[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by no_fear

That cardboard tab that was inside the radiator fan - I assume that the packing cardboard for the radiator unit. Whoever took the cardboard out, yanked it, and the piece tore off remained stuck inside. This is my speculation.

Seems very plausible. Every Honda bike shipped to the showroom should have the same kind/shape of cardboard in the radiator unit. One can compare this piece to that of other new bikes, to prove that this could not have happened while riding.

[matchvan]

Greetings,
Sorry to hear about what you went through for trusting Japanese Reliability.
Unfortunately, at the end it's the dealer who's responsible for the service rendered no matter how reliable the product is.
This too shall pass.
Hang in there.
It's a sheer bad luck, which happens to all.
Glad that you are safe and nothing serious happened.
One of my colleague is planning to buy the same bike. Only for the service woes and unavailability of parts i shall advice him not to go ahead.
One down. More to go if HONDA has the similar attitude towards its loyal customers.
Drive Safe.

[no_fear]

Originally Posted by mrgawde

It was mentioned that the invoice sent to me was a 'proforma invoice' which is basically an estimation with room for negotiation,

The argument is that the part is not readily available and needs to go through an authorisation process before it is shipped, this 'authorisation' took them 1 month.

A point raised by the community was sourcing the fan from another model or another dealer, to this point it was said that they are not authorised to go through any other channel and they must source it from the Delhi HQ.

I had to re-read this post a few times just to make sure I was not imagining things.

Wow!! simply wow!! If Honda dealer is reading this, kudos. You have turned a Japanese brand into what Laloo Prasad Yadav once called "Bihar". Only a buffoon will speak such nonsense.

1. A proforma invoice is not sent to the customer. It is sent by dealer to manufacturer to source the parts and charge the manufacturer for the repair works as the bike is under warranty. Showing a customer a proforma invoice is meaningless, stupid and makes the dealer look incompetent.

2. There is no authorization needed for any part. The dealer just puts the part number / code into the dealer inventory system and sends the order to manufacturer. The company receives the order and sends the parts if they are in stock. There is no 1 month authorization and back and forth. Did the dealer do his apprenticeship at Indian railways booking counter in the 1990s?

3. Part 3 is utter BS. It is such bad BS that it makes Putin look like a saint. Every dealer in India, and overseas, sources parts from other dealers. Heck, the manufacturer tells dealer X to send to dealer Y if they have stock. All dealers share a common inventory system, and part availability is shown on the inventory system with name and address of the dealer who has it. There is no way Honda keeps an authoritarian pyramid approach where a dealer has to ask a manufacturer.

@mrgawde - Confront the dealer and escalate. From your posts, it is very evident that the dealer is playing games with you. Honda is unaware of the dealer antics and it is the dealer who failed to do the PDI of the bike properly before handing it over to you.

The reason why the dealer is taking his sweet time and making you run around in circles is pretty evident. The dealer screwed up from the entire handover to service process and he wants to shift the blame before he comes under scrutiny from the manufacturer. I have worked with Japanese motorbike companies before and I am well aware of their operating protocol. There is no way Honda will allow these shenanigans. The dealer is culpable for his mistakes. Keep the pressure on him and tell him that you will send this thread to Honda unless the dealer rectifies his mistakes.

[FalconRed]

Lot of crap from Honda Bigwing.

I was in a plan to update to Honda CB 350 and post like these just make me stay away from Honda Brand.

Never ever faced a issue while owning Apache for the last 7 years. TVS customer care & service centre is excellent and prompt to address the issues.

[shancz]

Originally Posted by matchvan

Unfortunately, at the end it's the dealer who's responsible for the service rendered no matter how reliable the product is.

Exactly but the manufacturer has to step in when things get out of hand like this case since they claim the customers.

We buy a Honda/BigWing/TopLine not a XYZ dealer motorcycle.

To the OP, just contact Honda/BigWing customer support. The dealer is just taking you for a ride to hide their incompetency and cover the resulting mess at your cost.

Keep us posted.

[TROOPER]

mrgawde, high time you listen to what BHPian no_fear has said and dig up some emails of top people from Honda management and send a strongly worded email. Key people would be the person who is in charge of Honda Service and then customer care. CC Honda customer care, the regional service manager and the dealership too.

This dealer is just fooling around and doesn't seem like he has any intent in resolving this issue.

Since Mr.BigWing is reading this thread. Kudos to you. All the snobbishness of South Bombay has gone for a toss. Good work on cheapening out on a small spare part and giving your customer a premium experience.

[greenhorn]

I think Honda has become used to selling bikes the same way you sell flour in supermarkets. Their customer relationship, dealer engagement, operational process all seem to indicate that. Generally budget segment manufacturers have such issues when cheap/thrifty is built into the organization DNA.

But can be changed. Look at how Bajaj handles KTM or Maruti handles Nexa. But looks like that mindset and culture change still hasn't happened. They are still in the business of selling transportation appliances than lifestyle experiences.

