[shan_ned]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Edit: I would like to give the benefit of doubt that this bad experience was due to the covid related labor issue and hopefully the dealership would come forward and do the right things for you.

Yes, Jaggu. We all hope this was just an innocent mistake due to the current covid situation. The unpardonable part is their attitude to take a customer for granted and mislead him by offering illogical reasons/excuses.

Of course Triumph India is responsible for ensuring that all their dealers are following the process laid down by Triumph.

1) Is Triumph India auditing the dealers on process compliance ?
2) why are the job card copies not given to the customers ? Why is Triumph India not making the dealers to follow even this basic step ?
3) Why are the dealers not providing the customers a copy of the ECU diagnostics report ? Of course the owners manual clearly states that a copy needs to be given to the customer. On the contrary, I was informed by the Bangalore svc that customers were not allowed to have the copy. Process compliance ?
4) How is Triumph India going to ensure that the items procured outside of Triumph (by the dealers) are as per the specifications laid out ?

I am sure there will a lot of other questions on the process gaps followed by Triumph India and the dealers.

Triumph India should answer these questions and assure each and very owner on the quality of after sales support. I hope Triumph India makes a note of these complaints and take steps to raise their standards. A long way to go for them.

[deepfreak15]

I think Krishnaprasad summed it up pretty well and I agree with him on all points.
In my opinion there are two kinds of owners, drop off bike at service center, sign the job sheet and don't blink an eye when paying the bill (might shed a tear though) and pick up the bike in good faith. Then there is the second category that wants to know everything that will be done wants to be kept up to date and informed. I belong to the second category and have done that for all my vehicles, I want to be part of the inspection process and if a part needs to be replaced I want to physically see it first. Sadly with big bikes I find that might not be feasible. From what I have heard and experienced is you have to wait for a window to drop off the bike and be ok with a rough estimation of how long it will take (days) with no assurance of when they will start working on your bike. Now I am perfectly fine with somethings falling under the preventive maintenance category but will be totally gutted if I was told it was replaced and in reality it wasn't. Clearly your coolant and brake fluid was not replaced. Some service centers just siphon out the liquid from the MC and replace with fresher liquid.
The more I read and listen to most big bike service experiences, a good FNG seems to be the most logical option, at least you can hang around and watch them work and they have more to gain with a repeat customer. I'm guessing you are out of your warranty window, Cochin should have a good FNG no? As for me, I have a 4 year warranty on the bike so I am guessing they wouldn't risk not maintaining it properly leading to a warranty claim, but you never know. Once that period is over ill do basic maintenance myself and take a call on whether to stick to A.S.S or find an FNG.
By the way nice to know you have a marker on your handle bar to tell you the factory position. I have to make do with a dab of nail polish. I had adjusted it for a shorter reach and had to make a mark to know where it originally was. Thankfully the new position is spot on!
One more thing I'm really curious about, why this step motherly (is this politically correct anymore?) treatment of your Triumph ? You splash your Conti ownership thread with pictures (good looking ones) even if you go out to buy milk but cant be bothered to post pictures of your Triumph, what gives?

[neil.jericho]

Thank you for your detailed responses krishnaprasadgg, shan_ned, Jaggu and deepfreak15. The intention of my posts was to present the sequence of events and the official stand of the dealership on the different incidents. I do believe that I have given the dealership the benefit of the doubt while sharing the details of my experience on this thread.

I did not want to jump to hasty conclusions and accuse the dealership of malfeasance before hearing from other experienced forum members. Unfortunately, these responses from you gentlemen over the last few days have only served to confirm my suspicions regarding the dealership, which as I mentioned, is very highly regarded in the motorcycling community.

As the old saying goes - All that glitters is not gold.

[createrkid]

What piss poor service standards. Stick to an FNG if you're outside your warranty window.

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Edit: I would like to give the benefit of doubt that this bad experience was due to the covid related labor issue and hopefully the dealership would come forward and do the right things for you.

I hope so too.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

I do believe that I have given the dealership the benefit of the doubt while sharing the details of my experience on this thread.

As the old saying goes - All that glitters is not gold.

Fair enough Neil. You have tried to be objective and we get that. I think over couple of years you, if I am not mistaken had several contacts with the dealership, and is known to them as a keen biker. If this is the level of service they dish out, I would say that leaves a lot to be desired.

Best Regards & Ride Safe

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

Fair enough Neil. You have tried to be objective and we get that. I think over couple of years you, if I am not mistaken had several contacts with the dealership, and is known to them as a keen biker. If this is the level of service they dish out, I would say that leaves a lot to be desired.

