Hayball Motorcycles Reviews 

Reply from Hayball Motorcycles

Jul 3, 2021

All motorcycles require maintenance, both owner maintenance of things like chain adjustment and lubrication and cleaning and also trained professional maintenance. Especially the first service on a new bike as this is where components bed in and require adjustment to keep in spec and be re-torqued, it is when the running in oil is changed as internal components wear in. It is quite normal for all engines regardless of brand or type or value and yes it is chargeable as was explained when you purchased the bike.

When we had a call regarding the chain at the end of January we of course asked if you had breakdown or required collection, it is a normal request for every customer to enable us to determine how the bike will get to us, we aren’t a breakdown company so these things need to be arranged. We collected it as agreed in early February and found the chain had not had any owner maintenance at all since your purchase in November which had caused its premature wear but nor had the first service been carried out when bike had covered 893 km despite it being due at 500 km. The bike was quite dirty and required additional time to clean before we could even start the service. The collection, the cleaning and the chain were provided free of charge as a goodwill gesture by us because our service has NEVER just stopped at the sale. You were only charged for the service as per the manufacturer schedule and the fitting of the chain at £83.14+ vat. It is quite normal for customers to pay for their own vehicles maintenance. We believed at the time we were helping a new rider that didn’t yet know better and with a guiding hand could have many happy years of ownership. We tried to stress to both yourself and your son the importance of continued owner maintenance to avoid premature wear of components and gave advice of the servicing schedule.

The next time we saw the bike was Saturday May 29th when your son rode it in and asked us to help due to difficulty in running. We checked it straight away and found the fuel pump wasn’t supplying sufficient fuel and on the same day we requested a warranty repair from the manufacturer. This was authorised on June 16th the part was received on Tuesday 29th June. Due to being told on June 23rd the bike now no longer started we called and arranged to collect the bike on July 1st. This was not 6+ weeks but 4 weeks. We are not responsible for the manufacturer’s stock levels or speediness of supply. We are of course responsible for our own and for the part to get to us and then be fitted within 48 hours we felt was a timely fashion.

The fuel pump was replaced and on testing after the replacement the bike would now start but not run properly, a check on the compression showed it was only 120 psi which told us the valve clearances needed adjusting. With the bike nearing its next service schedule (due at 3000km which is approximately 2000 miles) in both km and time and a full workshop schedule booked up with us for the next few weeks, we offered to carry out the service while it was with us where we would also adjust the valve clearances. It is what we would do if it was one of our own bikes. This was declined and you said you were going to collect the bike despite us saying it was not running correctly. When you arrived the bike did start and your son started to ride it home, again against our advice and quickly found that what we had been saying was correct.

While the mileage covered wasn’t bang on what the manufacturer schedule shows, the fact was that maintenance was needed to ensure a correctly functioning bike, as it was approximately 700 km and only 1 month (whichever comes first) until the next due service it seemed sensible to us to carry out the service now rather than do one part of it now and then wait until later to do the rest of it and potentially exceed the mileage/time again and take up more of your time.

We cannot force anyone to maintain their bike; we can only advise what is needed. Even after the discussion where you said you didn't want to pay and we had to inform we we wouldn't do it for free we then delivered the bike back (again without charge) the same day.

So today we read in your review that the valve clearances were as we stated out of spec and having had them adjusted the bike now runs fine, exactly as we advised.

While we are all up for criticism where we can learn and improve, I am not sure what else we could have done. The bike required maintenance to correctly run, we advised you of that maintenance and you declined. We are pleased to read you did decide to take the advise and your son is now able to ride safely.

Reply from Hayball Motorcycles

Jun 8, 2021

Well this is disappointing to read. I can only assume we were all otherwise occupied with other customers at the time as we do try and make sure every customer is welcomed and at the very least acknowledge where possible. Do give us another try, we are a very friendly bunch and I am sure you will be happy with the service you receive if you choose to come back.