Well guys I know it has been awhile and hope the New Year has found you all in good health and spirits.

I am sorry about the title but needed to get everyone’s attention, although I will not apologize for why it is titled that. I will try to make this short and sweet to the point.

This really entails my wife’s V-Star 1100 Classic. The following is a short summarized version.

Ok her bike has gone through two one way starter clutches in 9,000 miles in an eleven month period. (Mind you Yamaha Parts are supposed to be warranted for 12,000 or 12 months).

Quick note first replacements were ordered on line through Yamaha Sports Plaza out of Washington. (name has recently changed). When they just recently broke I called them and they said contact local dealer to save shipping and time. (Long as you have a receipt with a date you can go to any dealer as the parts are inspected at factory for free replacement anyway).

Call local dealer and explain situation to them. They say call headquarters seeing as I only live 8 miles away. (Long story there but basically they said this is where parts end up for investigation).

Now the fun begins. Call Yamaha Headquarters and speak to a female tech. After explaining to her the situation and the fact that I have bought two bikes from Yamaha and two other customers who have purchased from Yamaha. All I was looking for was if not free replacement then maybe at least half off. Here is her crazy reply. THOSE PARTS ARE NOT COVERED UNDER WARRENTY BECAUSE YOU GOT THEM THROUGH AN ONLINE YAMAHA PARTS DEALER AND YOU INSTALLED THEM YOURSELF. I kept my cool and did not blow up but I did get firm that these were genuine Yamaha factory parts and nowhere in the Yamaha warranty does it state that you cannot do your own work. (You just have to keep your receipts and good records and warranty will be covered). After explaining this she says there is nothing we can do for you. I say Goodbye and hang-up.

Well seeing I only live 8 miles from Yamaha North America Headquarters I decide to drive down there toting parts in hand. After waiting in lobby for about a half hour I finally get a male tech rep and explain to him everything that has happened and he could not believe she treated me like that. He looks at parts and is shocked that they broke that quick. He takes all my information says he will contact a local dealer to see what he can do and get back to me in two-three days. Well a week goes by and I start calling and keep asking other reps to connect me to him. They keep telling me HE IS ON ANOTHER CALL AS SOON AS HE IS FINISHED HE WILL CALL YOU BACK. I wait about a half hour in between calling. Well low and behold after the fourth time someone finally connects me to him. “Hey Mike, I checked here around the factory to see if we had any of them parts around and I am sorry but we have none”. I ask if he contacted local dealer for a discount or anything as these are still under warranty. “Sorry Mike you installed them yourself so I’m afraid there is nothing we can do for you at this point”. I politely informed him that I will never ever do any more business with Yamaha and never recommend them to any one. He said Ok buy then.

So hey here is my warning to you all. If you’re doing your own work on your bikes BE VERY CAUTIOUS as this has been a lesson learned.

I suppose they don't warranty parts fitted by owners, would be because they(Yamaha) don't know if you are qualified or even put the parts in correctly. Im not saying that you don't know what your doing but i know for a fact their are plenty of back yard mechanics that don't know a damn thing about anything. Im a Qualified mechanic of 25 years and have seen some 'interesting' work done by people that thimk they are pretty special mechanics. I wouldn't take it personaly. If we(my work)sell parts to customers, they very rarely get warranty if it breaks within a short period.

Auto dealers will warranty parts that are customer installed. The only requirement (usually, not always) is that they have to leave them on the car and pay a dealer tech to change the part out, mainly to be able to test the old part or see how it failed.

I could only imagine the look on the dealership's faces if I took mine in for warranty work...

1. Develop a relationship with your dealer. Get to know a couple of people by name. Not salespeople, they are a little to "transient" and have almost zero clout. I've had vehicles worked on (under warranty) with Nitrous installed. You'd be surprised what they'll do for you if they know you...
2. If it's a part that is under warranty to begin with, have them do it the first time. Then, you're covered. I know, we like to do our own stuff. But, if you need the warranty, stick with having them do the work until you're out of warranty.
3. If you don't want to use them, don't complain when they don't want to pay for it. They get paid for the Service work and appreciate the work for the Techs. Probably a better margin than on parts, anyway.

Just my .02



Rich

I don't think Topnotch was clear about whether the bike was under warranty. I inferred that is was just the parts under warranty, and the bike itself was NOT still under warranty. But this is his thread so he'd need to clarify that point.

If the YNA representative was correct about consumer installation of OEM parts I would expect it would severely curtail OEM parts business. I know I won't be making any OEM parts purchases if there's an aftermarket source that will warranty the part and YNA will not.

Seems like a really dumb way to sell parts to me. But hey, I'm just the consumer!

M7

I have always had more faith in Aftermarket parts anyway.

Aussie B wrote:
I suppose they don't warranty parts fitted by owners, would be because they(Yamaha) don't know if you are qualified or even put the parts in correctly. Im not saying that you don't know what your doing but i know for a fact their are plenty of back yard mechanics that don't know a damn thing about anything. Im a Qualified mechanic of 25 years and have seen some 'interesting' work done by people that thimk they are pretty special mechanics. I wouldn't take it personaly. If we(my work)sell parts to customers, they very rarely get warranty if it breaks within a short period.

On the other hand, I've seen some VERY shady work done at the dealer which leads more and more people chosing to do their own work. Also, most people who do their own work are much more careful working on their own bike than most stealers are. I guess OEM parts aren't the way to go being most after market parts are covered under warrantee.

We will start to see a lot of companies not give warranty for the slightest reason. So many are struggling that they have sent word down the ranks to the tec's engineer's, and sales people not to warranty anything unless they can't avoid it. It's a sign of our economy.

my $0.02