KTM Customer Service

Troll much?

I would not blame a motorcycle manufacturer for your dealers lack of competence.

Does not matter if it is motorcycles or cars. Different brands have many different tools. It is your local dealers responsibility to maintain the required tools or have a local connection that has the tools. (car shops will share special tools to help in the overhead costs.)

This is not the fault of KTM
my .02.

My mom rides that bike without a lowering kit....

BobPA wrote:

I would not blame a motorcycle manufacturer for your dealers lack of competence.

I can see that my post may be confusing... Sorry. I was more so looking to see if anyone else has dealt with customer service through KTM via dealership or otherwise. This is my first KTM, and I am just looking for recommendations on how to deal with this.

racerx217 wrote:

My mom rides that bike without a lowering kit....

I am also riding this bike without a lowering kit.... Tell your mom I like her bike. Thanks for the informative post.

BobPA wrote:

I would not blame a motorcycle manufacturer for your dealers lack of competence.

I don't want to blame KTM directly. But why would my dealership tell me that they cannot send the parts back? they never installed them. so does KTM have a policy not allowing them to receive parts after "X" amount of time? or is my dealer just being stingy... I don't want to start a big argument with my dealer, well because they are my only KTM dealer that is local. Next closest one would be a 4.5hr trip to another City.

PlainEnvelopes wrote:

Does not matter if it is motorcycles or cars. Different brands have many different tools. It is your local dealers responsibility to maintain the required tools or have a local connection that has the tools. (car shops will share special tools to help in the overhead costs.)

This is not the fault of KTM
my .02.

Thank you all for posting thus far. I know my dealership is at fault here. The big question that plagues me is why my dealership is telling me the parts cannot go back to KTM. not sure if what they are telling me is true or not. so does KTM really not accept parts back from their dealerships that have never been installed (after a 2 month period).
doesn't make sense to me. I am trying to find a peaceful resolution to this without losing my only KTM dealer that is local.

ob wrote:

Troll much?

Troll... I hope you are talking about the dealership??

I would check to see if another dealer has the tool, buy the kit and have the dealer that has the tool install it. I can't imagine what kind of tool they would need that they couldn't come up with. I have installed several lowering kits and it's been pretty straight forward. I have not installed one on that model though.

I’d love to know what this special tool is that allows you to install a lowering kit. Seems like a line of crap they are giving you.

Pay for the parts and take it to a local suspension shop, if we're talking fork internals.

mx317 wrote:

I would check to see if another dealer has the tool, buy the kit and have the dealer that has the tool install it. I can't imagine what kind of tool they would need that they couldn't come up with. I have installed several lowering kits and it's been pretty straight forward. I have not installed one on that model though.

That was their exact response as well. They have installed lots of lowering kits. Just never one on my bike. It caught them off guard I guess. My next closest dealer is 4.5hr to the next city. Snow will be flying any day now.

HenryA wrote:

Pay for the parts and take it to a local suspension shop, if we're talking fork internals.

They contacted a local suspension shop to see of they had the tools to take install it. And the local suspension shop guy actually came to the dealership and told them they needed ktms tool. Or to build one.

I'd suggest contacting KTM direct (800 # customer service) & explaining to them the situation with the dealership. Hopefully they can provide a solution for your deli-ma. Personally I wouldn't pay them for the lowering kit since it is their (dealership) responsibility to be able to perform the job as they took it in. Since they're unable to perform the job it should not be the customers responsibility to pay for the lowering kit.
Had the dealer informed you before hand that the "special tool" is no longer available then I'd understand the dealers stance on you having to pay for the kit. After having a situation like that & knowing how they operate I'd never deal with that dealership again.

Id file a complaint with jabroni

A little research on the dealer's part, possibly through a computer search, or checking with KTM Canada, might show what dealer has the tool. E-mails can solve a lot, if someone puts the energy into the problem. If the tool is a KTM specific deal, a part number search should show who has one. This isn't rocket science. What dealer are you involved with?

Wp factory service call them 951 319 3300

H4L wrote:

I'd suggest contacting KTM direct (800 # customer service) & explaining to them the situation with the dealership. Hopefully they can provide a solution for your deli-ma. Personally I wouldn't pay them for the lowering kit since it is their (dealership) responsibility to be able to perform the job as they took it in. Since they're unable to perform the job it should not be the customers responsibility to pay for the lowering kit.
Had the dealer informed you before hand that the "special tool" is no longer available then I'd understand the dealers stance on you having to pay for the kit. After having a situation like that & knowing how they operate I'd never deal with that dealership again.

