[govind_kaniyath]

This post is not regarding the X440 motorcycle as a product, but regarding the superb mess up Harley Davidson India made of my booking.

Back story

My 2012 Royal Enfield Classic 500 was aging and I was looking for a replacement.


As soon as I got a notification saying Harley Davidson prices are starting at 2.33L, I made up my mind to book the motorcycle. And since booking amount was refundable there was no second thoughts.

The online bookings were supposed to start at 4:40pm July 4th. But due to some reason it only started at around 5:45pm.
At the exact instant the bookings started, I immediately booked the motorcycle.

The reason I made the booking so swiftly was that I did not want to deal with horrendous waiting periods if I decided to puchase this motorcycle as deliveries would be based on booking ID priority.

On the booking page, "Calicut" city was shown and 1 hero dealer (Ace Motors) was present in it. I obviously selected the only choice that was available.

It was later that I realized much further down the city list, there was "Kozhikode" and inside it was another hero dealer (Koyenco Motors) in my city.

For those who don't know, Calicut and Kozhikode are the same city. Like Mumbai and Bombay..or Chennai and Madras.

This was a glitch that Harley obviously didn't know at that time. Since both dealers were nearby, I didn't see this as an issue.
Little did I know at that time that this small glitch would entirely ruin my peace of mind in the coming months.

I visited the dealership which I chose for my booking the next day. They also that my booking was among the first few bookings in this city if not the first booking.

The next day when Triumph had launched their 400 series I had booked the scrambler 400x too. Like Harley, triumph booking was also refundable.

I thought I would make up my mind in the coming months and then cancel one of the bookings.

When the testdrive started and slots opened the nearest testdrive centre to me was the Harley Davidson dealership at Cochin.
I booked a slot for a late later in that week when I had to go to Ernakulam for work related purposes.



I was thoroughly impressed by the testdrive experience, that would be written as an altogether different post.

I decided to proceed with Harley X440.



And thus the long wait for delivery started.
Harley did a good job engaging with customers in whatsapp in form of greetings and updates.

The last message I got was from Harley that delivery will start on October 15th. And this is when everything began to go south.

Both of the dealers were very cooperative with me and wanted my bike to be delivered without any hiccups. Kudos for your support. This is purely a problem of Harley Davidson India Brand.

Things go south

I called up the dealership (Ace Motors) which got my booking.
They told that they haven't received the permit from Harley to start a Harley dealership in my city and it would take atleast 3 to 4 months.
When I checked with the other dealer (Koyenco motors) they were on track and their new showroom work was in full space.

So how this works is that select hero dealers would open an altogether new showroom under Harley Davidson brand to cater for X440.
This is apart from few old Harley Dealerships which are still operational.

At the time of bookings many dealers were selected for this Hero/harley program.
But when delivery dates were approaching many of those dealers were dropped by the brand or delayed.

Unfortunately, the dealer which got my booking was dropped/delayed.
So the obvious measure here would be to convert the bookings this dealer (Ace) received to the dealer (Koyenco) in the same city and deliver motorcycle on booking number priority basis right?

That's when the earlier glitch of Kozhikode and Calicut being listed as two cities enter into picture.

Harley/Hero folks who is handling this didn't know that both were the same city.
So they sent the list of bookings that dealer(Koyenco) received to them and informed to make preparations for the delivery.

They completely ignored the people who had same or higher booking number priority but had booked with Dealer (Ace Motors).

Both the dealers Ace and Koyenco understood my situation and they tried their best to get my delivery within the first lot, but unfortunately there was nothing they could do as Harley themselves gives the booking IDs and directs them to contact these customers and inform regarding delivery.

First my doubt was whom should I contact: hero or harley davidson customercare.
The entire supply chain and business operations were handled by hero.
The X440 website both Hero and Harley showed Harley Davidson India's customercare number.

I contacted them and told regarding this issue in detail.
They told me they'd get back to me, but I didn't hear anything from them later.
Then on october 4th I called them up again and spent almost 20minutes on the phone explaining this issue again. They told me to send an email to them regarding this so that they can take a look into this. Soon after that call concluded I sent an elaborate mail to the email id which they gave me.

Didn't hear back this time also.

The reason for this gap was, almost everything regarding the X440 is managed by hero team. But customercare is still handled by Harley. So when an issue is raised, it needs to be transferred to Hero from Harley, then the response needs to be communicated to harley and then to customer. Obviously this is not a good procedure as it will create a huge communication gap.

On october 9th when I called them again, they sent a reply email saying they'll look into this shortly.