[neil.jericho]

The Big Wing Honda team basically had two options
1. Try and fix the problem as quickly as they could, to ensure that TBHPian mrgawde's motorcycle was quickly fixed and was back on the road in no time. Even if they didnt accept their mistake, they could have turned this situation around by thinking on their feet and sourcing the part from a fellow dealer etc.
2. Wash their hands off the problem, play the fool and cover up their tracks. Its sad to see that they chose to go down this route.

TBHPian contact.nitin7 asked about being able to connect with the higher ups in Honda. To the best of my recollection, TBHPian abhisheksircar was in touch with senior members of Honda's Big Wing division. Im sure that he can reach out to the right people and help out mrgawde.

Anyways, the more this issue gets prolonged, the more the thread gets circulated and discussed in Bombay's motorcycling community. The biggest loser in this episode is going to be the Big Wing Honda showroom in Bombay. I dont know why they are unable to see the damage that they are inflicting on themselves.

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by mrgawde

Finally, they got an 'ETA' for the (reordered)fan that will come at the end of this month (30th Sept). On 10th September I was told that this particular part was ordered redundantly in advance and it would not take more than 3-4 days to arrive. With regards to the first broken shipment, apparently the new part coming in broken is another unfortunate event that could have happened in transit but for sure Honda Big Wing again isn't to blame. Maybe it's my karma then.

I spoke about a refund but for this I need to visit the head of sales in their office and bring this up. Will provide an update on this in a few days.

mrgawde, do you have any updates on this? Hope it was resolved by the incompetent Big Wing team.

[mrgawde]

Update:

So the Service Head let me know that the part had arrived on the 29th. On the 30th they worked on installing the fan and testing. On the 1st I went to pick up the bike. I had gone with the intention of negotiating some sort of service deal, but when I finally got to see my motorcycle washed and in beautiful condition I abandoned all malice.

The Service Head told me they went and investigated the matter and various level and even sent a team to check the manufacturing process and no cardboard was used or needed. I don't buy into the argument but I don't think it's worth delaying the pleasure of motorcycling. The Service Head in general was assuring and mentioned he test rode the motorcycle himself to ensure it was a 100%. Lastly they did not charge me for the repairs, and all the cost was covered under goodwill.

Unlike on the first day of the delivery of my motorcycle this time the cool light did not come on. I did observe some heat on my legs during heavy traffic but it was not accompanied by cool engine warning. In fact the warning never came on (I hope it's working as expected). It does however come on for a second when you start the motorcycle but that's just the routine checks on startup.

Overall i'm just happy to have my bike back and hit the road. Thanks for all the support of this community, it helped me understand what was and was not possible. And I hope it also brought awareness to new riders like myself about the possible warning signs of a fault in your motorcycle.

[pixantz]

Good to see you get your bike back. Enjoy now! About this whole debacle, I find in pretty absurd that manufacturers and/or the government thinks it's fine and necessary to make a beep warning sound on anything above 80, or whatever, but nobody thinks it necessary to have a beep or other aural warning for critical things like LOW OIL LEVEL or ENGINE OVERHEAT!! I mean, how stupid is that! Or convenient to enable more repair bills? Is this another part of Planned Obsolescence on the manufacturers flock?

The only car I came across with an Engine Overheat Warning sound lately was a Skoda Rapid. Kudos to Skoda for that. Don't know about the other blokes.

[NG_EV]

Originally Posted by pixantz

Good to see you get your bike back. Enjoy now! About this whole debacle, I find in pretty absurd that manufacturers and/or the government thinks it's fine and necessary to make a beep warning sound on anything above 80, or whatever, but nobody thinks it necessary to have a beep or other aural warning for critical things like LOW OIL LEVEL or ENGINE OVERHEAT!! I mean, how stupid is that! Or convenient to enable more repair bills? Is this another part of Planned Obsolescence on the manufacturers flock?

The only car I came across with an Engine Overheat Warning sound lately was a Skoda Rapid. Kudos to Skoda for that. Don't know about the other blokes.

I agree with use of warning sounds for critical errors. It warned of engine overheat in i20 Active before further damage occurred.

[Nilesh5417]

Originally Posted by mrgawde

Update:

So the Service Head let me know that the part had arrived on the 29th. On the 30th they worked on installing the fan and testing. On the 1st I went to pick up the bike. I had gone with the intention of negotiating some sort of service deal, but when I finally got to see my motorcycle washed and in .

Find a good place to get your bike sorted and kept well. You can go to the a.s.s. just to keep your warranty period but it's hard to trust a.s.s anymore. They charge a bomb but mostly do nothing on the vehicle and you realise this when the bike breaks down. Simple things like oil change, cleaning plugs, cleaning air filter etc are not done well or not done at all. A trusted FNG will go a long way in keeping the bike healthy.