Things Dealers tell Customers

[SilkMoneyLove]

Originally Posted by slartidbartfast

Should have taken the mom on one side for a "chat". Kid would have hated you for it...

Obviously, the correct thing to do was to do the kids Mom :-)

[Noone]

Originally Posted by duck

A forklift? Did you bring your bike in on a pallet?

The bike lift was in use. It was a small shop. I could have just waited until Tuesday..............................

You use what you have or you wait.

[jsalman93]

Originally Posted by Flyinace1

Ugh...dealers. I've only been riding for a year and have decided I don't like dealers. I tend to do my research (extensively) before I purchase because I like to know what I'm spending my hard earned money on.

so lets see in the last year
massive motorcycle mega mall in so cal:
1) swore that the stock tire for the Magna was great and long lasting (about 6,000 miles). I ended up getting some tires that would do at least 12,000.
2) When looking for gear for my girlfriend they pointed us to their women's section, about 2 or 3 racks (in a mega mall that prided themselves on being big ). Went to a different store that carried a lot more choices for women's gear

Dealer & motorsports store down the street from my house:
1) Told me the cheap winter gloves w/o armor would protect my hands as much and work far better than a pair of winter gloves with armor because armor adds seams that water can get thru. Went else where and got gloves with armor and water has never got in.
2) When my girl and I went to sit on bikes to see what I should get next I asked for an FZ6 (I knew they had it) The sales man pulled out a fully faired sportbike and in my mind Im thinking "what the heck is that?" (I didn't know about the new r model and I don't like fully dressed bikes, even my FZ6 is bordering on too much) I ended up pointing out the correct bike to the sales man who said he didn't even know they had it. Turns out the FZ6R and the older FZ6 is quite different.
3) Went to get a chain. Asked for a 118 link 530 (didn't know I had to buy a 120, a 1st time noob). The sales man goes to get it and when he comes back I confirm that it's a 118 which he replies yes. I get home and cant figure out why the heck its so loose. When I call the shop back I find out that they dont sell chains with 118 links, they come in 120 links. With a bit more digging since they aren't in the mood of giving info I find out they will cut the chain down to size for free. They couldn't have told me this while I was there asking if it was the right length???

End of story: Every time I need parts, to try on gear (or buy it) or tires put on I go to Chaparral. Each time I need something I check the stores closer and end up out there anyways so I just skip the other stores. They have always had parts even once when the yamaha dealer didn't even have the part I needed. They don't care if I work on my bike right there and they are helpful (tho my 1st experience with their customer service sucked, I was completely ignored)

I think you are referring to Bert's Mega Mall in Azusa, CA
yes I am referring to them by name . I've had my fair share of experiences with those guys
(btw good on you for owning an FZ6, I hear that they are the best bikes in the whole wide world )

Here is my story. It's long, but somewhat interesting:

Owned a Honda Shadow Vlx 600 and one day my tire decides that it doesn't want to be inflated anymore . Unfortunately, this tire made that decision during rush hour on the freeway but I was close enough to home to call my gf to pick me up in my truck. Skip forward to that monday, and the dealership where I would want to go is closed (apparently people don't ride on mondays, go figure). So i call up Bert's and ask them for a price on a tire and balancing. They said that balacing the tire would be 5 bucks, so I drive down there at twice the speed of sound.

I walk in there and a businessman dressed in a tech shirt tells me that the quote was wrong and that it would be 35 to mount the tire. I shit a brick, not at the price, but because they gave me a price and they were going back on their word. Stupidly, I agree to this, because i need my bike for school the next day and my gf needed my truck. The business-tech-con-man, said that it'd be a half hour and they would call me when it's done. No rush, 30-60 mins is fine
Skip to two hours later, they call me in and say that they can't balance it and that my rim is bent. They say that they can get me a new rim and fix it, but it would be about $350. I walk out.

Next day, I take it to the other dealership (temple city powersports in temple city, ca) and the tech there says that my rim isn't bent and that it's fine. He charges me ten bucks and gets it done in 20 mins (they didn't even care that it wasn't their tire).

Moral of the story - Don't let your tires decide to run out of air, or something like that .