Best Regards & Ride Safe

I earnestly believed that the dealership would realize and own up to their mistakes and take some corrective action from their side to help rectify the situation. After all, these were clear cut mistakes from their end. However, I have not heard anything from them, even though over a week and a half has passed. It appears as though shan_ned is right, the dealership appears to be taking customers for granted.

Anyways, I have sent an email to Triumph India to get clarity on the processes being followed and to understand why different dealerships are adopting different techniques for services.

Also a good friend in Cochin is in the process of picking up a pre owned Tiger which needs considerable work on it at the SVC since the previous owner did not really maintain the bike properly. My friend knows of my service experience and hopefully there are no missteps from the dealership once again.

[neil.jericho]

I had sent an email to Triumph India (henceforth TI) on the 30th of September seeking clarifications on the processes being followed in the Cochin dealership. This set in motion a sequence of events that I have listed below.

- 1st October
I received a call from Anilal where he mentioned that their MD had asked him about my service experience. On the topics that we have discussed on this thread
- The 800 ml flushing process suddenly went from being a Triumph India mandated process to their own Cochin dealership process. That was a quick u turn. He explained that they had seen better results with this process which is why they were following it in the SVC.
My two points were relatively simple, since I did not know if the localised flushing process was effective or not
a. If I am giving my bike to a Triumph authorized company dealership, I expect them to follow Triumph mandated processes. If I want some process that may or may not be better than what TI dictates, then I can go to any competent FNG where the work will get done at much lower costs.
b. If they are deviating from the TI mandated technical processes, they have to inform the customer that there is an alternative process and ask their permission if they can go ahead with this better / alternate process. They cannot take the customer for granted and do as they please without informing the customer up front.
- On the brake fluid replacement work, I was told that they have followed the exact process for brake fluid replacement so I was assured that the replacement process of the entire brake fluid was done exactly as per TI mandated process. This was u turn number two. Earlier I was told it was drain and top up.
- On the coolant replacement work, it was back to the usual obfuscation while explaining this and that and beating around the bush. Finally he accepted that it was not done as per TI mandated process. Also the overnight drain and replace process that he mentioned went from being a TI mandated process to another of the home grown service processes. For those keeping score, this was u turn number 3.
Honestly, I didnt know what was true or not anymore after this call.

- 1st October
An hour later, I received a call from a gentleman from Triumph India. He said that they are investigating the matter with the dealership and would get back to me within 48 hours. They were planning on doing a proper audit and wanted to understand how there were such slippages from the dealership side. I mentioned that the dealership finally confirmed that they have their own service processes to do the work and the gentleman mentioned that this should not be the case, dealerships have to follow the service processes as mandated by Triumph India. I felt that TI was putting in genuine efforts towards rectifying the problems and getting to the bottom of what had transpired during my service.

- 2nd October
A good friend and fellow TBHPian checked his service bills from the same dealership and found that they had changed the brake fluid on his bike but had charged him for it in the bill. This was incontrovertible evidence that proved that the previous day's u turn on the brake fluid being replaced as per TI process was false.

- 2nd October
I received a call from Jibin Peter, who is a manager at the Cochin dealership. He admitted to and apologized for all the mistakes from the dealership side with regard to my service experience. He had gone through the posts on the forum (which I had linked in my email to TI) and admitted that everything that I had written was 100% factual and there was nothing that he had as a counter to it. We discussed in detail, the different issues that I faced and he did not attempt to defend or justify any of the mistakes from their side. The first step towards improving broken trust is admitting that one is wrong, and Jibin did that. I really appreciated that finally, the Cochin dealership was doing the right thing with honesty and transparency.

In summary,
a. The 800 ml engine oil process is their own process despite the initial claim that it was a TI mandated process.
b. The brake fluid replacement was not done despite the reassurance that I got the previous day that it was done as per TI mandated process.
c. The coolant replacement was not done.
d. Billing of the products and services can happen if they feel that nothing new will crop up and they just need to finish the work. This put to rest my doubts about why the billing date was wrong.
e. The service team should have done the work that the customer instructed.
f. The service team should have admitted that they forgot to do some of the jobs (brake fluid and coolant replacement in my case) when I had gone to collect the bike.
g. The service team should not have covered up their mistake with all the misinformation and grossly incorrect claims that they were strictly following TI processes when they were not.
h. I was assured that this will not happen again in the dealership.

I was happy to note that Jibin was professional and admitted to all these cascading series of mistakes and dishonest cover-ups from their side.

Onto the resolution, I was asked what should be done to fix the situation. We discussed and agreed to the following
a. The dealership will purchase 1 litre of the same engine oil that I had brought and return 800 ml of that to me.
b. The brake fluid replacement will be carried out.
c. The coolant replacement will be carried out. Here we have the TI process or the "improved" dealership process of leaving the bike overnight for the coolant to drain fully. I said we will decide on which process to follow when we fix a date.

