[CATFISH]

Being this post is done with regards of my RG I'm posting here, Mod/Admin plz move if needed.

The Sat (7-3) before last was out riding and noticed that the oil gauge wasn't working, we had stopped at a dealer just down the road from the house to shop and buy the wife a jacket (not dealer I bought it from) so I asked the service dept if they had any idea, they took my bike in the back for 1.5 hours,(very impressive) checked the gauge and sending unit and was told it wasn't either.
Was told oil light did not come on so I still had oil pressure no big deal, and could still ride, dealer said they were busy the rest of the day, Mon and Tues of the following week and asked if I could drop it off the following Wed (7-7)and they would do the warranty work, so I called dealer on Tues (7-6) afternoon confirming they still wanted me to bring bike down, was told to bring it in. Dealer is known for great walk in service.

Brought it in Wed (7-7) and dropped it off, was told that the tank and outer fairing would have to be removed in order to trace wires, ok so I can't ride the weekend (last weekend) I can live with that, since they were going to take the fairing and tank off to trace wires I asked if it was possible to install new bars, was told yes perfect time to do it.

So I said a black heritage bar would be great, gave the keys said thanks and left.

I had not heard anything Mon or Tues (7-12 and 7-13) so I called on Wed, was told bar just arrived so they wanted to do everything at once, (ok make sense to me), was told they would be working on bike Thurs and to call back then.

Called today to find out if gauge or wire issue was found, left message and was told that service writer would call me back before noon, 3:30pm and no call so called before I left work and asked for service writer, writer came to phone and before I could even say hi this is,,,,, he said and I quote " I'm getting pissed off, you didn't buy your bike here so we are not obligated to even service it, do you have any idea how busy we are? We are backed up to the 27th and we are doing you a favor to even take your bike since you didn't buy it here, and I'm about ready to tell you to come get your bike."

At first I was a little shocked, then red faced with anger and embarassment with the belittlement barage being put forth and directed at me for my bike issue.

Writer again said "we are backed up to the 27th and we are doing you a favor, and we pushed out 12 other bikes to work on yours, your bike is on the lift and being worked on, the gauge was a loose wire in the connector and the bar is being installed now, I will call you when it's done.",,,,Click end of phone call.

Funny thing is,,,, I had been in talks with this dealer when I was looking for an ABS vivid black and was told by owner that I would be better off to buy the abs bike from the other dealer 90 miles away as they had one in stock and I would save the extra $$ that he would have to charge for having the bike brought down to his store but he would be willing and happy to provide service and warranty work should I require it.

Perhaps it's just me but the level of service provided these days is lacking and the customer is made to feel inferior and at fault.

Whatever happened to customer service? I have a vested interest in my $20,000 purchase and communication is worth it's weight in gold, the number of worthy dealers here in my part of Wisconsin are becoming a rare breed and few and far between.

Catfish

 

[Rottiman]

Sounds to me that as soon as you pick up your ride from the service dept., I would then be making a bee-line for the owners office and clarify with him exactly what you should expect from his dealership in any future dealings, AFTER you fill him in on how this whole incident went down. Sounds like buddy the service writer had just put a mouthful of the corn flakes someone had pi_ _ed in, into his mouth just prior to speaking to you. Chances are the owner had no idea what was going down. His choice on how to remedy it. In this economy, he will fix it if he needs the business. If he dosen't then I guess you can chalk him up to being one of the elite who has enough money in the bank to not give a sh_t. Just sayin'.............................

 

[Neano62]

That SH!T STINKS! Are Shops (Dealers) so worried bout the "OH MIGHTY DOLLAR" that they 4/get where it comes from? Catfish,... sounds like the dude was having a "BAD" day and you got the blunt of it. I'll say it again,"THAT SH!T STINKS"!

 

[mike]

I would have shown that prick just how fast I could back a p/u up to his shop and load it, in pieces or not .

NO excuse to be treated that way by dealer personnel, unless you were calling him every 15 minutes and being an ass, but it doesnt appear that you were.

I'm a servicewriter and warranty administrator at a Western Star / International dealer, and I can tell you the owners would either rip me a new one so bad I'd quit, or they would fire me on the spot if I ever did that to a customer. I bump stuff all the time, moved 12 bikes around my ass.
Had some heated and interesting discussions, but in the end YOU are the customer and are holding the check book.

Any good dealership, no matter what they sell, knows that you will never remember the 10 time you were treated good and taken care of, but will never forget the 1 time you werent and tell all your frieds for years.