After one hour I got a call from Harley Davidson and the person on the phone behaved like he didn't even read my email fully.

He was asking me are you calling from Kozhikode or Calicut!?
Do you want to change the dealer?

When I AGAIN explained everything to him and I told "I want first lot delivery itself as I'm one of the first person to book this motorcycle in my city, and it's Harley's fault of naming the same city twice and removing a dealer.".
He replied he will discuss it with his team and get back to me.

The Dealer (Koyenco Motors) told me that they already got the list of 9 customers for whom the bikes have been dispatched and key handover would be done on october 15th itself. Unfortunately my name is not in this.

The Harley connect app shows my booking with that previous dealer(Ace) itself.



But when we go to the testdrive booking page, the dealer (ace) is not there, the other one (koyenco) is.



This is how spectacularly Harley Davidson ruined my "before delivery experience".

Even now I'm trying my best to not let this bother my opinion to get the motorcycle, but it's getting difficult day by day.

If someone from Harley Davidson is reading, this is to you:

You're one of the most reputed motorcycle manufacturers in the world, stop behaving like a new age EV startup.
You should've sorted this dealership thing before you started accepting bookings.
The city name repetition shouldn't have happened.
Delivering bikes on booking ID priority is a bare minimum.


Due to your fault, I who made one of the first bookings in Kozhikode is left hanging.

At least now you have the opportunity to fix things. Deliver the motorcycle based on booking ID priority in the same city regardless of what dealer got the booking.

If this messup isn't solved I'll have to cancel my booking for Harley Davidson and consider the Triumph scrambler 400X.


Seeking advice from bhpians on this matter.

[HowDifferent?]

Unfortunate, I can understand the frustration. Simplest way I suppose is to first ask Harley to move the booking to Koyenco motors. Then try to get priority in delivery. To convince a call center about technicalities and details is going to be an uphill task. Admit the delivery maybe delayed, but if you like the bike, that is a small inconvenience. And many will say when buying a new product, it is better to wait a little for initial launch issues to be ironed out by the company. Just my opinion...

[govind_kaniyath]

Originally Posted by HowDifferent?

Unfortunate, I can understand the frustration. Simplest way I suppose is to first ask Harley to move the booking to Koyenco motors. Then try to get priority in delivery. To convince a call center about technicalities and details is going to be an uphill task. Admit the delivery maybe delayed, but if you like the bike, that is a small inconvenience. And many will say when buying a new product, it is better to wait a little for initial launch issues to be ironed out by the company. Just my opinion...

I tried all that too.
I called harley davidson customercare,
Mailed harley davidson to change my booking to koyenco motors.
I got a response saying "we'll look into into it". But no action has been done on it.

I assume this is because hero is handling business operations and OG harley davidson is handling customercare.

[TheFonz]

Very sorry to hear about your predicament. I would advise to tag social media handles of Harley.
Another way to go would be to check with Harley dealership which were originally selling Harley back in the day and ask them for help as they would have some connections they can leverage to help you. Via them you can connect to your city’ HOG (Harley Owners Group) who could also help with contacts.

[govind_kaniyath]

Originally Posted by TheFonz

Very sorry to hear about your predicament. I would advise to tag social media handles of Harley.
Another way to go would be to check with Harley dealership which were originally selling Harley back in the day and ask them for help as they would have some connections they can leverage to help you. Via them you can connect to your city’ HOG (Harley Owners Group) who could also help with contacts.

I'll try that HOG way too. However I'm doubtful if the "back in the day Harley Davidson" since the entire business operations are handled by hero team.

[Cresterk]

Don't bother explaining out the entire problem to people who aren't paid enough or intelligent enough to care. Tell them you are cancelling the booking and to refund the amount. When they ask why, tell them you made the first booking here and still haven't received the bike. Now you might get escalated to someone who cares.

[HDx440Life]

I suggest you visit the Kozhikode showroom and ask them to move your booking through them. You may not get the bike in first lot; however, they should be able to help you get it in the second lot. Don't let this experience stop you from getting the X440 if you like it. Another point to keep in mind is showroom will be more willing to help if you pay for the bike without any finance.

[inline4]

Any update on this Govind? Did the Dealer find a way to solve this?

[govind_kaniyath]

Originally Posted by Cresterk

Don't bother explaining out the entire problem to people who aren't paid enough or intelligent enough to care. Tell them you are cancelling the booking and to refund the amount. When they ask why, tell them you made the first booking here and still haven't received the bike. Now you might get escalated to someone who cares.

