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[ridefar]

Yesterday was Saturday and I had an appointment at my dealer to have a faulty tourpak LED light replaced. While inside, the county highway crew, with no fore warning, decides to put down fresh oil and stone to "resurface" the road. My bike is in the shop and its too late to escape. The dealer is on a rural backroad. with no other way in or out. About an hour later, I'm standing outside planning a non paint chipping strategy for getting out of the area, when my bike comes in off this very road with the tech riding it! I lost it! I asked him why the F are you test riding a bike for a tour pak light, he says its on the work order. I laid into the service writer and manager, who claims they test ride every job. I'm still pi$$ed and its 36 hours later. Am I over reacting? How would you guys have handled same? Thanks...

[Twolanerider]

Would have told them to call me when they had finished detailing every surface on the motorcycle.  Every one of them.  Top and bottom.  Inside and out.

[Fired00d]

Would have told them to call me when they had finished detailing every surface on the motorcycle.

[HWYMAN1]

Ridefar,
While I agree that complete detailing is in order, there still is a bigger question. Why is there a work order test drive a bike for non-mechanical part ( no engine problem, vibration complaint, no noise when riding, brake issue, etc)? Maybe the owner has the answer? Maybe answer can keep the next owner from an anxiety attack for trying screw up his $30K+ ride,  good luck on at least getting it back in shape,  John

[Twolanerider]

Ridefar,
While I agree that complete detailing is in order, there still is a bigger question. Why is there a work order test drive a bike for non-mechanical part ( no engine problem, vibration complaint, no noise when riding, brake issue, etc)? Maybe the owner has the answer? Maybe answer can keep the next owner from an anxiety attack for trying screw up his $30K+ ride,

[HWYMAN1]

Twolane,
I could see this as long as it a posted policy of the dealership. Also adding the explaination as to why they do this ( to include your point) would lend itself to better customer relations.

[Twolanerider]

They could even justify it on the premise of potentially knocking something loose while working on something else and it being better to catch the problem now rather than letting you get home with it.  But it's still a CYA option on there part.  Most work releases that garage keepers have you sign include your permission for them to test drive.  So we're likely already agreeing to it being done at their discretion when we drop off the bike.

[Mr. We]

I agree all!

I have always had a problem with a "tech" working on my bike with little or no sense of the value of the machine he is working on. [smiley=soapbox.gif]

I stay away from the "tech who just got trained on that" and head straight for the oldest, hairiest, tattooed MF in the back and talk to them face to face, the same way I'll be squaring off with them if there is a problem. We stay away from the stealership unless it is a warranty issue, and I am beginning to wonder if they are even worth tracking down. We have only had a couple of warranty fixes that did not include another problem on the way out the door.

I keep going back to the idea, if the mechanic's prize possesion is his Nike's, then I don't want him touching my ride.

[HWYMAN1]

They could even justify it on the premise of potentially knocking something loose while working on something else and it being better to catch the problem now rather than letting you get home with it.

[Twolanerider]

Oto, I don't think anyone is suggesting that any damage done while in their possession is not their responsibility.  In this case they may have thoroughly covered a bike with road oil and, perhaps, gave it a layer of dings with new loose gravel.  They can't even argue that this potential was unforeseen as they had to know they were venturing out on a freshly oiled and rocked road.  So they should, at a minimum, have to clean everything.  Then once it's clean they should be completely willing to submit to a thorough inspection for any damage.  

That they should be willing to this and their actually doing it, of course, are two different things.  But that is the absolute minimum that should be expected and required of them.

[ridefar]

Thanks for the therapy guys, all points well taken. The situation is thus: dealer in question is one hours ride from my house. There are four dealers closer by a small margin, and this one I have worked with since day one purchase of 2004 SEEG and have spent literally thousands there exclusively and they know it. At the time, the service manager asked me privately, what he could do to fix what happened. I told him to call me, because I needed to get out of there before I said or did something I might later regret. (there was a customer there putting his 2 cents in that "you have to ride down that same road to leave)like it was any of his business! I was so mad that I could have probably taken his head off right there and gotten arrested for it, and I realized the best thing was a quick exit. Just getting on the bike has a calming effect, so no I was not seeing red while riding. Will let you all know what transpires.

[grc]

I've been intrigued for many years by the fine print disclaimers that seem to be standard equipment on work order forms, for cars as well as bikes.

[Screamin]

Guess you have to decide if it was an honest screw up or just stupid. Since you seem to value your dealer, and that's a great thing, I'd think that them doing a thorough clean up and inspection would be in order.

[ridefar]

I waited about a month and tried to just let the incident go, but I could not do so. All they had to do, in my mind, was call me the next day and ask me if we were ok on the issue. Nothing... I wrote the owner of the dealership(his father started the dealership in 1947) a letter explaining my disatisfaction with the incident and to call me. We played phone tag for about a week and then when he gets ahold of me says "well Tom, I really don't know what to do for you"(exact quote). Followed by, "the tech was real careful with your bike". And "you had to ride down that same road yourself to leave". As well as "I rode my own bike to work everyday after the road work". Followed by "I guess some people are more emotionally attached to their bikes than I am". So in essence, this guy was telling me that I am nothing but a whiner and that he is not prepared to do anything to appease me. What a bummer, I have had a great relationship with their service dept, but now I feel I may have to vote with my feet. Oh yeah, I am pretty sure that he said that it is MOCO policy to test ride every service appt. That is the first I ever heard of this.

[Twolanerider]

Far, nothing the guy said is really "wrong."  But that doesn't make it right either.  This seemed from day one to be one of those in-between issues where a business has to decide if they'd rather be "right" in their own mind or have a happy customer.  Sometimes when things are in that in-between mode you really do have to find a diplomatic way to pacify the problem and the client.  When neither side can legitimately feel to have been terribly wrong the business has to step up.  

It sounded like they could have satisifed a long standing customer with a good detail of the bike.  That doesn't seem like a hard decision to make.  Happy customer's real complaint is put to bed with a handshake and a thorough clean up versus saying "I feel your pain, but I ain't sharing it."  The business decision seems an easy one.  But then again Harley shops all too often aren't standard businesses; at least not in their own minds.