justme68_86

Hi all, New to the forum and wanted to ask experienced Yamaha riders their thoughts on Yamaha Dealersihps/Service Dept's and used bikes. Preferably if you own a Yamaha over 7 yrs old do you have to perform all service/maintenance yourself? Long story short (sort of)... I wanted to start learning how to ride motorcycles & wanted to be mature & responsible about it. I signed up, took & passed our state MSF course and received license. While taking MSF I saw a used Yamaha Seca II on Craigslist for sale, spoke to my instructor in regards to this being a beginner type bike for me & after discussion decided to buy. Excited to have purchased my 1st new (used) motorcycle, I took my bike to our local Yamaha Dealership and asked them if I could get an appt for service/maintenance (oil change etc) since I did not know how long it had been since last service and wanted to make sure the bike was up to par & serviced. I also wanted them to clean or check the carbs because it seems to surge when in lower rpm's and friends told me that was because the carbs are probably clogged. Dealership refused to service or work on my bike. Why? because it is over 7 years old. They wont even give it an oil change. When I asked the service manager, he stated it was yamaha policy not to service bikes over 7 years. I guess people come in and request service, then find out the $bill and refuse to pay. Im willing to pay the bill, I just want my bike serviced I told him. He still refused saying it was yamaha policy. I even offered to pay via Credit Card BEFORE they performed the maintenance/service work to assure this Service Mgr that yes, I indeed plan on paying for the service charge. He still refused saying it was Yamaha policy and nothing he could do about it. There is only 1 other Yamaha dealership and this dealership also refused to service or perform maintenance on my bike because of its age. I live on a small island, and cannot just go to the next town up the road. So thats it - 2 dealerships within 3,000 miles and lots of ocean between. Short of crating the bike and shipping to California about $2,500 to get the oil changed + the cost of the actual oil change/service - there is no one that will change oil on my bike, or do any other general maintenance/service. I even went so far as to call a Suzuki place since the yamaha dealers refused. The Suzuki dealership on their website they will "work on all makes/brands" but when I called about my bike, I got the same run around. I am totally turned off with Yamaha right now, and their standard of customer service/care - regardless of my bike's age, if its a Yamaha, a Yamaha dealership I would think would work on it. Especially if Im offering to pay via Credit Card before they start the work. The bike seems to be in good running condition (except for the surging in low rpms) and I have been riding it everywhere, but it concerns me that there may be serious issues hidden somewhere with the bike, that I as a new rider am not picking up on & will cause a wreck or something. My question is - is this truely a Yamaha policy? Not too work on their own brand bikes over 7 years old? Is it written in stone somewhere in Yamaha's Dealersihp manuals (since both dealers stated it) or something or do I just live in a place with worlds worst dealership/service depts? I did take my bike to a backyard type mechanic who agreed to service/work on my bike, but the guy did not seem like anyone I could trust at all. He seemed more like the "ya, leave your bike with me over night, I'll strip it down and sell the parts" kinda guy Like I said, in the beginning (sorry, not trying to rant) I am new to motorcycling, and all I want is a yamaha mechanic to check over my bike and service it, too assure me that the bike isnt about to fall apart while doing 65 down the highway. Is that really too much to ask? And where in the World do I need to ship my bike via Plane or Boat (Japan???) to have an oil change done on a bike over 7 yrs old?