[Aditya]

Good to have you here, Neil.

Originally Posted by Turbotechnixx

While on the subject, I got this information from someone that technically speaking - IKM had already instructed Kawasaki Palm Beach NOT to take any more booking from April 2016 onwards. The least IKM could have done was it could have communicated this information to the mass to not approach Kawasaki Palm Beach for motorcycle bookings temporarily which they failed.

There is no doubt that along with SNK, Kawasaki is to blame here. This is nothing short of cheating on the dealer's part and callousness on the company's part.

While we have friends who have booked motorcycles in March - I came across someone who had paid the money in June too!!!!!!

Where were the dealer's ethics? Wonder how he could get sleep at night?

Even after the news going viral about this blunder, they (IKM) still hasn't reached out to us and till date they haven't even acknowledged the receipt of our emails.

It's sad and disheartening to know that IKM still thinks that they are sitting on the high chair.

It's obvious that the company couldn't care less about its prospective customers. Stepping in and helping the distressed customers will at least help them to build some goodwill. Alas, that does not seem to be happening.

As GTO said, give them 7 days. After that don't think twice before filing a case.

[ksameer1234]

Originally Posted by Visaster

Kawasaki bikes get poor treatment under Bajaj. With KTMs out performing sales, Bajaj really does not care about doing anything to promote or help kawasaki customers.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but this case refers to showrooms exclusive to India Kawasaki Motors selling Z800 and other higher-end Kawasaki bikes.

Since, even Versys is sold through KTM showrooms, I assume these IKM dealers won't be selling Versys as well.

However, what has transpired is really disheartening. I myself dream of upgrading some day to these big bikes and such experiences only add to the fear.

From my experience of having bought regular mass-market cars and bikes, I have always paid a token booking amount to confirm the intent and paid the rest only when taking delivery in person.

Do all big bike dealers ask for full payment while making the booking? I understand it would be rare to have buying experience like a mass-market vehicle of walking in, selecting the vehicle, making payment and walking out with brand-new purchase but is it really a norm to park the full amount and then count days to delivery?

[djpeesh]

Originally Posted by Visaster

It is purely unfair to blame Kawasaki in this matter. They no more have any say in how things are done. They have guidelines set, but none of it is followed by the Bajaj dealers. Kawasaki has installed separate service bays, but 100% of the time you will see only a KTM jacked up.
Kawasaki spends a lot on training the grease moneys in Bajaj stable, but most of it is used by Bajaj to build their own bike.
Soon Bajaj might make a Z10R and call it Pulsar10R.

India Kawasaki Motor is an independent entity that is NOT a part of Bajaj. Bajaj is a RESELLER of sub 1 liter class Kawasaki models, due to Kawasaki not having CKD facilities in India. So the allegation that Bajaj is the reason for Kawasaki's woes is false.

Kawasaki should have left all bikes as part of the Bajaj network and that would have helped dealers make higher volumes and thereby recoup their investments in showrooms.

Anyway, we digress. The fact remains is that Kawasaki is responsible and the concerned customers have the right to seek legal redress.

[anilp]

Originally Posted by ksameer1234

Please correct me if I am wrong, but this case refers to showrooms exclusive to India Kawasaki Motors selling Z800 and other higher-end Kawasaki bikes.

Since, even Versys is sold through KTM showrooms, I assume these IKM dealers won't be selling Versys as well.

Versys 1000 is sold by IKM showrooms. Versys 650 is sold by Bajaj-KTM showrooms. I'm yet to hear complaints from Bajaj-KTM showroom customers of Kawasaki bikes, though. Bajaj-KTM shops seem to be doing a great job of selling and servicing the Kawasaki bikes they are handling.

[anshumandun]

Originally Posted by GTO

In less than 2 days, this thread is already inching toward 80,000 views. Lets see how much longer before this fraud is solved.

That's the power of social media that we need to harness to save the affected customers from going through the ordeal of going the legal way and filing police complaints unless they want to or have to. I believe that it is this thread that has led to IKM finally posting about their fraud dealer on their website. Let's keep the discussion going on and make this as viral as possible at least in the Indian biking fraternity. Triumph, Ducati, Kawasaki and others planning to enter the Indian market should be able to see that the Indian customer should not and cannot be taken lightly.

