I had sent an email to Triumph India (
henceforth TI) on the 30th of September seeking clarifications on the processes being followed in the Cochin dealership. This set in motion a sequence of events that I have listed below.
- 1st October
I received a call from Anilal where he mentioned that their MD had asked him about my service experience. On the topics that we have discussed on this thread
- The 800 ml flushing process suddenly went from being a Triumph India mandated process to their own Cochin dealership process. That was a quick u turn. He explained that they had seen better results with this process which is why they were following it in the SVC.
My two points were relatively simple, since I did not know if the localised flushing process was effective or not
a. If I am giving my bike to a Triumph authorized company dealership, I expect them to follow Triumph mandated processes. If I want some process that may or may not be better than what TI dictates, then I can go to any competent FNG where the work will get done at much lower costs.
b. If they are deviating from the TI mandated technical processes, they have to inform the customer that there is an alternative process and ask their permission if they can go ahead with this better / alternate process. They cannot take the customer for granted and do as they please without informing the customer up front.
- On the brake fluid replacement work, I was told that they have followed the exact process for brake fluid replacement so I was assured that the replacement process of the entire brake fluid was done exactly as per TI mandated process. This was u turn number two. Earlier I was told it was drain and top up.
- On the coolant replacement work, it was back to the usual obfuscation while explaining this and that and beating around the bush. Finally he accepted that it was not done as per TI mandated process. Also the overnight drain and replace process that he mentioned went from being a TI mandated process to another of the home grown service processes. For those keeping score, this was u turn number 3.
Honestly, I didnt know what was true or not anymore after this call.
- 1st October
An hour later, I received a call from a gentleman from Triumph India. He said that they are investigating the matter with the dealership and would get back to me within 48 hours. They were planning on doing a proper audit and wanted to understand how there were such slippages from the dealership side. I mentioned that the dealership finally confirmed that they have their own service processes to do the work and the gentleman mentioned that this should not be the case, dealerships have to follow the service processes as mandated by Triumph India. I felt that TI was putting in genuine efforts towards rectifying the problems and getting to the bottom of what had transpired during my service.
- 2nd October
A good friend and fellow TBHPian checked his service bills from the same dealership and found that they had changed the brake fluid on his bike but had charged him for it in the bill. This was incontrovertible evidence that proved that the previous day's u turn on the brake fluid being replaced as per TI process was false.
- 2nd October
I received a call from Jibin Peter, who is a manager at the Cochin dealership. He admitted to and apologized for all the mistakes from the dealership side with regard to my service experience. He had gone through the posts on the forum (
which I had linked in my email to TI) and admitted that everything that I had written was 100% factual and there was nothing that he had as a counter to it. We discussed in detail, the different issues that I faced and he did not attempt to defend or justify any of the mistakes from their side. The first step towards improving broken trust is admitting that one is wrong, and Jibin did that. I really appreciated that finally, the Cochin dealership was doing the right thing with honesty and transparency.
In summary,
a. The 800 ml engine oil process is their own process despite the initial claim that it was a TI mandated process.
b. The brake fluid replacement was not done despite the reassurance that I got the previous day that it was done as per TI mandated process.
c. The coolant replacement was not done.
d. Billing of the products and services can happen if they feel that nothing new will crop up and they just need to finish the work. This put to rest my doubts about why the billing date was wrong.
e. The service team should have done the work that the customer instructed.
f. The service team should have admitted that they forgot to do some of the jobs (
brake fluid and coolant replacement in my case) when I had gone to collect the bike.
g. The service team should not have covered up their mistake with all the misinformation and grossly incorrect claims that they were strictly following TI processes when they were not.
h. I was assured that this will not happen again in the dealership.
I was happy to note that Jibin was professional and admitted to all these cascading series of mistakes and dishonest cover-ups from their side.
Onto the resolution, I was asked what should be done to fix the situation. We discussed and agreed to the following
a. The dealership will purchase 1 litre of the same engine oil that I had brought and return 800 ml of that to me.
b. The brake fluid replacement will be carried out.
c. The coolant replacement will be carried out. Here we have the TI process or the "improved" dealership process of leaving the bike overnight for the coolant to drain fully. I said we will decide on which process to follow when we fix a date.
The dealership is currently closed till Monday since one of the technicians was tested as Covid positive a couple of days ago. Though Jibin wanted to carry out the above mentioned work at the earliest to ensure closure, both for me and for them (
dealership as well as TI), I mentioned that I prefer that the Covid situation settle down and the dealership get back up and running so that we can fix a date 2 weeks from now. Jibin offered to come and collect the bike from my residence and get the work done and return it on the agreed upon date. I have been asking the sales guy for a test ride of the new 2020 Street Triple RS for some time now and the bike was never available, so I requested Jibin to arrange for the Street Triple RS to be provided to me for an extended test ride while my bike is taken in to complete the remaining work. He has readily agreed to do so.
Overall Thoughts
I just wish the Cochin dealership dealt with this situation on day 1 with honesty. If they had forgotten to do some work, all they had to do was be professional about it and admit it. We are all working under a lot of pressure due to the Covid situation and as customers, we are always reasonable and extend courtesy and friendship to the staff at motorcycle dealerships. We treat them with respect and expect the same from them in return. Unfortunately, this was mistaken as an opportunity to take advantage of my patient nature and non technical background. When I look back at the whole series of events, it is clear that the first cover up led to the first blatant lie and that led to a lot of deliberate misinformation from the dealership in the hope that the customer was ill informed and would not bother to dig deeper. Unfortunately, this has web of deceit has been revealed and the truth is out in the open.
Jibin mentioned that he had been contacted by several enthusiasts and customers regarding my posts on the forum. But I dont understand why I wasnt contacted if that was the case. Surely they had my phone number and could have contacted me at any point of time. Why wait for me to send an email and then get TI involved and then admit to the series of mistakes?
Anyways, though this has been a tiring and very frustrating experience with the Cochin dealership, in the end I am a happy motorcyclist because I believe that the Cochin dealership has shown genuine regret and intention to improve. Mistakes happen. What is important is how the dealership has finally admitted to their series of mistakes and promised to deal with all their customers (
not just me) with honesty and transparency. A happy customer is a returning customer and a happy customer will recommend the brand to his / her friends. Its business 101.
As for Triumph India, I was shocked when I came to know that dealerships have the flexibility to do their own (
rogue?) processes and that it took my email to them for this to come to light. I expected them to run a much tighter ship, after all these world class machines deserve world class service and we are paying a fair premium to get the bikes serviced at authorized dealerships. But, I am very pleased that they quickly swung into action based on my email and their commitment to doing a thorough investigation should help systematically improve the service experience in the Cochin dealership. I am aware that even today, the quality of service is inconsistent around the country (
the origins of this thread bear enough and more information regarding how deep the rot is in some cities) and I hope that Triumph India continues to pursue all their dealerships to improve, thereby ensuring that a uniform high quality of service is available to Triumph customers around India.
Ill post an update on this matter once the pending service work is completed. Today I took the motorcycle out for a ride, there are still some vibes that creep in around the 6,000 RPM mark, it is a lot less than before but the service team will probably need to re-torque the foundation bolts or check for any other source of vibrations. Im signing off with a picture of the bike at the center of all the controversy!