Igor
Quality doesn’t match the act
Purchased a TWM carbon fuel cap from them in 2021 that leaked within a couple of months, when we took the tank off to replace a fuel pump. Over time, the bike started to smell more and more on petrol, while sitting on it, with the tank in place. I recently saw a video of Mani promoting the caps, in which he suggests making sure that the gasket is in place. I took my fuel cap off and found that the gasket was falling apart. Wrote to Mani about it last week. He told me that there was a batch of caps with bad gaskets and that I should write to customer service for a replacement. I did so. Someone named Taylor replied with a US$66 invoice for shipping to Australia! The whole cap cost me $25 for shipping. I raised it with Taylor and he came up with excuses like ‘we don’t set shipping costs’ and ‘we are not the manufacturer’. Firstly, while they do not set shipping charges, choose the shipping option. You don’t need priority package shipping for a small gasket that’s thinner than a folded letter. Secondly, in Australia at least, statutory guarantees apply between the seller and customer - not only the manufacturer and customer. As a lawyer, I am pretty sure the contractual obligation of the seller to provide goods fit for purpose is the same in the US. Thirdly, if they don’t stand behind the products they sell all the way, but transfer responsibly to manufacturers, why should we buy anything at all from them? What if the manufacturers they sell goods from are not contactable or out of business? What if they’ve sold you defective goods that cause serious damage? Who’s responsible? If they had integrity to stand behind their product and implied and explicit promise to the customer that the goods they sell are fit for purpose and of high quality, they would go out of their way to make up for the fact that I’ve been riding with a leaking tank for three years and they failed to warn me about the faulty gaskets batch until I took off the cap and saw the badly deteriorated gasket for myself. I raised all this with Taylor, as well as Mani, but was ignored. The act of integrity and OCD levels of high quality (product and service quality go together) is obviously just that - an act. One that conflicts with their reality. Huge disappointment. I subsequently wrote directly to TWM and they immediately offered to send a gasket free of charge, in a regular postal envelope. Their response time was quicker too. All they need to do is make sure they choose resellers who are in their league in terms of service quality.