That "you didnt buy it here" thing is bullshit. They should be looking ahead to earn your buisness for your next buy, not whining about missing the last one.

My shopp is full of other dealers trucks. No problem for us where you bought it. Most sales are loss leaders, and they make the good money on parts and service.

 

[Leatherneck Clean]

Wow!
What a Bunch of CRAP...Not only do you need to meet with ownership of the dealership, but I think you should contact HD as well.
That is NOT a dealership that I woulf ever spend 1 red cent in.....

 

[CHAINSAW]

Definatly don't let that grouchy sum bitch slide... for sure let the owner of the store know what went down. Before you leave, check your bike over with a white glove to make sure his bad day didn't get taken out on your bike.

 

[ROADEAGLE]

I have been Luck I always go rub elbows with the folks in service
and chew the fat about once a month I also will take donut or MacDonald's
in maybe 2x a year
Last week I had a little grease on my right front rotor
pulled up to the service door 5:00 Friday walk in ,walked back to
the guy in the shop that knows my bike He stopped everything put
my bike on the rack back out in 30 min Turns out it was anti-seize from the factory and it was so hot here some worked its way out ,so my
dealer has been top notch
Check out Shelton Harley Davidson of Durham
Kenny will make sure you are done right He is just a country boy that
likes bikes like all of us here!

 

[Uncle Fester]

One asshole at the desk doesn't make for a bad dealer. He had a bad day and decided to take it out on a customer - often the guy on the phone is low man on the dept totem pole, and you're the only guy there he doesn't work for.

It's happened to me, too. Talk to the service manager, GM and owner, whoever you can get ahold of. Dude needs an attitude adjustment or a pink slip.

 

[Rowdy]

Holy smoke

You definitly need to make everyone in the dealership aware of what happened. There is NO EXCUSE for taking a bad day out on a customer. Like I told the GM and the owner at our local shop, I didn't NEED a new bike, I WANTED one. At $80 bucks an hour for labor, I expect them to do what they say they are going to do, and if they can't for whatever reason, CALL ME and let me know. I have had a couple of issues at our local shop with customer service but nothing like your describing. I would definitly let them know, and if they don't react the way you think they should to keep your business (as in an apology from that service writer to start with, I would be making that 90 mile trip to another dealer, or find another local warranty approved shop to service the bike when you need it. It's BS brother, don't let it go.

 

[dklanecky]

I too have had similar experiences at some dealers. I have also found a great dealer who would never tolerate that type of behaviour from any employee, and that is where I spend my Harley cash.

For what it's worth, remember that most Harley dealerships flex their staffing pretty dramatically down during low season and up during high season, much like any other retailer does for the Christmas rush.

Sometimes, a bad apple of two gets in the bucket, and they simply need to be removed. I always vote with my dollars, but I would definitely make sure the GM was aware of the issue before I did anything else.

Give them a chance to fix it, and then if they don't, I'd be shopping elsewhere. It would also be at that point that I would make certain all the employees in the shop knew what happened and why my business was leaving. OTOH, if they do make it right, then you've found a good dealer, and there aren't a lot of them out there to find.

 

[blacktopr]

Being this post is done with regards of my RG I'm posting here, Mod/Admin plz move if needed.

The Sat (7-3) before last was out riding and noticed that the oil gauge wasn't working, we had stopped at a dealer just down the road from the house to shop and buy the wife a jacket (not dealer I bought it from) so I asked the service dept if they had any idea, they took my bike in the back for 1.5 hours,(very impressive) checked the gauge and sending unit and was told it wasn't either.
Was told oil light did not come on so I still had oil pressure no big deal, and could still ride, dealer said they were busy the rest of the day, Mon and Tues of the following week and asked if I could drop it off the following Wed (7-7)and they would do the warranty work, so I called dealer on Tues (7-6) afternoon confirming they still wanted me to bring bike down, was told to bring it in. Dealer is known for great walk in service.

Brought it in Wed (7-7) and dropped it off, was told that the tank and outer fairing would have to be removed in order to trace wires, ok so I can't ride the weekend (last weekend) I can live with that, since they were going to take the fairing and tank off to trace wires I asked if it was possible to install new bars, was told yes perfect time to do it.

So I said a black heritage bar would be great, gave the keys said thanks and left.

I had not heard anything Mon or Tues (7-12 and 7-13) so I called on Wed, was told bar just arrived so they wanted to do everything at once, (ok make sense to me), was told they would be working on bike Thurs and to call back then.

