TL;DR: Yamaha City knew I had an R9 but told me I needed an MT-07 heated grip connector. I questioned it and was reassured it was correct. I waited around two months for the unnecessary cable, spent time trying to figure out why it wouldn't work, then eventually found out the R9 never needed it in the first place. They credited the wrong cable back, but still charged me a full hour of labour to correct the wiring.
Just wanted to share my experience with Yamaha City Melbourne and see what other riders think, because I don't feel the way this was handled was particularly reasonable.
I contacted them specifically about buying genuine Yamaha heated grips for my R9. I clearly told the staff member what bike I had.
I was then told that I also needed an MT-07 heated grip connection lead.
I actually questioned this at the time because I could see that the part was specifically listed for the MT-07, while my bike is obviously an R9. I was reassured that they knew what they were doing and that this was the correct part I needed.
So I trusted the dealer, paid for it, and then waited around two months for the connector to arrive.
Once it finally arrived, I picked it up and installed the heated grips myself. The grips themselves installed fine, but after connecting everything using the MT-07 cable they had told me I needed, the heated grip controls would not appear on the R9 dash.
At this point I assumed there must be something I was missing, because this was supposedly the correct setup recommended by an authorised Yamaha dealer.
I spent more time checking the wiring and watching installation videos trying to understand how I was supposed to make this MT-07 cable work with the R9.
When I mentioned that I had been looking at YouTube videos to figure it out, one of the responses from the staff was basically that if I was relying on YouTube videos, they might not be reliable.
That was pretty frustrating, because the only reason I was searching for those videos in the first place was that their staff had told me this MT-07 cable was required, and I was trying to figure out how they expected me to use it.
Eventually I brought the bike back to Yamaha City so they could look at it.
That's when it became clear that the R9 did not need this MT-07 connection lead at all.
The genuine heated grips could already be installed on the R9 without this extra MT-07 cable. The wiring simply needed to be connected correctly under the tank.
What confused me even more was that the staff member later said that during our original phone conversation he apparently didn't know I owned an R9.
That doesn't match my experience at all.
I had specifically told them the bike was an R9, and I had even questioned why they were selling me an MT-07-specific cable for an R9 before I bought it. The only reason I went ahead with the purchase was because I was reassured that it was correct.
They then rewired the grips correctly under the tank.
The part that really disappointed me was that I was charged a full hour of labour for this.
I had already done essentially all of the actual heated grip installation myself. Their own original email to me also said that installing the entire heated grip setup normally takes around one hour(See figuer 1).
So somehow I installed the grips myself, but still ended up paying the same full hour of labour just for them to redo the wiring after the original parts advice turned out to be wrong.
Their solution regarding the MT-07 cable was to credit the amount I had already paid for it toward the final bill, and I paid the remaining difference.
They seemed to view this as resolving the issue, but I don't really see that as a particularly generous solution.
Crediting me for a part that I never needed and was only sold because of their incorrect recommendation is essentially just returning the value of the wrong part.
I still ended up carrying the cost of the full labour charge required to correct the problem.
So from my perspective, the outcome was:
- I clearly told them I had an R9.
- They told me I needed an MT-07-specific connector.
- I questioned whether it was compatible and was reassured it was correct.
- I paid for it.
- I waited around two months for it.
- I spent my own time trying to understand why their recommended setup wasn't working.
- I installed the heated grips myself.
- They eventually discovered the MT-07 connector was never required.
- The incorrect part was credited back.
- I still paid a full hour of labour for them to correct the wiring.
I completely understand that mistakes happen. If they had simply said, "We recommended the wrong part, that's on us, we'll sort out the wiring," I probably wouldn't even be writing this post.
What bothers me is that the mistake originated from the dealership's advice, I specifically questioned that advice before purchasing, and I still ended up absorbing the waiting time, troubleshooting and labour cost needed to correct it.
The heated grips are working now, but the whole process took around two extra months and was far more confusing and expensive than it needed to be.
Curious whether other riders think charging the full labour hour in this situation was reasonable, or whether the dealer should have covered the correction given that the unnecessary cable was recommended by them in the first place.
