To start; My Honda Navi was in a hit and run accident. Bike was in bad shape. Cracked/missing plastics, handlebars bent and the front forks were beyond repair. The bike still ran just fine. It started up and everything. The speedometer was working, gas gauge worked, blinkers, tail lights, everything. The front end was just crooked. So, I ordered a new pair of forks. I installed them, but there was one problem. They would stay compressed. All that's in them, is a spring and a stopper. I figured I messed it up and didn't have the time to continue working on it.
After doing some research and seeing that this place advertised motorcycle AND scooter repair (The Navi is a smaller Grom, so it's basically a scooter that looks like a motorcycle) I decided to bring it in. I had one request. Fix the forks. I did not care about the plastics, the handlebars, or anything like that. Those were all repairs I could make in under an hour.
I get a call from them about a week later, stating that my forks were bent. I ask them how that happened, as I put on new forks. They were absolutely not bent. So they ask if I can swing by the shop. I do. They show me the forks (which were NOT bent, go figure) and they tell me that the handlebars were crooked, so they thought that the forks were bent. Mind you, they've had it for a week and had the front half fully disassembled. I told them exactly why the handlebars were bent. It was because there's a bracket that screws in to the forks, to hold the handlebars. That bracket, was bent. Not the forks. They bring that piece out to me as I try to explain to the mechanic that barely speaks English, that this is why the handlebars are crooked. I do not care about that. Fix the forks. That's it.
Another week goes by, I get a call saying it's fixed. I get there, they charge me like $700. I know this is an asinine price, but I'm not about to argue. Any mechanic that knew what they were doing (clearly, not me) should've easily been able to fix this in under 2 hours. There was no diagnostic needed, I told them exactly what was wrong and what I wanted fixed. It's literally a metal tube, welded to another two tubes, with a spring and stopper in those two tubes with two rods that go in those tubes. It's like 7 parts, excluding the bearings. What did they charge me for? I'm glad you didn't ask, reader! New forks and installation. The same forks I BROUGHT IN AND ATTACHED TO THE BIKE. Oh, and fork seal replacements. THE BIKE DOESN'T EVEN HAVE FORK SEALS. I was beyond a "screw it" mood. I just wanted to grab my bike and bounce at this point.
Oh, but it gets worse. Much worse. They tell me that it has problems starting. (I brought it in, fully functioning, they even confirmed this when I brought it in as they documented all previous damage) Luckily though, they're just "uninformed" and didn't realize that the choke was off. Yes, cold starting a single cylinder engine is going to cause hiccups. Oh, they also said that there was electrical problems. Again, it worked fine going in to the shop. More on that later. Also, the speedometer cable wasn't working apparently. So they just took it out and handed it to me when I picked the bike up. Again, more on that below. But, they did fix the problem I had. The forks didn't stay bottomed out. So there's that, I guess?
Now, for the ugly. I'm not going to ride a bike that doesn't have working lights. The headlight didn't work, nor did most of my blinkers. So, I take off the plastics. Or, so I thought I would. These buffoons cross threaded two of the screws holding the headlight cowl on. So, after I drill them out, I check on the electrical. The problem? Obvious. The way that the blinkers work, is they're all connected under the cluster, behind the headlight. They use these weird crimped connectors. You plug the male end in, and the crimped piece of metal makes contact after it clicks in to place. They didn't click in to place. They were bent wide open. After bending them back to roughly the original shape, it worked again. Nice. As for the speedometer, I still have no idea what's up with that. The bike tops out at 50 MPH, so I honestly didn't care enough to fix it. The bike has two speeds. Slow, and stopped. I don't need to know how fast I'm going, as I can't really go faster than the speed limit anyway. My best guess? They somehow messed that up too. It wouldn't surprise me at this point.
In summary: I took in a running and functioning Honda Navi to get the new OEM forks I purchased reinstalled after I messed up the first installation. They ignored what I said, tried to replace the already new forks and I had to go down to the shop and explain that they weren't bent, as they were new. They proceed to nearly destroy the wiring, possibly (but not provably, mind you) the speedometer cable and cross thread the screws on my plastics. They then charged me for a replacement part they didn't order and parts that don't eve exist.
Conclusion: Don't come here. read more