by OldEz » Tue Oct 25, 2022 10:34 pm
Sorry guys for the lack of updates. I guess trying not to think about problems doesn't make them go away. It's been so long I'm not even sure where the last update stopped at...
Brief summary:
Bike tore up Aug 13, about 6 miles back in. Cuts off like someone pushed the kill button, usually starts back in a few seconds to a few minutes. Might do it again. in 3 seconds, might be an hour, is usually every few seconds.
Trying to maintain all the coasting speed possible, I wrecked and got a cut to the bone near my elbow, 3 broken ribs, and a cracked femur on the way out, trying to avoid pushing. So I didn't feel up to calling a dealer for about a week and a half.
Dealer I first talked to was the one my friends all used but he had no interest in me bringing the bike to him. I followed his instructions for about 2 1/2 weeks checking things over until we were down to swapping out the stator and computer. He wouldn't send those to me without me paying for parts which defeated the whole purpose of a warranty. When nudged harder to take it in to his shop, he gave me a timeline of 6 to 9 weeks in addition to the 4 weeks or so I had been down already.
So I had to call another dealer. I figured the dealer I bought it from would be most apt to fix it since the other dealer seemed to hint that's who should be bothered, not him.
This dealer rushed me in and out. Checked the time. From the time I opened the truck door until the bike was unloaded and the dealer had walked back inside leaving me alone on my car seat was 14 minutes. If I was lucky he heard half of what I had to say and cut me off repeatedly although I was the only customer there. I tried to tell him that me and the other dealer had worked it down to most likely the stator and very likely the computer also and so if he would start there it would likely save a lot of time and effort. He diidn't appear to even make a note of it. Yeah, yeah'ed me and ran me out the door. I didn't leave feeling good about it.
He said I should hear from the mechanic in a week or two because he had some in front of me but hopefully I should have my bike back in about 4 weeks. I reminded him that the bike had already been down a month but he said that was all he could do.
The mechanic called back, I believe exactly 2 weeks later, and said the stator was good but the bike wasn't charging and that he had found some corrosion on the diodes and the capacitor. I checked and the stator tested bad it before the bike left for his shop and the bike was charging 13.8 volts but hey if its a short, it can come and go. Said he was requesting that Beta let him change the regulator, the capacitor, and the diodes all at the same time instead of the usual one at a time because I had been down so long.
At this point I felt like I was finally making progress.
But after 2 more weeks, I heard nothing so I made a call. Mechanic says "Yeah I got "parts in hand" right now and I'm going to put your bike back in the que and when it's turn comes around, I ll put the capacitor and the diodes in and if that seems to fix it, I 'll give it an overnight cool down, probably do that a couple of times, and if it stays fixed, I 'll call you and let you know." I said "So we're talking about another week, probably 2 weeks before you MIGHT know something' He said "Yeah, something like that"
And then for the absolute 1st time I had been anything except super nice, I said "NO you WILL NOT! My bike has been torn up for over 8 WEEKS now. YOU have had the bike 4 weeks today. It IS on top of the que. It IS the very next bike that gets worked on and IF that seems to fix it, I WON"T be left for days wondering, YOU will call me back with a status report" He said "I'll get to it as soon as I can sir." and hung up.
I didn't expect to hear from him for a couple of weeks.
But h called back in 45 minutes or so and said that did not fix it and Beta had already told him the next step was a new wiring harness so he would put it on order and let me know something.
Almost a week later he called to confirm Beta would cover everything so far including the harness. (I had asked him to confirm) He said Beta was now believing the stator was also bad (remember I asked them to start with the stator and computer) and it was ordered, but backordered and he didn't have any idea when it would come in.
He then went on to tell me that when the part came it, it WOULD BE FIXED AND MY WARRANTY WOULD BE OVER AND NO MORE WORK OR PARTS WOULD BE COVERED ONCE IT LEFT THEIR SHOP.
