| Author | Message | ||
     Fitz4321 |
I posted before telling how nice they treated me.... Well that was before the problems started. I brought my 2000 S3 in to have all of the motor gaskets replaced. It was running fine when I brought it in, but I had a small oil leak & I wanted my Buell to be perfect. After 2 weeks & a $1000 later I showed up to pick up the bike, but I couldn’t immediately leave with it because the mechanic who worked on it brought the keys home. An hour & a half later the guy shows up with my keys. Now the real bad stuff. After only 200 miles (one week) after the job was done, I'm pulling out of the gas station & and I hear an awful noise like a hammer banging in my motor. I immediately hit the kill switch. I have the bike towed to Livermore Harley. They said they would call me the next day... THEY DID NOT! I called them 3 days after and asked them "what’s the deal?". They said they would get it on the rack that day. I get a call an hour later & they claimed they had nothing to do with my bike breaking down. I told them how much they sucked & said I would come get the bike & they weren’t getting another dime from me. So, I show up with a trailer to pick the bike up & my motor is in 2 boxes & they wanted to charge me $100 for that privilege. I said NO WAY! Out of the kindness of their heart they decided not to charge me the $100 to throw my parts in a box. So I'll say it again.... DO NOT go to Livermore Harley! (Message edited by fitz4321 on November 20, 2006) | ||
| Buellfart |
small claims court | ||
| Mmmi_grad |
I would have hired a lawyer on the spot. I hate to say this but you really got to look at a Harley dealership in a theatening way. You got to be upfront about your expectations and demand deadlines, commitments and anything else you can think to make sure that when they do agree to your demands and a reasonable price it is followed through. There is no way in hell you are going to experience a painless trip to the shop when asking for major work to be done unless you do this. Too much crap goes on in there and the pay isnt enough alot of times. Worst, you got someone there working on your bike like me wondering why in the hell your being so picky with a Harley motor. Its one thing to have a safety concerns or an emergency repair somewhere in nowhere land on a trip... but a harmless weaping gasket that causes a stain hardley warrants a tear down. Esp on a Harley motor. I dont know where or what your leak was but anyway I hope this info helps some peeps out. If you cant get to talk to the person who will be working on your bike, try to find a time to pull the service manager away and tell him about you and your bike. Make damn sure he understands what you want. That way when the tech has a dumass attack and you aint around. The SM will make the tech eat the labor costs repairing your bike the way you wanted it done.  | ||
| Daves |
so, did you find out what is wrong with it yet? | ||
| Djkaplan |
You need to find out what happened and what may have caused it. You say they changed all the gaskets... what gaskets did they change? It should outline every gasket they replaced on the invoice. | ||
| Naustin |
 Owing a buell is like being some kind of hate crime target around most HD shops. I second the motion - sue them. (Message edited by naustin on November 22, 2006) | ||
| Daves |
Sue them for what? We don't even know what is wrong yet? It just "could be" unrelated to replacing some gaskets. I don't know? None of us knows yet. The 100.00 they didn't charge was for taking something apart, not for just putting parts in a box. They didn't jump off the bike themselves, did they? Let's find out what happened before we all go off on the "Bad Buell dealer" tangent. | ||
| Sickquad |
Daves, you sound like a dealer yourself. | ||
| Daves |
 Well, that and maybe the "voice of reason"? Sue,sue,sue. I just get tired of that. Let's hear some facts first before we send out the lynch mob. | ||
| Kano832003 |
I'm with Daves. | ||
| Charley |
What did they do exactly for that $1000,--? i mean sounds expensive for just the gaskets. second , what caused the noise in the engine? did they tell you? | ||
| Essthreetee |
What did they do exactly for that $1000,--? i mean sounds expensive for just the gaskets. Not really...if you figure $85/hour for 8 hours that is $680 for labor alone...then depending on what they did, probably not unheard of...I know I got hit with an $1100 bill once on something that I should have jsut done myself... | ||
| Oldog |
You know what really sucks here, the good dealers and the brand get a black eye outa this deal too. the best consumer is an EDUCATED ONE even if you don't plan to do your own work, understand what is involved and remember that the dealer has to make a living too. so don't expect some thing for nothing, and check behind any dealer service that you feel is questionable be prepared to deal with situations like this [ Tactfully ], face it not that many businesses have high standards like our sponsors. | ||
| Charley |
What did they do exactly for that $1000,--? i mean sounds expensive for just the gaskets. Not really...if you figure $85/hour for 8 hours that is $680 for labor alone so that leaves $320,-- for the gaskets! leaving my question , what did they do? | ||
