• Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

Dealership Woes

R

Riding Again

Husqvarna
AA Class
So I brought my terra into the BMW/Husky dealership to replace my rear tire, tube, rim stripe, with bearings, and valve check. Figured i might as well since I just hit 18k miles and no valve readjust yet. Spoke to the service manager 2 weeks in advance and already had my own parts. Brought it in Friday morning so it could be done by Saturday afternoon as it is my only vehicle back and fourth to work for now. Called them around 12pm Saturday and they said every thing was finished but they can not start the bike because of a ews problem. Said they were going to hook it up to the Moss scanner and have it done in an hour. SO I did not hear anything and called around 4pm. Still was not fixed and service manager said they think they pinched a wire and have not been able to trace it down. I explained how important I needed the motorcycle done because I have to be at my business early Monday for new employee training. He said he would call me back before 6pm no matter fixed or not to figure out where to go from there. Needless to say I did not receive a call and really think they fried the ecu and from this forum realize if this is the problem I will not get my bike back for a long time. This is the second mishap i have had from the same owned motorcycle dealer. First time they forgot to torque the rear axle nut and noticed going down the road the rear was squirmy. Pulled over tightened as much as I could by hand as it was an hour and half ride home. Now I am really pissed. I will have to rent a car as I am waiting to take delivery of a new car on order and will not be here for two months. I am curious what you guys think. Personally if they have to buy a new ecu and I have to wait I tempted to get a hold of my lawyers and force them to buy it for inconvenience as I do not see them giving me a loaner and It will cost me a small fortune to rent a car for two months. I was thinking about trading but I do not want a BMW/Triumph/Ducati. I just want to be done with these dealers as they are the worst to work with I have seen.

I was in the car business for 6 years. To buy the bike to begin with they wanted a deposit down to locate and I specifically told them I just wanted a Terra. I was not interested in a bait and switch. Guess what happened? Bait and switch after two weeks of not finding the bike. I had to order it from a Pa dealer and have it shipped down.

What would you do? What do you think is acceptable? What do you think they will do? I do not want to be an ass but it seems time to show some!
 
Sorry to hear about the bike - what a debacle!

I'm not a lawyer - but I did ask my wife, who is a lawyer, her "preliminary" view re liability, etc in your situation. Also, though US law is largely similar to ours (Australian) the opinion may be worth nothing. With those caveats (I sound like bl**dy lawyer myself), she reckons that the dealer is liable for:
- any cost associated with fixing any damage to your bike caused by them (obviously);
- potentially any cost to you caused by the damage to the bike caused by the dealer eg. Alternative vehicle hire.
She also advised that your insurer may cover vehicle hire (and attempt to recoup this cost from the dealer) - have you checked?

It would definitely be worth a call to the dealer first and advise them what you expect from them ie, a replacement vehicle whilst yours is being fixed and all damage caused by the dealer to be fixed by them at their cost. And if that fails, speak to your insurer (if it's insured), and as a last resort to a lawyer. Often just a letter from a lawyer will suffice to spur them into action!

Good luck.
 
Good luck....

best to go into the dealer and explain the sittuation....

If you dont like the answer, pick it up and take it to another dealer and/or call husky getting a lawyer involved is only going to cost you money and probably not get anything done any faster... actually may slow it down
 
I'd say them offering you a courtesy bike while yours is being repaired is the minimum. Any costs to get your bike going again as well.

I wouldn't immediately fear the worst by suspecting a fried ECU. It might be any of a range of other things. First place I would look is the key ring antenna. It is known to be quite vulnerable and would also cause an EWS. And definitely easier and faster to fix than a fried ECU.
 
Sorry to hear about your troubles. I'm with duibhceK about the loaner bike.


It is my understanding that many dealers cannot access the moss system at this time. Ask them how and if they did hook it up, and why.

But it sounds like they forgot to hook up a wire.
 
I've had connections on the TR apart & generally you get a 'check engine' light on if there is a connection issue. Except for the key ring and the main instrument connector which do throw up the ews error. This is where I would start checking.

The moss computer hookup doesn't like missing connectors. It shows up as errors before you get into the main system. This can be good I suppose, as it shows you need to check the connections & there aren't too many really. If not, then you may be right and they've screwed your ecu.

I can't offer advice about the rest of it, but I wish you a speedy resolution.
 
Thank you guys for the advice. I am slightly pissed off about the whole thing. If I wanted some one to break my bike I would have done it myself! LOL

All the suggestions are sound advice. The only reason I mentioned lawyer get involved is the business I am in have lawyers on retainer and a quick letter usually lets some one know you are serious and not looking to be screwed around. I just want this resolved immediately and not looking to play dealership politics or cost me a fortune in the mean time while I am waiting on my new car to be delivered.

I called this morning and the guy said he did not have my number to call me back. This was not true because they had my information when I walked in the door because I tried to buy the motorcycle there to begin with. He said they rechecked all the wires and that is not the problem. He hopes that the second key I have will be the trick to pairing the other key back to the bike. I am expecting the worse and hoping for the best as this is what I have come to expect from the local BMW dealer. I will be the first to eat my words though if it goes the other way.
 
