[stevemaloy]

After hearing about drive shafts... all I ever heard was how they are bullet proof, and things like the rear gear oil doesn't need to be changed as much as the manual says (although I have always followed the manual anyway), and after owning 5 bikes with shafts since 1980, my wing rear gear cratered. (27K miles on my 2010) Last month on my first ride in the NC mountains, something started making a BAD noise. I made it to Union Powersports in Blairsville, Ga.... Thank God! Because they install Trike kits, they had several brand new rear gear assemblies on the shelf, and I was out of there enjoying my vacation in under 2 hours. (ALMOST AN HOUR OF THAT WAS THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT TRYING TO TALK HONDA INTO COVERING THE CHANGE-OUT) Honda gave Union the royal runaround though, and forced them into dissasembling my rear end, figure out what was wrong, order the parts, and effectively taking days to fix it. The main bearing came apart and in order for the repair to be covered by the warranty, they would have to fix my used/damaged one. I know Union didn't come out very good on the deal, and I blame Honda for not caring about the customer and working with their dealership.

 

[detdrbuzzard]

thumbs up on union getting you back on the road, too bad i can't say the same for honda. union could send honda the rear end and then honda could see why the main bearings went bad and make a change in production so it doesn't happen to someone else

 

[joe in calif]

I'm sure Union will order the parts from Honda, charge them labor to install under warranty, and have your old final drive fixed and up for sale.
You really can't blame Honda to much. If they can pay for bearing instead of a new final drive they would want to do that.
On my Kawasaki Concours the TPMS sending unit on the front wheel went out, dead battery, Kawasaki put in a new one under warranty, 2 months later and I'm getting the LOW BATTERY message on the new unit. I have a 6 year warranty on the bike and the battery in the unit has a 5 year warranty. Before they could order the part the shop had to call Kawasaki to get an approval. They did approve it and now I'm waiting for it to arrive. But I will have a new front tire put on at the same time since they have to remove the tire to replace the sending unit, so they won't charge me labor on the new tire.
Even though the bike has a 6 yr warranty and the battery in the unit has a 5 year warranty. I guess they want to be sure what they are paying for is on a bike covered by warranty and is in warranty.

 

[DooKoo's Friend]

Anytime the manufacturer's tech department gives the dealership a hard time - I take the ball into my court. Send a personal letter detailing the issues directly to the corporate level via certified mail.

Kawasaki tried to screw me three times on 2 different motorcycles:
2007 ZX14 for a blown 3rd gear and twice on my 2008 Concourse 1400 1) latching system failed on one of my sidecases, destroying it at 80mph on the freeway 2) Two of the internal spring leaf tabs broke and sent the pieces into the clutch hub causing scoring and burning of the friction plates. All of this in less than 3K miles. Kawasaki tech support response - no coverage due to owners neglect and abuse of the clutch and improper latching of the sidecase. Yeah right, I sent a personal letter to the Kawasaki USA president Mr Shigehiko Kiyama. Three days letter I get a personal phone call from the man himself - Mr Kiyama and stated the issues will be resolved immediately with numerous apologies during the conversation. Next day I received a call from my local dealer who replaced the entire clutch system and 2 days later I received a brand new sidecase directly from Kawasaki. Two months later Kawasaki issues a recall on the faulty latching system on the sidebags. Before that recall came out and after receiving my new sidecase, I bungy corded the damn latching system.

I've had zero warranty problems with any of my Hondas I've owned since 2007. And if I ever do, I have Mr Takanobu Ito's contact information on my smartphone

 

[Graves]

1997 Kawasaki KX500, bought new, pipe cracked after three hours. The dealer stated that because it was a competition model that there was no warranty. A letter to Kawasaki of North America had that same dealer calling me and offering a replacement, factory or aftermarket, my choice, free of charge. Someone from Kaw of NA called afterwards to ensure I was satisfied.

2003 Honda VTX1800C, bought new, fuel tank mounts were welded on crooked resulting in the tank setting crooked on the bike. Dealer said is was not covered. A letter to Honda of North America resulted in that same dealer contacting me to arrange for installing the replacement. Replacement tank had a dent under the badge that caused the badge to come loose. Again, dealer said no, so I contatcte Ho of NA again, Hon of NA sent new badge to satisfy until the backordered tank could be delivered and installed.

Moral of the story: I believe that the dealers could do more to “sell” our stories to the manufacturer. To simply blow the customer off is lazy and displays poor business practices, ultimately alienating the customer. Let the buyer beware.

 

[billcarr_]

Hi Graves: any more we live in a "second opinion" country. Always get a second opinion. Your post shows why.

 

[budoka]

Graves, your dealer seems to have 'grudgingly' agreed to remedy your problem after Honda saying yes so quickly. Poor service on his part I'd say, but kudo's to Honda for getting you sorted. It's is often the opposite dealing with any OEM and it's getting worse. Most of our "other" line's claims require photographic evidence of the claimed damage and Honda's claims require a verbal or written authorization before proceeding. That's usually where the delay comes in, especially if it's an uncommon (typical with a bike as reliable as a GL) part as there is usually a part special order involved.
On the other hand, Steve's dealer did what all dealers should to get someone back out on the road in as timely a fashion as possible.
A word on warranty claims to all: it's very seldom that a dealer's service depeartment will get full compensation (typically labour costs far outreach what the warranty claim pays the dealer) for a warranty job done. Even a well versed factory tech will admit that it takes easily twice the time to do a repair than the paid compensation covers. And that's on a bike that's typically partially torn down to start with. Unless a dealer is being a jerk, don't go too harsh on them with warranty claims. It's a tough go lots of the time, and they end up eating a lot of the cost of a repair.
Also remember that in many circumstances, a customer help line is staffed by contracted phone operators, not OEM personel. Their job is to relay information from customers to the manufacturer and their service tech departments. Sometimes a painfully slow process for us in the mean streets with a problem.