In December - January Simi Valley Cycles which carries Yamaha, Suzuki and Triumph motorcycles took my bike in for a warranty repair. The problem was aa intermittent ignition coil.
In the process of trying to fix the bike, they took over 4 weeks, stored the bike uncovered outdoors during one of the worst continuous rainstorms we've had in Southern California. They removed the carburetor float bowls and broke both of them. Rather than replace the broken float bowls with new items, they instead glued them back together using epoxy and in the process of doing so rendered them in-adjustable.
When I went to pick up the bike, the original problem of the faulty ignition coil still wasn't fixed - I had to bring that to a competing dealer and they fixed that in 2 days - no charge.
My bike was completely rusted and corroded from being stored outside in the rain. When I confronted them about the damages to my bike, they said they store ALL their customer bikes outdoors including new motorcycles for sale. They do not warn their customers about this practice and thus give them the option of going elsewhere. They also refused to apologize or repair/replace any of the corroded parts. They offered to wash my bike if I wanted that.
Then when confronted about the improperly repaired float bowls, they responded that new parts were too expensive - at which I reminded them that this was warranty work and that they don't pay out-of-pocket for these parts. I got the impression that because it was their own incompetence that was to blame for the broken parts in the first place, they would be paying. They refused to replace these with new parts, or at the very least good used parts which weren't broken.
I reluctantly took the bike (before they could do any more harm to it) as it's my only transportation to work, spent an entire day detailing it as best I could at home (it's still not right and needs several parts replaced) and promptly filed a report with the BBB, who never followed up with me. I then brought it to a competing dealer who quickly diagnosed the problem and fixed the coil under warranty.
SVC has still never offered to apologize or make restitution in any way. I have spoken to many of my friends who ride motorcycles and have succesfully convinced a lot of them to purchase their motorcycles elsewhere. SVC could've made this deal right and not only kept a loyal customer, but secured thousands of dollars in additional sales and service. They've missed that opportunity now...
Fair warning to anyone wanting to purchase a Yamaha, Suzuki, Triumph or Ski-Doo watercraft - avoid Simi Valley Cycles AT ALL COST. They will not take good care of your property and their mechanics are incompetent.
They left my bike in ruins with carbs that will most likely leak fuel in the future causing a hazard and with ~$1700 worth of corrosion damage.
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