| Essthreetee |
OK, OK...I was just making a point that depending on how much time they worked on it in the 2 weeks (?) that they had it and the price of labor...$1000 is not unheard of... I was also giving an example of a time when I got a bill for $1100 on something I thought was going to be fairly cheap. So Fitz4321, what else did they do???? | ||
| Fitz4321 |
95 an hour labor (california) changed all gaskets $800 Rebuilt brake calipers Labor & parts $200 They never told me what the problem was. They said it wasn't their fault but they could go deeper to find out. With the attitude I was getting, I got the feeling no matter what they saw they would say it was not their fault, but since it's apart you should just let us finnish it & give us all of your $$. Let me put it this way, The shop manager was hinting it wasen't his fault before he even pulled it apart, making statements such as "these Buell's do this all the time". I can accept the fact that things sometimes break.... but from the moment I brought it back I got the feeling they diden't want to even bother with me. Like how they said they would call me the next day & they did not & I finally had to call them after 3 days. | ||
| Oldog |
What is damaged? | ||
| Daves |
How far are you from Glendale or Vallejo(they would be my first choice if I was was in CA)? I have also heard good things about Biggs in San Marcos I just looked at the map, you are real close to Vallejo. Take it there. Tell Terry(Buelldynoguy) I said Hi! | ||
| Jack_fe |
ok, here goes, very few bikes are ever "perfect" there is usually some little thing not quite right. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, particularly at a dealer. I ride a '97 s3 32k miles. yes, belt, isolators, rear head gasket, front wheel bearings replaced - if you want repairs done right do them yourself. if you don't have time or skill to do repairs yourself, you have chosen the wrong bike to have a truly enjoyable ownership experience as it ages. | ||
| Mmmi_grad |
Jack is right but!!!!!!!!!!!! The service manager is full of it. To say these Buells do this all the time is pathetic and not offering an idea or diagnosis of what the problem is or area is unacceptable. These techs are trained to diagnose repairs by listening to a motor. Not an easy thing to do but with experience and some time one will aquire to skill to know whats up just by listening to a motor. Isnt that why people take bikes to the dealer? Too many times in the past I have asked for things to be done right and got nothing but short cuts and failure out of asking a dealer to do motor work like replace a pinion shaft or replace some valve seats. I advise anyone if they want heavy duty motor work done send it to a specialist shop like SUPERIOUR CYCLE in Wisconsin. They have the skill and a machine shop to get it done right. You would think an establishment selling 30k dollar machines would be able to support them in the right way but even now in 2006 it isnt the case. Wisconsin needs to start selling some passion to the service dept! | ||
| Oz666 |
I'll bet they torqued the primary (engine/stator) nut to the sportster `spec and didn't slather it with red Loctite. Rode my bike 200+ miles when my nut (no jokes here, kids) came loose. Sounded like the flywheels were beating each other with BFHs. Total cost to repair, <$50 including oil, filter, fresh tube `o Loctite and solvent. Education, priceless.   Oz | ||
| Oz666 |
Oh, and thanx and a tip of the hat to Crusty who made a primary locking bar for me after I told him that after I filed the threads on the end of the crank and used a NEW crank nut (DaveS, natch) I torqued it with the air gun `till tiny bits of metal came out of the socket. That is, as many of you will recognize, the German torque spec - Guddentyte... And yes, I have subsequently removed it, stator failure ~ 10K miles later, NOT related. Oz | ||
| Iamike |
Hey Oz- Sometime you feel like a nut, sometime you don't! | ||
| Disturbed |
Daves, he is fairly close to Vallejo but trust me, it's a drive from Livermore, at least an hour, closer to 1.5. It would not be conveinent at all but, neither is a busted bike.... Just too far to be his "local" dealer. That dealer ship is very new, only been open a few years. Being a Livermore native I can say I'd never take my bike there. They treat the HD group with much more care because they buy more chrome, at least that is the vibe when you stroll in and ask for anything Buell. Get a Service Manual and self educate. Sucks that you are now with a boxed up motor. I'd insist on the bike being put back together on their dime if they truly found nothing, then use the resources available to you to fix it yourself. Cord (Message edited by Disturbed on December 24, 2006) | ||
| M1a65 |
Sounds like the Harley tech took your bike home and beat the balls off it when he forgot your keys... I personally saw them doing burnouts at Killer Creek HD in Ga on bikes with 5-10 miles on them before they were sold to the public. Nice way to break in a engine. They no longer sell Buell there due to recall reasons, wonder why? |
