[Raptron]

Dear Triumph UK Customer Service Team / Senior Management Representatives,

Personally about me:
I am Jeevan Chaukar a software engineering professional located in Pune, India. I am a proud first owner of a Triumph Street Triple 675 ABS (2015) and to this date I am still riding this particular motorcycle.

Important Declaration:
I, Jeevan Chaukar, declare here that everything I have mentioned in this thread is either a direct experience of mine or I have listened to my fellow riders about their real experiences.

I didn't have such issues earlier because the situation earlier definitely wasn’t this horrible.

I still love my street triple but I am totally saddened by the current situation which may eventually force me to sell it off and never come back to the Triumph brand again till this situation is corrected.


Background:
All of us are proud owners of Triumph products - some maybe recent, some like me are quite old ones exceeding 7-8 years of ownership duration and some are even owning more than one Triumph bikes. We are all based in India.

Many of the fellow riders also have experience of owning other premium motorcycle brands in India and hence we do understand some of the practical constraints involved in owning such bikes here.

The Indian market for premium bikes may be relatively small today but it is expanding rapidly.

Our sincere wish is that a brand like Triumph doesn’t end up making basic mistakes and lose the brand appeal in India.

We as your customers in India would like to bring a few important issues / challenges faced by us despite having bought premium Triumph motorcycles.

As the Indian customers, we are paying as much or more than anybody in the UK for your products and hence we deserve your attention.

Before approaching you, we individually reached out to the senior management of the nearest Triumph Dealerships to understand whether these issues are at the dealer level or these are at a higher level.

The dealership management clearly told us that they themselves are frustrated about the way things are going for Triumph in India and that they themselves are trying to escalate and getting no results out of it. Their frustration is ultimately affecting how they behave with us also.

They actually told us - the customers - that we should reach out directly to Triumph UK as anything going to Triumph India is getting stonewalled as everything is in control of Bajaj Auto Ltd in India.

Overall, the experience has deteriorated severely after the involvement of Bajaj Auto - which feels very sad - as I respect Bajaj Auto as a very capable Indian manufacturer and thought their involvement with Triumph would improve the situation - the reality is otherwise.

Summary of Issues:

• Unavailability of even the basic wear and tear spare parts at the service centres

• Asking for advance payments for any parts order - even relatively small ones

• Very long waiting time of anything from 30 to 45 days even for minor parts

• Overinflation in spare parts prices and labour costs (yes, we know we have premium bikes)

• Increased rudeness / carelessness of service staff

There can be many more - I am sure fellow riders will express their feelings too in response to this thread and that should provide insights to Triumph UK.

I will write more details to this thread as and when I get time.


Yours Sincerely,
Jeevan Chaukar

[Jaggu]

I was hoping this joining of hands would help Triumph improve its reach and better the ownership experience, but seems to be not. I am part of multiple Triumph owners WhatsApp groups spanning India and the feedback is similar or worse in all of them. If Triumph is serious about Indian market, beyond the new volume based models, they need to act fast and set some standards for Bajaj to adhere to. I really hope they do! before it is too late.

On the other hand recently I saw BMW Motorad take action against the errant dealer in Bangalore and cancelling their association (was informed by email that Tusker was no more associated with BMW). This is like superb signalling to the customers that the brand actually cares for them.

[Doc_nerd]

I too wished this marriage of Triumph and Bajaj would be a win win situation for the customers but, it is not what we are seeing at the ground level. The astronomical increase in spare part prices, the long time it is taking to procure spare parts and the way warranty issues are being handled is a pity.

[//M]

We have been hearing so many harrowing customer experiences with Triumph India in the past and this alliance with Bajaj Auto was thought to be a welcome move. It is sad that Triumph makes such competent motorcycles however the aftersales in India is a disappointment for so many customers.

I bought my Tiger 800 from BU Bhandari Triumph in Pune 2018. I later moved to NCR and had been getting my motorcycle serviced at One Triumph Gurgaon, until last year. Their workmanship was strictly average however thankfully I have not faced any issues with the motorcycle ever in the past 6 odd years of ownership of the Tiger. Recently, my trusted technicians from One Triumph shifted to an independent workshop and like many others in NCR, I too changed faith and have been getting my motorcycle serviced through the same technicians at their independent workshop. The quality of workmanship is definitely better than what I last experienced with One Triumph. Since these guys have been working on my motorcycle for almost 5 years now, I have more trust in them than the new recruits at One Triumph.

Hope this alliance with Bajaj Auto is just in its nascent transition stage and things will be better and brighter for the many happy Triumph customers in India soon.

[kashesh]

I recently picked a Triumph SpeedTwin 1200 from B.U Bhandari Pune. The whole purchase experience has been nothing short of nightmare. Up until the purchase, I regarded Triumph as a premium motorcycling brand, now I think of it otherwise. The dealership was least bothered about the sale and I had to follow up on various occasion for minor details. Nobody bothered to ask about the entire purchase experience, on the day of delivery the bike had 45 km run on it. Upon enquiring, they said they did not have a transport vehicle so they had to ride it from one dealership to another. This is for a bike that costs 15+ lacs on road.

The more I hear about Triumph experience, the more it scares me.

[antz.bin]

I was aware of issues with Triumph dealerships when I purchased the Speed 400 in September but expected the situation to improve as time went on now that Bajaj Auto has been involved.

I had never considered a Triumph as my own future motorcycle earlier. BUT ever since the 400s launched, I started considering them a serious manufacturer and started considering their bigger motorcycles for my next upgrade, whenever that happens. But if such a callous attitude towards the big bike owners continues, I would be forced to take my business elsewhere.

Given the popularity of the 400s, there will be plenty of people like me who have been introduced to the brand through the 400s and might want to upgrade eventually. But with this attitude, they aren't going to be a happy bunch if they do.

[AMG Power]

Have interacted with India heads of a few MNC automotive manufacturers. This is what they all say:

Head Office couldnt be bothered with issues in India. Any escalation by customers made to them is passed onto India to deal with as they have far more greater issues to deal with. This is “just a customer service issue - handle it”.

Most of the Head Offices know and couldn't be bothered about the fallout of such issues. They may lose a few customers but that would be a miniscule bunch and they would rather lose them than get involved in local customer service issues.

While many have written to top managements, you will seldom see a resolution coming from them. At most a call from India Service head telling you they will look into it and that would be it.

Forget EU MNC’s, try contacting Hyundai / Kia top management. You wouldn't even get email ID’s or contact numbers.

Numbers are the issue here and when you look at global operations, a customer from India reaching out to HQ cannot be managed without making it a micro management situation.

The customer is unfortunately the loser when its global operations. Pareto principle.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by //M

Hope this alliance with Bajaj Auto is just in its nascent transition stage and things will be better and brighter for the many happy Triumph customers in India soon.

Bangalore inmate triumph owners have already begun mentioning good feedback from the Bajaj operated service and sales centers. One such post was by Crazy Driver on his Triumph thread.

Many Kawasaki owners shed collective tears when Bajaj split with Kawasaki in India. Bajaj was good!

[psyph3r]

I crashed my Speed 400 on the 29th of December, I'm yet to receive my bike from the workshop :(

[Nilesh5417]

Originally Posted by AMG Power

Have interacted with India heads of a few MNC automotive manufacturers. This is what they all say:

Head Office couldnt be bothered with issues in India. Any escalation by customers made to them is passed onto India to deal with as they have far more greater issues to deal with. This is “just a customer service issue - handle it”.

This is really surprising cause all of them are making huge investments, tie ups in India and given the scale of operations, the head of country isn't a small position. I feel this is the simplest, catch all, most convenient excuse that can be given. I can understand complex, one off issues of major breakdowns but when a manufacturer can't even stock and service the basics, can it be simply head office at fault? When you can t hold on to your trained technicians, is it the head office at fault? When a good FNG can sort out complex issues but the dealers service center can't, is it head office at fault?

And how come Ducati, BMW get it right most of the times but Triumph can not? Really perplexing and I find the statements you heard hard to believe.

[AMG Power]

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

is it head office at fault?

This thread starts with a letter to the HO.

My post is in relation to consequences of escalations to HO and nothing else.

[Nilesh5417]

Originally Posted by AMG Power

This thread starts with a letter to the HO.

My post is in relation to consequences of escalations to HO and nothing else.

That I understand. My note was about why would a customer me forced to write to HO.

It's just that the feedback about how HO handles complaints is coming from India Heads who are responsible for the ops in India. And the current state of affairs is under their watch.

[AMG Power]

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

It's just that the feedback about how HO handles complaints is coming from India Heads who are responsible for the ops in India. And the current state of affairs is under their watch.

On the contrary, this situation leads to a lot of frustration and most India heads leave because of lack of HO support to resolve issues that need HO support - this is not confined to customer service issues alone.

An example for a customer service issue is the complex process required to process a warranty claim within the VW group. The India HO has no authority to pass genuine claims unless they go through the complex process which is lengthy, time consuming and in many cases leads to rejection of genuine claims for frivolous reasons. However the Global HO will not change the warranty claim process as it is uniform across the world. A workaround for some companies is goodwill warranty which is arbitrary and not a permanent solution.

This leads to a lot of frustration with all VW group customers. Any amount of requests from India top management to reduce the complexity and delays associated with the process falls on deaf ears and the HO will not approve any change. This is a reason why VW has earned a bad reputation with customers but the Global HO couldn't care as they are aware their cars will sell regardless.

This is just one among the many areas.

As I said earlier, Global HO’s will not have anything to do with local issues. You will not find Global HO’s replying back to individual customer mails.

[ridealong_vr04]

I recently faced a similar experience with Khivraj Triumph in Bangalore. I own a Tiger Sport 660, and unfortunately, I had a minor accident in a parking lot which damaged the side cover, gear lever, and quick shifter. Given the steep estimated repair cost of ₹77,000, I opted for an insurance claim.

The process, however, was far from smooth. The surveyor took 10 days just to show up, and despite being promised a repair time of 21 days, it ended up taking a staggering 58 days. I had to constantly call and email them to get updates. The service team, while professional in demeanor, frequently missed deadlines and provided inaccurate information.

Because of the delay, I had to cancel my trip to the India Bike Week (IBW), a New Year trip, and suffered considerable financial loss due to non-refundable hotel bookings.

This experience has put me off from buying a Triumph again.

[A350]

Originally Posted by //M

Recently, my trusted technicians from One Triumph shifted to an independent workshop and like many others in NCR, I too changed faith and have been getting my motorcycle serviced through the same technicians at their independent workshop.

Hi, would it be possible for you to share the details of the technician and their workshop, would be of immense help when I get my Bonneville serviced. Thanks.