We make the Thorspark electronic ignition kits, and I would like to post an answer to the two comments above, which I do not think are fully just, and also have “missed out” a couple of minor details.
Firstly, I remember the order from Mr Wastell. He rang us mid-week a few months ago with an order for a magneto on a Scott. I told him that we were closing for a holiday for a week at the end of that week, and that as we actually make the kits here to order it would be touch and go if we could get it to him by the week-end. But he insisted it was urgent, so we did it.
I then got a phone call when I got back to say the kit had “blown”. This was very unusual and concerning, as we have, actually, made and sold many hundreds of these kits, and they don’t just blow after 3 minutes. While the vast majority are obviously not for Scotts but for other classic bikes, we have successfully made several for Scotts. We have hundreds of good feedbacks on our ebay listing from all over the world, we can’t make them up, and the kits are what they say on the tin: easy to fit and reliable. We have many repeat customers as well from most countries in the world, which testifies to a good experience. I was therefore very concerned that one had failed.
When we got the kit back it had been sawn up into pieces (“sawn up” is actually quite a nice description, it looked like it had been attacked by an angry bear!). I rang to enquire why this had been done, and was told that (despite a 5 year guarantee) he apparently wasn’t expecting any type of customer service, and had sawed it up to get to the electronics to try and find out what was wrong (!?). He said he had rung us and there was no answer (I had already told him that we would be closed for a week’s holiday when he placed the order, and told him there would be no-one here).
I would like to point out that if you had bought a mobile phone from 3, or a tv from comet, or any other company, and returned it sawn into pieces you would receive a fairly short answer. However, we then made him a new kit, and tested it for some miles on our test vehicle, to verify that it worked fully before sending it. Then if it went wrong again I would be able to suggest that there was a problem in the fitting. This is why there was a few days delay, as we do actually make them. We also test every kit on the bench before it is sent out, but not on a vehicle as in this case.
This kit also apparently failed almost immediately. I rang to try and find out what the problem was as this almost never happens, and to have one fail, let alone two, and one which we had already run ourselves, was extremely unlikely. We suspected there was some other problem, and wanted to get to the bottom of it, not to aportion blame. Mr Wastell refused to talk to us except to say everything was “perfect”, so we refunded his money. I merely said it was “under protest” as he had sawed one kit up, and also he would not help get to the bottom of the problem in any way. I was not impolite or terse at all, but ended up getting shouted at down the phone.
There is a double standard here, we did everything we could do in terms of customer service. We replaced the kit and on top of that refunded him, where I suspect no other company would have after he had sawn up the product , and he is still criticizing us. I apologise that it did not work in his case, but I am not sure it was entirely the fault of the kit. We actually have sold many hundreds of kits, and they don’t fail after 5 minutes, otherwise we would not be in business, obviously, nor would we give a 5 year guarantee. We actually do have very few problems, the kits are extremely reliable, and we really are happy to do everything we can to help our customers. Obvioulsy there are sometimes questions and problems as these are “fit yourself” kits, but we are happy to try to sort these out and are here to help. Unfortunately Mr Wastell had a poor experience, but his criticisms are somewhat unfair I would say.
Regarding Mr Bayliss, I am afraid I don’t recall the order. However I have very quickly scimmed through our order books, and the only Bayliss (not an Eric, and in the USA, so may not be the same person) that I can see is near the front of the first order book, so a few years ago. I can only state that I very much “do want to know”, as this is my business!.
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