[nklr] once again fred at arrowhead motorsports bends the laws

[nelson corcoran]

hi all, I live in California. I wanted to get some opinions on a repair that was done to my new KLR-650. After 5 weeks of owning it and 260 miles the engine all of a sudden would not run below 2000 RPM. I thought that it was the low speed jet clogged so I brought it back to the dealer for warranty repairs. Presumably either some manufacturing debris was left in the fuel system, or more likely someone forgot to drain the carbureter after filling it with gas. This was a leftover model so was probably sitting around for a while. The mechanic wrote it up as "N/C" - no charge, when I dropped it off. I could have fixed it myself easily since I used to be a part time motorcycle mechanic in high school. I thought since I bought a new bike I might as well bring it in. When I picked up the bike from Redwood City Honda, the mechanic informed me that I was going to be charged $46.60 because I must have put bad gas into the motorcycle. I did add 3 gallons at 100 miles from my normal gas station that has new storage tanks and sells a lot of Vallero gas. I have since added 5 tanks from the same station with no problems. I complained twice to Kawasaki - they were no help at all. The owner of Redwood City Honda will not call me. I am filing complaints with the Better Business Bureau and I will contact the department of consumer affairs. Apparently the mechanic must make more money charging me rather than billing back to Kawasaki. Their labor rate is $85 an hour. I have had 15 motorcycles, all of which had the same gas filter as the KLR-650 and probably added 2000 tanks of gas, I never had a problem. My friend has driven at least 2 million miles on his bikes and never had a bad tank of gas. I think I am being ripped off here - any opinions? Nelson __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

[Blake Sobiloff]

On 2/8/06, nelson corcoran wrote:

> I think I am being ripped off here - any opinions?

I think that bad gas is not covered by warranty. I also think you've learned a lesson: Do the work yourself instead of taking it to the dealer. -- Blake Sobiloff http://sobiloff.typepad.com/> San Jose, CA (USA)

[Doug Herr]

On Wed, 8 Feb 2006, nelson corcoran wrote:

> When I picked up the bike from Redwood City Honda, > the mechanic informed me that I was going to be > charged > $46.60 because I must have put bad gas into the > motorcycle.

I think you are being ripped off, but it is a pretty cheap lesson. Dealers are mostly scum and you should avoid them if possible. I would be willing to buy new again from a dealer, but I do all I can to never let the bike near the dealership once it is free from their evil grip. -- Doug Herr doug@...

[Chris Jennings]

I have a hard time believing you bought bad gas, especially if it's a busy station. But I don't think your going to get anywhere with the shop or Kawasaki. Your only chance was before you paid the bill. That's when you should have raised hell and they might have written it off. They have $46.00 of your money and I doubt you will get it back.

On 2/8/06, Blake Sobiloff wrote: > > On 2/8/06, nelson corcoran wrote: > > I think I am being ripped off here - any opinions? > > I think that bad gas is not covered by warranty. I also think you've > learned a lesson: Do the work yourself instead of taking it to the > dealer. > -- > Blake Sobiloff > http://sobiloff.typepad.com/> > San Jose, CA (USA) > > > Archive Quicksearch at: > http://www.angelfire.com/ut/moab/klr650_data_search.html > List sponsored by Dual Sport News at: www.dualsportnews.com > List FAQ courtesy of Chris Krok at: www.bigcee.com/klr650faq.html > Member Map at: http://www.frappr.com/dsnklr650 > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Conall]

It was the dealers screwup to not inform you in advance that it could be possible that the warranty would not cover the repair, If you in fact did not authorize any charges, the dealer can't collect from you. They will try everything under the sun to collect, but legally if you did not authorize any charges they have to write it off in some manner, they will usually try to compromise with you. The service advisor/service manager someone, must get your approval either verbally or preferbally in writing before any repairs are to be done. A common newbie mistake in service writing is to tell a brand new vehicle owner, "oh yeah, covered under warranty", before the mechanic verifies the problem. If they dealer can't verify the problem, guess what the MFG won't pay for any diagnostic time. If you paid in cash you are screwed, if you charged it tell them you are going to contest the bill with the credit card company, if in fact you didn't authorize any work to be paid for you. This sounds very famaliar to another listers problem, where I advised him with the following... it was message 149258. Conall-

