How a regular service of my Triumph Tiger ended up with a 2.5 lakh bill

I gave my motorcycle for servicing in April and got it back after 4 months in August.

BHPian Madan Devaiah recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I am Madan Devaiah, riding all kinds of bikes since 2013. Owner of a Royal Enfield Classic 350, a Yamaha RX100, a Royal Enfield Himalayan 411 (sold) and now a Triumph Tiger 800 XCX. My dream of owning a capable superbike is fulfilled with my last buy, what an amazing machine this is!

All was well until April 19th 2022.

Here is the timeline of events

• Beginning of March 2022: I called the Keerthi Triumph service department to replace my fuel cap assembly as I managed to break it.
• April 19th 2022: I give the bike to Keerthi Triumph for general service (this is where life gave me a twist) + my fuel cap replacement.
• April 28th 2022: Service completed with a bill amount of 21,343 rupees.
• April 28th - May 6th 2022: Bike was not delivered to me and Keerthi Triumph reported that the battery was getting drained out of nowhere. They kept delaying the delivery. (Remember, I gave the bike in perfect working condition with no faults at all)
• May 7th 2022: I get a call from the service center reporting multiple rat bites in the wiring system that is causing the battery to drain (short-circuits)
• May 8th 2022: I was asked to replace the entire wiring kit under insurance for which I agreed initially since I wanted my bike soon.
• May 8th 2022 - 6th June: Absolutely no work done on the bike, wiring kit was ordered they said and it was in transit. (This is what I was told)
• June 7th 2022: I wrote an email to Triumph Customer Care to register the complaint reporting this huge delay in service and inaccurate service advice that was given to me. By this time the staff had stopped responding to me on the phone. Complaint Number: MT/TR/22/54. No solid resolution was received.
• June 10th 2022: Frustrated with the service, I moved the bike to a mechanic outside the showroom to fix the rat bites temporarily so I can attend some planned rides. Note: My bike was not assembled back properly, all the wires were hanging under the tank. It didn’t look like rat bites at this point to us.
• June 10th - July 10th 2022: My mechanic has performed all the diagnostics and reported it is just not the wiring but ECM is also damaged (this is an expensive component costing over 1 lakh)
• July 14th 2022: I escalated the matter to Triumph UK, and sent the bike back to Keerthi to fix the issue, once and for all. The bike was sent back to Keerthi Triumph as it was determined as “beyond repair” by my mechanic.
• July 23rd 2022: Insurance claim process paperwork was signed (I personally visited the service centre and signed it)
• July 27th 2022: Received a call from the Insurance company, quoted an estimate of 2.5 Lakhs and also informed that only 50% of the amount can be claimed (plastic parts). And the wait still goes on for the parts which were initially ordered.
• Aug 18th 2022: Keerthi confirms the arrival of the parts and work started on the bike.
• Aug 23rd 2022: Collected the bike from Keerthi Triumph, with a total bill amount of 2,48,719/-

After 4 months of struggle, I have my bike back. I almost lost a perfectly working Superbike after a service with a financial setback of 1.25 Lakhs (50% of the claimed amount)

My intention here is to warn you about what could also happen to you.

Be careful and vigilant

• When possible, before giving your approval for any part replacement, visit the service centre personally, assess the situation and make sure it is required.
• Try to stay in the shop while your motorcycle is getting serviced.
• Follow up a million times if they seem to miss the delivery dates.
• Go to a place where you have some positive feedback (even if you have to go out of state)
• Understand your insurance and what is covered under the policy.
• Collect all the replaced items after service.
• Be prepared for issues like what I faced and trust me, you won’t get any proper resolution no matter how you escalate the matter.

Here's what BHPian shankar.balan had to say about the matter:

What a horrible state of affairs. With such terrible aftersales service experiences I wonder is it worth aspiring to and owning these exotic steeds at all in a country like ours? Why is it that the brands seem unable to lay down the law with these dealers and service centres?

Here's what BHPian Turbanator had to say about the matter:

An important lesson for you and the readers, Do not move un-repaired stuff from the dealership. Had you kept patience, they would not have washed off their hands on the damage of ECU while the bike was with them unless your local mechanic was not competent and is the reason for the ECU going kaput.

Here's what BHPian iamahunter had to say about the matter:

This is horrible and scary.

Owning a bigger bike is a dream for many, thanks to the easily available loan and tempting videos and posts on Instagram, many take the plunge without conducting deeper research. But most are not aware of the post-purchase experiences.

Thank you for sharing, buddy.

I own a Versys 650 and have never gathered the guts to leave the bike with the service center even for a day. If I am going to the service center for any work, even if it is a regular service I never give in blindly believing it. At times if its a small issue, I would prefer to live with it than to keep the bike overnight at the service center.

I follow a very basic thing while servicing my vehicles - I come and go on the same bike/car and on the same day.

Here's what BHPian RiderZone had to say about the matter:

Sounds like an absolute nightmare! What do you think happened here exactly? Between April 19th and 28th while the bike was at the Triumph SVC, do you mean that rats bit the wiring harness, which in turn caused the ECM damage? If you were able to ride the bike to Keerthi on the 19th, I don't see what other possibility is here. Unless it isn't rat bites but some other form of damage.

Triumph service used to be one big horror story a while back, but I thought things had become a bit better recently. Apparently, that's not the case. I'm quite interested in picking up a STriple, but living with a Triumph maybe too much for one's sanity.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.