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Norton customer care experience

Has anyone out there had to test the customer care from the factory?

I have and I found it absolutely average. I really thought they would be above the base line.

Everyone I have met and spoken at the factory have been exceptionally helpful....... until I reported a nasty oil leak which developed at around 700 miles. I contacted the factory (from whom I purchased the bike last year) No problem honouring the warranty, but little details like not offering (refusing) to pick the bike up was a surprise. Here was an opportunity to to go above and beyond to sort out a problem, but no they didn't. The factory was the closest place to me to buy the bike, so they haven't had to pay a commission to a dealer, and have the sole customer care responsibility

I'm disappointed.

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I have just picked up a new bike from the factory and so far all the dealings with Norton has been excellent so I am interested to hear your comments as I'm sure I will be requiring their services at some point soon. To my mind you should not be out of pocket for a warranty issue - who were you dealing with?

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Maybe I am cynical but why would you expect Norton to be different?

My own experience is that no manufacturer gives a damn once they have your money.They make sympathetic noises and do the bare minimum to ahere to their warranties.

Hopefully they will resolve the problem with your fine machine.

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Hi My bike has been back for warranty work and for servicing. I prefer them to work on it rather than my local dealer as I feel they are best placed to deal with any problems. I pay for the bike to be transported to and from theirs if I do not take it myself. Warranty work has sometimes been paid for by them. I have always found them to be courteous to deal with. I have spoken to the owner several times whilst there and by email. He only seems to want the best for his customers but knows that sometimes things do go wrong. I cannot argue with that. I only hope that your experience gets better.

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I am also relatively local to the factory and have chosen to use them for servicing but I get the feeling that although I trust them to know more about the bike than a dealer a local shop might be more inclined to go the extra mile to keep your business for servicing as this is what keeps their business alive.

The line from Norton on warranty work seems to be 'this is normal in the industry for the customer to arrange for the bike to be taken in'. It sounds odd but I know for a fact they have limited bike transport facilities at the factory so they would probably recommend to take it to your local dealer.

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My experience with Norton has also been good since taking delivery of a Sport model at the end of 2012 (during the days ofnearly 2 year delivery times)- always accommodating ,efficient with servicing and keen to please. First free 500 mile service was carried out with collectionand return by their own delivery van which they've since got rid of.I've had one subsequent service using one of the regular bike transport guys (Robbie) which worked very well , although of course you pay for this.

Monday this weekdrove up to Donington to collect a new fuel tank - original tank developed some blistering and rippling through the paintworksix months ago (petrol reacts with the HDPE materialfrom which tanks are made- empty out tank if you're not using bike for a long period , like over winter). Paint job was excellent with a perfect colour match (sunburst yellow). Whilst there askedto see the "RR" - wished I hadn't as I wanted it immediately - amazing machine ! First planned production batch of 250 unitsalmost fully booked now.

Also saw the 961 assembly process - teams of two put these bikes together and current delivery timequotedis "about six weeks". Norton Motorcycles looked to mea well run , vibrant set-up -with a future.

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By strange coincidence I had to use a Triumph dealer last week for a 12,000 miles service for my Tiger 1050.

It came back with an oil leak. I phoned them and they immediately offered to pick the bike up and sort it out. This is a dealer I have never used before, I didn't buy the bike there, and have never bought anything from them.

How come they can offer a better customer service that the Norton factory.

The person I spoke to in Norton was responsible for warranty, there is no issue with them honouring this. It's just the aggro of getting the bike back to the factory.

I was tolf that the factory doesn't own a van to pick the bike up. I think Mr Garner should support his staff better and buy them a van, or let them borrow the race bike van.

I offer these comments as feedback for the Norton factory. For very little cost they could make this experience more positive than it is. Lets not even talk about the oil leak........

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Update:

I trailered the bike back to Castle Donnington, and the oil leak was quickly diagnosed as crank case pressure pushing the oil past a cable grommit. The people in service were great couldn't be more helpful and worked through their lunch so I could take the bike away in good time.

So Olivia and the chap I didn't catch your name (sorry).

You are absolute stars.Cool

PS

There is a mod for all 961 engines to add a breather in the gearbox fill plug. The other symptom of the pressure build up is pushing oil past the starter motor seal

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Update to my customer service experience:

It was becoming increasingly difficult to start the Dominator, all symptoms pointed to duff battery.

The bike was due for it's service, so I trailered it up to the factory.

Olivia in the service department listened to the symptoms and on learning that the speedo mileage was jumping by around 25 miles intermitantly between power ups,quickly diagnosed the speedo as the culprit for the the starting problem. Did the service and swapped the speedo for a new one. Once again working through her lunch hour so I would miss the traffic back on a Friday afternoon.

Since then then bike has started no problem.

I must comment that Olivia is an outstanding example of great customer service, and I'm impressed that Norton employ such a pleasant and skillful customer facing employee, she also speaks 3 languages, so hopefully will go far in the company.