That would really upset me and is my worst fear with this bike. Good luck.

BTW, what car did you order?
 
You think they dont want to get your bike fixed and out the door? Believe me the last thing they want is your bike sitting there and getting a lawyer will most likely only piss them off and slow them down....

Obviously, it was not their intention to make a mistake and have your bike there more than the absolute minimum....

I've never seen a "loaner" bike.... most dealers dont have "extra" bikes floating around plus the insurance to have customers riding them would be high.... Just remember this industry is not the auto industry and the margins are extremely low except for the service dept.... regardless at this point the dealer is loosing money because a tech obviously did something wrong...

This is where learning your own bike and learning to fix stuff yourself or finding a better dealer.... But still you run into the same type of deal as if you had 1 car and something breaks..... over all this stress a visit to enterprise and a $20 a day car would lesson the blow....

In the end, bikes are expensive and if something breaks its never easy to fix....
 
Yep, it sucks when somebody else blows it working on your stuff. Because folks are so sue happy these days, the last thing any dealer wants to do is give the ol mia culpa until they have absolutely no other alternative. Give them a chance to make it right, then as mentioned find another dealer BEFORE you take it back. Sometimes you can get them to agree to have another place look at it at their cost rather than yours. That's kinda rare, but it happens from time to time.

If you lawyer up, their gonna spend more time covering their ass than fixing your bike since the motivation to fix it goes away instantly. They can possibly hold onto it with a mechanics lean if you haven't paid for the work (good or bad) if it gets ugly.
 
The bike is there and they have admitted they made a mistake. It is going to be what they do to fix it. When I was in the car business they would give you a loaner car until they fixed the problem.
 
racemx904 said:
I've never seen a "loaner" bike.... most dealers dont have "extra" bikes floating around plus the insurance to have customers riding them would be high....
Click to expand...

Depends on where you live I guess. Back when my motorcycle was my only means of transport my (Yamaha) dealer used to provide me with a courtesy bike even for just a normal maintenance. I only had to return it with a full tank. It also gave him an incentive to get the work on my own bike done quickly to ensure I didn't put too many miles on his demo bike :cool:.

Anyway, in this case the least the dealer could do is provide some other means of transport for the time it takes to get the bike back on the road. Issues can always arise during a service, a mechanic is also only human, they can make mistakes. It sucks when it happens to you, but there's no point in getting all confrontational about it immediately. Be clear about the impact it has on you, give the dealer the chance to make it right. If they can't come up with a satisfactory solution, then I would start thinking about getting a lawyer involved.
 
The car biz and m/c biz is totally different.... no loaner vehicles mostly because here in the US bikes for the most part are a secondary transportation....

Before returning to that dealer even if it was a fluke.... get on here and see if anyone knows of a good dealer with a good service guy for your bike.... I know WMR is good but they look like they are a ways down the road from you....
 
I didn't realize bikers were such wussies and didn't stand up for what was right. There is no law distinguishing a secondary or primary vehicle.

RA was materially damaged by the negligence of the dealer. He has the right to be made whole, and a loaner bike is good business.
 
SO I took 2 hours of time away from my business delivered second key and nothing. The ecu is fried on their part. I asked about a rental car or loaner and was told it was the owners policy not to do either. I am awaiting a call back from them at 4pm to see what there next step is. They think there Orlando dealer has a strada ecu they can exchange. Although I think the strada's have abs here and the Terra does not. Curious how this is going to play out. If the dealer was better I would have really considered a new Triumph 800xc. ALthough not really the bike I was considering next.
 
Tell them it is your policy to get one. :p

Maybe the car dealer can help you out, split the cost of a rental or something, until the new one shows up.
 
Dude, you took the bike back to BMW of Daytona? :banghead:
I fought with those bastards with my X-Challenge, they are awful.

Best of luck, I hope they can get it fixed in a reasonable time frame.
 
I've been in a similar situation before, and I find that it helps to be courteous but to also assure them that you mean business. Make sure they understand that you are not trying to be difficult but that the bike is your SOLE means of transportation and that you do not intend to pay for their error. Ask them if they would prefer to loan you a bike - a demo or something from their used fleet - or if they would prefer to pay for a rental car.

You can make the idea of a loaner bike more appealing to them by putting the bike on your insurance. That is what I did. I am sure whether you can or can't do that depends on the state you live in and / or which insurance carrier you have. For me it was just a matter of adding the VIN number to my policy and electing full coverage then removing the loaner bike from the policy when I returned it. When I had Progressive, I wouldn't have even needed to do that - the loaner would have automatically been covered.
 
Yeah guess I cheated by not riding to Georgia to get away from these dealers lol. Kind of hard when you have 3 dealers in Florida to work with. 2 of them by the same people the other one down in south Florida. I thought easy job no problems. I also thought that last time. It is a shame because I think KTM is going to make husqvarna into their premium brand with cool bikes.

Although if I buy the new Triumph Tiger 800 xcx I have more dealers to work with and cruise control.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top