[Meccanico]

Buying your first superbike is a monumental occasion. I decided to enter the world of big bikes in January 2020. Having drooled over sexy looking, high revving sportsbikes since childhood I decided to go for a brand-new Kawasaki ZX-6R. I was extremely elated when I took the delivery of the bike on the 3rd of February 2020. Little did I know I was embarking on a journey which would torment my mind, body and soul.

Not a great thing to have in common at all, but thanks to this wonderful forum for inspiring me to share my horrible experience. Get your favourite drink and settle down; this is a long one because it seems to be the time for most big bike companies to wake up.

I got the first service done at 1000kms at the Pune Service Center and all seemed good. Although quite a small place, I had a good experience and the technicians did a good job.


The First Issue

On the 19th of March, the ram air intake of the bike cracked while riding. The odometer was around 2000 kms. This is a plastic part on which the entire load of the console and large fairings rests. There was no serious impact or event that could have caused this. I checked the bike and there was absolutely no other damage to it. Rims, fairings everything was okay. The bike was barely rideable as the front had dropped and was vibrating heavily.





I got the bike home and took it to the Kawasaki Pune Service Centre in the next few days. Mr. Venkatesh Patil and Mr. Swagat Shinde from Kawasaki Pune Service inspected the bike, took pictures and assured me that the problem would be fixed soon. They ensured there was no physical damage to the bike and deemed that the part had failed. I was asked to take the bike home and that I would be called when they have the part. However I did not receive any update for months. Every time I called, I was told that things would take longer due to the Covid-19 situation. I was patient and understanding as there was a lockdown. It was now May however and absolutely no steps had been taken to resolve the issue. Exactly two months since the part failed.

I decided it was time to make India Kawasaki aware of the situation, so I wrote them an email describing the situation. Within minutes I received the following response:




After this I had asked for a rough timeline for the part to be replaced to which they chose not to reply. I sent India Kawasaki and Pune Kawasaki Service reminder emails on the 25th May and 11th June. I did not receive any response. It was now July and after calling Mr. Venkatesh a few times he responded with "You have not mentioned exactly which part broke in your email to India Kawasaki, so they could not understand the issue." In-spite of this being untrue I sent another email with the details of the problem.

Time For The Real Horror Story

At 10:00 AM on the of 24th July I received a called from Mr. Swagat Shinde, Kawasaki Pune Service. He said that the part had arrived, and the warranty claim had been approved. "Bring your bike to the workshop now and it you will have it fixed before evening". I was extremely happy that my bike was finally going to be fixed. Due to the ongoing monsoons at the time my bike was really dirty and covered in mud. I was expecting that the bike would be washed before work would commence.
I reached the service center at noon.
I was told they would start work on my bike within a few minutes. That did not happen. It was now 3 PM. I asked whether the bike was going to be ready by evening as I really did not want to leave it at the workshop overnight. "Yes sir, just about to start work on your bike." It was 4:30 PM now, workshop closes at 5PM. They hurriedly took the bike in, did not wash it at all, and started work on it in its extremely dirty condition. Mr. Swagat (not a technician) started removing the fairings.



The workshop closed and I left the bike at the service centre. I received a call at 11:30 AM the next morning saying that I could come and collect the bike. On arriving at the workshop the broken part on the bike had been replaced, however the bike was still in absolutely dirty condition. They delivered it to me in the same state. After a test ride I realised that the fairings were vibrating more than before. I mentioned this to Mr. Venkatesh. What he said was that because the fairings are flexible, they will take some time to settle and the vibrations should be gone after a while. I inspected the bike (all that I could in its dirty condition) and took it home.

The Seriously Long List of Damages Caused By Kawasaki Pune Service While Fixing The Air Intake


1. On the ride home, the bolt of the dashboard fairing flew off:




After washing the bike, I was in excruciating pain. The paint was damaged in several places (despite the bike being ceramic coated within the first week of delivery). I had handed over a spanking, sparkling bike to Kawasaki and what they returned was this.