I did post the link to this thread in one of the superbikes group on facebook and many people seem to be already aware of this. In fact, one biker redirected me to an angry article on this news that's been doing the rounds on social media. http://riderzone.in/kawasaki-india-s...nd-big-brands/

I might be sounding like an angry little kid here but I was planning on buying a Z800 by the end of this year and this news just put me off!

[redrage]

Wow , what a time, Was keen on checking out the Z800 and now after hearing such horror stories & possible mental angst that we buyers may go through this has totally put me off. I think all guys who have booked must land up in the doorstep at IKM plant/Head office and demand they wouldn't leave without an answer. I am from a technical sales background and surely a non commital / non response to a customer is a crime,to top it this coming from a Japanese organization who are customer focussed in general is clearly shocking. Hope the guys get a solid compensation for the agony they have been put through and more importantly get their bikes soon.

[pratap.pratu]

What's wrong with these idiotic dealers in India. First of all they are looting us by charging us with hefty import taxes and minting money, they hold us hostage by delaying spares and now this saga with renowned Japos.
I believe even the ducati re-priced their models in Blore (from their official announced prices in India few months ago). Can someone throw light on this and correct me if am wrong.
Dont even want to start off with Triumph.
Its really really greedy and stupid of these dealers to falsely commit and cheat customers who have shelled their hard earned money and sacrificed their dreams to buy these sports bikes. Really this is getting out of hand.

[invidious]

This is ridiculous. Last year I had taken Microsoft to consumer court and have all the formats and methods of drafting and going to consumer court. If you would like to PM me, I would be happy to forward the entire process and documents to you in Word Format so you would only have to make minor changes.

[Sheel]

RiderZone has summed up the situation perfectly.

Source You may read the full article.

In case you don’t already know, 11 people booked bikes from SNK Kawasaki, Palm Beach, Navi Mumbai. None of them got anything, the dealer isn’t returning the money, and Kawasaki India says they can’t do shit. As always, all the useful stuff is on Team-BHP.

If you are wondering why none of this was reported on any of our esteemed automotive websites, who never miss an opportunity to write about that shiny new paint scheme or that slightly more bent exhaust, the reason is rather obvious. At some level, this is Kawasaki’s fault, and there’s no way they can put those words on their front page.

Can’t make daddy angry, or he’ll not let you play with that next toy.

to Team-BHP and RiderZone to cover this and I hope the case is solved to the rider's satisfaction.

[shijinpr]

This is a very critical thing and not expected from a brand like Kawasaki. The dealers represent the company for the customers and Kawasaki should be diligently managing their dealers.

Could send their managers to Maruti for few sessions on dealer/vendor management.

[v12]

Finally the news makes its way into the newspapers. Hope IKM takes notice and acts on it now.

http://m.mid-day.com/articles/mumbai...-ride/17527198

[mandheers]

Originally Posted by invidious

This is ridiculous. Last year I had taken Microsoft to consumer court and have all the formats and methods of drafting and going to consumer court. If you would like to PM me, I would be happy to forward the entire process and documents to you in Word Format so you would only have to make minor changes.

Thanks, it will be much appreciated if you could share.
Meanwhile we have sent legal notice yesterday to IKM and the dealership, and also asked for damages + legal expenses, bike/refund apart.

Originally Posted by v12

Finally the news makes its way into the newspapers. Hope IKM takes notice and acts on it now.

http://m.mid-day.com/articles/mumbai...-ride/17527198

Yes, this came out and so did many other articles online but the first to carry and get things moving was Team-BHP.
Now Kartikeya Singhee from Autocar took all details last week and is yet to revert. TOI edit team took details yesterday, and we're waiting for their revert. NDTV also contacted someone from our customers' group, and yet to update.
Meanwhile IKM is smug and squatting quietly, I feel they are shameless now with Triumph and Ducati disasters in front of them, they know we probably all have short-term memories and will soon forget/get past this fiasco too. While their web notice says otherwise, nobody from IKM has reached out to the customers as yet, nor responded to any emails.

