REVscene Automotive Forum - Vancouver BMW Ducati, read my story, are they a bunch of douche bags?

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As far as I know, he completely stepped out of the game and decided to fully retire. I managed to meet him and have a quick chat with him before they moved to their new location on Grandview Highway.

It's too bad the store is being run in a different manner.

i wonder who is the owner of the place now

Quote:

Originally Posted by z3german (Post 8022091)

Hi guys, why does this bullshit happen? Am I just experiencing bad luck or did I rush into my purchase to soon or what? Fucking pissing me off...

Anyways...

I bought my bike 2.5 months ago from Vancouver BMW Ducati on grandview highway. Since I purchased my bike I would be running between the temperatures of 105c-115c quite frequently which only now I know that is a tad hotter than what is considered normal.

4 days ago I was riding and it is the first time it went to 120c and beyond (up to 130c before the traffic started moving) and after 120c the warning light flashes. I brought my bike to Bayside Performance for them to check it out the next day. This is the first time I discover the fan isnt working, but other than that issue my bike was running a little too hot in the first place.

When I got home I looked at my finance papers and joyfully found that I have a 90 day warranty from the dealership, I am currently at 6x days from the purchase of my bike. So the next day in the morning I call BMW Ducati to tell them I am bringing my bike in, and I call Bayside to tell them not to touch my bike at all because the BMW doesnt want them to look at it.

So September 5th 2012 I bring my bike from Bayside to BMW Ducati and sign off the bike. September 6 I get an email from Stewart Nowacki, the sales manager, telling me to call him. So I call him and here is what he said in a nut shell.

Since I bought the bike I have installed frame sliders, Akrapovic slipon, and was involved in a low speed hit and run. Because of these 3 reasons he will not honor the warranty because he feels that one of those are the causes of the heating/fan problem. Frame slider because I removed the fairings, slip on because the o2 sensor has been removed, and lastly the hit and run damage is well... damage...

Is this a scumbag move on their part? I called Orca Bay service and they told me the sliders and Akrapovic slip on would not cause the problem at all, and the hit and run low speed hit is very very unlikely but "in any sort of collision anything is possible".

Do I deserve to have this warranty claim stripped away from me? Or is this a bunch of BS? If its BS I am considering contacting news agencies (long shot cause this is a tiny story) because Stewart was very fucking rude to me, some fucking professional.

I've personally worked with about 6 employees that work there now and never felt any of them to be unprofessional.

If you came to my service shop (also m/c shop) and wanted me to honor a warranty on a bike after you had dropped/crashed, they would likely not. What's to say the impact did not damage the fan's operation condition? You have to read into things from their perspective. Once the bike leaves the property they have no idea what goes on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by z3german (Post 8022272)

After two emails talking about how ridiculous it is to even think a slip on and frame sliders can cause this issue, and various talk about media and speaking to higher ups, he got a technician to look at it and it was a blown fuse which they replaced.
Called Stewart right away to tell him that I appreciate the action and for him to step up to the plate .

Aside from that this transaction still a deal breaker for me, I'm not going to buy my hypermotard from here, it's just the ridiculousness of him saying FRAME SLIDERS can cause the fan to blow out.

Anyways I still need some advice, any ideas on why the radiator fuse would blow? Stewart said could be the HIDS but I talked to bayside Ben and he said that's impossible because it's an entirely different circuit board. I'm thinking it could be the 12v cigg lighter I hooked up otherwise might be an underlying issue with the bike.

Ben told me to ride the piss out of the bike and monitor the temperatures to see if there still is an issue so I'm going to do that, but my main question is how did the fuse blow? Any ideas?

So you're telling me you installed HIDs, a cig lighter, an exhaust, had a "minor" accident and are pissed that they didn't want to honor a warranty? I'm pretty sure Stu didn't think the sliders had anything to do with the fan, and was merely including it in the letter as a point that the bike is no longer stock/how they sold it to you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by razy (Post 8027252)

i wonder who is the owner of the place now

Patrick Visser. A long time racer with with WMRC and IMO a pretty good guy.

worked at dealerships "in service" for many years, the law in canada on warrenty is something along the lines of them having to prove your mods and damages had to be the cause of the issue for them to void warranty, so have them prove it, otherwise call up ducati canada, that stirs up a service department pretty quick

Its the unprofessionalism of stu hanging up on me and the way in which he spoke to me.

As others have stated, a good dealership has the onus to show cause and effect, HID being a completely diff circuit, to even mention frame sliders is ridiculous. Stu could have easily said "You have HID's installed and please understand from my perspective that we can see this as a potential issue so we cant honor the warrenty" which is honest and straight up, but to even say frame sliders + slip on (in which he said the o2 sensor was removed but isnt [others speculate that he is banking on the fact that most people would just take his word for it, which in itself is a dishonest act]) and this is weaseling out of a warranty rather than a genuine concern that it may have been user inflicted. If he said straight up "HID and maybe the cigarette lighter" I would have made 1 phone call to suzuki and asked them if its even possible and they would confirm no its not possible, and therefore everything is good in this world.

Now for the only possible explanation, the low speed hit. A hit from the back at probably >2km/h which caused a drop, just as anyone could have dropped their bike. If this is the case then fine, do not honor the warranty. BUT, I will be sure to tell everyone that if you buy a bike from BMW Ducati and even have a minuscule tiny parking lot drop they will void your warranty. I get the whole accident thing, but it should be based on the severity and the "most likely cause" not just a simple "oh you dropped it, it changed everything on the bike." With that logic if you buy a car and you curb your wheels then Stu would void your warranty. It just doesnt make sense.

Also, Stu is the unprofessional one. I have no complaints of anyone else in the store. And also you worked with those guys, you have not been their customer. From what it seems, other than Stu, a lot of people have beef with the service dept.

Quote:

Originally Posted by falcon (Post 8031483)

............^^^

............^^^:badpokerface:

Also, anyone have ideas why the factory fuse blew, then the duc one blew like after an hour of riding time, then for some reason the new fuse i put in since the duc has been running strong......? (all 15A fuses) I mean it COULD be just 2 unlucky bad batch fuses.... but two? so unlikely no?

Quote:

Originally Posted by z3german (Post 8023101)

I had my HIDs on since aug 11 last month.

I dont think even then its the HID because it suddenly blew the fuse on sept 2-5 (stock factory fuse) then once again on sept 6 (ducati replacement fuse). If the second fuse blew a month later then it could be the HID, but with the second fuse burning so quickly i highly doubt it. Is that a reasonable assumption? Im no electrical expert either :okay:

Sounds like a bad ground connection, doesn't matter how long the HID have been installed. Bike wasn't blowing fuses before them I'm assuming.

I would double check the connections for the HID ballast. Which fuse on the stock fuse panel are you blowing? headlight? starter?

Have you looked at your fan motor? Maybe it's dead?

Without actual numbers there is no way to determine what is causing the fuse to blow. You have measure voltage drops across various parts of the system to find out where the load is coming from. Being that this system has worked in the past and is now causing problems I would believe that the problem lies in either the wiring or even the fan motor. It could be either a short to ground, or it could be a bad motor drawing excessive amperage.

When I briefly looked at his bike, the fan motor and wiring at its terminals were fine, I also checked the relay.

Damn electrical gremlins, they're a bitch to find sometimes