I recently (less than 2 weeks) took delivery of my Classic 500 from Dhone Automobiles, Pune. I rode it for a few kms and then let it relax for a few days. This Monday I took the bike to work. On my way back, the bike started stuttering and then ground to a halt. No obvious reason why it stalled. But it did appear the battery was fast losing charge. Now that was unnerving for a brand new bike! It was pretty late in the evening and I had to risk riding without headlights, horn. I somehow managed to reach home that evening. I did call up Dhone automobiles workshop but they could not offer any help because it was closing time for them! Nonetheless, I reached home but not before the bike went dead atleast a couple of times.
I had work on Tuesday and Wednesday so I choose Thursday to drop the bike to the service center. Needless to say I could not reach the service center and I had to leave the bike at the showroom. They checked and said its the battery. They handed over the bike in the evening saying all is ok now. I started the ride back home only to realise that the ghost has come back to haunt me. About 10 kms from my home, it stuttered, misfired a few times and went dead again. Now I was certain it wasnt the battery. The lazy showroom chap did not want to take the pain of delivering the bike to the service center. I did manage to reach home eventually after bringing the bike back to life (call it luck or whatever!).
This morning, the bike just refuses to stop. I called up a Dhone representative and he promised to come along with a mechanic only to do a sudden U-turn an hour later citing medical problems!!! Mr. Dhone refuses to pick up my phone. I have written to the customer service of Royal Enfield and they responded back with one Mr. Umesh's (Regional Service Manager) contact details. I called up Mr. Umesh and he said he will talk to Mr. Dhone to arrange for someone to pick up the bike from my place. Mr. Dhone and his staff want me to take the battery, charge it and ride the bike to their service center so that they can avoid the inconvenience of picking up the bike! I plainly refused to do so. I wrote in strong words to the RE Customer service to have my bike looked after with urgency. But it appears my plea is falling on deaf ears at this point in time!!
I would appreciate if someone could please pm me or call me and help me understand the contact details of some higher-ups at RE. I took a day off hoping Dhone staff would be helpful but sadly not! My day has just gone down the drain without much progress. Appreciate your help in this regard.
Many Thanks.
-Subhash Yadav
(+91-9011085422)