[Flyinace1]

Originally Posted by jsalman93

I think you are referring to Bert's Mega Mall in Azusa, CA
yes I am referring to them by name . I've had my fair share of experiences with those guys
(btw good on you for owning an FZ6, I hear that they are the best bikes in the whole wide world )

yep, that'd be the mega mall, I haven't visited them since my last run in with them.
Agree about the FZ6 Awesome bike for just about everything that I do...commuting, touring, day in the mountains, two-up and 50 mpg. It does it all and doesn't look ugly like some "do everything" bikes *cough* v-strom or versys

[jsalman93]

Originally Posted by Flyinace1

yep, that'd be the mega mall, I haven't visited them since my last run in with them.
Agree about the FZ6 Awesome bike for just about everything that I do...commuting, touring, day in the mountains, two-up and 50 mpg. It does it all and doesn't look ugly like some "do everything" bikes *cough* v-strom or versys

hahah them's fighting words, I'll grab some boxing gloves.
But I completely agree, I wish they would have kept the FZ6, instead of cutting costs (Fz6r), but hey, to each their own. Personally, I picked the fz6 because it suits my needs (commuting with occasional canyon and spirited riding), has a much better power band than the R6 (and I don't see as many squids riding them), and they just look damn sexy .
IMHO, I kind of like the look of the new Vstroms *slaps on wrist* , but the versys is kind of like an ugly duckling in my eyes

It's experiences like these that make me uncomfortable at dealerships. I understand that they need to get paid, but I'm not looking to get robbed.

btw if you're ever in Azusa canyons, look around for a blue fz6 . I'm assuming you must ride there if you've been to Berts.

[Flyinace1]

Originally Posted by jsalman93

hahah them's fighting words, I'll grab some boxing gloves.
But I completely agree, I wish they would have kept the FZ6, instead of cutting costs (Fz6r), but hey, to each their own. Personally, I picked the fz6 because it suits my needs (commuting with occasional canyon and spirited riding), has a much better power band than the R6 (and I don't see as many squids riding them), and they just look damn sexy .
IMHO, I kind of like the look of the new Vstroms *slaps on wrist* , but the versys is kind of like an ugly duckling in my eyes

It's experiences like these that make me uncomfortable at dealerships. I understand that they need to get paid, but I'm not looking to get robbed.

btw if you're ever in Azusa canyons, look around for a blue fz6 . I'm assuming you must ride there if you've been to Berts.

Yes I do (actually all over so cal and sometimes beyond for that matter), I'll keep an eye out for you & your bike. I also ride a blue FZ6 but hopefully sooner rather than later it'll have the naked conversion. See ya around

[t-bills]

My wife was looking at buying a Honda Rebel. Not that the Rebel has ever changed from model year to model year, but this was a previous MY still sitting on the floor. He was trying to bust my wife's chops on the price and financing. I step in and make a comment about being a repeat customer. The salesman says "Who is buying this bike? You or her?" Turns out neither of us bought the bike...

[Mambo Dave]

A ploy that I see dealers doing is misleading customers about availability of products. Either color, or options, everything the customer wants that isn't at the dealership is rare ("there aren't many of XXX in the country, they just didn't make that many") - so they shouldn't expect it, or should pay more for it. It's a line most dealers use, usually coupled with an exaggerated description of the dealer network they work with ("we can get any XXX in the country/state") when the reality is that the next closest dealership would really like to see them out of business, so even if there are five XXX's close by, those five XXX's might as well not exist if you believe the dealership's word. But spend the time to travel and you'd find them, choose the one you want, and go home happy. I'm saying this from the experience of working at two different dealerships.

------

While I like the bike, I highly suspect that the guys trying to boost demand for the CB1100F over in that thread - by trying to get people worried to buy them now before 'prices will go up as the 2013's sell out' and shit like that - are salesmen at various dealerships.

