After listening to the senior technician’s illogical reply, my father asked the salesperson for a refund.
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Even though we follow a pre-delivery inspection perfectly, there might be incidents that occur the next day, such as a loose cable connection or something that was forgotten to patch up at the last moment. This could lead to unexpected issues like being stranded on the road, which could be as simple as a fuel issue.
I had an interesting issue when I took delivery of Dominar UG. The interesting part is not the issue itself but the explanation given by the SA.
While taking delivery, there were a lot of emotions and happiness at that moment, and we took delivery with a happy mind.
However, when I was taking delivery, the salesperson told me not to fill the tank completely. Instead, they asked me to fill only half a tank or for Rs 300 for the first three days, and then I could do a full tank refill. This was something new for me. I have taken and attended several new bike deliveries, but none of them told me about this. It could be a precautionary measure to avoid any potential fuel leaks that could cause a fire or something similar. But in the first place, such issues should not be present, and that’s what quality control is for. These people work to ensure that I get a perfect vehicle.
I agreed to the salesperson’s advice, turned on my vehicle, and everything seemed perfect. I was so thrilled about the new bike that I handled it like a baby, not even giving too much acceleration. After waving goodbye to my parents, I planned to take a short ride around the city. However, my joy ride soon turned into a nightmare. Within just 20 minutes of riding in the city, my bike shut off instantly, displaying the error message “High coolant temperature.”
My heart sank as I checked the coolant level and found everything to be fine. However, I am currently unable to start the engine again to check if the radiator is working or not. I thought I heard the radiator sound while riding. I captured an error message and sent it to the salesperson immediately. To my surprise, the salesperson started yelling at me, saying that they had told me not to fill the tank and questioning why the tank was full.
What on earth is going on here? I’m supposed to be the one calling the shots, yet the tables have turned and now I’m being bombarded with questions left and right. I calmly explained that I only put 500 rupees worth of fuel in the tank, which showed a half tank on the odometer. I didn’t bother filling it up completely, though. I requested that they send a tow service to pick up my bike, since I’m currently in Mylapore and the bike was originally delivered to me from the Adyar Bajaj branch. The guy on the phone said he’d get back to me in five minutes, so I decided to kill time by trying to start the motorcycle. And wouldn’t you know it, it fired up just fine!
I immediately drove towards the showroom. One mistake I made was accepting the delivery of my bike at 6 o’clock, even though it was planned for 5. We were there at 4:30, but it still took them a solid 2 hours to give us the bike. Lesson learned – I should never accept deliveries in the evening. Now it’s already 6:30, the showroom is about to close, and I’m stuck in the middle of the road with a non-working bike.
The bike turned off again with the same error message, but this time I heard the radiator running. I could hear the sound, so I wondered what might be the issue. After a 5-minute break for cooling, I turned the bike on again and reached the Adyar showroom, but it was closed. The salesperson was about to leave for the day and told me that there might be a small issue. However, the service center was closed, and he was not aware of the technical issues. So, he asked me to come back tomorrow.
I told him to keep the bike, as I didn’t want to keep a bike that was having trouble and spoke in an angry tone. I told him to keep the bike, and that I didn’t want anything. Actually, I had no idea what to do, but I was just angry about the way he had questioned me. Then he plead me to keep the bike and come tomorrow, as his senior technician who was specially trained in Mumbai to service Dominar would be available.
I was not happy at all with this, but the interesting part was coming tomorrow. The day went by, and I couldn’t sleep that night. I was googling about the issue and checking every directory of Team-BHP, yet there was no answer.
The next day, I went back to the showroom with my dad and one of my friends who already owned a Dominar. The senior technician came, took my vehicle inside, and then came back. Guess what? He only cleared the error codes and nothing else and told me that the issue was resolved, and there was no issue.
I was like, “Do a test ride! What was the issue?”
Here’s the wonderful explanation given by the senior technician: ‘You were riding the bike in the city, right? So, there might have been vehicles closely surrounding you in heavy traffic, and as a result, the engine heat might not have dissipated, causing it to overheat and turn off. If you take the bike for a long ride on the highway or take it out on ECR, this issue should not occur.
My dad said, ‘So, this vehicle should not be used within the city? Is it only meant for highways?
Senior technician: Yes, sir.
Then my dad turned to the sales rep and told him, ‘Wonderful, we need a refund.”
Even the salesperson couldn’t hide his laughter when the technician gave that reason. Meanwhile, while we were discussing, the engine was turned on for testing, and it automatically turned off again with the message ‘High coolant temperature.’ We asked him how this happened now, and my friend started to shout at them, showed him his Dominar, and said, ‘Do you all think we are such fools?’ Then, the salesperson told us to leave the bike for a full detailed analysis and said they would call me back.
My dad is still sticking with the refund, I told them that I need the bike by EOD.
We left the bike at the Bajaj service center in Adyar and went home. I received a call at 3 PM, stating that the issue had been resolved, and they had identified the problem. I asked them about the issue, but they asked me to come directly.
We went there at 4 PM with my dad and asked about the issue. The technician did not even come out this time; he was working on a different bike and did not make eye contact with me at all. The sales rep came from the showroom, gave us the bike, and told us that the issue was due to a broken radiator fan.
How did it happen?
After all the testing on the bike, before delivery, they sent the bike for a water wash inside the service center. A guy who was not aware of what is a radiator used a high-pressure water pump to hose down the bike directly onto the radiator. This powerful force of water broke the radiator fan and caused the issue. (Something new I learned and couldn’t find this reason online for the past 2 days).
Then the sales rep told us that they didn’t have the stock of the radiator fan currently. However, for us, they had taken the fan from a motorcycle that was in the showroom and installed it.
“I asked, ‘What? Fine, at least they didn’t take it from another guy’s motorcycle.’ Then I asked what if they were going to sell that bike to someone in the future with the same issue. The sales rep replied that they had already placed an order for a new fan, and once they got it, they would install the new one on that bike.
Phew, finally! But hey, I wanted to test it myself. I couldn’t believe them right now. So I took my bike, filled it with BP Speed fuel, and rode the entire evening trying to make the engine overheat as much as possible.
I rode through city traffic, then took the ECR route, reached Mamallapuram, went back to Kovalam, again to Mamallapuram, and back to Kovalam. I did a test ride until 9 PM, and the bike was amazing. All the problems and bitter feelings disappeared after its performance.
I went back home and finally settled down with a good feeling about the bike. I laughed so hard about the reason the senior technician gave.
Keyword: My Dominar 400 overheats & shuts down a few minutes after delivery