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Previously peter_myers wrote:

Update to my customer service experience:

It was becoming increasingly difficult to start the Dominator, all symptoms pointed to duff battery.

The bike was due for it's service, so I trailered it up to the factory.

Olivia in the service department listened to the symptoms and on learning that the speedo mileage was jumping by around 25 miles intermitantly between power ups,quickly diagnosed the speedo as the culprit for the the starting problem. Did the service and swapped the speedo for a new one. Once again working through her lunch hour so I would miss the traffic back on a Friday afternoon.

Since then then bike has started no problem.

I must comment that Olivia is an outstanding example of great customer service, and I'm impressed that Norton employ such a pleasant and skillful customer facing employee, she also speaks 3 languages, so hopefully will go far in the company.

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Got to agree Peter she found my clutch case not correctly machined and replaced top girl amazed at the way she moves bikes around.

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it has been posted on Access Norton that Olivia has moved on - is this the case? If so it is a loss to the service department.

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If that's true then there is something rotten in the state of Norton. When I bought my 961 in 2015 the lady in charge was called Karen , she was absolutely fantastic , knew everything about everything and could solve your problem at the drop of a hat . Sometimes I am sure she bypassed 'official' Norton procedure to get a result for you, when she left, the 'management' said she had left to start her own business which I thought was bullshit at the time and still do. Since then there has been so many changes of office staff and service mechanics etc, that I no longer know any of the names down there, and all that in three years.

I have suspected for a long time that all is not a bed of rosesat Donningtonconcerning the employment structure and I would advise any one not to get too friendly with a name at the end of the phone . In my opinion staff wise " There's trouble at tmill" which in the long run is not good for the customers new or old.Undecided

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Previously peter_banks wrote:

If that's true then there is something rotten in the state of Norton. When I bought my 961 in 2015 the lady in charge was called Karen , she was absolutely fantastic , knew everything about everything and could solve your problem at the drop of a hat . Sometimes I am sure she bypassed 'official' Norton procedure to get a result for you, when she left, the 'management' said she had left to start her own business which I thought was bullshit at the time and still do. Since then there has been so many changes of office staff and service mechanics etc, that I no longer know any of the names down there, and all that in three years.

I have suspected for a long time that all is not a bed of rosesat Donningtonconcerning the employment structure and I would advise any one not to get too friendly with a name at the end of the phone . In my opinion staff wise " There's trouble at tmill" which in the long run is not good for the customers new or old.Undecided

Donât think sheâs left, just in different part of factory,Olivia had been in service dept just over a year I think ,b4 that she was in a different part again, sure they do all move around the place a bit,agree some do leave for one reason or another ,but who ever Iâve dealt with they all been ok whether face to face email or phone . Catch u at meet at some point peter

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It just seems to me that after all these years they still haven't quite got their act together staff wise, maybe because I am a cynical old buggerand have seen first hand when the 'workers' are treated like a lower class and unappreciated day after day by management . Its a game of snakes and ladders and to me moving sideways is the first move towards the snake.

The first thing my workmates said to me on starting my engineering patternmaking apprenticeship was "If your any good at this job lad you will die on the bench" , if not you will get promoted or moved sideways.Frown

But of course that's just my take on things . As long as some one keeps answering the phone at the factory when we ring and provides help to the poor unwashed on the other end that's all we want innit?.

I also look forward to meeting some time Richard , pity we live so far apart.

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During the ownership of my first 961, my calls to NML were generally answered and dealt with by Karen until around October 2016. After this, the helpline was manned by Jamie, Kevin and finally Steven. All of whom were very pleasant to speak to once I was able to get hold of one of them. However, too often, my calls were responded to with the message that ****** was at a meeting, or on holiday or working in a different department and that somebody would ring me back later that day.........which generally never happened. I kept a notebook/diary of all my dealings with the factory. This ran into 20 pages for the my 961 and then 8 more for the second. This notebook also contains all of my dealings with the local supplier of my Honda 750 twin. I purchased this bike after my first 961 disappeared in the Factory 'service' department and never reappeared. There are just three lines of scribble with regard to the Honda.

Apr 2016 - Post Purchase service completed......... free of charge.

Sep 2016 - 2,000 mile service completed .......... £149

Sep 2017 - 4000 mile service completed........ £159.

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We are all (well mostly) of an age when getting a job was a job for life. You might have joined a company as a junior or apprentice and expected to be there til retirement. This is not the case now. The employment field has changed greatly. We look at a turn over of employees every two years. Tick the box on their CV as having worked for us then move on. Not always upwards sometimes sideways as well.

I want the factory to work on my bike as they should know best, have the expertise and parts to hand. Therefore I pay the premium of having it delivered and collected if I cannot do it myself. I am lucky that I work all over the country and have access to a large enough van that I can drop it off.

And as I quoted in my other post regarding warranty work sometimes it is not the asking itself but how you ask that makes the difference.

 


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