Originally Posted by HDx440Life

I suggest you visit the Kozhikode showroom and ask them to move your booking through them. You may not get the bike in first lot; however, they should be able to help you get it in the second lot. Don't let this experience stop you from getting the X440 if you like it. Another point to keep in mind is showroom will be more willing to help if you pay for the bike without any finance.

Originally Posted by inline4

Any update on this Govind? Did the Dealer find a way to solve this?

HD India had contacted me after seeing this post, they acknowledged the mistake from thier end and they'll sort out this issue soon. As for my delivery, they have committed it to happen during second delivery lot itself. So I should get the motorcycle by this month end itself.

One more thing that deserves special mention was how responsive the dealer was on sorting out this issue. I believe the dealer had pushed from thier end to harley to sort this issue out soon. The dealer was in fact pushing for my delivery to happen on 15th October itself! I told them second lot delivery is fine by me.
The experience with the dealer was premium.

I'll be sharing my test drive experience and why I chose this motorcycle over the competition shortly.

Thanks to all BHPians for your valuable advice and support.

[navpreet318]

Congratulations. Your problem seemed genuine so I forwarded it to the correct person down south. Thanks to him things moved well for you! Have fun with your harley and do drop by whenever you're around my area.
Oh and party is due.

[govind_kaniyath]

Originally Posted by navpreet318

Congratulations. Your problem seemed genuine so I forwarded it to the correct person down south. Thanks to him things moved well for you! Have fun with your harley and do drop by whenever you're around my area.
Oh and party is due.

Big thanks for your help!!. Awaiting delivery now. Will sure drop by when I'm there. Thanks again.

[HowDifferent?]

Originally Posted by govind_kaniyath

HD India had contacted me after seeing this post, they acknowledged the mistake from thier end and they'll sort out this issue soon. As for my delivery, they have committed it to happen during second delivery lot itself. So I should get the motorcycle by this month end itself.

Happy to be know. Do keep posting your experience with the delivery and also the bike, will help many of us.

[sumosari]

Originally Posted by navpreet318

Congratulations. Your problem seemed genuine so I forwarded it to the correct person down south. Thanks to him things moved well for you! Have fun with your harley and do drop by whenever you're around my area.
Oh and party is due.

Thanks for helping the community. I come across a Harley dealer only allocating vehicles to offline bookings. When asked they simply mentioned all the 45 bikes are for dealer booking only and online booking allocation will be done by Harley India. To make simple, who ever pay the new increased price will get vehicle right away.

Also they were taking road tax on 2,79,500 for early bookings even though exshowroom is 2,69,000. TR/PR charges 2,500 and facilitation charges of 9,999.

Looks like these dealers trying to do wrong practices which impacts the total brand impression. After 3 months when production ramp up and Hero also start delivering then the demand will subside and the same dealers will be back of customers.

Hero Harley have good mass production product in hand and all they need is good customer service. These initial customers will carry the feedback to lot of others and impact the brand. Hope Harley or Hero listen and address the gaps.

[navpreet318]

Cannot comment on other items but please be aware that RTO is a state government subject. So the Tax will be calculated on the latest updated price of the vehicle. You can get an early bird discount or a company discount or anything else. But the tax will be on the present latest Ex Showroom price.

[govind_kaniyath]

Originally Posted by sumosari

Thanks for helping the community. I come across a Harley dealer only allocating vehicles to offline bookings. When asked they simply mentioned all the 45 bikes are for dealer booking only and online booking allocation will be done by Harley India. To make simple, who ever pay the new increased price will get vehicle right away.

Also they were taking road tax on 2,79,500 for early bookings even though exshowroom is 2,69,000. TR/PR charges 2,500 and facilitation charges of 9,999.

Looks like these dealers trying to do wrong practices which impacts the total brand impression. After 3 months when production ramp up and Hero also start delivering then the demand will subside and the same dealers will be back of customers.

Hero Harley have good mass production product in hand and all they need is good customer service. These initial customers will carry the feedback to lot of others and impact the brand. Hope Harley or Hero listen and address the gaps.

Originally Posted by navpreet318

Cannot comment on other items but please be aware that RTO is a state government subject. So the Tax will be calculated on the latest updated price of the vehicle. You can get an early bird discount or a company discount or anything else. But the tax will be on the present latest Ex Showroom price.

Roadtax should be based on Ex showroom price present in the invoice. If you have the introductory price, that should be your ex showroom price, roadtax should be based on that.

Also tell the dealer to give up a break up of this "faciliatation charges" and tell them you won't be requiring that also.

I also suggest to inform in writing to RTO for the road tax mishap.