Called today to find out if gauge or wire issue was found, left message and was told that service writer would call me back before noon, 3:30pm and no call so called before I left work and asked for service writer, writer came to phone and before I could even say hi this is,,,,, he said and I quote " I'm getting pissed off, you didn't buy your bike here so we are not obligated to even service it, do you have any idea how busy we are? We are backed up to the 27th and we are doing you a favor to even take your bike since you didn't buy it here, and I'm about ready to tell you to come get your bike."

At first I was a little shocked, then red faced with anger and embarassment with the belittlement barage being put forth and directed at me for my bike issue.

Writer again said "we are backed up to the 27th and we are doing you a favor, and we pushed out 12 other bikes to work on yours, your bike is on the lift and being worked on, the gauge was a loose wire in the connector and the bar is being installed now, I will call you when it's done.",,,,Click end of phone call.

Funny thing is,,,, I had been in talks with this dealer when I was looking for an ABS vivid black and was told by owner that I would be better off to buy the abs bike from the other dealer 90 miles away as they had one in stock and I would save the extra $$ that he would have to charge for having the bike brought down to his store but he would be willing and happy to provide service and warranty work should I require it.

Perhaps it's just me but the level of service provided these days is lacking and the customer is made to feel inferior and at fault.

Whatever happened to customer service? I have a vested interest in my $20,000 purchase and communication is worth it's weight in gold, the number of worthy dealers here in my part of Wisconsin are becoming a rare breed and few and far between.

Catfish

Bummer , Service must have quit when they got your check ..

 

[CATFISH]

UPDATE

Got a call today at work and was told to call back when I had a chance.

Dialed number and it was the service writers phone.

Was told he was really sorry for blowing up at me and that he had no right to take his bad day out on me, during phone call my other line rang, put writer on hold and it was owner of dealership calling to apologize for what was clearly not my fault and an episode of bad judgment and a poorly handled case of frustration of his service writer.

Was told he wanted and appreciated my biz and wanted to continue to offer his services. Was told that he would meet with me when I arrived to pick up the bike today, hung up with owner and proceeded to speak with writer who again said he was truly sorry.

I finished work and my wife and I drove to dealer to pick up the bike, called dealer to inform we were on the way, walked in the store and was greeted by the owner and the service writer within mins of entering store, my wife and I were asked to join them back in an office which I assume was the owners office, again both the owner and the service writer explained how sorry they were for what took place.

Owner said that he was going to make it right, in the end my wife and I were each told to pick out a dealer shirt and two other shirts of our choice off of any rack and that 15% would be taken off the price of the bar and labor charge for bar install.

We explained that the shirts were not needed the apology was fine, but the owner insisted we shop a little and pick out some shirts.

My wife picked out 1 dealer shirt and 2 HD shirts, and I did the same, met back at the same office and the owner placed everything in a bag for us and then explained that in this economy he wants all the biz he can get and that he hoped there wouldn't be any hard feelings then again extended his offer for another chance to provide any kind of service which we may require in the future.

I felt a lot better leaving then I did pulling in, not because we got shirts, but because I feel he was truly sorry for what happened, and because of this feeling I have I will give them another chance.

Catfish

 

[Neano62]

Good Deal! I wonder if they read this Forum? With the way the economy is, (ya couldnt tell it where I work) You'd think that Service Writer must have a lucky card he just cashed in. Its good to hear what happened here. I'm GLAD ya feel better bout the "WHOLE" thing! Kinda set w/me wrong when I first read this thread.

 

[Leatherneck Clean]

That was my first thought too, I wonder if his boss read the forum, then took charge of the whole situation.....Hhmmmhhh?
Any way, I think I would feel better about it too, that is probably the most sincere way they could have salvaged that whole ordeal.
Glad it all worked out.
PS, I hope the shirts came out of the service writers check!

 

[Rottiman]

Now that is a owner with class. Tells you alot about him for not only this issue but also for the first time he sent you to another dealer because he couldn't meet your needs. Obviously he wants to keep customers. No doubt the service writer got a "AH SH_T" for his performance or lack thereof. Bet you get 1st class service the next time you go there. Glad it turned out all good.

 

[ebertf]

Sorry about your experience

I have nothing but good to say about Michigan City Harley, Michigan City, Indiana. One of my clips came off my tourpac. I went in to purchase a replacement and the gave me a new one with spacer for free.