but is much smaller in size. Some of the other SVCs arent too great from what I have heard and hence I stuck to the SVCs that I was happy with.

Also, I have found that the SVCs have a process of calling you and asking for feedback on the service about a week after you pick up your bike. If there are any issues with the bike or quality of service or billing etc, they do take corrective action and sort it out.

[pramodkumar]

Originally Posted by navin_v8

Pramod mate are you sure the instrument cluster costs as much as 12K?

This is a digital cluster, that's what my friend told me, who came to know from RE.

Pramod

[neil.jericho]

Pramod, I believe the cost of the cluster on the GT 535 is only around Rs 6,000 so the quoted price of Rs 12,000 in this case seems to be a little unusual. This post from last year indicates that the pricing for the cluster on the Thunderbird is only around Rs 7,000.

Link - https://www.xbhp.com/talkies/motorcy...ml#post1338979

[Ry_der]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

This is a digital cluster, that's what my friend told me, who came to know from RE.

Pramod

I recently enquired the price of this instrument cluster which was around 6.5K at a local shop which keeps genuine RE parts.

Preface:

I own a TBTS350 2012 ( Yes, projector one) model. My instrument cluster gone bad after my 2nd service. The service due sign always kept blinking. All other things were fine. I did register a complaint but never got the replacement part. The instrument cluster is poorly designed. My bike has always been kept in shaded parking, still all buttons (Trip, Reset and Hazard) stopped working since long. Nowadays, I hardly miss the cluster. For fuel, I use reserve as a reference.

However, in my last 6.5 years of RE ownership, I have realized that ASC people can not be trusted with your bike. Almost every time I gave my bike to ASC, I had to visit them again within 2-3 days. I prefer MOTUL but they deny pouring MOTUL citing company policy. So since last 3-4 years, I have never visited the ASC except once when I needed to replace the rear wheel bearings. The bike is running without any problem with just 1 annual service+oil change schedule. I will advice every RE owner to get in touch with a reputed RE FNG before ASC, it might help you save a lot of money. On parts quality issue I will say that ASCs will always try to replace rather repair (going the American way). Never leave your bike unattended at the ASCs no matter what. It may sound impractical and generalized statement but you never know which one is the Black Sheep of the herd.

I am sharing 2 different incidents:

Once, I was asked to replace entire projector assembly just because of a conked H7 Bulb. They blatantly said that there is no provision to change bulb costing Rs. 150/- so you will need to replace the entire HL assembly for a whooping Rs. 6-7K.

Another time, I was asked to get the rear brake cylinder replaced for 4.5K as it was frequently jamming the rear wheel. A bit of lathe job and a piston kit saved the day for me for a mere 600 bucks at FNG.

The bottomline is that the attitude of the ASCs is much worse than the quality of parts. We are never told about the cost effective solutions at the ASCs.


Cheers!

[freak]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

This is a digital cluster, that's what my friend told me, who came to know from RE.

Pramod

The actual cost is in the range of 6K, I had it changed in the warranty. I had to really put my foot down when it came to getting it changed under warranty and denied to actually collect the bike if it was not fixed. In my case the buttons on the console would not work.

Keeping my fingers crossed, it should continue to work for all its life hopefully. I also see a quality difference between this console and the previous one. There are also visible differences in the look of both.

Fuel Gauge is a persistent problem, never got it fixed. FNG but does say it would cost about 600 bucks to get it fixed. I use Reserve to Reserve method to keep track of fuel.

I think it is a bad lot of meters as even I have a 2015 Feb month manufactured bike. Recently the clips which holds the meter broke have tied it up with support of cable ties. Will get the clips changed when I get the bike serviced next month.

I had also got a silencer replaced in warranty.

I have had issues too, mainly due to quality of the parts but most of the replacements have happened post the warranty period. I get it changed from my FNG in Hyderabad.

Chain Sprocket, Chain, Chain Cover, Clutch Plates, Housing which had clutch plates, front fork seals, Brake Pads multiple times. All these in 4.5 years of ownership & 20K KMS of city runs.


When you own an RE you own the niggles for the life of it. However in 2015 I couldn't find any other contender for my needs against RE TB350.

It still gives me an average of 35 ~ 40 KMPL in city riding conditions.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Also, I have found that the SVCs have a process of calling you and asking for feedback on the service about a week after you pick up your bike. If there are any issues with the bike or quality of service or billing etc, they do take corrective action and sort it out.

Oh sure, they also ask you to fill in a form at the service center when collecting your bike. Once after a particularly crap service at the Indiranagar center (they didn't even bother to reconnect the fuel line so when I opened the tap, fuel started leaking!), I filled in the form and gave low scores. Saw the service advisor walk away with it, crumple it and throw it in the dustbin. He thought I didn't see him do that. Called up the RSM using the number displayed on the board and things got sorted out pronto.

To be fair, this particular incident happened a long time ago and perhaps things have improved. But I don't care, have gone to local garages since then. To me the RE brand is one that doesn't really care about the Indian consumer, so I don't care to send any more business their way. Not that it makes an iota of difference, the sales numbers tell a different story.

[navin_v8]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

This is a digital cluster, that's what my friend told me, who came to know from RE.

Pramod

I was referring to the digital instrument cluster only mate. I own a TBird500 2014 model and my IC has been working flawlessly despite meeting with an accident about 9 months back which displaced the IC from one of its mounting points due to sudden impact (there are two mounting points) at the bottom.

As others have said its cost ranges between 6 - 6.5K. Someone is taking your friend for a ride.

[freak]

Originally Posted by Ry_der

However, in my last 6.5 years of RE ownership, I have realized that ASC people can not be trusted with your bike. Almost every time I gave my bike to ASC, I had to visit them again within 2-3 days. I prefer MOTUL but they deny pouring MOTUL citing company policy. So since last 3-4 years, I have never visited the ASC except once when I needed to replace the rear wheel bearings. The bike is running without any problem with just 1 annual service+oil change schedule. I will advice every RE owner to get in touch with a reputed RE FNG before ASC, it might help you save a lot of money. On parts quality issue I will say that ASCs will always try to replace rather repair (going the American way). Never leave your bike unattended at the ASCs no matter what. It may sound impractical and generalized statement but you never know which one is the Black Sheep of the herd.


Cheers!

Hi Ry der,

RE recommends engine oil change once in 6 months or 3K kms of running. Any reason you follow just 1 annual service ? Do you use Synthetic Oil ?

I just checked the manual for reference and it also highlights the same.

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by pramodkumar

the reason given was the previous owner had missed 2 services.

Not just RE, this is common with almost every OEM in the country. Good 'understanding' with SA/SM can help to some extent.

I know a case where the rear wheel bearing in my friend's car failed (started marking humming noise) and warranty was rejected since the previous service was skipped. When we asked which of the service or service check during the scheduled maintenance could saved the bearing from failure, SA & SM were clueless and finally agreed to change the part under warranty.

[freak]

Originally Posted by freak

Hi Ry der,

RE recommends engine oil change once in 6 months or 3K kms of running. Any reason you follow just 1 annual service ? Do you use Synthetic Oil ?

I just checked the manual for reference and it also highlights the same.

I mean 6 Months or 6K kms of running, sorry for the typo.