Weekend before last Me & the Mrs went to the Royal Albert Hall for a show and spent the day wondering around Knightsbridge/Kensington Gardens, had a generally good day.
Until we get back to the bike and I notice it's been down on the left hand side!
Then I noticed tucked in to the tank that there was a note, and the person had left an apology, told me he would like to pay for my broken indicator and gave me his number to call him to sort it out.
Mixed feelings about this really, obviously was not happy that it had been knocked over, the main thing that got my goat was that the whole bay was empty (and it was a big bay) except for my bike so he must have been parking within millimetres of my bike to even knock it in the first place. I also felt that it was really good of him to leave his number because I am sure that 99% wouldn't have. It was also a bit of a dampener on an otherwise good day.
So we had an initial conversation which was a little bit awkward, he tried to say that the bike was unstable and that he barely touched it, and also that I should have put it on the centre stand. He said that he had knocked my bike with his top box, but I am not convinced on this as I had my panniers on, so the clearance would have been too much for the top boxes to touch?
So I called him and gave him the news that the bike was not unstable, I had checked this as I always do when I leave my bike as it is lowered and I am particularly conscious of this. I was also parked at an angle in the bay so it was leaning well on the side stand and also that it was more than just the indicator that needed replacing.
He actually was really good about this, he did apologise and say at the end of the day it was completely his fault. He told me to put it into a dealer and have any damage repaired and he would pay the bill. I told him that due to the decent crash bars I have there isn't that much damage and I didn't feel it was worth putting it into a dealer for him to pay labour costs on something I could do myself, especially with the fact that he had been decent enough to leave me his number in the first place. I told him I would have a good check on the bike and let him know exactly what needed doing.
So I had my Dad and Cousin round and we had a good look over her. The thing that always worries me in these situations is the possibility of damage that you can't see, but I suppose there's nothing you can really do about that. She rode back from London fine, which is only about 30 miles but takes over an hour due to traffic getting out of London.
So I told him that it needed a new indicator plus clear lens, bar end and hand guard. I also said the pannier had been scratched, not badly and it wouldn't bother me if I had done it but it was the fact it was someone else's fault, and whilst I didn't expect him to pay for a new one, I felt something should be done. He offered me £50 towards the damage which I felt was fair.
So I decided that I would price up genuine Suzuki parts, and that on parts where I didn't order genuine parts, any difference I would keep as money for my time in resolving this (within reason of course) with the exception of the bar end - £36 for one!
you have to be kidding me! A new pair of R&G ones on ebay are £26 so I priced this.
I told him that the total was £172.
I then didn't hear from him for over a week and I started to think he had bottled it and I would never hear from him again.
I get a text from him today apologising to me for the delay but he has been on holiday, and that he had transferred me £200 to cover the items plus a couple of apology pints.
Although obviously I would rather have not had it happen in the first place, I think fair play to the bloke for being honest and for paying up. Shows that there are some genuine people out there. (Either that or he could be really rich as it was in Knightsbridge and £200 is nothing to him
who knows!)
It's the first time I have ever had it happen, and I hope that it's the last! I thought it was probably the best outcome to the situation and that I had been lucky.
