Howdy!

So, it was pointed out that it might be nice to actually describe what the actual issue with the bike was, all the fun I had with the dealership, and how long it took to resolve. Good point.

The issue: DCT stuck in first gear and wasn’t even thinking of doing anything different a long way from home. Thankfully, a fellow with a trailer offered a haul to town and the primary dealership in the area to get it checked out.

The shop claimed to have checked out the issue and came up with a faulty front ABS wheel speed sensor, they claimed to have replaced it with no resolution. The codes that then came up apparently showed it was the ECU, so they claimed to have replaced that and it didn’t fix the issue, followed by codes supposedly pointing to the ABS Module, which was on back order. A LONG backorder. On a trip through town a few month in, I stopped by to check on it and found out they had the bike stored out in the sun in Central Oregon which had caused a bit of sun damage. Asked them to store it in their indoor warehouse which they did, thankfully.

So 4 months, 1 week, and 2 days later I got the call to come and get it. Told them I wasn’t going to sign anything until I took a test ride, took it out and it acted funky. Mentioned it after getting the bike back to the shop and they reset the DCT settings (easily done thing that you do every now and again to get it to revert to stock setting) and that seemed to do the trick.

Doing the final walkaround I noticed what appeared to be a missing mounting screw and the cracks shown in the last post. The tech appeared to put the screw in place and since I have a few stickers on that sided of the bike I can’t replace, told them I’d fix the cracks.

The bike ran just fine on the highway home, felt soooo damn good to be riding again. After getting it home and getting into repairing the plastics, I noticed the damage was more extensive than I thought initially and discovered that the reason the tech hadn’t put mounting screw in initially was that they had broken the tab completely off. Then faked “fixing’ it in front of me. Didn’t say, hey, sorry we broke this little piece. Just flat out lied right to my face. Also noticed that for being “replaced”, the wheel speed sensor cable was rather beat up and was still in the zip tie I had used to wrap all the front wheel cables and lines in after installing the high fender kit. Whatever, it ran well so no biggie.

Then I took it for a ride down in the Klamath River canyon and after a little romping in the dirt it fucking locked in first gear again. I managed to get it into second somehow and limped it home 40 miles.

Got home and decided to grab the shop manual and take a look at what the hell they did and what could be going on. Stripped off the fuel tank and opened it up enough to locate all the “replaced” electronics and found the ECU to be filthy, way dirtier than a blast down the highway and 10 miles of dirt riding would account for.

The topper was when I opened up the little compartment that allow access to the ABS module. The retention clip that locks the harness that plugs into the module in place was broken and the tech had taken a piece of wadded up cardboard and jammed it in there to hold the plug in place.

No shit, a piece of cardboard. Another curiosity was that the brake fluid was dark and dirty. Curious, because if you replace the ABS module, you have to drain and replace the fluid.

I called the shop manager and asked WTF was up with this. It appeared that none of the parts had actually been replaced and on top of that they broke a bunch of shit and was told the tech said he let me know about the cardboard and I was in such a hurry to get my bike back that I said I was cool with it. The fuckers lied to my face, then called me a liar after I said that was bullshit. Also said they don’t replace parts if they don’t have to, but still charged for doing so, to the tune of $4,700.

Thankfully, I purchased the extended warranty as this was the first new vehicle I’ve ever owned and it’s loaded with complex electronics. The total bill came to over $4,700, I paid $1,299 for the warranty initially so a bargain at twice the price, literally.

It’s a good thing I live 130ish miles from the shop because I would have gone down and asked the tech to say what he said to his boss to my face and that wouldn’t have gone well. Figured I’d go the the warranty company directly as it appeared warranty fraud was happening and the person I dealt with agreed. Sent a ton of photos and video and they requested the replaced parts, receipts, and orders for the parts and all that and the shop which they were unable to produce. “We just cleaned out the shop and the dumpster was just emptied so we don’t have any of that”. The gent I was working with sent it up to his boss and that guy decide not to pursue it, surprisingly.

