My C5 is in the shop already :(

[JamesC5]

Still waiting.  Seems them even delivering it to Taunton which means I'd have to ride most of the distance to WS anyway, is too much bother.

If I was running the show, I'd have paid a 3rd party delivery service to get the bike to my customer if I couldn't get it to them myself.

I don't think missing out components from the tranny is ok. It happened though, get it fixed and back to the customer ASAP regardless if it costs the company a hundred quid or something. I paid 4.5k cash for an 09 bullet classic not an old Electra, I shouldn't HAVE to be calling daily for something to be done.

Oh well, another week almost gone. I'm starting to feel like I'm being totally unreasonable in wanting my own bike back..

[Marrtyn]

James
My sentiments exactly!
Customer service has gone down the pan in this country.
I have been waiting all week for a call from my dealer. ( because of my work commitments, I have not purposely rung them- thought I would wait and see if I get a call from them -no such luck). I will ring them tomorrow.
 Hope you don't get too frustrated waiting for your machine.
Regards

[Kevin Mahoney]

Are you referring to the UK? While I don't really know about service in general in the UK I will say that my chief competitor and good friend in the parts business provides great service in the UK. I sometimes wait on people just to see if they will call back also. Drives me NUTS.

[Marrtyn]

Kevin
Yes, regrettably I am referring to the UK.
Not just Enfield but a host of other companies in general. I could go on for ever on this subject.
Friends also state similar lack of after service from other bike manufacturers as well. Once they have your money they are not really bothered.
Regarding Enfield and there servants, its not just the "ringing back" thing,- there are a list of things that in my opinion that they are(were) slack on.
Like I have said before, Kevin, you do us a great service over here.
Right that's enough of the B**L S**T!!
Regards

[portisheadric]

jamesC5.
 Unfortuantley yours is not the only bike awaiting return from watsonians, perhaps its a logistical problem

[JamesC5]

Well, logistical as in they don't want to spend any money returning bikes to owners it seems.

I know it's not NICE to have to spend money, but I didn't WANT to have my brand new bike break down, nor did I want WS to repair it, I'd have been happy with Torre working on the bike and if it was a month waiting because of a major repair then I'd be more understanding.

However most of the time it's spent out of my hands has been waiting to go and come back from Glos. If they wanted it there to ensure it wasn't a bigger problem, thats fine, but get it there and back in a reasonable time. This isn't a ma and pa outfit selling £900 chinese bikes, they're £4500, getting up there with the big boys.

I'm about to call them yet again, but I have no hopes for seeing my bike anytime soon.

J

[JamesC5]

Not had any communication with WS since Thursday now, every time I call Mike is busy or on the phone, no one else can deal with my case apparently, and I get no returned phone calls.

I think I may pursue getting my money back, the lack of communication with customers is not on.  I'll be contacting Trading Standards tomorrow if I'm fobbed off again. 

[UncleErnie]

Kevin
Yes, regrettably I am referring to the UK.
Not just Enfield but a host of other companies in general. I could go on for ever on this subject.
Friends also state similar lack of after service from other bike manufacturers as well. Once they have your money they are not really bothered.
Regarding Enfield and there servants, its not just the "ringing back" thing,- there are a list of things that in my opinion that they are(were) slack on.
Like I have said before, Kevin, you do us a great service over here.
Right that's enough of the B**L S**T!!
Regards

Preach it brother!  No wonder so many old farts know a lathe like the back of their hand.  It's easier to just make parts yourself.
That said, a couple of Japanese bike suppliers are actually pretty good; David Silver Spares and Z-Power.   The Brit suppliers, though- oof!

[portisheadric]

I think part of the problem is the forth coming open day weekend, a lot of staff are more than likely engaged with sorting out the weekends activiities.

I had my Electra engine rebuilt there whilst they were sorting out a new electra variant and I'm sure that was the reason it was in there for so long.  However, it was a totally free rebuild on an out of guarantee engine so I wasn't going to make too much noise.
They insisted on carrying the work out themselves to guarantee the job was done correctly and would not even supply me the parts so I could pay someone to do the job.

