A Tale of Factory Pro Customer Service

After much deliberation I ordered a Factory Pro shift star kit for my black scooter.

Gear changes had always been a bit clunky so I figured it would be a good upgrade.

http://www.factorypro.com/Prod_Pages/prodh76.html

The kit took a year to arrive (I think they probably batch production when they get enough orders) and looked to be very well made.

During installation catastrophe struck when the micro bearing flew apart and sprayed the inside of the engine and shed floor with micro balls from the bearing.
The detent arm slipped maybe 6mm and the outer race came off, the bearing cage came apart and it was a few moments of rather intense swearing.

After repeatedly saying things like "damn", "blast" and "sodding fucking hell", I began the exacting process of trying to find 11 0.5mm steel balls on the shed floor and in the gearbox (must have had a very uniform spray pattern as they went into the windows into the gearbox as well as out onto the floor.

I have now found 9 of the 11. Still searching for the other 2 but it may be hopeless, I just have to figure out how to make sure none are left in the motor.

As the shift kit (arm and shift star) were around $400 Aud delivered to me from the Aussie distributor I was a bit vexed about the cost. To replace just the arm would be about $250 AUD. Funds are too tight at the moment to justify replacing it.

After thinking about it for a bit, I emailed Factory Pro about my install problems (well, disaster really) to see if the bearing was replaceable and whether the stock Honda shift arm could be used with the Factory Pro modified star.

I must admit I didn't expect too much as the install was my problem and I'm a fair way from Factory Pro.

The next morning (we are 15 hrs in front of the time zone Factory Pro are in) I had an email from Marc Salvisberg saying that the bearing could not be replaced but he was shipping me a new arm immediately. Tracking number arrived the next morning and its on its way.

I was absolutely amazed at the speed and kindness of his response. Awesome customer service.

So a big thank you to Marc at Factory Pro for helping me out when I was really in a bind.

I still have 2 balls to try to find but at least when I make sure the inside of the engine is ball free I will have the bits to put her back together.

 

Always good to hear of positive feedback about experiences with the corporate world we deal with. We hear about the bitches really fast nad very few compliments for good service, which seems to be lagging badly these days.

I have had similar very positive experiences with Shoei Joe Rocket. They both have gone beyond what I would normally expect for me.

Good to hear about your experience with them. Good luck with your upcoming task. I hope those two errant buggers are not in the engine. Bugga.

 

Good to hear positive stories these days!