[y3kbug]

Hi Everyone!

I'm hoping someone will have some great advice for me and my "problem".

For some background on me, I live in Arizona in the USA, I'm fairly new to riding and really don't have any friends that ride. About 4 months ago I purchased a brand new Ducati 1198. I was elated, it's an awesome bike!

Then, about 2 months ago it got tired and laid down (okay I crashed it); and it needed repairs. I took it to the dealership where I purchased it and went through all the hassles with the insurance company, but after about 3 weeks they agreed to pay for the repairs.

It has now been two months since I took it into the dealership and they have still not fixed my bike. They are most recently blaming it on Ducati sending frames (yes, that's more than one) to them without a VIN stamp. So I wanted to get some perspective on my situation from people who ride and specifically those who ride Ducatis.

Am I nuts to think that 2 months should be plenty long enough to fix my bike?

Is this the sort of service I should expect from a Ducati Dealer and Ducati itself?

Does anyone have any ideas how I can speed this situation along so I can just enjoy my bike again?

I would appreciate some insight from any and all of you. I'm frankly losing it, after being VERY understanding for two months. Thank you!

 

[pitbull03]

Ducati does tend to take a while shipping parts at times. You might want to contact Ducati North America yourself and see if they can resolve your wait time. If that doesn't work, you might try contacting Ducati in Italy. They tend to have better customer service.

 

[motodave]

If you are waiting for a frame then yes a couple of months could very well be normal, though does your couple of months start from when the bike was estimated at the dealer? or a couple of months and three weeks that the insurance company took to ok the estimate? It is entirely possible that some of this delay is due to the dealer not aware of a special order form used only for frames, there is no other way to get a frame w/o this form.
After this form is properly filled out and faxed/e-mailed to Ducati it is also possible that 4-6 weeks before delivery is also possible. Most parts from Ducati dont take very long to get to the dealer network but it can be a part that they just dont have in stock and then the wait time is longer.

 

[ericjansen]

I don't want to depress you further, bur expect that it might take a much longer time.
My rear sprocket carrier of a Marchesini wheel (also from Bella Italia) broke early May.

I first tried to get replacements direct from Marchesini in Italy, but gave up after 6 weeks of no reply, no promised call back, no any satisfactory correspondence at all.

I then tried through their agent in Holland, who after 3 months finally managed to get the parts (and we are talking about standard, off the shelf, parts!).
And guess what when they finally arrived in China? Yes, they were wrong......

Well, that case is still not solved, but just an example of many I can give you of working with suppliers in Italy.
It is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, their food is marvelous and they are great architects, but as suppliers they are often worthless.

If I was you I should just put pressure every where you can (your dealer, and like suggested perhaps call DNA or Ducati in Italy) as without pressure it might take even longer!

 

[y3kbug]

Thanks for the repsonses guys. It's a very depressing situation. I will try some of the suggestions and see if it doesn't help speed things up. It can't very well slow them down any.

though does your couple of months start from when the bike was estimated at the dealer? or a couple of months and three weeks that the insurance company took to ok the estimate?

Since you asked, that's actually a couple of months plus 2 of the 3 weeks the insurance company took. By this upcoming Wednesday it will be 2 months on top of the 3 weeks the insurance company diddled around.

 

[y3kbug]

Update!!!

Well I know all of you were just waiting to find out the latest details.

I took some of the advice here and contacted both Ducati N.A. and Italy. Ducati, Italy I think is having translation problems as they're still asking for info I've already sent. Fair enough, language barrier and all that, can't expect that to move very quickly.

Ducati of North America responded to my email quickly saying they apologized for my experience and they would contact the dealer and look into it and over-all gave me a warm fuzzy that I was making progress of some kind.

My new frame (that's actually the third new frame if you've been counting) arrived at the dealership yesterday. Ducati of North America called me today to let me know, and they said it even had the right VIN on it. Hooray! I love that news! I'll have my bike back soon!

Just one problem the Ducati rep says...There's a manufacturing defect in the frame so they have to order ANOTHER one from the factory. (lucky number 4?) :crazy:

I wanted to scream at the rep, but it's not her fault the factory can't make a freaking frame that's right. I want to yell at the dealership because it's their fault they took so long to order the first frame, but realistically if the factory sent them the right frame the first time it would have been done a long time ago. I can't yell at the factory in Italy because I don't know any Italian swear words. So I guess all I can do is sit here fuming at my inability to do anything about the situation.

If someone has any baseball cards they were willing to give me, I could put them in my bicycle spokes to make the "vroom vroom" noise. It looks like that's as close to riding as I'll get for awhile.

 

[Chuckracer]

I think I'd be headed to a Buell dealer about now...

 

[y3kbug]

OMG It's finally done! I get my bike back, woohoo!!!

I'm a little bit happy about it.

Of course now I'm getting a newly "repaired" bike on Friday the 13th...Oh well, what's the worst that can happen?



But I get my bike back!