Patience and trust
Well, a few weeks ago I wrote about the purchase and delivery of the bikes, and said that two of three are already bought. Time goes, things change. All bikes are bought and until yesterday just two have been delivered.
The third one, my Kawasaki Versys 650, has had a hard time and I want to tell you about my experience I made with the guy who sold it and the mechanic who was 'trying' to fix it.
When the seller was driving down from Colombia to reach the south of Ecuador some days later, it happened that the TPS (throttle position sensor) broke. So he brought the bike to a mechanic in Quito and the mechanic then tried to organize this sensor. This happened at May 22nd.
May 24th: the seller decides to leave Quito and travel to my girlfriend by bus, as the sensor was not available in Ecuador and he says he can't wait until the sensor arrives from Colombia, which should take 3 days.
May 25th: the seller arrives in South Ecuador and does the paperwork with my girlfriend. The bike now is officially mine. But the sensor neither is available in Colombia. The mechanic decided to order it from the U.S.
June 4th: Just received the confirmation that the sensor is ordered from the states.
.... 23 days waiting for the sensor to arrive...
June 27th: Mechanic says the dealer sent the wrong sensor. I'm asking him to please order the correct again. He says this could take until 25th of July. The seller tells me to stay calm and that the mechanic is totally trustworthy and they promise me that the bike will be fixed and delivered until the first of August.
The seller also promises that the sensor will arrive until 20th of July.
July 4th: The mechanic still has not ordered the part. He says all the dealers he contacted do not deliver to Ecuador. Mechanic: "Don't worry, I will solve the problem. It's my job". He promised me to check again for sensors in the states and will contact me tomorrow.
July 6th: The mechanic could not order the part but said that he fixed the problem with his team of engineers. He even posted a video on Facebook telling everybody that he apparently fixed the TPS. We're trying to organize the transport of the bike.
July 14th: The transport company is waiting for the bike to be delivered from the mechanics. The repair costs and transportation costs are paid to the mechanic (about 450 USD). The mechanic claims the sensor doesn't work anymore after 20 minutes of driving, and he won't deliver today. We're hoping the seller can order the part and send it to Ecuador.
July 19th: Nothing happened the last few days. The seller hasn't ordered the sensor. Time until my arrival is less than two weeks. I ordered a sensor from Switzerland to take it with me.
I'm trying to organize the transport of the bike with another guy from Quito which is a friend of my girlfriend.
July 21st: The mechanic claims that the seller didn't care enough of the bike and that's why there are more problems than just the TPS.
July 22nd: The friend of my girlfriend is trying to pick up the bike in Quito, but the mechanic hasn't assembled the bike yet.
July 26th: My girlfriend's father is staying in Quito and planning to transport the bike to their home in the south of the country. The mechanic says he needs about 2 hours more to assemble the bike, which he finally did. He also says that the bike runs now, but he couldn't do a test drive and anyway he thinks it's not going to run a long time, cause of the other problems. Suddenly the TPS isn't topic of the problems anymore. Has there ever been any problem with the sensor? How can it take you two and a half months to know about all problems? Have the other parts really had problems before or, evil thoughts..., has he replaced these with bad parts? No idea...
Anyway, the bike has been transported and at least is not at the mechanics anymore!
This experience has been really frustrating, time-consuming and nerve-racking... Now I just hope it's not that bad as the mechanic said and I'm looking forward to arriving there next tuesday. :)
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| My Versys at the mechanics in Quito |
The third one, my Kawasaki Versys 650, has had a hard time and I want to tell you about my experience I made with the guy who sold it and the mechanic who was 'trying' to fix it.
When the seller was driving down from Colombia to reach the south of Ecuador some days later, it happened that the TPS (throttle position sensor) broke. So he brought the bike to a mechanic in Quito and the mechanic then tried to organize this sensor. This happened at May 22nd.
May 24th: the seller decides to leave Quito and travel to my girlfriend by bus, as the sensor was not available in Ecuador and he says he can't wait until the sensor arrives from Colombia, which should take 3 days.
May 25th: the seller arrives in South Ecuador and does the paperwork with my girlfriend. The bike now is officially mine. But the sensor neither is available in Colombia. The mechanic decided to order it from the U.S.
June 4th: Just received the confirmation that the sensor is ordered from the states.
.... 23 days waiting for the sensor to arrive...
June 27th: Mechanic says the dealer sent the wrong sensor. I'm asking him to please order the correct again. He says this could take until 25th of July. The seller tells me to stay calm and that the mechanic is totally trustworthy and they promise me that the bike will be fixed and delivered until the first of August.
The seller also promises that the sensor will arrive until 20th of July.
July 4th: The mechanic still has not ordered the part. He says all the dealers he contacted do not deliver to Ecuador. Mechanic: "Don't worry, I will solve the problem. It's my job". He promised me to check again for sensors in the states and will contact me tomorrow.
July 6th: The mechanic could not order the part but said that he fixed the problem with his team of engineers. He even posted a video on Facebook telling everybody that he apparently fixed the TPS. We're trying to organize the transport of the bike.
July 14th: The transport company is waiting for the bike to be delivered from the mechanics. The repair costs and transportation costs are paid to the mechanic (about 450 USD). The mechanic claims the sensor doesn't work anymore after 20 minutes of driving, and he won't deliver today. We're hoping the seller can order the part and send it to Ecuador.
July 19th: Nothing happened the last few days. The seller hasn't ordered the sensor. Time until my arrival is less than two weeks. I ordered a sensor from Switzerland to take it with me.
I'm trying to organize the transport of the bike with another guy from Quito which is a friend of my girlfriend.
July 21st: The mechanic claims that the seller didn't care enough of the bike and that's why there are more problems than just the TPS.
July 22nd: The friend of my girlfriend is trying to pick up the bike in Quito, but the mechanic hasn't assembled the bike yet.
July 26th: My girlfriend's father is staying in Quito and planning to transport the bike to their home in the south of the country. The mechanic says he needs about 2 hours more to assemble the bike, which he finally did. He also says that the bike runs now, but he couldn't do a test drive and anyway he thinks it's not going to run a long time, cause of the other problems. Suddenly the TPS isn't topic of the problems anymore. Has there ever been any problem with the sensor? How can it take you two and a half months to know about all problems? Have the other parts really had problems before or, evil thoughts..., has he replaced these with bad parts? No idea...
Anyway, the bike has been transported and at least is not at the mechanics anymore!
This experience has been really frustrating, time-consuming and nerve-racking... Now I just hope it's not that bad as the mechanic said and I'm looking forward to arriving there next tuesday. :)
So Daniel, did you finally arrive in Ecuador?
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