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Lemon Law Advice/Experience?

Detailed timeline with notes and photos has been maintained since the very beginning. I left Mike Cooper a message this morning to remind him that I'm now up to 131 days broken down and that it's been 12 days since I requested the buy-back. Tick - tick - tick.

The 2016 RC390 is on the list 'cause it has the two year instead of the one year warranty on the 2015. However, people have been relatively trouble free on their 2015's too. So, it seems to be a QC issue which concerns me in terms of it being a luck of the draw thing.
 
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I mean or you could get a ninja 300 and have likely zero issues lol
 
So, I've been playing phone tag with Mike Cooper from KTM all week. I thought it was weird that his messages were always just his name and phone number. So, I left him another message this morning emphasizing that he didn't have to call me back unless there was an update - I was just reminding him that the bike was still broken down and that I was still waiting for the buy back and that I appreciate that he was working on getting that for me. As my wife says, "sugar lips."

He left me another one of those name and contact info messages over lunch. It suddenly occurred to me that he doesn't want to leave a recording behind where he says anything that could be used against them. So, I called back and this time he answered.

His story completely changed from last time where he said the bike was 100% mechanically sound, it was just an instrumentation issue and that they'd tested it and it had the correct oil pressure. Now, it had an aftermarket oil filter that had disintegrated (it uses paper cartridges), the oil screen was missing an o-ring and the oil was full of brass meaning that the crankshaft was destroyed. Reading between the lines he was saying that I put that in there and that I can therefore go to hell. He also said something along the lines of, "You wanted a replacement, right?" that I felt was a tricky way to force me to change my buy-back request.

I said that the dealer said that they changed the oil when they repaired the head gasket failure 1,000 miles ago and that I still wanted a buy-back. I'm beginning to wonder if he's evil :(

After that I called K&N to confirm that coolant running through a paper oil filter would in fact cause a paper oil filter to eventually fail. They obviously have some serious skin in the game if KTM is trying to peg it on them but, they were very supportive. They said that if that's the same oil filter that was in there before the head gasket failed then that's all on KTM because it's incredibly reckless to not replace the oil and filter after a head gasket failure. They also emphasized that their filters are meant to filter oil and that all paper filters will react the same way to coolant as paper does to water: it will fall apart eventually. They said they'd happily provide statements to that effect to my attorney if requested.

I tried calling the dealer after that but, they seem to have shut me out since I asked for the buy-back. That's really not like them so, I assume KTM-NA/Mike said something to them.

Finally, I sent an email to the lemon law attorney I've been corresponding with to update her.

Grumble.
 
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I hope this all works out for you. I will never buy a KTM. What bullshit. Not only unreliable, but they wont stand behind their bikes. Good luck.
 
I know people who ride and love KTMs and haven't had problems. On the other hand, I know folks like the OP who've had nothing but problems. When I looked at bikes I looked at maintenance intervals, cost, and assessed if I could do it myself. I passed on KTM last time. We'll see how this plays out. Things like this take time, but companies are only as good as how they choose to stand behind their product(s). There's another bike in my future. I'll keep watching this. :nchantr
 
Thank you for this post. I will definitely not buy a KTM bike. I had considered it since they seemed cool.
 
Mike Cooper of ktm North America has himself riding a rc390 as his linked in profile picture. Maybe when his head gasket blows he will start to take it seriously. I was thinking of reaching out to him and pointing him to this thread but it's not my business and I don't want to mess things up for OP.
 
Due to this post, (which I believe to be true) and that KTM is pulling every trick in the book not to cover their product I will not buy a KTM. I was considering buying a KTM 690 enduro but WILL NOT buy one now. I refuse to do business with anyone that treats a customer in this fashion.
I had a similar problem with Ducati and it was handled much differently.
This sucks and we as a group of motorcycle buyers need to let manufactures know we will not buy their products with behavior like this.
Vote with your dollars it works.
I would also like to know KTM dealers name and location.

RC
 
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Yeah, I was seriously looking at the RC390, but as you saw by my other thread, I'm not interested in paying a premium for an unreliable nightmare.
 
Thanks everyone - I'll keep you posted.

The first breakdown (cams delaminated) was handled by SBM but, that didn't go so well: The repair was fine but the service manager Chris was really rude so, I switched to Thousand Oaks Powersports after that.

I was really considering bleeding orange for awhile - I'm about due for a new dirt bike and their 350's were getting alot of attention and I really liked the RC390 on the somewhat rare occasions that it worked. However, after the problems I've had there's a reasonable fear about giving KTM another chance. Then Mike goes and makes it so much worse with no apparent desire to do the right thing. :(
 
rick said:
it had an aftermarket oil filter that had disintegrated (it uses paper cartridges), the oil screen was missing an o-ring and the oil was full of brass meaning that the crankshaft was destroyed. Reading between the lines he was saying that I put that in there and that I can therefore go to hell.
Click to expand...

Where did the brass come from? Valve guides?

I still don't see how that one thing would deny a buy-back.

What o-ring is he talking about:

51j2rib+8kL.jpg
 
I'm guessing that the separate oil screen that unscrews from the bottom of the engine was missing it's oil ring. EDIT: I would imagine that the brass is from the journals on the crank or the big end of the rods

Just got word back from the attorney I've been corresponding with about yesterday's update:
Please call The California Auto Fraud Legal Center to see if they can help you with an auto fraud case against KTM. Their number is (800) 466-5366. Good luck to you.
Click to expand...

She said it sounds like KTM is purposely trying to evade their responsibility under the law which is what was pushing it into the fraud realm. ...damn.
 
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A friend in SJ bought a new KTM around '08. Massive electric gremlins, danger and inconvenience. They tried to blame everything but their product.

He boxed with KTM for almost a year. Got a refund, bought a Yamaha.

Good luck, OP, and stick to your guns.
 
Threads like this are costing KTM so much more than a simple $5k buy back.

I'd hate to see what type of interference they would run if this series of errors occurred with one of their higher $ models.

Pathetic. Best of luck OP.
 
Right? It's chump change to them relatively and you'd imagine it was worth it in good will alone - they're probably gonna resell the bike anyway if they can fix it. So, it's an even smaller loss. Maybe there's been alot of them? Maybe Mike has some sort of quota of buy-back's to deny? I dunno.
 
Perhaps you can contact a MOD here to change the title to read:

Lemon Law Advice/Experience? KTM 390

to help folks identifying this thread as I just has a buddy who is a barfer message me about a 390 he was thinking about and I asked him if he saw this thread & he replied he hasn't
 
What can we do to help?
Seriously, KTM needs to know that this is not good for their reputation and that we communicate as a community and we expect fair service for a fair price.
 
rick said:
The California Auto Fraud Legal Center
Click to expand...

it's just a legal group

you won't be able to get fraud to stick - against KTM USA, that's just silly talk.

I assume you haven't contacted the state like I suggested? They gave us the footing we needed to pressure Nissan USA into action. We could have turned down the offer and sued in court and made more, but we we're over it and just wanted our exit. We got them to cut us a check AND have the local dealer buy it back from us for a very fair amount.
 
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