The bike was scratched all over. Someone truly went above and beyond to ensure every single panel, fairing, et al is deeply scratched.









Each of them represents a scar that was etched in my memory.

I immediately called Mr. Venkatesh Patil and apprised him about the scratches to which his reply was: "The bike was dirty, therefore, this was bound to happen. There must have been stones in the mud and they must have scratched the bike while it was handled. Even display bikes have scratches.". I was appalled by their callous attitude towards a premium bike! I would expect these replies from Bajaj or Hero but never from a superbike service manager with Kawasaki. Heck even Bajaj and Hero have treated me better.

I was lost for words. I was not warned about any of this. I had spent a fortune on getting the bike ceramic coated and was over cautious about the paintwork.
I wrote an email to India Kawasaki and detailed what had happened. They replied with their standard response like above. I sent three reminder emails between July and September with absolutely no fruition. They still have not responded.

Cut to the 7th November.

Anzen Kawasaki had organised an event at the Amby Valley airstrip on the 8th November. Before this I decided to get my coolant flushed and remove the mirrors for which I took the bike to Slipstream Performance in Pune. What I uncovered during this was further detrimental to my mental health. To access the radiator fill caps and hoses, the fairings had to be removed. This was only the second time the fairings were being removed. (First being when Kawasaki Pune replaced the air intake) Upon doing this we realised:

1. All the interlocking tabs on the inside of fairings of both the sides were broken. (The real reason why the fairings were loose and not because "they're flexible".)
2. OEM rubber bushings were replaced with random broken pieces of foam.
3. The hoses connecting to the charcoal canister on the right side of the bike were disconnected. (These cannot come off as they are held in place by metal clamps,
so they were never connected after being removed.)
4. Two of the push lock pins on the underside of the headlight section were missing.

Upon removing the mirrors I realised that the washers under the mirror plates had never been put back. This has caused the bolts to go into the fairing and damage it.

Kawasaki Pune Service clearly thinks these things are not important. There is a Japanese culture around process and validations of processes. Nothing seems to be transferred down to this workshop.


OEM rubber bushes replaced with crap foam:




Fairing damaged by mirror bolt due to washer not being placed (Right)




Fairing damaged by mirror bolt due to washer not being placed (Left)




Washer missing on the mirror plate. You can even see the previous mark due to the washer.





Having previous experience of India Kawasaki over these months, I chose to speak to the dealer after discovering these hidden issues. I have been told they will revert back to me. I do not have high hopes.

A Side Story - October 2020


While on a ride with friends I realised that the front section was loose and vibrating. I looked down to realise that the top two bolts on the ram air intake were missing, while the one on the bottom was loose. I could not stop as I was riding on the highway. I tightened the bottom one on the fly. The top one too fell off after some time. I later got them replaced at the service centre. The bolts were probably not torqued to spec before.

Right Side



Left Side




Conclusion

Kawasaki have royally messed up my bike, for which I paid a stupendous amount of money. If any of you were planning to buy a Kawasaki, please reconsider. On top of that if you're from Pune; please, please stay happy. Do not make the same mistake I did. Pune Service have severely damaged the parts on my bike and India Kawasaki has turned a blind eye towards this. Neither of them are interested in after sales or basic customer relations. The sheer arrogance and rude attitude shown by the Pune Service Centre during this debacle has been the worst experience ever. India Kawasaki meanwhile is still figuring out how to properly setup an email account, as they cannot go beyond automated "we will get back to you shortly" responses.

My Expectations Now


I want the parts (fairings) that have been damaged to be replaced by Kawasaki. As simple as that. After months of anger I was ready to put this all behind me and almost accepted the damaged the paintwork until I saw they had broken off parts of it too. One can only ignore a few shortcomings or errors.

Thanks for reading

[moralfibre]

Mod note: Thread moved from the assembly line to the Superbikes and imports section. Thanks for sharing.

[moralfibre]

Looks like this month is full of horror after sales stories from every single big bike manufacturer out there. Your experience wouldn't be out of place for someone dealing with a roadside mechanic running a tin shed out on a dusty road. But, we are talking big bucks here and a Japanese biggie like Kawasaki, no less!

