Historic Tax

[Ogri211]

Ive had a great time trying to get historic tax on my GT750.My bike was registered on the 15th Jan 76 so I thought I would check with Swansea to see what the build date was as there was a good chance that it was built in 75, they said the build date was Dec 30th 76, which is 11 months after registration they told me to contact Suzuki UK as the year must be wrong. I contacted them and they also had the build date as Dec 76 so they said they would check with technical. I phoned back later that day and they said it should be Dec 75 and they would send me a certificate, I thought good job done, I went to work for 3 weeks came back 2 weeks ago, no letter from Suzuki, so I called them low behold no record of my previous call and now no record of my frame no, I asked them to check their phone record from the date I phoned 20 mins later all apologies and a promise of the cert the next day, it arrived on good Friday with the engine and frame numbers back to front and a build date of May76, of course they were closed for easter, so I phoned back on Tuesday Oh sorry about that we will fix it, no letter by Thursday so I called back the girl checked my case and said a letter had been sent I asked her what the info on the certificate said and reluctantly she called it up, sure enough correct frame and engine numbers this time but still a build date of May 76 I told her the date is wrong she assured me it must be right I tried to explain that a friend of mine bought the bike brand new from Lloyds of Hamilton on 15th of Jan 1976 so it couldn't have been built in May of that year, she then assured me that all bikes with the frame no 61000 and above were built in 1976 I explained that mine was 67600 and registered on 15th of Jan 76 so they must have built, shipped and registered 6600 Suzuki GT 750s between the 1st and 15 of Jan she then asked when my bike was registered I said 15th Jan 76 she said its a 76 bike then I explained that I needed the build date before 1st Jan 76 for free tax she still didn't understand what I was talking about and realise that there dates must be a year out, I asked to speak to technical she said they wont talk with the public I asked to speak to someone more senior she checked if her boss was available surprisingly they were busy I said I would hold to wait she refused and said I would get a call back which never happened, I asked for a number to phone to complain she said she can only give me the helpline , which if I phoned would have put me back through to her again I've made 7 phone calls spent over an hour and a half on the phone been promised certificates which never came I have just paid the money to tax my bike as only people with a build date of dec75 and the bike registered after 76 with the mistake on there system will be affected probably only a dozen bikes of which 10 probably dont exist now.

[SAM]

My own Z900 is same. This must be a regular thing they do. Mot record confirms first registration September 75. Log book 1/1/76
But when I applied for free tax they tell me they have build as 31/12/76!!!
I am lost for words

[Nick64]

A sorry tale of poor customer service. Transferring of paper records to computer sysytems often results in GIGO. Garbage in - Garbage out.
"Helpline" - A term that usually means: "Waste your time and money line" or "Insult your intelligence line".
Sometimes when I call a helpline it feels more like I arrived in the Monty Python argument sketch - but without being funny.

[Barrie]

Those were the days,
when we had buff or green log books and you had the complete history of your own machine,
it was so easy !!

[Ogri211]

Just an update on my GT750 saga, I phoned Suzuki again today got the same girl who remembered my conversation on Thursday I told her I never received my call from her boss she said that I didn't ask her for one, I then informed her I had gave up on them and under the data protection act 1998 I was requesting copies of all my phone calls so that would confirm all the lies I was told she then confirmed that I was to receive a call I wrote another letter to customer services formally requesting the recordings and strangely enough I got a call from her boss today but missed it she sent me an email:

Dear Mr Selkirk

Thank you for your email regarding the certificate of construction you have been provided. I have called and left you a voicemail to no avail.

I wanted to assure you I have personally taken the time to investigate your complaint and can confirm that your motorcycle launched in Japan in May 1975.

I can confirm that the GT750A model is a 1976 model and as it is registered on a P plate which is a 1976 registration. After carrying out an HPI check on the bike it would appear that one or both of the dates of first registration on the V5C are incorrect and would have been an error with the DVLA.

I can only apologise that you feel you have been misinformed and appreciate your reasons for being frustrated however it does not change the production date of 1st May 1976.