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "joelprude" wrote: > > greetings all. for about the 6th time my new '06 with 325 mil started > right up and ran fine at 60 degrees f, but after 10 miles of easy > riding wouldn't run > at less than 2000 rpm and not strongly above. it eventually quit and > after 5 minutes reluctantly started. it similarly quit twice more > before home. i pulled off the tank and there was gas in the carb line. > the plug was sooted and after cleaning it wouldn't start except with > much carressing of the throttle and wouldn't idle. the choke was > definitely off. i waited till the next day when it was cold and again > it wouldn't start. since was warrented, i trailered it to a dealer who > looked at it the next day and reported that it started and ran fine and > that he could only guess that there might have been something in the > carb. since he found nothing wrong, he fixed nothing and i believe that > it will happen again. any ideas? > I'm suspecting bad gas and/or a dirty carb. If it's been hard to start lately you need to put your battery on a battery tender/charger to keep it charged up, if you haven't already done so. The start/run problem should work itself out, although if it is a dirty carb then that will be a little more involved. Good luck with the dealer and warranty . Hopefully if you bring it to the dealer, the symptom will present itself. If you can't get the symptom to present itself when you take it in for warranty and the dealer starts talking about non-warranty coverage- don't freak out and get pissed. The list will help you if the dealer balks in doing it. . Just trying to think about what could happen, hope this helps. It's possible that if it only fails for you and not the dealer, next thing you know he says it's your fault for wearing down the battery, yada yada , couldn't duplicate the problem, you owe us $150 yada yada, make sure you don't authorize any work to be paid by you. yada yada. Conall --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, nelson corcoran wrote: > > hi all, > I live in California. > I wanted to get some opinions on a repair that was > done to my new KLR-650. After 5 weeks of owning it > and 260 miles the engine all of a sudden would not > run below 2000 RPM. I thought that it was the low > speed jet clogged so I brought it back to the dealer > for warranty repairs. Presumably either some > manufacturing debris was left in the fuel system, or > more likely someone forgot to drain the carbureter > after filling it with gas. This was a leftover model > so was probably sitting around for a while. > > The mechanic wrote it up as "N/C" - no charge, when > I dropped it off. I could have fixed it myself easily > since I used to be a part time motorcycle mechanic in > high school. I thought since I bought a new bike I > might as well bring it in. > > When I picked up the bike from Redwood City Honda, > the mechanic informed me that I was going to be > charged > $46.60 because I must have put bad gas into the > motorcycle. I did add 3 gallons at 100 miles from my > normal gas station that has new storage tanks and > sells > a lot of Vallero gas. I have since added 5 tanks from > the same station with no problems. > > I complained twice to Kawasaki - they were no help at > all. The owner of Redwood City Honda will not call me. > > I am filing complaints with the Better Business Bureau > and I will contact the department of consumer affairs. > > Apparently the mechanic must make more money charging > me rather than billing back to Kawasaki. Their labor > rate is $85 an hour. > > I have had 15 motorcycles, all of which had the same > gas filter as the KLR-650 and probably added 2000 > tanks of gas, I never had a problem. My friend has > driven at least 2 million miles on his bikes and never > had a bad tank of gas. > > I think I am being ripped off here - any opinions? > > Nelson > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com >

[Jim]

I agree with you but be realistic you have already spent more time on this than it's worth. Make an appointment with the manager and stike a deal to buy something at his cost or at a heavy discount and call it even. Short of that I would walk away and not look back unless the engine blows up which is unlikely. As others have said, better to do it yourself. --Jim A-15

> I think I am being ripped off here - any opinions? > > Nelson

[Svantwuyver]

I'm no fan of most dealer service departments, but I might side with this dealer in this case. It sounds to me that they may have adjusted the idle screw and possibly drained your carb bowl. In any case I believe your owner's manual explains how to make that adjustment. I'm not sure if adjustments, oil changes and tuneups are normally covered under warranty which an idle adjustment probably falls under that heading. It probably was bad policy for a relatively new bike if all they did is adjust idle. None the less, you can't expect a service department to work for free. I know dealers around here have a $75/hr rate so even 20 minutes time is $25. If they indeed changed gas, it is easily a half hour job and clearly Kawasaki doesn't warrant the gas you buy, nor should they. In states where you have to authorize work before you are liable, often there is waiver/authorization you sign which has provisions for some minimal charges up to some amount before they must provide a detailed estimate. Anyway, let it be a lesson. A dealer doesn't work for free. Recently I was stunned to pay $30 for mounting and balancing ONE tire. I was quoted $19.25. Then they charged my .35 hours plus tax and disposal fees. It is the last tire I'll ever get mounted. I ordered a tire changer and balancer. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

[martin glazer]

HI Most of the local Kawasaki dealers, at least in the orange County area, have a F rating from the Better Business Bureau for a GOOD reason!! Svantwuyver wrote: I'm no fan of most dealer service departments, but I might side with this dealer in this case. It sounds to me that they may have adjusted the idle screw and possibly drained your carb bowl. In any case I believe your owner's manual explains how to make that adjustment. I'm not sure if adjustments, oil changes and tuneups are normally covered under warranty which an idle adjustment probably falls under that heading. It probably was bad policy for a relatively new bike if all they did is adjust idle. None the less, you can't expect a service department to work for free. I know dealers around here have a $75/hr rate so even 20 minutes time is $25. If they indeed changed gas, it is easily a half hour job and clearly Kawasaki doesn't warrant the gas you buy, nor should they. In states where you have to authorize work before you are liable, often there is waiver/authorization you sign which has provisions for some minimal charges up to some amount before they must provide a detailed estimate. Anyway, let it be a lesson. A dealer doesn't work for free. Recently I was stunned to pay $30 for mounting and balancing ONE tire. I was quoted $19.25. Then they charged my .35 hours plus tax and disposal fees. It is the last tire I'll ever get mounted. I ordered a tire changer and balancer. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com Archive Quicksearch at: http://www.angelfire.com/ut/moab/klr650_data_search.html List sponsored by Dual Sport News at: www.dualsportnews.com List FAQ courtesy of Chris Krok at: www.bigcee.com/klr650faq.html Member Map at: http://www.frappr.com/dsnklr650 Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Bogdan Swider]

> > Recently I was stunned to pay $30 for mounting and > balancing ONE tire. I was quoted $19.25. Then they > charged my .35 hours plus tax and disposal fees. It is > the last tire I'll ever get mounted. I ordered a tire > changer and balancer. >

Especially since you can get a changer from Harbor Freight for $70 or so. I built an ok balancer for less that $10. Also, at times the shop can't get to the tire right away or even that day. Bogdan

[Thor Lancelot Simon]

On Thu, Feb 09, 2006 at 09:52:48AM -0700, Bogdan Swider wrote:

> > Especially since you can get a changer from Harbor Freight for $70 or so. I > built an ok balancer for less that $10. Also, at times the shop can't get to > the tire right away or even that day.

I've had good luck simply balancing tires on the bike. Of course mounting the current crop of super-stiff "adventure touring" tires, all meant for tubeless use, is still a serious pain in the butt -- or did I mean skinning of the knuckles? Thor