Someone paying a million rupees to satiate his thirst for a big motorcycle is treated with absolute disgust. I don't think it's a process problem. It is more to do with their casual chalta hai attitude.

I hope Kawasaki India is listening and acts on complaints against this workshop. They don't have a washing bay in their workshop! How cheap can one get?

[Meccanico]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

But, we are talking big bucks here and a Japanese biggie like Kawasaki, no less!

True!
Well atleast you know what to expect when you go to a tin shed mechanic. So much for being passionate about the brand and brand culture!

[Amey Kulkarni]

I'm honestly not surprised. Kawasaki maybe being a dream of many but has gone low with its pathetic sales and service at least in Pune.

No proper SOPs in place to attend customers, no proper TDs of bikes, not all bikes available for TD, overall a deplorable experience.

Coming to after sales, it gets even worse. Their workshop is smaller than a tea stall, call it a premium brand superbike workshop. The technicians not sure on what basis and qualifications are being appointed. They don't know the ABC of the bike and charged a good amount compared to bigger superbikes for service even for a Ninja 300.

Thank god I didn't fall into the pit and ZX-10R BSVI didn't launch within my buying plans.

A big NO to Kawasaki if you're in Pune.

Meccanico - Lets fight this out at Pune and restore your bike. Once done, move to Anzen Mumbai. They're far better and professional I've heard.

Cheers,
Amey

[surjaonwheelz]

Originally Posted by Meccanico

Kawasaki have royally messed up my bike, for which I paid a stupendous amount of money. If any of you were planning to buy a Kawasaki, please reconsider. On top of that if you're from Pune; please, please stay happy. Do not make the same mistake I did. Pune Service have severely damaged the parts on my bike and India Kawasaki has turned a blind eye towards this. Neither of them are interested in after sales or basic customer relations. The sheer arrogance and rude attitude shown by the Pune Service Centre during this debacle has been the worst experience ever. India Kawasaki meanwhile is still figuring out how to properly setup an email account, as they cannot go beyond automated "we will get back to you shortly" responses.

This is certainly a poor state of affairs at Kawasaki Pune. If you're not at peace with your prized possession at the OEM SVC then where will you be?

This casual attitude for such premium bikes is certainly not acceptable!

Wonder if the same was done to premium cars, all premium bike OEMs should turn a leaf from their page and revamp operations and service centers.

This post will certainly force all enthusiast to cancel off Kawasaki superbikes from their wishlists!

[Monaro CV8]

Very sad experiences indeed. It all started with RAM intake 's mechanical failure and looks like it has opened up a Pandora' s Box for you.

While this incident happened right before me while we were riding together on that fateful day. It is very disappointing to see that after 8 months, we are still struggling to find a satisfactory solution to be provided by the OEM after-sales.

And to make matters worse, Kawasaki India has their plant right in Pune. It should be least expected of them that their nearest After-Sales Service Centre has adequately trained & skilled service persons. To add to that, Customer Service and responses are expected to be professionally adept.

How long are we going to expect 2nd grade treatment from Multinational Automotive Giants?

[quickfox11]

Such a heartbreaking ordeal!! Reading about it made me angry. I too had a really bad experience with Pune Kawasaki which ultimately resulted in cancelling my booking, even losing money in the process. Really glad I did that!

The treatment to your bike looks more like a revenge. May be for writing to Kawasaki and following up with them. Sheer impudence! They deliberately kept your bike on hold to keep it overnight and inflict the damage. Do not let them go.

Service centers must have CCTV footage of the area. Ask them for every minute of it when your machine was there. If the bike was taken where cameras cannot reach, that's a clear reg flag to prove your point, ideally it shouldn't have happened at the first place.

I just hope you get justice. All the best!

[Jaggu]

Jeez this is a very disheartening post to read, I know how it feels when I see even a small scratch on my bike and can't even imagine what I would have done if something like this happened to me due to negligence at workshop!