I said but I still think the computer is bad and twice I've thought it was fixed. I rode it around the house for 2 hours and but then took it riding at the rough OHV and about an hour later it started the same problem again. He said "IF IT DOES IT AGAIN, ITS YOUR PROBLEM. NOTHING ELSE WILL BE FIXED ON WARRANTY" I said but it won't be anything else, it'll be the same problem I've been having. He said again" IT WILL BE FIXED WHEN IT LEAVES HERE AND ANYTHING ELSE WILL UP TO YOU ALONE" I said so if I stop 20 minutes up the road and test ride, not even 1/4 the way home, and it does it in the first 2 minutes, you are saying you don't care if you didn't really fix the problem, if I leave the premises with the bike, you wash your hands of it and my warranty is done? is that right? is that what your saying?"
He said "I was pretty clear. when it leaves here it will be fixed and no more warranty work will be done to it."
So wanting to keep the dealer on my side, I haven't really considered calling Beta USA until now. The first dealer clearly warned me not to call Beta, warned me that when Beta got involved all kinds of things that might be normally covered might not get covered when Beta got called. Maybe I'm wrong but I kinda took that for "call Beta and watch things get blamed on the customer so they won't be covered"
I took it for like complaining about meals served. If you don't like the taste of other peoples spit, don't complain until the food is in your hands.
But its looking like I '' have no choice now. I m still waiting until I'm at least told the bike is done and THEN I m calling Beta and telling them why I can't take the bike home and have to go find a good lawyer instead.
I haven't checked into it really closely but my state does have a Lemon Law and the Beta is taggable and I think that's all I need to qualify. If I understand it correctly, you turn in your information and if after the state investigates they find your side is truth, they force the dealer to give you back your money, even finance charges and then the dealer has to pay the state for their costs doing the whole procedure.
That is an option I'm feeling like I have no choice but to check into at this point.
I don't want to get ugly, but it looks like my dealer is already playing ugly with me. All I ever wanted from the start was my bike fixed. I've fixed SEVERAL OTHER THINGS on the bike without a thought of calling Beta, If this hadn't involved the computer ($350?, I dunno), possibly the wiring harness ($450 maybe for the 2 main parts he said Beta was gonna replace?) and maybe the stator ($75 aftermarket I just found out and about $250 Beta I think?), then i would have just fixed this myself also.
But letting my NEW bike stay down for over 10 weeks SO FAR now. the whole best part of the riding season, and in their shop 6 weeks and counting (I'm betting on 12-14 weeks at this point) just because they don't give a damn and enjoying being a bully when they can, they have me pissed.
And I'm cutting myself off at this point because I'm starting to get mad enough to get ugly now.
I will say before I go that several people know I bought a Beta and want to know why I m not riding it. I haven't volunteered the information to anyone but I answer when asked. About 7 people have already told me that this marked Beta off their list, two who were down to just trying to decide which dealer to buy from. This has already cost Beta a lot more than if they had just done the right thing and fixed my bike in a timely manner. Imagine how much it would cost them if someone was serious about letting everyone know how it's went down...
I'm not raising hell right now because of the previous "warning from the first dealer" or the spit in your food rule, and because the mechanic is a Yankee (no offense to you rare nice Yankees...) and sometimes has to be an ass and then will turn around and be nice. So... he may have come off stronger than he meant to or maybe I'll get "lucky" and the stator won't fix it right off so they HAVE to put a computer on it..
So I still feel its in my best interest to play nice for a bit more and give them the opportunity to play nice... before I go to publicity war and lawfare
For the official record, my Beta XTrainer has been torn up with some sort of electrical problem for 10 weeks and 4 days or 2 and 1/2 months and 4 days and the dealer has had my bike for 6 weeks and 1 day. I'll have to look up the buy day but I believe my bike was torn up 2 1/2 months out of my 6 month warranty, so I didn't get but 3 1/2 months of the 6 month warranty I paid for, and the bike has been out of warranty 4 days or so now.
But even the mechanic said that any problem I brought it in for before the warranty was covered... until he changed his tune the last time I talked to him.
2022 Beta Xtrainer (4/21/22)
2012 Honda CRF450X
2008 Aprillia RXV550
2007 Suzuki DRZ400S
2005 Yamaha TW200
(2) 1982 Honda VF750 Magna V45