Below is an email from the gent at the warranty company:

“Hello Ken

I have gone over the pictures and videos with my manager and the claims examiner, Ryan, that was originally on your claim. We all agree that it doesn’t look like the front wheel sensor was replaced and someone has definitely been in the area of the abs module. However, is it unclear if they replaced the module or not. Other than the broken and missing parts, it doesn’t look like anyone has had that module out. We don’t see any wrench marks on any of the abs line fittings or areas where the dust has been disturbed from the techs hands removing it. Take a look at your brake fluid, it should be new if that module was replaced. We agree, there are wire harness plug clips broken and the metal spring clip that holds the wire harness plug secure is missing and cardboard put in its place. Because the clip is missing, the cardboard is putting pressure on the harness plug so it doesn’t get disconnected from vibration. Without seeing the ECU, we can only speculate whether or not it was replaced.

Ryan has contacted Pro Caliber Motorsports and asked them to send us pictures of all of the parts that were replaced on your motorcycle. They claimed that they cleaned out their shop last week and threw them all in the dumpster and the dumpster has now been emptied. Ryan is emailing the shop back to tell them we do not believe they replaced they parts that the claimed on their work order and he will see what happens from there.

I’m sure that you never want to see Pro Caliber again let alone bring your motorcycle back to that shop, but we paid them a lot of money to fix your motorcycle and it is their responsibility to do so. Unfortunately, if you decided to take your motorcycle somewhere else to have it repaired, we cannot pay for the repair a second time. If Pro Caliber were to refund our money, we could then help you out again if you went to a different shop.  Our suggestion is to contact the General Manager at Pro Caliber and talk to him directly and also contact the Honda customer service department because Pro Caliber stated that they had a case open with Honda about your motorcycle. You can also talk to Honda about what has taken place so they are aware of the situation. There is another Pro Caliber up in Vancouver Washington and if they two shops work it between themselves, that could be an option instead of having to take your motorcycle back to the one in Bend OR.

We are hoping that this gets resolved some how but at the moment, there isn’t anything more we can do to assist you.

Thank you“

There have ben few times in my life where I was so pissed off and had to just suck it up. I didn’t do anything wrong. I bought a bike (and a warranty) and took it to a shop to have it fixed when it went wonky. That ‘s it.

The bike got fucked even more, I got lied to, called a liar, then was told by the shop manager if I posted anything about the issue, they weren’t going to do anything to resolve a damn thing.

After doing a ton of research on many moto forums for bikes with the DCT I was able to run down the issue and fix it myself. What it came down to was the battery, when they get run down it can effect the DCT operation and mine was 3 years old so was due for replacement. I bought a new stock battery, installed it and have romped the living shit out of the bike and it’s just fine, works like a charm. Amazing that the shop appears to have stolen $4,700 to not fix shit and I, after a day of research, was able to resolve the issue for around $250.

After more back and forth and a little cooling off, the shop manager offered to track down a new clip for the plug in the ABS module, which turns out to be a part of the wiring harness. He tracked a harness down and offered to install it, but I wasn’t going to let the “techs” there attempt such a thing when they couldn’t even remove the plastic without fucking it up. I figured out my own solution to the plug issue and have not had any problems since.

To those who may be thinking, “Why didn’t you just fix it yourself in the first place?”, the answer is: It’s a new complex bike, I was 200 miles from home, had a warranty and, well, you don’t know what you don’t know until you need to figure such things out. Now I know.

I’m going to renege on my not naming the shop, It’s Pro (amateur) Caliber in Bend, OR as you may have noticed from the above email. If you need service there don’t let Jack touch your bike, because if he fucks up, he’ll lie to you then lie to Mr. Raszler, the manager, who will tell you you’re wrong.

Whew! Glad I got that over with.

I guess the thing that so floored and bothered me is just how blatantly I was made to be the enemy by the shop and manager when trying only to get my damn bike fixed. And how little I could do about it. Zero attempt initially at any form of customer service, they got paid and I could go pound sand. I’ve been treated better over a fucked up coffee order, much less an issue on a $13,000 motorcycle.

Thanks for letting me vent, both of you. Now it’s time to head to the garage, do the winter maintenance on Taz then ride the hell out of it.

Hope to see you out there.