FJRJuice
Member
I recently purchased a new 2009 FJR. I reside on the island of Newfoundland, the most easterly landmass in North America. To shorten my story I will simply say that for economic reasons I purchased my bike from a Yamaha dealer on the mainland portion of Canada.
After buying the bike I next had to get it home. I debated flying to where the bike was and then driving it home (which Mr. Google tells me is a 2300km one-way trip over land and sea), versus having the bike shipped from there to here via several possible modes of transportation. While the roadtrip option was attractive, I ultimately decided to have it shipped via container ship to Newfoundland when a friend of mine, who happens to work with said shipping company, suggested I get a quote from them.
When I went to pick up the bike, I discovered it was shipped in a standard steel-frame motorcycle “crate” with just a large cardboard box covering it. As you can see in the pictures, I was lucky there was no damage as the box was in shreds. The bike itself was absolutely filthy. The dealer insisted there would be no assembly necessary, just take it out of the box and drive away. I should have known better, but I took him at his word. Luckily, another friend who I brought along with me is very mechanically minded and we managed to put the relatively undamaged bike together so I could drive away.
The only problem with my shipment, other than a minor scuff on the tank and in my opinion a lacklustre attempt by the dealer at taking care of my bike, was the fact that I was missing the matching side cases. I picked up the bike late on a Friday evening. I immediately called the dealer and left a message about my missing bags. I called again the next day and his story was that he wasn’t sure where the bags were and that he would check with his guys and get back to me on Monday. I made yet another long-distance call on Monday, only to have him tell me that his guys insist the bags were in the crate, they were nowhere to be found at the dealership, so I should contact the shipping company.
I contacted the shipping company and their first response was that they only took the job as a favour to my friend, that they don’t normally ship motorcycles, and the insurance I paid for only covered a total loss in case the ship sank or the bike was lost overboard, not individual pieces that may or may not have been there in the first place. That was the first time either of those points were ever brought up to me.
The present state of affairs is that I am in the process of making an insurance claim to recover partial cost of the bags. I initially paid $170 for insurance and there is a $500 deductible. So at a price of $685 per replacement bag, if I am awarded the insurance claim I will still be out the price of one side case. I love the new bike, but the whole side case issue has sort of put a sour taste on it all, partially because I’m not 100% convinced that the bags were shipped at all by the dealer and that he is just trying to screw me over. If you look at the pictures, there is very little room inside the crate to fit in 2 side cases. I don’t know the exact measurements of the side cases, but the dealer insists that they were in their original Yamaha cardboard boxes, he estimated a size of about 30”x20”x20” per side case, and that they were somehow tie-wrapped to the frame. The front wheel was tie-wrapped to the rear of the frame, at the point where there is a piece of cardboard wrapped around the steel frame member. That tie-wrap had let go during shipping and the wheel was not secured in place when I picked up the bike. I don’t know if 2 more relatively chunky boxes would have fit elsewhere in the crate.
If anyone can offer suggestions on how they would proceed I would greatly appreciate it. Maybe someone knows the exact dimensions of the box that a side case arrives in. Do you think I should continue to make an insurance claim? (I requested documents from the dealer over a week ago to include with my claim and I am still waiting, after 2 verbal phone requests and one email). Or do you think I should go after the dealer and insist he send me a set of side cases? Will threatening to go to Yamaha Canada scare him? The dealer I bought the bike from is a certified Yamaha dealer, they have 3 locations and are listed on Yamaha Canada’s website. In my early email discussions with the dealer about buying the bike, I quickly learned I could not ask any more than one question at a time because he would only ever answer the last question I posed.
All in all, it has been a frustrating experience. Like I said I love my new bike, I think it is a great machine, and I look forward to putting a lot of happy km behind me while riding it. I only want my side cases. Any comments or suggestions welcome.
After buying the bike I next had to get it home. I debated flying to where the bike was and then driving it home (which Mr. Google tells me is a 2300km one-way trip over land and sea), versus having the bike shipped from there to here via several possible modes of transportation. While the roadtrip option was attractive, I ultimately decided to have it shipped via container ship to Newfoundland when a friend of mine, who happens to work with said shipping company, suggested I get a quote from them.
When I went to pick up the bike, I discovered it was shipped in a standard steel-frame motorcycle “crate” with just a large cardboard box covering it. As you can see in the pictures, I was lucky there was no damage as the box was in shreds. The bike itself was absolutely filthy. The dealer insisted there would be no assembly necessary, just take it out of the box and drive away. I should have known better, but I took him at his word. Luckily, another friend who I brought along with me is very mechanically minded and we managed to put the relatively undamaged bike together so I could drive away.
The only problem with my shipment, other than a minor scuff on the tank and in my opinion a lacklustre attempt by the dealer at taking care of my bike, was the fact that I was missing the matching side cases. I picked up the bike late on a Friday evening. I immediately called the dealer and left a message about my missing bags. I called again the next day and his story was that he wasn’t sure where the bags were and that he would check with his guys and get back to me on Monday. I made yet another long-distance call on Monday, only to have him tell me that his guys insist the bags were in the crate, they were nowhere to be found at the dealership, so I should contact the shipping company.
I contacted the shipping company and their first response was that they only took the job as a favour to my friend, that they don’t normally ship motorcycles, and the insurance I paid for only covered a total loss in case the ship sank or the bike was lost overboard, not individual pieces that may or may not have been there in the first place. That was the first time either of those points were ever brought up to me.
The present state of affairs is that I am in the process of making an insurance claim to recover partial cost of the bags. I initially paid $170 for insurance and there is a $500 deductible. So at a price of $685 per replacement bag, if I am awarded the insurance claim I will still be out the price of one side case. I love the new bike, but the whole side case issue has sort of put a sour taste on it all, partially because I’m not 100% convinced that the bags were shipped at all by the dealer and that he is just trying to screw me over. If you look at the pictures, there is very little room inside the crate to fit in 2 side cases. I don’t know the exact measurements of the side cases, but the dealer insists that they were in their original Yamaha cardboard boxes, he estimated a size of about 30”x20”x20” per side case, and that they were somehow tie-wrapped to the frame. The front wheel was tie-wrapped to the rear of the frame, at the point where there is a piece of cardboard wrapped around the steel frame member. That tie-wrap had let go during shipping and the wheel was not secured in place when I picked up the bike. I don’t know if 2 more relatively chunky boxes would have fit elsewhere in the crate.
If anyone can offer suggestions on how they would proceed I would greatly appreciate it. Maybe someone knows the exact dimensions of the box that a side case arrives in. Do you think I should continue to make an insurance claim? (I requested documents from the dealer over a week ago to include with my claim and I am still waiting, after 2 verbal phone requests and one email). Or do you think I should go after the dealer and insist he send me a set of side cases? Will threatening to go to Yamaha Canada scare him? The dealer I bought the bike from is a certified Yamaha dealer, they have 3 locations and are listed on Yamaha Canada’s website. In my early email discussions with the dealer about buying the bike, I quickly learned I could not ask any more than one question at a time because he would only ever answer the last question I posed.
All in all, it has been a frustrating experience. Like I said I love my new bike, I think it is a great machine, and I look forward to putting a lot of happy km behind me while riding it. I only want my side cases. Any comments or suggestions welcome.