[Garrett]

This is a clear case of fraud and as an official dealer this is the face of Kawasaki and we'll surely many people have read this story by now and Kawasaki reputation will or is going for a toss.

@Kawasaki if you're reading this think about this for a minute.

the dealer is your face to the customer it represents Kawasaki the Japanese brand we all love, this episode is going cost you your reputation the dealer may still change his name and may be open another brands showroom if bad comes to worse but what about you Kawasaki? Can you change your name? The answer to that is no for all your reputation starts with the name first it then goes to the quality of the bikes you build etc etc but if that very name is ruined then so are you honestly.

if your reputation is lost here in india then well you're all but over

[Turbo_Torq]

Originally Posted by Dodge_Viper

This showroom/dealer/thief whatever was heard shutting down. They don't even have any board which says Kawasaki Palm Beach. Just 2 days ago I saw it, barely any bikes inside. Shop condition on the verge of being closed, no people inside?

Now the question is, if any dealer is being shut down, how can they take booking in the first place?

Whoa! I had been there with my cousin in May to check out the 10R and they were ready to take our booking even then. We feel lucky to have delayed the purchase and not booked at that instant. In fact, iirc there was another guy who had come to book the Z800 (or maybe Z1000) and he had signed off a good amount for it. I feel sorry for him if he was duped too.

I feel its a blatant case of the dealer taking advantage of the manufacturer not being in communication with the customers.

Had Kawasaki made the information public about the restrictions on SNK/KPB to take bookings well on time, the latter wouldn't have dared to continue doing so. It'd also have saved so many passionate customers from the agony and heartache and needless to say, helped Kawasaki avoid this iniquity as a whole even though its not entirely their fault. They spend thousands if not millions in marketing and advertising; is it so difficult a task to provide updates on their social media channels when all it would entail is some keyboard strokes and a click?

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

I have a doubt regarding liability. May be legal experts can help. Suppose I want to sell my flat through an agent. The agent gets a prospective customer to view the flat, which he likes and pays a token amount. Agent accepts the amount, however doesn't give me the money. Naturally I refuse to honour the flat sale and tell the prospective buyer to handle it with the agent. Sounds reasonable? Will it make sense for me to honour the sale with no money? Or should I chase the agent who has vanished with the money? Or should the customer have been careful and given the money in my presence or while signing a sale deed?
Likewise has the dealer provided a reciept against the payment in 'his' name or Kawasaki? How come banks released the loan with no VIN or chassis number?

You do have a point but in this case, the manufacturer himself has appointed an entity and authorized him for the sale of their products. I might be wrong too but if anything, the dealer is representing the manufacturer in the general sense since he's not selling any other bikes than Kawasaki. If the dealer is defaulting and into malpractice, it should be the manufacturer's responsibility to take certain measures in a timely manner to curb his fraudulent activities.

[jalajprakash]

Originally Posted by Turbo_Torq

You do have a point but in this case, the manufacturer himself has appointed an entity and authorized him for the sale of their products. I might be wrong too but if anything, the dealer is representing the manufacturer in the general sense since he's not selling any other bikes than Kawasaki. If the dealer is defaulting and into malpractice, it should be the manufacturer's responsibility to take certain measures in a timely manner to curb his fraudulent activities.

I talked to my father about the legal responsibility in this case and he did say that legally Kawasaki isn't at fault because they truly are not liable for providing a bike to the customer without receiving the booking amount from the dealer. Legally it is solely a transaction between the dealer and the customer.

On the other hand, he did tell me that when someone applies to be a dealer, the main brand usually does keep a fair amount of deposit from the dealer for dealing with cases like these. Ideally, Kawasaki would've forfeited the dealer's deposit amount and used it to give bikes to customers who were involved in this matter and essentially cut off supply of future bikes to the dealer. In this case, the main brand then has to deal with the dealer taking them to court over forfeit of the deposit but Kawasaki would've won that case and it would have had saved them the public ire.

It seems to me that Kawasaki India did not tell the customers about this initially because as aforementioned in the thread, the Dealer was falling behind on his payments and I guess Kawasaki didn't want the Dealer's only source of income (and possible method of payment to Kawasaki) to be cut off. Of course, the problem snowballed and now people are Kawasaki.