I would also like to extend my apologies for the error on the original certificate of construction where the VIN and Engine number had accidently been swapped when being manually added. This was a human error and understand this must have added to an already frustrating situation.

Please be advised that I will find investigate the process of requesting your case notes and will update you on Monday when I return to the office.

Best regards

Kelly Cook
Customer Services Manager

Suzuki GB PLC
Steinbeck Crescent, Snelshall West, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK4 4AE

to which I replied:


Hello thanks for the Reply but to correct you the P registrations started on 1st Aug 1975 also as I said in my original email the bike was purchased from a friend who will confirm that he put it on the road on the 15th of January 1976 so it could not have been built in May 76 I would be grateful if you can organise my copies of the recordings as I have on several occasions had things that I was told denied at later dates as you know it is a legal obligement under the data protection act 1998 to supply me with the recordings made of my phone calls also I done an Hpi check which shows the registration as 15/1/1976 I don't know where you get the mistake from as you can appreciate I am way beyond the original reason for getting the construction date to save on road tax which I have already bought this year and I will continue to pursue this as a matter of principle at any cost as I am sick of people taking members of the public as fools ,could you confirm who you done your Hpi check with and what dates you received that were different from mine as the HPi data base will only take the information from the DVLA .

Regards Stephen Selkirk

I also attached the HPI I may be taking this a bit far as a matter of principle but if they they want to treat us like idiots Ill enjoy making it awkward for them.

Regards Stephen Selkirk

[TallyB]

Go get'em Floyd

[Triple Parts]

They are like a lot of public service offices, they forget who the customer is and who pays their wages. Well done!

[Ogri211]

It's what you do when your over 50 it's like an online moan.

[malc87]

Great stuff! keep it coming!!

[Zytec]

Well done for the progress so far against the rubbish service

Sounds like it may make a good magazine article so we are all aware of ours rights and what to expect from our inquires
.

[Ogri211]

Another update on my epic adventure, I never received a reply to my last correspondence, after 3 emails which were ignored I decided to send an email to the Managing Director of Suzuki UK of which I obtained from a source on the net, I received this from one of his directors yesterday, so I will keep you's updated.

Dear Mr Selkirk,

I have been forwarded a copy of your correspondence and having read the trail must apologise for the service you have received. At a very basic level it would be very easy to surmise that if the machine was registered on the 15th January 1976 in the UK then it must have been built during 1975 in Japan. I have asked one of my colleagues to investigate and I expect to have a fuller explanation by tomorrow.

Please bear with me and I will revert to you tomorrow.

Best regards,

Denis Houston
Director, Aftersales

[Mitsui Spy]

Finally it sounds like someone actually understands the problem. Hope it ends as it should.

[Ogri211]

Look what I got today Result

Dear Mr Selkirk,

I could spend some time cataloguing the shortcomings in dealing with your request as it appeared to go from bad to worse but instead I can only apologise for our repeated failings in this case. Attached is a Certificate of Construction, effectively a dating letter, and we cannot be more specific than September 1975 as the records are no longer available. A hard copy was posted to you by our Customer Services team today.

I can see that you a motorcycling enthusiast for vintage machines and as a gesture of goodwill I am happy to offer you a £200 credit against any ‘vintage parts’ currently available for your machine from our web shop, follow the link: https://www.suzuki-gb.co.uk/motorcycles ... kes/gt750/

If this is of interest to you then please advise me and I can arrange shipment of the required parts.

Once again, I apologise on behalf of the company and hope this gesture in some way makes amends.

Best regards,

Denis Houston
Director, Aftersales

[Triple Parts]

Nice one, and good on Suzuki for holding their hands up and admitting their cock ups.

[stevie747]

Well done bud, don't let the bastards grind you down Hopefully Suzuki has had a few internal 'meetings' to sort out their system so when my UK 79 GS1000S gets to be exempt I'll get an easier ride

[Mitsui Spy]

Well done! It should never have come to this of course and I hope some people got flamed for incompetence.