As a sales manager at a Yamaha dealership who has been selling the FJR since it first hit the American market, let me say that over all the FJR is a very trouble free motorcycle. But what happens is some body will have a problem and post it on a forum and the next thing you know everybody seems to have it. Take the fuel injection issue that some are complaining about. When I first heard about it I called Yamaha to talk to my RTA about it ,they put my friend who said "I think my bike has this problem on a list" But here's the deal the first word's out of the RTA's mouth were "He's been on line at the FJR forum, and read about this!"
Now I am not going to get into a debate about the merit's of this forum or others, but I do think that some time a false issue can becaused by a few people.
Yes, everyone of you damn consumers should just shut up and listen to everything the dealer tells you. Wait, isn't that what a big brother government would have you do as well? I'm confused.
You attack the FI complaints. Guess what, it does have issues. The late 06's and early 07's are in the process as we speak of being addressed because Yamaha (gasp) heard from it's customers and dealers of the problem. That's a no-brainer debunk of your complaint.
Taking it further, others have complained about the FI mapping even outside of the surge problem being recalled. I am one of the first to tell people that it's not a "factory defect" and that I simply took it into account when riding before I eventually got a PC3, but on the flipside, I'd DEFINATELY say that it could have been done better by Yamaha in the first place. Am I hanging on the service counter bell demanding a new, remapped ignition unit? Of course not. Have enough people identified the problem to make it resoundingly clear to Yamaha corporate that they need to up the quality? I sure hope so for their sake.
Same thing with throttle position sensors. The world went out, people rioted, Yamaha listened and issued a recall. Your shop pocketed $$$ in reimbursed shop labor. Poor you, all those damn forum users finding out that they should be checking to see if their VIN was within the range and then taking it to you to get replaced. Oh damn, the agony for your shop...
Do some things get over-hyped? Sure. Do manufacturers HATE forums where people share like experiences and often flush out service issues that would otherwise be kept within the manufacturer's office or, at best, in a quiet memo to service managers? Unfortunately for you guys, this is an information age. God forbid, but the masses out there communicate with each other. You can either evolve with the times or be buried by them. I don't envy you in having to sort through the real problems vs. the hyped ones (in my days, we always CRINGED when we'd see a Gold Whiner pull up because we KNEW a half hour complaint about a minute detail was often coming), but I suppose one of the alternatives would be for your customers to just give Yamaha the middle finger in disappointment and go elsewhere (vote with their feet).
Furthermore, forums are a GODSEND to a service manager a lot more than they are a hinderance. One phrase for you: call interception/deflection.
Without such forums, service managers would go back to the old days like when *I* worked at a dealership and the service department phone rang off the hook all day with informational questions more than appointments. Sure, you sell a few less service manuals this way, but think about all the users of this single forum alone and how often most of them have referred to the FAQ sections or asked service-related questions that would otherwise have fallen upon YOUR staff as a Yamaha dealership to answer. If you're going to try to tell me that a comparable shop today carries as much admin staff as they did 20 years ago, I'm gonna laugh in your face and say "bullhockey." Only a small % of owners may be internet savvy, but between their participation in net groups and then their subsequent participation in riders groups, the information gets disseminated to the masses, and some other entity BESIDES your service staff is doing it now. So, take the good with the bad, mi amigo.
Finally, and most critically to your dealership, forums like this make for a GREAT dealer review and evaluation service. You have to get it right every time or make it right after the fact or the WORLD is gonna hear about it. Do you mean to say that you don't think forum users can't swim through the blah blah and the whiners and form their own opinions based on the information in front of them? What puckers a dealership more than anything is getting repeated bad press on forums such as these because there's only so much of a consumer base out there that ISN'T wired in these days. If word gets out that you really screwed the pooch with someone and, worse, didn't do anything or enough to make it right after the fact, you might as well tell your employees to punch people in the face when they come in, because the effect is going to be the same. Information keeps a retail competition market honest and, well, competitive. If you can't hang with that model, there are TONS of other dealerships that this darn members of this information-sharing forum have identified all over the country that welcome and even cater to such customers.
Evolve or die.
