Let me start by saying, I very rarely post anything negative about any company. We all make mistakes, people do, companies do – man, I make loads of them! But there are mistakes, and there is sheer incompetence. Also, when mistakes happen most people / companies recognise their error, and rectify it without drama or additional stress for the customer. So, with all that said, lets talk about AMS Tewksbury.
So I purchased the KTM 690 from AMS brand new. The grab handles and footpegs come with the bike, but are not attached unless you ask the dealer to fit them for you (in which case they will do so before you collect the bike). I had already done my research before I ordered the bike, and knew I wanted to fit a Perun rear rack. The Perun rear rack uses the same mounts as the passenger grab handles (you basically fit the rack to those mount points, instead of the grab handles. So, it made sense to get AMS to drill the plastics for the grab handles, so I could just fit the rack when I picked the bike up. AMS must drill plastics each and every day, I am a computer programmer and never drill plastics – so makes sense for them to do it, right? hmmm…. read on.
The 690 Enduro plastics come with marked drill points for the grab handle mounts, which in theory means you just drill at those marks with the appropriate sized bit, and you are done. However, my research had led me to understand that the markings were not quite in the right place – and if you just blindly drilled those points, the holes would be in the wrong place. So, as AMS drill plastics all the time, I was sure they would of course know this. However, I left nothing to chance, so in the email I sent them re drilling the plastics on the new bike (this is before I collected it), I spelt it out, hell I even drew them a picture. Below is the email I sent them.
So, I got a response from AMS saying they were happy to drill the holes, and I never thought about it again until I collected the bike. When I collected the bike, it was obvious to me, even from a very quick visual inspection that the holes on the rear side plastics were in the wrong place. The AMS Tewksbury salesman – in true salesman style explained they were in the correct place, and the rack or hand guards would mount up fine. After a ride home, I dug out the grab handles and offered them up against the AMS drilled holes, of course the grab handle mounting points should just drop into the drilled holes – this is what I found:
It was the same story on both sides, the holes were miles off. I called AMS Tewksbury and explained my fears on collection that the holes were in the wrong place had been confirmed and I emailed them the above picture. I suspected they would just hold up their hands, send new plastics and say I had to drill them myself – which would have been job done. However, to my astonishment that was not the case. I was told wait till your rack arrives, it will mount up just fine! In response I explained that the mount uses the same spacing as the grab handles, so if the grab handles are miles off, it will be the same for the rack, but there were NOT interested. This left me worrying about it for over a week until the Perun racked arrived.
When the rack did arrive, I tried it and guess what? Shock, Horror the holes were miles off for that too. I contacted AMS Tewkbusry again, but still no commitment from AMS Tewksbury to replace the panels they had ruined by inaccurate drilling.
Finally, when looking at the holes AMS had drilled, it occurred to me they looked larger than the 15mm I had requested, so I went off and grabbed my ruler. And guess what?
They had managed to drill the holes 20mm instead of 15mm. WTF!
So, in summary I had asked for the holes to be drilled by a KTM main dealer. Explained I though the factory drill markings were off (which they should already know as a KTM main dealer), and asked them for 15mm holes. And what I got was 4 holes drilled – all of them the wrong size, and two of them completely in the wrong place. I make that 6 mistakes made in drilling 4 holes.
Eventually, after pointing out the holes were not just in the wrong place, they were also the wrong size, AMS eventually agreed to replace the plastics for me to drill myself. So, we got there in the end.
It is a shame however, that this all took the edge off that new bike experience. Where for the first week or two of ownership, you look longingly at your bike, wipe off each and every little spec of dust and feel very smug with yourself about your new purchase. Instead, I was busily trying to sort out an issue that should never have happened with no commitment it would be sorted. They should have admitted their mistake straight away and shipped new plastics, as opposed to making a customer worry for 10 days about an issue of their making.
A lesson learned!
Small Bike Adventures 