The dealership is currently closed till Monday since one of the technicians was tested as Covid positive a couple of days ago. Though Jibin wanted to carry out the above mentioned work at the earliest to ensure closure, both for me and for them (dealership as well as TI), I mentioned that I prefer that the Covid situation settle down and the dealership get back up and running so that we can fix a date 2 weeks from now. Jibin offered to come and collect the bike from my residence and get the work done and return it on the agreed upon date. I have been asking the sales guy for a test ride of the new 2020 Street Triple RS for some time now and the bike was never available, so I requested Jibin to arrange for the Street Triple RS to be provided to me for an extended test ride while my bike is taken in to complete the remaining work. He has readily agreed to do so.

Overall Thoughts
I just wish the Cochin dealership dealt with this situation on day 1 with honesty. If they had forgotten to do some work, all they had to do was be professional about it and admit it. We are all working under a lot of pressure due to the Covid situation and as customers, we are always reasonable and extend courtesy and friendship to the staff at motorcycle dealerships. We treat them with respect and expect the same from them in return. Unfortunately, this was mistaken as an opportunity to take advantage of my patient nature and non technical background. When I look back at the whole series of events, it is clear that the first cover up led to the first blatant lie and that led to a lot of deliberate misinformation from the dealership in the hope that the customer was ill informed and would not bother to dig deeper. Unfortunately, this has web of deceit has been revealed and the truth is out in the open.

Jibin mentioned that he had been contacted by several enthusiasts and customers regarding my posts on the forum. But I dont understand why I wasnt contacted if that was the case. Surely they had my phone number and could have contacted me at any point of time. Why wait for me to send an email and then get TI involved and then admit to the series of mistakes?

Anyways, though this has been a tiring and very frustrating experience with the Cochin dealership, in the end I am a happy motorcyclist because I believe that the Cochin dealership has shown genuine regret and intention to improve. Mistakes happen. What is important is how the dealership has finally admitted to their series of mistakes and promised to deal with all their customers (not just me) with honesty and transparency. A happy customer is a returning customer and a happy customer will recommend the brand to his / her friends. Its business 101.

As for Triumph India, I was shocked when I came to know that dealerships have the flexibility to do their own (rogue?) processes and that it took my email to them for this to come to light. I expected them to run a much tighter ship, after all these world class machines deserve world class service and we are paying a fair premium to get the bikes serviced at authorized dealerships. But, I am very pleased that they quickly swung into action based on my email and their commitment to doing a thorough investigation should help systematically improve the service experience in the Cochin dealership. I am aware that even today, the quality of service is inconsistent around the country (the origins of this thread bear enough and more information regarding how deep the rot is in some cities) and I hope that Triumph India continues to pursue all their dealerships to improve, thereby ensuring that a uniform high quality of service is available to Triumph customers around India.

Ill post an update on this matter once the pending service work is completed. Today I took the motorcycle out for a ride, there are still some vibes that creep in around the 6,000 RPM mark, it is a lot less than before but the service team will probably need to re-torque the foundation bolts or check for any other source of vibrations. Im signing off with a picture of the bike at the center of all the controversy!

[krishnaprasadgg]

Credit where it is due. Cochin Triumph folks have redeemed themselves in some respects.

The number of U-Turns taken did not come as a surprise to me. It is just the standard blame evasion procedure 101 done by almost every svc.

But takes balls to admit what went wrong from their side. And that RS extended test drive is sure icing on top. Expecting a proper first impressions post from Neil on this.

On a broader note, I guess other location dealerships should take notes from them. It can go a long way to restoring trust among customers.

Cheers
Krishna

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by deepfreak15

One more thing I'm really curious about, why this step motherly (is this politically correct anymore?) treatment of your Triumph ? You splash your Conti ownership thread with pictures (good looking ones) even if you go out to buy milk but cant be bothered to post pictures of your Triumph, what gives?

I always wondered who was going to bell the cat. there we have the all elusive picture of the triumph now. I had to take a double take just to make sure lol

[shan_ned]

Neil, it is very good to see both TI and the Cochin dealer trying their best to correct the problem you faced.

Credit goes to TI for standing with the customer instead of blindly going with the dealer. There is still a opinion that TI did not have the courage to take on the Bangalore dealer in the same way as how they acted against the Cochin dealer. Is it due to fact that the Cochin dealer is relatively smaller compared to the Bangalore one ?. I hope TI doesn’t dish out step motherly treatment for small dealers and handle the big dealers with kid gloves. TI needs to stand with the customers in case of any fault from the dealers, irrespective of how big or who they are. I hope they remain consistent from now onwards.

