The fact is the dealerships are being fantastic to me, it's Honda UK that are acting disgracefully towards me and their dealerships.
Or, don’t trust Honda UK. I’m going to get a legal expert in my family to give his opinion on the contract since I think Honda are on thin ice if there is any ice at all.
As long as they can assure me that the problem has been resolved, yes. I really like the balance of the bike - not crazy power and not too aggressive riding position. Tempted by an S1000RR M sport but insurance is crazy for me owing to postcode, plus I don’t fancy shelling out £15k for one of the latest 2020 models.
I think i’m going to cancel my extended warranty. I have never heard of a warranty that the holder has to pay for diagnostic time, there is absolutely no point in having it. Most things can be bought on the internet quite cheaply and hopefully things won’t go wrong. I just can’t be arsed arguing with Honda if anything did go wrong. At no point at all when Doble told me about the warranty when i bought the bike from there did they mention it wouldn’t cover the diagnostic time. It was sold as an extension of the manufacturer warranty and all the same benfits. The manufacturer warranty doesn’t expect you to pay for diagnostic work, you take it in faulty and pick it up fixed with no cost.....
I’d talk to Doble Honda first to see what their view on it is as so far I’ve not been asked to pay anything - it’s just Honda Customer (don’t) Care that are insistent that the customer should pay. PR disaster for Honda UK I think that the more people get in touch with them the more they might reconsider their position. I suggest emailing [email protected] to ask them what they are playing at - the more that do the better as far as I’m concerned.
So just a quick update. The bike's been with Doble Honda now for just over 3 weeks and I had a call a couple of days ago to say that they'd swapped out the ECM and the fault had returned, so they're ruling out the ECM. This means they are now going to focus on the wiring loom I guess.
Keep us updated I am intrigued with this one. I'm still suspecting the battery and voltage requirements being out...but then again I know jack !!
Quick update - Doble Honda called yesterday to say that Honda have authorised the replacement of the wiring loom. Even though they’ve not tested the loom as it could takes days to fully test, this is their next best guess from the process of eliminating things that it isn’t. I’ll let you know how it goes..
This is what I do if the dash, IMU and ECU pass muster. Used harnesses are $250-$350 off eBay in the States so an easy fix even for an out of warranty bike.
I can’t imagine it’s that easy to install given how compact everything is in these pocket rockets. I’m just hoping this finally resolves the 4+ month mystery.
Don’t you just love it when the manufacturers top techs give up and start guessing what to do next, 5 year olds could come up with the same guesses, no wonder there’s very little trust left in HMUK.
I agree, although in their defence the fault is one of those annoying intermittent ones, but what really gets me is the 4 months of faffing about with Honda UK wanting to save money, rather than reputational damage, by dragging out a series of uninformative tests for an intermittent fault that is unlikely to show up through short-term diagnostic tests. I think they should have taken the step, which I asked for back in November, to replace all the parts it could possibly be so that I had a fully functional bike. They could then run exhaustive tests on all those parts back to their tech centre if they really cared about the cause of this type of fault and either refurbish or chuck away all those parts. **If** replacing the wiring loom doesn't fix the problem, I hate to think how long Honda Tech UK will then drag their feet for. I have sympathy for the dealerships that appear to only be able to recover the labour costs for time spent replacing parts (with Honda UK dictating how much workshop time can be claimed for). I have to say, it would not make a very appealing business case for me to start up a Honda dealership, nor to do any warranty related investigations on any Honda bikes. This whole Honda UK relationship with their franchised dealerships seems broken to me. So I am grateful to 21st Moto and Doble Honda for their efforts. All of my frustration and disappointment is firmly directed towards Honda UK and their Honda Customer (don't) Care attitude.
@Ice Doc Mate, I admire your patience, if it was my bike I think I’d have driven through a dealers window by now, and bonfired it in the middle of the showroom, one up to you for keeping your rag under control.
Years ago I had a very golf 16v with extended warranty. In those days, it was with the car maker and T&C were uncomplicated. The car developed an idle issue causing it to die with the clutch in and slowing down. The dealer changed a number of electrical parts including the ECU. After the 3rd attempt they kept the car, gave me a loaner and eventually fixed it. It was a crimped connector on a cable causing the idle to fluctuate whenever moved! The whole episode cost vw a lot and the dealer kept quiet about it not to be embarrassed
Hopefully the last update on this as I'm hoping it's finally been fixed. Doble Honda called earlier to say that they've replaced the wiring loom and road tested and so far all looks tickety-boo. They have reassured me that as I have the "Honda Extended Guarantee" that I will have absolutely nothing to pay - so @stuart_g I think you are safe keeping yours in the knowledge that the guys at Doble Honda will "deal with" Honda UK so that you don't need to get involved or know about all the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes on. Even more good news, not only will I have my bike back for the first time in nearly 6 weeks, Doble Honda have kindly agreed to stick it in a van and deliver it back to me free of charge when they next have a van coming this way (I'm around 30 miles away via the lovely M25). So, as far as I'm concerned, this is a big well done to Doble Honda. I only hope this is now sorted, but only time will tell as the nature of the fault could sometimes take a couple of hours riding to show up. So, I'd like to say a big thanks to Robin, Martin and Mike at Doble Honda!
