Even my initial buying experience was bad at Ganesh Enterprises, Vikhroli, Mumbai. I found that after buying the bike, several parts were rusted, including the chasis, parts of metal frame, disk brakes, footrest, stand, etc. Unfortunately, I had already paid the cash. After repeated follow ups with the yamaha customer service the persons only agreed to paint the rusted areas, though I had asked for a complete replacement of the affected parts. On top of it, the callous service center staff says ’aisa hi rahega’, not understanding the expectations of a person buying a new bike.
Advice : Before paying even a single rupee, check the bike thoroughly for rusted areas in bright sunlight or with a powerful torch. Don’t trust the showroom or workshop lighting. Use a powerful torch to check for rusting in corners, cavities and holes.
Build quality, service center quality, cost of spares, attitude of service center staff: Now I will come to the important part. Initially I thought I had bought a good value for money bike as this bike is priced lower compared to other 150 cc bikes. (However it gives a mileage of only 30 kmpl even after 4th service.) However, once I was not able to maintain balance on my bike and it dropped on one side. Then, after restoring it, when I started riding it, I found that several things were wrong with the bike. The handlebar was twisted to one side and I was feeling a lot of vibrations. After taking it to the service center I was told that both the handle and forks had to be replaced. Further, there was a crack on the instrument panel housing causing it also to vibrate. Even though instruments were working normally, I was told that the entire instrument set had to be replaced as there was no way of just replacing just the instrument housing.
The total cost of the repairs was close to 6000. This included some imported screws where each screw costed 300 Rs.! 300 Rs. for an ordinary screw can you believe it! This clearly shows the cheap metal and plastic used in Yamaha bikes where even after a small fall, so many things go wrong with the bike. Clearly you can see where the cost cutting has happened. I am sure I could have spent the 6000 Rs. extra to buy a Honda bike and atleast I would have got a better build quality. Further, there is no scope of replacing just the affected part (in this case the instrument housing) but rather the entire assembly needs to be replaced ( in this case the entire instrument assembly). This clearly indicates that Yamaha intends to make a lot of money through expensive spares and repair work. Hence, the competitive pricing is just an eyewash.
Not to mention the completely disrespectful attitude of the service center manager and staff at kamala yamaha chembur; they just have some stupid girls at the counter who don’t know anything about customer service, or even how to talk to the customer. Further I was told that my warranty would be void because I did not follow the recommended service schedule. I have many priorities and I can only service the bike at my own convenience and it is not possible to strictly adhere to their schedule.
I am shocked that Yamaha is cancelling the warranty just for the simple reason of not adhering to the schedule.