I will probably have to get ahold of KTM on a weekday. There is a Canadian customer service number I can contact. Hopefully they answer.

scooter5002 wrote:

A little research on the dealer's part, possibly through a computer search, or checking with KTM Canada, might show what dealer has the tool. E-mails can solve a lot, if someone puts the energy into the problem. If the tool is a KTM specific deal, a part number search should show who has one. This isn't rocket science. What dealer are you involved with?

You are probably right, the tool does exist out there somewhere. However knowing what I know now and that KTM no longer makes the tool, I have lost interest in the kit.... chances are I will be moving cities at some point or even provinces. And if there is another KTM dealer that "does not have that tool" then no more front end suspension work. It just doesn't make sense to me anymore. I can ride the bike fine. the only thing that is a little tough is backing the bike up on slightly inclined parking lots. but I can make do. I was doing it out of pure convenience, and now it has become very inconvenient just to try and get it done...

Have them pull off the forks and send them to Powerband, Factory Connection or WP service.

That's correct. KTM, or any other manufacturering distributer will not accept any parts back from the dealer unless it's been a mistake on their part. It's also a dealership licencing agreement to have all the tools, but the things are so dam expensive and if you get them for just one job you've lost money. I'd try and work out a good price on the parts seeing as they don't have the tools and then find another dealer who has the tools. KTM may be able to locate a dealer who has purchased them through the part numbers if you haven't pissed them off already.
As a consumer, you've done your part. With tact you might need to remind the dealer that they will have the chance to recoupe the loss on future services, parts and bike purchases. Or not.

Pretty sceptical that the tool is unavailable. I’d believe it costs too much and the dealer doesn’t want to buy it. I’d check with some other dealers and see what they say. See if a special order tool is needed and if it is available. Depending on the outcome, I’d then either buy the parts at cost or refuse them.

Underground wrote:

That's correct. KTM, or any other manufacturering distributer will not accept any parts back from the dealer unless it's been a mistake on their part. It's also a dealership licencing agreement to have all the tools, but the things are so dam expensive and if you get them for just one job you've lost money. I'd try and work out a good price on the parts seeing as they don't have the tools and then find another dealer who has the tools. KTM may be able to locate a dealer who has purchased them through the part numbers if you haven't pissed them off already.
As a consumer, you've done your part. With tact you might need to remind the dealer that they will have the chance to recoupe the loss on future services, parts and bike purchases. Or not.

well shot eh.. so KTM probably wont take it back. Which is probably why my dealership tried so hard to obtain a tool, or make a tool that will work... I havn't pissed off the dealer. yet.. we are still on good terms at this time.
However on some of the invoicing I have received from the dealer it states on the invoice "no returns on electrical parts". so a lowering kit is not an electrical part... who knows..

dkg wrote:

Pretty sceptical that the tool is unavailable. I’d believe it costs too much and the dealer doesn’t want to buy it. I’d check with some other dealers and see what they say. See if a special order tool is needed and if it is available. Depending on the outcome, I’d then either buy the parts at cost or refuse them.

That is definitely one way to look at it. An expensive tool. never even thought about it like that. not a bad idea to contact a few other dealers.
Problem being is that I simply just no longer want the parts.. I want to refuse them. They are not on my bike, and I don't want to put stuff on my bike that requires hard to find tools to take apart. not gonna happen.

early wrote:

Id file a complaint with jabroni

Didn't you hear, it is always the customers fault for being too cheap and not patient with poor service.

Your dealer is a knob, he can't even perform proper suspension maintence without that tool. The lowering kit consists of nothing more then 2 cartridges,3 springs and a spacer.

If KTM is rebuilding "window'd" engines, why cant they take back this guys part? Doesnt make any sense

motoarmageddon wrote:

If KTM is rebuilding "window'd" engines, why cant they take back this guys part? Doesnt make any sense

Because the dealer probably waited too long to try and send them back. There have been several people in this thread that offered solutions to the OP's problem and he wants to make it a KTM customer service issue. KTM and other companies will let you return parts within a reasonable period of time as long as it's in the original unopened package. They charge a restock fee if it's the dealer's fault though. All this sounds like a dealer that didn't have his ducks in a row. They could have already pulled off the forks, sent them to an authorized WP service like several have listed above to have the kit installed and had the customer on his merry way.