Reinfroces my belief to hand over a clean bike to workshop and if needed take pics of the bike or even shoot a video and keep as evidence.

This is going to be a tough one to fight, hopefully the concerned folks respond and resolve the issue to your satisfaction.

[rb2399]

After owning three such 'big' bikes (er-6n,Z800 and the vstrom 650), here's my take on this: it's a combination of ill equipped service centers, poorly trained technicians, lack of technical knowledge on part of both the technicians and the service advisors, callous attitude of the companies.

I've mentioned this in my ownership reviews and here it goes again: buying these big machines is one thing, maintaining them is altogether a different matter. As long as it's the routine service drill ( the ASCs still suck at it too!), you'll be okay. If there's something which is much more involved, you are DONE !
There are people like Kunal from slipstream who are very meticulous but you don't have Kunals everywhere and that's the sad part.
A sorry state of affairs really :(

[//M]

Sad to hear your ordeal PK.

My only experience of interaction with Kawasaki Pune was when I had gone to get a quotation of Z900. They were overcharging 50 K over the above the exorbitant 20% plus 2% RTO charges. When I caught them on the wrong foot, they blatantly refused and finally resorted to stating that the additional 50 K was towards "agent" charges for registration. Fellow bhpian 599gto was there with me during this visit.

There are multiple such foul experiences shared by many customers / prospective buyers from Kawasaki Pune both in sales and service areas.

Is there any way you can shift to Anzen Mumbai immediately? Ofcourse it only makes sense if Kawasaki India acknowledges the error on part of the Pune dealer and gets relevant parts replaced. I am sure you would have already explored this route, but is their a possibility that Anzen guys would take care of the dealings with Kawasaki India and you get your motorcycle serviced in Mumbai hereafter?

[StepUP!]

Whoa! Sorry to read about the horrible experience you went through Meccanico. I bought my Versys 650 from Anzen Mumbai. They are professional and my experience while dealing with them was very good.
On the Pune Versys group, everyone told me to stay away from Kawasaki Pune owning to the same reasons listed by you. Hence, never went to Kawasaki Pune to servie my bike.

There is an alternative to keep your warranty intact. HD Amanora guys do service Kawasaki bikes as they have Kawasaki dealership at Kolhapur. I can give you service advisor's reference there. He is very genuine and helpful guy.

[AtheK]

My heart goes to you mate, appalling behavior from the workshop. As pointed above this could be an act of revenge, as you reached out to Kawasaki directly. How low can we stoop as human beings is beyond me.

I have seen the Bangalore service center, it's so small and crowded. I decided to not get it serviced there, part being Covid and that kind of crowd, other being horror stories I have generally read about authorized service centers. Got it serviced at independent garage, and it was so much peaceful and neatly done.

You should continue to fight your case with Kawasaki, and get replacement fairing panels, nothing else is acceptable.

[aargee]

I'm at dismay on the trauma that you had to undergo; even if the manufacturer makes a brilliant piece of engineering on all fronts, the ASC's are there to screw it up & stake at the manufacturer.

If the washers, rubber bushes & cotter pins are there, it's for a reason; the nonchalant dealers with dogmatist attitude of technicians slow poison our prized possession in long run.

As I see the way forward, either you've to find a reliable ASC, which is very difficult, is the only hope to enjoy a happy & enjoyable ownership on a long run, even if this means you'll have to ride across the district/state for servicing.

[nitrogary]

Kawasaki need to be ashamed of themselves for treating a vehicle like this, let alone a high performance import.
I have had similar indifferent attitude experience with them in 2015 when I was looking at a Z800. Never bought the bike. Had walked in with a cheque book with plan to make full payment that evening.
I feel sorry for the bike and Kawasaki should make a effort to reach out to you and pay damages. The time lost due to incompetence is lost forever and leaves a horrible after-taste in everyone's mouth.

Anyway, I hope you are enjoying the bike I am glad you posted all this ordeal here for others to realize and choose their bikes more wisely and with prior knowledge of the stealership's attitude.