| Author | Message | ||
     Two_seasons |
Took my 1125r in this am to Hal's Harley Davidson for collision work. I hit a barricade about 1 month ago. Got a call about 5pm from Jim Winter to inform me bike is ready. WOW is all I can say. | ||
| 01x1buell |
damn, that is one hell of a turn around...  | ||
| Milt |
Hal's collision guys are great. I mangled my 1125cr in early May and got it back for HC2011. Jim is great. So is his associate (whose name I forget) who does much of the work. Hal's is one of the few dealers that deserve to be called a Buell Dealer. | ||
| 86129squids |
SWEET! Kudos for good work! After all the stories of craptastic treatment for Buellers, I'm glad to hear this one. | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
"After all the stories of craptastic treatment for Buellers, I'm glad to hear this one." Its the way it is, people who get decent/good service rarely talk about it to others, usually only the people who get terrible service are the ones that are the ones that are vocal about their service | ||
| Sifo |
Let me start by saying that I'm glad you got your bike back. Secondly, this is not meant to be anything negative about Hals H/D. It's more of a comment about our current expectations in service industries. damn, that is one hell of a turn around... Is it great turn around? Really? From the original post, here's the list of damages...
http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/406 2/639006.html?1309104603 That should only be a days work... maybe. Sure they may have found a few more things to replace, but it's still not going to be a long list of items. Parts are either available or not on this bike. It's not like they were on B/O while making more. Insurance companies should be able to get their part done right away. BTW the actual timeline looks to be just under 3 weeks. I'm not going to say that this is bad, but it's far from exceptional. This is based on my experience working as a body & fender guy in a collision shop back in the early 80's. I have been through bad service from HD dealers. Far worse than this for far less work, but that shouldn't be a baseline for determining excellence. As a different point of reference, I had a wheel bearing fail last Friday. I pulled the wheel and happened to have a new set of bearings, so I took it all (along with the shop manual) to my Triumph, Ducati, KTM dealer that is known for good service. I wasn't even sure if they would touch it. The owner said no problem, but warned me that they are hammered on service work right now and 4 of 5 techs were out until Tuesday. I said no rush and left them to do their thing. Sure enough they had it done Tuesday PM. So they got it end of day on Friday and are closed on Sunday. Basically they had it Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday, for a bike they didn't sell and don't even support. Usually they have this sort of thing done for me the next day, but they did warn me about being backed up. Excellence still exists, but I seldom see it from a HD dealer. Again, my point is not about Hals HD, but rather what our expectations have become. I think we can do better. | ||
| Spank |
Glad to see things have changed in their collision department. Back in '08 when I had a sudden "gravity surge" and crashed my 1125R, it took two months to get my bike back. It was basically a low side, just rashed up parts and a couple of broken things. They were kind of dragging their heals on stuff and it even sat there for about a week even though it was done...no real communication. Luckily I had Bud their to keep an eye on things for me! I think at that time though they weren't part of the dealership. Now that being said, they are "my" dealership and I have nothing bad to say about them. Just recently Wally in service went out of his way to get my clutch leak fixed a year out of warranty...even called H-D for me! | ||
| Boogiman1981 |
"sudden gravity surge" that's just the most amazing description i've ever heard | ||
| Spank |
I have always liked it as well. Stole it from my daughter (who can fall over standing still), hence the quotes. LOL | ||
| Nobuell |
"sudden gravity surge", love it! | ||
| Ltbuell |
...quote Art Linkletter "kids say the darnest things"......how it always is.... | ||
| Glitch |
To Sifo: You need to remember, his bike wasn't the only one in the shop. Just because it wasn't major damage, doesn't mean he gets to skip to the front of the line. Hal's is a busy place. | ||
| Sifo |
Glitch, As I stated, I'm basing my opinion on having worked in a collision repair shop. I know how it works quite well. I don't mean to sound like I'm ripping on Hal's at all. This sounds like better service than I've gotten at a number of HD dealerships. When we got cars in our shop they got in the que as they came in. You should know how long it takes to get parts. If there's a hold up with parts then it may slide in the que, but will be the next one to go when parts come in. In this case that means 3 weeks waiting in the que. That's a long time. I don't really think they bumped my wheel bearing past other jobs just because they like me either. That shop just gets stuff out fast. To me that is a mark of excellence. | ||
| Two_seasons |
Here's how it went down Sifo. Took it to Hal's HD Collision Center for estimate. Estimate done in one day. Rode my bike back home. Waited approx. 3 weeks for parts to arrive. Rode back back to Hal's and delivered it to them at 8:30am. Before 5pm they called me and said it's done. Two hours labor. In the meantime, I worked on my '00 X1 Lightning (new engine temp sensor and O2 sensor, new ignition switch---all from American Sport Bike) to get it ready for my road trip to Philly. In the interim, Hal's did not have to move my bike around in the shop and I did not sweat it when exactly they would have the parts come in. Bottom line, with the exception of overfills of 3.3 quarts on the 1125r from their service department, Hal's met my expectations. All the while, my 1125r was rideable, so even if I did not have another bike, I could have made do, even if this was my only mode of transport. | ||
| Sifo |
Why is it acceptable to wait 3 weeks for parts to arrive? You can UPS ground ship across the country in a matter of days these days. | ||
| Froggy |
Because discontinued Buell bodywork normally has a 1-6 month lead time? | ||
| Svh |
Amazing how fast people forget the brand is discontinued and parts aren't as readily available. Please don't start with the "HD promised part support for X years". That "part support" is probably right above un-cubing the Blast on their priority list. | ||
| Sifo |
Because discontinued Buell bodywork normally has a 1-6 month lead time? And this is a sign of excellence?  | ||
| Sifo |
Amazing how fast people forget the brand is discontinued and parts aren't as readily available. Please don't start with the "HD promised part support for X years". That "part support" is probably right above un-cubing the Blast on their priority list. Not forgotten, but having to wait for parts is poor service regardless of the reason. | ||
| Svh |
How is it the dealers fault that their supplier, in this case HD, doesn't have the parts to supply them? That is NOT poor customer service on the dealers part possibly poor judgement on HDs part. | ||
| Sifo |
I don't know how many times in this thread I've tried to make it clear that I'm not blaming the dealer. Had it turned out to be the dealer's fault then so be it, but that appears to not be the case, so be it. It's still poor service, regardless of who's fault it is. That's all I'm saying. I think it's sad that we have come to accept a 3 week wait for parts to be something worth commenting about as a positive thing. | ||
| Whatever |
I had to wait six weeks before the shut down and six months for the last part more recently... both body work (gas tank etc/ airbox cover) unfortunately, until HD sells the patents for some big cash it is all what we get to deal with... | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
I think the point is that Hals did a good job, HD did not. | ||
| Steeleagle |
Why is it someone is always here to rain on someone's parade? "I'm having a great day!" Responses here vary from a couple of "Good for you!" to a bunch of "You're just lucky! It SHOULD have been lousy like mine!" Sheesh. | ||
| Rocketsprink |
because sifo's a douche | ||
| Trbulnt |
Happy to hear that Hals's took care of you as that is where I will be taking my bike if it ever needs any warranty/repair work. | ||
| Sifo |
Great to know I'm a douche just because I don't see a level of service that I considered normal 30 years ago to now be worthy of a positive comment. That to me seems like we are sliding in the wrong direction. BTW - Welcome back Rocco!  |