Second, the Cochin dealer too deserves appreciation for finally admitting their mistakes and their attempts to correct it. As you pointed out, a customer expects honesty and if the dealer is up to the mark, it will be a win-win situation for both.

[pavanmadhini]

Any reviews on Triumph Hyderabad? Considering the new Street Triple R, but don't want to get stuck with bad service.

[Raghu A]

Originally Posted by pavanmadhini

Any reviews on Triumph Hyderabad? Considering the new Street Triple R, but don't want to get stuck with bad service.

As far as I know some or most of the staff are from previous (Rebel) dealership. They are generally good.

If you are from Chennai then Vijayawada (PVR) Triumph maybe better option for you.

[pavanmadhini]

Originally Posted by Raghu A

If you are from Chennai then Vijayawada (PVR) Triumph maybe better option for you.

Based out of hyderabad now.

Triumph chennai had some horror stories, and the old one shut down. I believe Khivraj Motors have picked up the new Chennai dealership. Hopefully, they'll be much better.

[Raghu A]

Originally Posted by pavanmadhini

Based out of hyderabad now.

Triumph chennai had some horror stories, and the old one shut down. I believe Khivraj Motors have picked up the new Chennai dealership. Hopefully, they'll be much better.

In that case go with Hyderabad dealer. Rebel used to be pretty good.

Better yet go for a test ride of the R. Talk to Pavan there and he is wonderful and will help you with the test ride and will also take care of you.

If by chance you don't get the kind of service you are expecting there is always Vijayawada service that's not too far away.

[neil.jericho]

Unfortunately, I have more updates on the motorcycle's performance post the recent service at the Cochin dealership. As I mentioned in my last post, there still were vibrations that were noticeable after the service. This was one problem that I had specifically asked them to address and eliminate. The vibrations seem to have increased now as compared to immediately after the service and they start appearing at around 4,500 RPM. After a ride of an hour or an hour and a half, I have enough tingling all over my hands and feet to make me question whether I am riding my Triumph Street Triple 675 or my Royal Enfield Continental GT 535.

Here, the SVC has either not retorqued all the foundation and other bolts properly, or they have retorqued to spec but their equipment has not been recalibrated in a timely manner. Either way, the problem still exists on my motorycle.

Two days ago, I took the bike out for a ride to check the vibrations and I noticed that the fan was running for quite a long time. Even the temperature gauge reading was showing a lot higher bars than normal. This was very unusual as the fan very rarely kicks in. In fact, I dont recall the last time the fan was called into action. I have to mention that this was a ride through almost zero traffic and the bike was always moving, so there was continuous air flow. It was slightly sunny but nowhere close to a proper summer day, the latter being conditions in which the fan would very rarely come on.

Yesterday, I took the bike out for a similar leisure ride to check the heating issue and I found the bike repeated the very same behaviour. It was throwing out very hot air from the right side. There was a ton of heat from the coolant expansion tank area as well. Again I must stress this is the first time that I have found such heating issues on my bike in 2 plus years of ownership.

I reached home and hopped off the bike and found that a puddle of coolant had started to form under the motorcycle. At first I thought that there was leak from the hose which connected to the coolant expansion tank but the drip into the puddle stopped after 5 - 10 seconds. I spoke to a fellow TBHPian who, step by step eliminated all the possible options and finally felt that the most likely scenario was that the coolant top up process at the last service (in place of the coolant flush and replace instruction, but I am leaving that aside for now) resulted in air gaps in the radiator and overall system, which in turn led to sub optimal cooling of the engine. This meant that the fan was running continuously and that the coolant in the expansion chamber overheated and leaked out.

I spoke to Jibin from the dealership and he agreed that this diagnosis was likely to be correct. I checked with fellow Triumph owners and they too echoed the same thoughts while also providing a couple of other areas to analyze, in the unlikely scenario that there were no air gaps.

My Royal Enfield motorcycle has never made such a mess in 6+ years.




The coolant level is still close to maximum with the bike propped up

Again, I dont want to jump to final conclusions before the bike is taken to the SVC and checked thoroughly, but given the conversation with Jibin, prima facie this looks to be another rookie error from the Cochin dealership.

The service centre is still closed due to one of the technicians testing positive for Covid last week. In all fairness to Triumph, Jibin was very keen on taking the bike in as soon as possible to get all the pending work done and completed. I told him that we will stick to the plan and wait for the dealership to get up and running and only then I will bring the bike in. The last thing that I want at this stage, is for them to rush through the pending jobs and again make basic mistakes in their haste. They took 4+ days to do the last service and the end results of that speak for itself.