| Author | Message | ||
     Pcmodeler |
OK, bought my XB used from a private seller in December. I've been getting some parts, apparel and recently, service work done at my local Buell/Harley dealer (at least a 1 hour round trip from my home). Here is some of the experiences I've had with the dealer thus far: 1. Parts Department - Ordered rear foot pegs. They ordered two left pegs. They had to reorder a right one. Had to make a special trip. 2. Apparel Department - Had bought a pair of Buell Puck gloves (XL). Got them home and decided that I should have checked to see if a large would have fit better (that's my mistake). Took them back to exchange them. Get home and there is a call on my machine. They had actually put the XL pair back in the bag instead of the larges I exchanged them for. Another trip. 3. Service Department - Called them once to check on service issue regarding wheel bearings. They said my bike is not affected. Took it in for service (adjust clutch, adjust throttle, state inspection, change oil and fix oil leak). Again, mention bearings. Again, they tell me my bike is not affected (although at this point members of board had confirmed it for me). Again, make special trip to actually hand them the service bulletin documentation. Again, they tell me bike no affected. I call Buell, they confirm bike affected and call dealership and tell them to fix it. 4. Get bike back from service. Clutch still shows same amount of slack, throttle still stick and improperly adjusted, oil still leaking and, worst of all, I practically rear end a car because my front brakes suddenly don't work right. I'm guessing they disconnected them to replace the bearings and either didn't bleed them properly or it was low on fluid. Haven't had a chance to check it yet. They called my house while I was out of town last week to ask my wife if I was happy with the service and sent me a post card. I was so pissed off at first that I was going to bite the cost and take it as a lesson learned and go to a non-Buell dealer, but seeing as how they are calling and sending me mail, I'm thinking of giving them an honest opinion and letting them know how completely dissatisfied I am with the dealership in general. Should I let them know or just keep quiet and take my business elsewhere (and closer to home)? | ||
| Mikej |
Print out your post above and staple it to the post card. | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
Tell them honestly but do it in a professional, calm manner. The gloves is as you mentioned initially your bad, however accidentally putting the wrong ones back in the bag? Thats a 50/50 deal. I would have made sure before I left that I had the correct ones because its easy to grab the wrong one when both are sitting on the counter. The brakes is an issue, kinda makes me wonder if a tech took the bike for a test ride. The bearings is a bad sign, it means they never looked to double check, that is negligence on their part. The clutch calls for 1/4" of freeplay in the manual, if you have more then that, then yes its their bad. Again with throttle adjustment, it does call in the manual for a bit of free play, without looking IIRC its about 1/4" of turn (not 1/4 turn) as well. The oil leak, can't say, don't have enough details. I would still look into another dealer just based off the bearings. I would also think it a good idea, when you send them that letter, to make it very business/proffessional and CC a copy to Buell Customer Service, address can be found here on BadWeb under "For The Factory". The key and important factor is maintaining a professional and clean letter. Don't go off on it just be clear and concise without going overboard and ballistic. It will make your position stronger and make them think that your someone who takes pride in what you are doing. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Are they going to continue to be a Buell Dealer? If so, it's your call as to if you want to be their trainer. I have done it before, and bled money and time, only to see the dealer drop the line a few months later. Now I just make the long drive to the good dealer I should have been dealing with all along. That being said, so long as they kept making it right, it would be good to try and support them, even though it means you have to double and triple check everything. If they did not survive the purge, the sooner you are out of there the better. Those were honest mistakes, and I won't bad mouth them so long as they keep trying to make it right (which it sounds like they are), but there comes a point I will stop wasting my time on them as well. | ||
| Buell2001b |
dude i feel you pain. nice thing about me is i had 3 buell dealers within 30 min, so i can be picky. the first one i tried the screwed up. dont buy from them anymore. second in FT washington was great so i stuc with them. They know their buells. best way is to find another one. if they dont get the sales they will relaize they screwed up. | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
What you have is a normal Harley Buell service department: don't know, don't care. Actually, you are not too far from one of the best Buell service departments in the country, Tilley's in Statesville, NC. There really are not very many Harley dealerships that can service Buells properly: they aren't interested, and the standard required by Buelligans just isn't necessary to satisfy the vast majority of Harley owners who don't expect much from their machines, and don't know much about how they work. | ||
| Clown |
If you are taking it to the servicing dealer you have listed on your profile, go into the dealer ship and ask to speak with Guy. He is the owner. He did some training with me before he opened the store. I'm a GM at Stone Mtn HD/Buell and I appreciate it when someone tells me we made a mistake. If I don't know we have made a mistake, I can't fix it. I agree with the above posts, keep a very professional attitude. Just explain to them your concerns with each department. Hopefully, they will try to make it right. | ||
| 2000m2 |
Let them know...it will only anger you every time you think about it and you will wish you had said something, plus you may help other Buellers who come along behind you. | ||
| Smokedaddy |
