Triumph India: Is after-sales service killing this brand?

Thanks to BHPian Jaggu for sharing this with other enthusiasts in this thread.

Triumph's poor after-sales service could be killing the brand in the country.

It is said that when the bike maker entered India, spares were initially shipped to the company's headquarters in Delhi and then shipped to the respective dealerships. This resulted in huge delays. While other companies took 1-2 weeks to deliver parts to the dealers, Triumph took anywhere between 4 to 8 weeks due to this policy.

As complaints increased, some dealers started opening larger service centres, but over a period of time, the quality of service declined. Skilled mechanics moved to other companies, private garages, and some even opened their own workshops. For new technicians, it is said that there was no formal training process or hand holding from the brand. This is said to have resulted in a dip in the quality of workmanship and sometimes, led to very dangerous mistakes that could have put the rider's life at risk. The private garages do not have access to OE parts, diagnostic softwares or special tools. This meant that for complex services and repairs, owners were at the mercy of the dealership.

Whatsapp groups were filled with complaints from owners regarding how their bikes were messed up, their lives put at risk or how they were conned during service. Owners held mass walk-in meetings at dealerships to address the issue. Some owners from Bangalore even met a senior executive in September 2019 and listed out issues. They were assured of an improvement in service, but as of March 2020, there hasn't even been an acknowledgment of the meeting from the bike maker.

At present, there is an absolute lack of trust on the service and technical capability at authorised workshops and some customers shoot a video of the bike before giving it for service. Some prefer to stand with the bikes and monitor the work being carried out.

During a repair visit for replacing the brake pads on Jaggu's bike, the trainee technician wedged a screwdriver between the pads to move the caliper pistons back and scarred one set of pads. For the 20,000 km + 4th year service, he visited another dealer in a different state to avoid the same experience.