A rant about Rotax lack of owner support
in Rotax-Owner Community
9 years ago
Under the old topic
“Can't remove oil filter w/out removing header #2”
http://www.rotax-owner.com/en/rotax-forum/3-4-stroke-technical-questions/4933-can-t-remove-oil-filter-w-out-removing-header-2
One contributor wrote
".....You are correct Al; using an aftermarket filter will void your warranty, if you were a aircraft engine manufacture would you pay for warranty out of your pocket if it had after market parts on it? ....."
I was going to respond THERE, but realized my reply turned into a rambling rant, better, if posted at all, to be under it’s own topic, and clearly NOT under 4-stroke technical stuff.
So FWIW, here’s my FULL biased rant:
Well, if I were a manufacturer who didn't care much about how my customer support culture and reputation was perceived I would not want to pay for ANY repairs and would use whatever legal or practical methods I could to weasel out of or ignore any issues users of my product ran into.... even if they were obviously or partly caused by my oversights or errors.
As for after market parts: No, even if ethical and consumer friendly I would not want to pay for repairs CAUSED by aftermarket parts. There's a big difference between that and "I see you have an aftermarket part on your engine, so I'm completely leaving you blowing in the wind regardless of what your problem is."
Rotax's policy on problems that IMO it is clearly responsible for (for example, IIRR some things defective crankshafts that at significant expense and inconvenience many owners had to replace when notified on their own.... because they were outside the, one year warranty period) has not been impressively customer friendly. IIRR about the only time they offered to replace a defective part was with the recent carb floats issue. Nice of them with that low cost part. :dry: And of course they didn't offer to pay for the labor.
Auto manufacturers are required to pay for parts and labor (issue recalls) on any safety related issues related to manufacturer's originated issues even if vehicle is well outside warranty in the USA, and sometimes extend warranty on non-safety related issues out of either ethics, or just wanting to keep good customer credibility for long term business.
Proactively notify all owners they can track down.
In contrast, for the most part, Rotax leaves the ball in the owner court:
We have to watch for their notices, check our serial numbers and see if it applies to us. Then we are told we have X-days to comply, all at our own cost and time if we're out of warranty.
Even for owners still under warranty they have been let's just say "less than gold standard for customer friendly."
If you search the web you'll find many credible reports of owners having very convoluted and unsupportive experiences trying to make claims under warranty.
At best their warranty claims system can be said to be very slow, very cumbersome:
http://ctflier.com/index.php?/topic/2268-rotax-warranty.
In part the failure to instill confidence in Rotax owners that the manufacturer stands behind them can be blamed on the fact that Rotax itself has no direct support presence in the USA, only distributors. But I think it's quite fair to say they make a good engine, but could do a lot better on after purchase support.
As a footnote to the IMO customer unfriendly impression I get of Rotax, at least in the USA:
My Rotax was purchased from the original owner at 180 hours.
Despite hours of web, phone, and email attempts contacts at CPS, Lockwood, etc, I found it impossible to even get the ownership re-registered in company records under my name. Won't bore you with the details.
Pardon the rant.
If OTHOH, anyone has gotten beyond the call of duty support after warranty support in cash or any form from the Rotax company or it's major distributors that would be interesting to hear about. So far I've never heard such.
Al
“Can't remove oil filter w/out removing header #2”
http://www.rotax-owner.com/en/rotax-forum/3-4-stroke-technical-questions/4933-can-t-remove-oil-filter-w-out-removing-header-2
One contributor wrote
".....You are correct Al; using an aftermarket filter will void your warranty, if you were a aircraft engine manufacture would you pay for warranty out of your pocket if it had after market parts on it? ....."
I was going to respond THERE, but realized my reply turned into a rambling rant, better, if posted at all, to be under it’s own topic, and clearly NOT under 4-stroke technical stuff.
So FWIW, here’s my FULL biased rant:
Well, if I were a manufacturer who didn't care much about how my customer support culture and reputation was perceived I would not want to pay for ANY repairs and would use whatever legal or practical methods I could to weasel out of or ignore any issues users of my product ran into.... even if they were obviously or partly caused by my oversights or errors.
As for after market parts: No, even if ethical and consumer friendly I would not want to pay for repairs CAUSED by aftermarket parts. There's a big difference between that and "I see you have an aftermarket part on your engine, so I'm completely leaving you blowing in the wind regardless of what your problem is."
Rotax's policy on problems that IMO it is clearly responsible for (for example, IIRR some things defective crankshafts that at significant expense and inconvenience many owners had to replace when notified on their own.... because they were outside the, one year warranty period) has not been impressively customer friendly. IIRR about the only time they offered to replace a defective part was with the recent carb floats issue. Nice of them with that low cost part. :dry: And of course they didn't offer to pay for the labor.
Auto manufacturers are required to pay for parts and labor (issue recalls) on any safety related issues related to manufacturer's originated issues even if vehicle is well outside warranty in the USA, and sometimes extend warranty on non-safety related issues out of either ethics, or just wanting to keep good customer credibility for long term business.
Proactively notify all owners they can track down.
In contrast, for the most part, Rotax leaves the ball in the owner court:
We have to watch for their notices, check our serial numbers and see if it applies to us. Then we are told we have X-days to comply, all at our own cost and time if we're out of warranty.
Even for owners still under warranty they have been let's just say "less than gold standard for customer friendly."
If you search the web you'll find many credible reports of owners having very convoluted and unsupportive experiences trying to make claims under warranty.
At best their warranty claims system can be said to be very slow, very cumbersome:
http://ctflier.com/index.php?/topic/2268-rotax-warranty.
In part the failure to instill confidence in Rotax owners that the manufacturer stands behind them can be blamed on the fact that Rotax itself has no direct support presence in the USA, only distributors. But I think it's quite fair to say they make a good engine, but could do a lot better on after purchase support.
As a footnote to the IMO customer unfriendly impression I get of Rotax, at least in the USA:
My Rotax was purchased from the original owner at 180 hours.
Despite hours of web, phone, and email attempts contacts at CPS, Lockwood, etc, I found it impossible to even get the ownership re-registered in company records under my name. Won't bore you with the details.
Pardon the rant.
If OTHOH, anyone has gotten beyond the call of duty support after warranty support in cash or any form from the Rotax company or it's major distributors that would be interesting to hear about. So far I've never heard such.
Al
