ST250 Approvals & Delivery Update
The below is an update sent on Friday October 9th.
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Hey Guys,
This is an update for all those waiting for their ST250's.
Thank you so much for your support and patience, we want you riding!
Especially to those of you whom have waited an unfair amount of time, We continue to appreciate your patience and support. We know you deserve absolute certainty about what date you will receive your bike, we want you riding and we are embarrassed by the delay. We will get there and we won't stop fighting until your bike is delivered.
As you know we have 100's of bikes built, we just need the Gov't to issue our Approvals. You probably saw that all our other models are approved and beginning to be delivered, surely the ST250 will follow soon!
As mentioned in last weeks update we finally had the Administrator of Vehicle standards take our call, After 50 days of no response. He promised that this week we would have a letter with our way forwards to have the ST250 approved and delivered.
To ensure there is no reason for the Gov't to delay us this week we engaged an independent ADR consultant to ensure all of the required documentation has been submitted, a fresh set of eyes to ensure we haven't missed anything! Everything was in order and we re submitted it again anyway. These type of Audits are not cheap, we spent around $8,000 & I only say this to showcase that we are not holding back in any way in order to have the approvals so you can be riding as quickly as possible.
The administrator was out of office yesterday, his secretary informed me he was in hospital. Today he was back in office but we have not received any communication from him. I've called each day.
We did received a letter from the public servant whom has previously refused our approval, His letter did not respond to any of the evidence we have submitted nor did it respond to the questions we have raised. Our advisor's have pointed out that the appropriate response from a public servant in this role is to request any evidence or documentation they are missing, this has not happened. To say we are disappointed in the communication is an understatement & we responded by speaking with Liberal Senator David Van, Labour MP Peta Murphy, MP David Limbrick to appeal for their support in demanding a conference call with Minister Michael Mccormack whom is the deputy Prime Minster & leader of the department of infrastructure. Minister Mccormack's office refuse to take control of the situation. Why would a public service put so much effort into ignoring us? Wouldn't it be efficient to hold a conference call and review the evidence that is at hand?
As you guys know by now we always encourage our customers & staff to respect each other and to respect the Government, we do not have any desire to cause distress even to those who have passionately come against us. We have revealed our character and proven this in the way we have pushed forwards through the injustice's we've experienced. So with that said if you do choose to seek answers yourself then please be kind. I am encouraged by the way some of our customers have gone directly to Minister Mccormack's office or called the Dept of Infrastructure them selves, To seek answers, To encourage them to speak to us, To motivate them to resolve our delays.
With the Moto3, As soon as the Evidence for approval was reviewed we had approvals with in days. This is our hope and expectation with the ST250! This is why we are doing what ever it takes to get their attention in order to come on a phone conference and review all our evidence.
To give some hope, The Moto3 is approved and customers are receiving their bikes. One customer wrote the following statement of facebook, I thought I would share it as it is important for us to showcase that we are doing absolutely everything possible:
"I actually contacted 5 local, state and federal MPs asking what the hell is going on with their approval process to import the bikes and clear them for on-road registration.The MPs who replied told me they had been advocating already on Braaap's behalf and didn't understand why the dept. of infrastructure was stalling on the approvals. Additionally they told me they had investigated the situation and Braaaap had been active and prompt in supplying everything that was required in that process - previous to that i had my doubts about the business because i had trouble believing that the beurocratic process could possibly take that long."
Guys, I am sorry that we haven't yet heard back from the Administrator of Vehicle standards as we had expected to this week. We will get there.
Please stick with us,
Thank you for your patience and support.
Regards,
Brad