Bike / Car Dealship Problems

[Fly-By]

Ok guys...

Im after your opinion in regards to how a particular dealership (who will remin nameless) has dealt with my gf and I and any advice that can be given. Im sure most of us here have experienced something similar in purchasing our cars, warranty etc. Im not after the burn the place down, brick through the window stuff either... just legal paths i can take and what we are entitled too.

Story goes like this.

The gf decided to by a 99 model Cagiva Mito with 6000kms on the clock (little 125 ducati look alikes cos shes on her p's). Found one at a dealer in parramatta.

Paperwork etc was all done and we signed for it on the 6th May, then told to grab it on the 11th after all the paper work admin garbage etc has been done. No worries. This is where it begins. We called on the morning to make sure all was still good and we were told that the bike had a faulty carby that needed to be replaced, were then told to pick it up on the 18th. Dodgy but fair enough. We were told new tyres would go on to compensate.

Bike finally got delivered to her house on the 31st May (with no new tyres).

Straight away noticed the brake lights didnt work. They told us to take it back 3rd June. Fixed under warranty and got the tyres put on.

8th June - Went to transfer the rego only to be told the plates on the bike didnt exist. Dealership had to resolve that which took a few days.

30th July - Bike has a killswitch built into gearbox so it wont start in gear unless clutch is in. This would always get stuck and bike wouldnt start. Noticed it in the 2nd week after it was delivered but slowly got worse and worse, up to the stage where you'd have to rock the bike forward and back 40 times to loosen it.

31th July - Knew a bit about bikes so i called up explained to them the prob and told them to place the order for the switch. They agreed and did so. Didnt want to take the bike in until part was there.

Waited a month - no call- still no part. finally got a call and was told to take in bike on the 2nd Sept.

8th Sept - still waiting

15th Sept - One part had arrived but they also needed a gasket to fix it properly

24th Sept - i approached them and said that none of this was good enough. owned the bike for 4 months, over half of it it had spent in the shop and still no ETA. Store manager decided that the best thing he could do for us was a trade in - 3990 out of our pocket onto a 94 model CBR250 with 15000 more kms on the clock. Told him i thought he was joking and he told me that i was too hard to deal with and "frustrating him". I left it and walked out totally unsatisfied. Mind you, most mechanics in the shop totally agree with whats happened and our claims and have done all they can, one of them even laughed in the managers face when he suggested the trade in...

Called today and there was still no news on this part.

I involved dept of fair trading who are dying to take this up, apparently im entitled to a full refund of the original money i paid back in May as all this took place under warranty and quite frankly the bike is a lemon.

Any ideas or similar experience?? ive hit a wall with the manager who refuses to call me back....

[eMsta]

yes - the department of fair trading is right - you are entitled to get a full refund. Sound like the problems i had with a particular company (ofcourse mine was nothing compared to this). What Id do is, try again to talk to the manager. Talk to the mechanics as well. Get the low down from them. Have all your reciepts ready. Then get a lawyer. The manager wants to play hardball, so be it. Oh yeah, also have all the dates and everything written down. The easier it is for the lawyer or who ever thats going to help you, the better.

What I did with mine was, I didnt need a lawyer cos I destroyed them as they had a forum on their website that had a section with the customers experiences. They did manage to pay me like 75% of the total repair bill for the damage they did to my car, as well as saying some bull crap that the damage was probably there when I bought it (I got the dealer to back me up though as we both knew that I wouldnt have bought the car if there was damage at the back). But the amount of hits I had to my post on their forums was sweet action enough for me. Now they have closed their forums and it said that the forums were great and lots of compliments and then added "apart from some people who had a hidden agenda".

All Im saying is, if they want to piss fart around, hit em where it hurts! They cant sue you for the fact that you paid for goods that dont meet the advertised standards.

Edit: oh btw - the people who did the damage to my car - the owner was an abusive fat f**k. Hes lucky I didnt do anymore damage.

Hope I get to audit his taxes next year tho

Edited October 10, 2006 by emsta2003

[Fly-By]

i have all receipts and records etc. have the names of mechanics that ive dealt with.

I cant see how this guy has a leg to stand on.

i could stand in front of shop with banners etc, throw the dealers name under lights, today tonight whatever, there are so many extremes as to how you could handle it but im after quickest simplest legal way without having to waste my time with the manager... He simply cant be dealt with... Im not paying him money to have my bike take up space in his workshop. Looks like a nice straight forward case of money back and walk away im hoping.

[eMsta]

see what the dept of trading does about it first i reckon then. they should be able to do something about it. Worse comes to worst, then get a lawyer specialising in business related legal matters

[scathing]

Dept of Fair Trading should tear the dealership a new one.

If you've got receipts / work orders for all the repairs done, as well as the delivery of the bike, the "Merchantable quality" requirement in the Trade Practices Act will sort the dealer right out.

I can't believe they wanted money on a trade-in for an Italian bike, of newer vintage and lower mileage, for an old Jap bike. What was he smoking to think anyone would take that kind of deal?

As for you being "too hard to deal with, and frustrating him", its his job to deal with customers. That's what he gets paid for. You're not getting compensated to deal with his shit.