I would try and speak to Mike first before ruffling feathers up there.
 
If the work is done and they have delivery problems I can run you up there if i'm free,and the weathers fine - I no longer own waterproofs,  but on the understanding you'll have to get up here first, a train to my nearest link station (backwell and nailsea)  costs £10.20p -  I  really dislike the a38 south and I don't do motorways  

[UK-Classics]

Not had any communication with WS since Thursday now, every time I call Mike is busy or on the phone, no one else can deal with my case apparently, and I get no returned phone calls.

I think I may pursue getting my money back, the lack of communication with customers is not on.  I'll be contacting Trading Standards tomorrow if I'm fobbed off again. 

James - really sorry to hear you are still off the road & it is disappointing to hear about the shortfalls in the service from WS.
I agree with the comments from longstroke about the open day weekend in a couple of weeks time - I'm sure they are v busy preparing for it. That doesn't help you though & they should at least be letting you know whats going on.

I'm going up to the open day (on a 2nd hand electra) - I guess they will probably have the workshops & your bike (if shes still there) well hidden from view.

[JamesC5]

I'm sure they may be busy with that, but that doesn't really matter to me. I paid alot of dosh for a new bike, knowing what I do now I wouldn't ever buy a new RE again, and that's sad as I love the bikes. Even if the same failure had happened my faith in the company would have remained if it was handled properly.

 I run my own business and if I have something going on I can't neglect my other customers / work.. if I do my clients go elsewhere.

[Blue Ridge Wheeltor]

Anyone reading this will have their enthusiasm for the new UCE a bit tarnished. I sort of feel bad I recommended the bike on some other forums. Matbe i'll just sit back and observe.

[doomed1]

Anyone reading this will have their enthusiasm for the new UCE a bit tarnished. I sort of feel bad I recommended the bike on some other forums. Matbe i'll just sit back and observe.

don't. it's only ever the minority that you ever hear this sort of complaint from, it's just that people are more likely to report negatives than positives. this is a one in a million kind of think and that they caught it and are able to work it out means something. that you weren't able to get a loaner really sucks James, as does how this happened to you, but you're an anomaly in the test bed of early adopters. would this thread really be that long if you were just complementing the ride and fun of the bike? no. fact is, you hit a spot of bad luck, and yeah, Watsonian should really have sent a loaner bike sooner, but that's all it really is, a one in a million bug that if it happened anywhere else, they wouldn't bother to try and study it so closely.

good luck on getting your bike back soon. kinda reminds me of good restaurants out here in the states. all the places with GREAT food always seem to have the lousiest service, but if you send your dish back for whatever reason, the cook himself comes out to apologize and find out exactly what you didn't like about it. though that may make it take a while before your meal makes it out. kinda like how Royal Enfield does things. the service seems lousy until you have a serious problem and you call them up about it, and then it's just slow. i think that's partially due to how they're structured. for better or worse, i can't help but think their intentions are in their customers.

[JamesC5]

I got through to Mike this morning, he said there's an issue that they're trying to find out if is effecting my bike before they let it out, I asked if it was connected to the recall mentioned on the US RE site and he said maybe. He said he'd call me back today or tomorrow.

Torre then called WS as they have an EFI in stock and needed to know what's going on, is their bike affected etc. When on the phone they mentioned mine and get a more detailed answer.

Apparently they're not sure if my bikes issue was the recall problem or unrelated. It could be that my problem is one in the same, is fixed and I just need to worry about getting my bike back down, it could be totally separate in which case its back to waiting to see when a solution will be offered up for all the new UCEs.  They were waiting for word from the factory in India as to what the exact situation is.

Either way, I was very pleased to actually get some sort of clue as to what was going on.. if I get a call back tomorrow I'll post here.

James

[JamesC5]

Just got a call from Mike who was very straight forward (yay!) , but it turns out my C5 DOES fall in the VINs with the recall

It's also a separate issue than my original gearbox issue. Apparently the parts will be flown in from India and mine will be one of the first fixed, but no timeline given.

Bleh. Still, least I should hopefully be safe to ride over 50mph when I finally get it back.