I just have a hard time with this, and other issues with Harley. It seems in my eyes
that people will LIVE with problems with HD, and their STUPITY. When it comes to
other companies (car, motorcycles) they would, like me "stick it up there *ss.
Harley KNOWS they can get away with it BECAUSE owners LIVE with it!!!. I BELIEVE if our atitudes change, so will the quality of the motorcycles.
I know the YOUNGER generation will NEVER live with it, and if
HD wants to win them over, they have to change RFN!! Just my 2 cents.
I think you're preaching to the choir, tazmun, I've been saying the same thing for many years about H-D. So far I don't see any evidence of change, since the dealerships still tend to be clueless for the most part and MoCo management is too busy counting their bonus money to worry about customer satisfaction. Just as was the case in the auto industry, it's going to take something really earthshaking to make them change. So far, I don't think the current downturn in their business is anywhere near enough to do the trick.
As for your earlier question, let me answer that with a question of my own. If you knew that the so-called "techs" at your dealership were barely qualified to change oil, would you really want them messing with the wiring for your electronic throttle control? Yes, we should take this stuff back to the dealer and make them fix it. But after you go through that routine a few times and get your bike back in worse condition than before, or with several new scratches, what are you going to do? And if your answer is to keep going back to "make them fix it", or to fix the damage they caused, I hope you have the patience of Job and a really tenacious attorney. Oh, and btw, if your bike isn't showing any diagnostic codes, they aren't going to go in and do this stuff to the connectors anyway. H-D doesn't pay them unless there is an obvious defect present. Just checking stuff on the off chance that it may go bad isn't something they do.
Yes, take it back to the dealer if you want, or if you don't personally have the capability to perform the work yourself. However, for those who have the capability, I've found it to be much less stressful to just fix the crap myself. The MoCo isn't getting a free ride in my case, however. They've received tons of negative advertising from me, and I've ceased spending any significant amount of cash with them or their dealers. I've also publicly stated that I will never consider the purchase of another Harley unless I see a huge change in the quality of the bikes and in customer service. That is the only way things will change, when enough folks quit handing them the money.
Jerry