I'll provide a full report of my negotiations with my dealer and the MoCo after I return home.
Part 1: "How I Drank The Harley Kool-aid and Survived - So Far". In two parts due to a flhrsei.org limit of 6000 characters per post.
BackgroundI rode my '00 Fat Boy to Sturgis in August of '06, visit the Rapid City Convention Center Harley event, see the B/O FLHTCUSE2, and decide that I want one.
I order a '07 FLHTCUSE2 from Dudley Perkins of San Francisco on 9/8/06 after another local dealer, Bob Dron's HD of Oakland, won't negotiate a price below $4k over list price for the same bike.
The Bike ArrivesThe bike arrived on Tuesday 11/28. Two defects were immediately identified by the dealer: an area of bad paint on the tank, and inner fairing finish quality at the top of the fairing was bad and very noticeable. I visit the bike and observe orange peel on both the front and rear fenders. My dealer tries to talk me into taking the bike and tells me that it can take up to 10 weeks to get replacement painted parts. I vent my frustration in the first post in this thread.
I write a letter to three senior Harley execs on Friday 12/1 asking for help after no further word from the dealer. The three that I wrote to are:
Mr. James L Ziemer
Chief Executive Officer
Harley Davidson Inc.
3700 West Juneau Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53201-0653
Mr. Steven R. Phillips
Vice President, Quality, Reliability and Technical Service
Harley Davidson Inc.
3700 West Juneau Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53201-0653
Mr. Fred C Gates
Vice President, York Operations
Harley Davidson Inc.
1425 Eden Road
York, PA 17402-1507
In the letter I quote from the Harley CVO web site marketing materials: