| Author | Message | ||
     Xb12burner |
Coming back from my trip to the Dragon I started to get fibers showing thru my tire. When I got close enough to the shop where I bought my bike I gave them a call(knowing it would probably be in vain) to see if they could do an emergency tire change. I talked with the parts guy and he was incredibly helpful and very interested in Buells. Then he switched me to the service dept. The young lady told me I would probably have to wait until Sat. but changed her tune when I told her I was on a 6 hour trip and only 1.5 hrs from home. She became very helpful and said that I'd definately get help. Then the service manager gets on the phone attacking me from the get-go. Apparently he was under some impression that I wanted the tire replaced by them. I assured him that I would pay for everything, but was just hoping that he would help me get home without having to worry about having a blow-out. He says that he can't ensure that I'm going to be able to make it home on my tire, but he is just not going to help me out. I assume that they just had too much chrome to put on that day and couldn't waste their time with a piddly tire change. His whole attitude was revolving around me doing burnouts and some other crap, and he just wouldn't let it go about me wanting them to replace the tire (which I didn't) I would have even paid their excessively high price for one back tire and the cost of changing it out. I kned it would be a long shot, but the service managers attitude really made it a lot worst. Well I made it home ok, and this guys attitude was the only dark moment on my trip. The bike performed flawlessly at the Dragon, and grabbed a lot of attention at every local watering hole. Thank you Buell Motor Co. for an excellent bike!! | ||
| Budo |
What is the name of the Dealer? | ||
| Dfbutler |
My experience is that you got a typical dealer and were luck they actually had the parts needed. | ||
| Xb12burner |
Appleton H/D of Clarksville, TN, not associated with Dave S in Wisconsin. | ||
| Kandie |
Dave remember the dressing room at that dealership?? | ||
| Rek |
I travel a lot during the summer and as such find myself in a variety of dealerships around the uppper midwest. When I'm out on the road I've always been ushered in to the front of the line and had whatever service/repairs completed for me asap. The mechanics might make snide comments about my Buell as first, but they always fit me in, and when they've finished the work they're always amazed at how many miles the ol' S3 has and how well it runs. Rob | ||
| Daves |
We always try to move travelers to the front of the line. Sorry they didn't treat you right there. They do have nice dressing rooms though. | ||
| Cruisin |
Okay guys...exactly WHAT did you two do in the dressing rooms? Wait...nevermind...I don't think I want to know.  | ||
| Odie |
I bought my Wide Glide from Brett Appleton in '93 when I was stationed at Fort Campbell. Always nice people there and never had a problem. I know Brett has broke off from the dealership and the place is new and no longer where it used to be, I guess that's one of the downfalls that occurs when the shop is forced to build a new mega-building and become a clothes boutique. The old store had the good 'ol bike shop atmosphere to it and it was a pleasure to visit. Sometimes I think employees are jealous because they work for a huge conglomerate thats' major purpose is to produce motorcycles but they themselves can't afford one because of the wages they are paid so they take out their frustrations on you. How often do you really see bikes at the dealer that are ridden by the workers! Yes, I even look around back.......... | ||
| 99buellx1 |
I would call and talk to the management. Feedback is important. | ||
| Essthreetee |
I don't know about elsewhere...but our HD dealership has a LARGE amount of HD riders as employees...But they don't carry Buells....and won't work on them. | ||
| Budo |
Xb12burner, print off your original post and mail it to the owner of the dealership. Usually a dealership will do what they can to help someone on a trip, bit of an emergency also in this case. Mounting a tire takes what, an hour, I would think that they could spare that. But even if they could not help you for whatever reason the Service Mgr's attitude is inexcusable. Let the owner know about it, and that you have shared your experience with others here on this board. | ||
| Tramp |
even when 5 threads are showing all-the-way-around, you have plenty of hours left. a good 20 or more, believe it or not. i'm kind of an a*shole about my tires. you might be better off they didn't touch your buell. once, on a lark, i stopped by a local harley-davidson dealership (Moroney's), en route to visiting a friend in newburgh. i asked if they could install my metzeler for me they agreed to it. when i came back, they handed me a severely dinged-up marchesini rim with giuges taken out of it. i pointed it out to the service manager, who was a completely offensive a*shole about it. one of his service apes came out and gave me the 'menacing harley stare'. i invited him out to the parking lot, and the manager came out of his office, and asked about the problem. i was ready to drop the service manager and the service ape when the store manager said they'd replace the marchesini, whatever i wanted, he'd see to it that it was done. i explained that the areas where these dipsh*ts had scarped the paint off didn't bother me, but the gouges on the bead were an issue for me. i shipped it to NE cycles in Mass., (they straighten and repair mags) and asked them simply to repair the gouges. they did, and i gave the very small bill to moroney's. the service manager was very, very polite by that point, a week later. all i wanted was for the gouges to fixed, and the bead un-bent and the bill was minimal. like under a hundred. i never went back, and have since gone back having buddies with tire machines do 'em. weird. in california i had to smack a service tech when he "motherf*****"-ed me to my face (they tried to charge me for labour that was part of recall work), and that didn't really go over too well. the cops were very understanding, however, and the shop didn't press charges. too many "crank cases" in HD service....really stupid tweakers. | ||
| Branebanger |
I didnt read the entire post, just the title. I've been riding rice burners since 1987 and my first contact with any HD/Buell shop was when I purchased my Uly. hands down the best sales experience I've ever had. period. I'm a small asian guy riding up on a gsxr 1000 and still got 1st class customer service/sales. and I mean everyone from the receptionist, to the guy who sold me the bike, the service guys, the shop guys, and the pretty lady who sold me a pair of (pretty expensive) gloves. the dealer was Liberty Harley (NJ) and I believe they are having an open house 9/24. even if you've never been to a harley dealer before you should go and check them out. their shop is spotless, like an operating room. | ||
| Tramp |
small asian guys riding tall american bikes is a welcome switch. | ||
| Branebanger |
just read the post. glad the dragon didnt bite you. My dealer promised me nothing, except that he would "try" to get me my bike some time mid/late september. I got my bike out the door in august. I got a flat the second day of Uly ownership, and my shop (liberty) fixed it same day. when i did my cross country, I called vallejo for an oil change - they promised nothing, but got me back on the road next day, and additionally had given me the full 5k mile service. these are the only 2 harley dealers I've ever stepped foot in, and so far my impression of harley dealers out-ranks any other customer service relationship I've ever had in my entire life. maybe I'm just lucky? well actually I went to both those dealers after reading many posts on this forum, so maybe a bit of luck + bit of reading. | ||
| Nicoleqv |
Haven't had much experience with the service end of it, but when I was looking for my husband's bike, I called a few dealers to see what they had. I asked one if they had an XB9S in stock. }The salesman said, "Now what was that? X...what?" | ||
| Fullpower |
"X...what?" good thing you didn't need parts for the X..what. | ||
| Paint_shaker |
Here is positive Buell dealer story.... http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/4062/104487.html |