Mark, I'm with Mikej and Clown, "make sure the owner” gets all the facts straight, don’t exaggerated them and present them in a professional manner. Just as in any business, the owner sometimes hasn’t a clue what transpires. BTW, the best thing you can do for YOUR sake (IF you're going to own a Buell that is) would be to learn how to do as much of the maintenance as possible yourself. I quit trying to find a Buell dealer in my area back in 1998. I won’t accept high dollar second-rate half-assed service and make myself believe it’s good enough. The truth is, if you’ve followed the Buell dealership service/parts accountability record over the last 7 or 8 years, good Buell dealers are far and few in between. I didn't say they don't exist, just not many of them! There was a saying going around for a while, “Love my Buell, hate the service!”. -SD: OOps: BTW, I personall wouldn't go back to them if another dealer is available near by after you let the owner know the situation. Wouldn't burn the bridge but wouldn't go back there either. Of course if the owner called my personally, I'd change my mind in a heart beat. (Message edited by smokedaddy on March 09, 2005) | ||
| Pcmodeler |
Thanks guys. I will probably get in touch with them about it. I may/or may not continue to go there but I might as well let them know how I feel, plus they do have some nice sponsored events throughout the year (like the chili cook-off a few weeks ago). I did ask the sales manager when I tried to get the free Buell cap (they didn't participate) if they were one of the Buell dealerships, but his response wasn't fully assuring "We still carry Buells". That could have easily meant they still have Buells on the floor (about 7 various new bikes including everything but an XB9R). I can say that in the two to three months I've stopped there, it looks like the same bikes on the floor and I have yet to see another Buell in this area in the 7-8 years I've lived here. On another note, the other shop that I did contact about doing service work is a custom bike shop (choppers). However, the owner, in addition to owning a '99 Roadking also owns a '03 Lightning (http://www.departure.com/staff.asp). They were actually recommended by a friend who used to work there part time. Smokedaddy, I agree, I do need to do more of the work myself. In fact, I do have the service manual. My biggest reason for taking it there was that I bought the bike used as a reposession. I had no way of knowing the history of the bike from the owner and I can tell you that the bike was ridden hard (dumped pretty much every way possible). I wanted them to look at it to make sure they didn't notice anything I didn't. Also, it needed the state inspection and bearings done, so I figured as long as it was there.... In the past on my previous jap bikes (10 years since I owned my last one), I did do much of the work myself. Thanks guys. | ||
| Budo |
"3. Service Department - Called them once to check on service issue regarding wheel bearings. They said my bike is not affected. Took it in for service (adjust clutch, adjust throttle, state inspection, change oil and fix oil leak). Again, mention bearings. Again, they tell me my bike is not affected (although at this point members of board had confirmed it for me). Again, make special trip to actually hand them the service bulletin documentation. Again, they tell me bike no affected. I call Buell, they confirm bike affected and call dealership and tell them to fix it. " Let me get this straight, you told them about the wheel bearings twice, showed them the tech bulliten and they still refused to fix them and you finally had to get Buell to call them to force them to recognize the tech service bulliten. Well you stopped short of holding a gun on them. I would never set foot in the place again. The wheel bearings are a safety issue IMHO and you should not have had to go to such excessive lengths to get them changed. Oh, be sure to tell the owner why he will not be getting any more of your business. That kinda of service (lack of) is not acceptable to me. | ||
| Captainplanet |
That is pretty much the experience I had with the sidestand on my bike with my dealer. Even after Buell told them to replace it, they continued to claim it wasn't in stock, and of course, never offered to get one and call me when they had it. It just made it clear to me they did not want my business. They no longer get it. | ||
| Pcmodeler |
Yes Budo, that is correct. What's even funnier is that the service bulletin has a date range of bikes affected. The tech ran my vin and said my bike wasn't in that date range. That the last two vin numbers are codes for the date. However, when I asked him what date mine was made, he said he didn't know because he didn't know what the codes meant. In other words, he didn't know when my bike was made but somehow was able to determine that it wasn't made in the period stated on the service bulletin. On another note, I went home during lunch to look at my throttle and discovered part of the problem. When they took the grip off, the replaced the bar end too tightly. It was pressed all the way against the grip. In otherwords, it was causing the grip too stick. I also added some additional brake fluid and it's still spongy, so it's definetly got bubbles in the line. | ||
| Djkaplan |
The best thing I ever did was just to stop going to the dealer I bought my bike from. I didn't tell them off or make a big deal about it, I just stopped going there and found someplace better. It saved me a lot of aggravation and I finally started having a good Buell experience. Just walk away and don't look back. I have heard reports that the dealership I stopped going to has a new manager and has turned itself around significantly. I hope that's true. | ||
| Clown |
DJ, it is true. | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
It also takes feedback from people who have had a poor experience at a dealership to let the dealership know they have a problem. That way those with the power to make a change, know they need to make a change. | ||
| Pcmodeler |
Cameron, I did send him a letter indicating my experience with the dealership. I hope you don't mind, but I mentioned that if you hadn't suggested I contact him and let him know how I feel, that I would have done the same thing as DJ, which is say nothing and take my business elsewhere. | ||
| Clown |
That's good. DJ actually used to be a customer of mine. I sold him his bike. We had some problems in our service dept some time ago. Those problems have been fixed (some people are no longer employed here for good reason). Maybe one day he will come back (Hint Hint DJ). Hopefully your issues can be resolved. If not it's only a thousand miles to Atlanta, and we can service your bike. | ||
| Djkaplan |
Cameron, I think it's a testament to your management abilities that you remembered me from so long ago. I'm happy to hear that you're in charge now. I'm looking forward to seeing you and the rest of the 3 percenters at TWO on March 19-20. |