[KG6BWS]

Originally Posted by jsalman93

I think you are referring to Bert's Mega Mall in Azusa, CA
yes I am referring to them by name . I've had my fair share of experiences with those guys
(btw good on you for owning an FZ6, I hear that they are the best bikes in the whole wide world )

Here is my story. It's long, but somewhat interesting:

Owned a Honda Shadow Vlx 600 and one day my tire decides that it doesn't want to be inflated anymore . Unfortunately, this tire made that decision during rush hour on the freeway but I was close enough to home to call my gf to pick me up in my truck. Skip forward to that monday, and the dealership where I would want to go is closed (apparently people don't ride on mondays, go figure). So i call up Bert's and ask them for a price on a tire and balancing. They said that balacing the tire would be 5 bucks, so I drive down there at twice the speed of sound.

I walk in there and a businessman dressed in a tech shirt tells me that the quote was wrong and that it would be 35 to mount the tire. I shit a brick, not at the price, but because they gave me a price and they were going back on their word. Stupidly, I agree to this, because i need my bike for school the next day and my gf needed my truck. The business-tech-con-man, said that it'd be a half hour and they would call me when it's done. No rush, 30-60 mins is fine
Skip to two hours later, they call me in and say that they can't balance it and that my rim is bent. They say that they can get me a new rim and fix it, but it would be about $350. I walk out.

Next day, I take it to the other dealership (temple city powersports in temple city, ca) and the tech there says that my rim isn't bent and that it's fine. He charges me ten bucks and gets it done in 20 mins (they didn't even care that it wasn't their tire).

Moral of the story - Don't let your tires decide to run out of air, or something like that .

Im another Berts mega mall hater. Ill never go back to them. Only bought one bike from them, in 07, but Ive been their a few times for parts and service. The parts guys are rude and act like youre wasting their time. Service are the same way, plus theyre not interested in keeping to any kind of a time table unless youre bring some squid bike. Bought my KLR used, dropped it off their for a major service and just a checking over, when I got it back I found so much shit that needed to be fixed on it that basically I paid $400 for an oil change, instead of a 36000 mile service.

Temple City Powersports on the other hand, is an awesome place! Great techs back there. Ive gone their for tires and a couple of small repairs. Have brought my own tires in there on several occasions and they had no problems mounting them for me. For small things, theyre also real good about just getting it done. Had a grip that twisted on my way home from work. It was starting to irritate me so I stopped in, told them what was up, they had one of their techs come out real quick put some glue on it and sent me on my way. No charge. I highly recommend them. Not a huge dealer or shop, but a damn good one.

[Dblarrow]

06 and Kawasaki is having their no interest sale on new bikes. Never had a new vehicle and decided I was ready for a new KLR 650. Got approved for financing and it was simply a matter of going into the dealership and walking out with the bike. I spent a lot of time researching costs and what not. Spent a lot of time looking at the local dealer and sitting on the bike and talking about farkles and what not. Thought I developed some kind of relationship with the dealer. Finally sat down to talk price; MSRP at that time was $5199 and they were asking $5399 I offered $5K and they countered with $5399 + tax, title and licsence, I mentioned that that was over the MSRP, "Yep and we will get that from someone else" got up and walked away. Called down to a dealer in Ronan - 75 miles from home , asked if they had any KLR's, "Yep, just took one out of the box and put it together" I offer $5k, He counters with $5050 for paperwork. And down the road I go to get my new bike.

Every once in a while I give the shop the opportunity to offer a reasonable deal on parts, but they continue to not care, and I generally get better deals on Kawasaki parts from the local Yamaha dealer.

[DR Donk]

[Thought I developed some kind of relationship with the dealer. Finally sat down to talk price; MSRP at that time was $5199 and they were asking $5399 I offered $5K and they countered with $5399 + tax, title and licsence, I mentioned that that was over the MSRP, "Yep and we will get that from someone else" got up and walked away.]


Getting up and walking away and finding it cheaper elsewhere was your right to do. However, if you were selling something and felt that you would be able to sell it for what you were asking, would you sell it for less than you wanted to somone who offered a lower price? I wouldn't.

[kraven]

Originally Posted by DR Donk

[Thought I developed some kind of relationship with the dealer. Finally sat down to talk price; MSRP at that time was $5199 and they were asking $5399 I offered $5K and they countered with $5399 + tax, title and licsence, I mentioned that that was over the MSRP, "Yep and we will get that from someone else" got up and walked away.]


Getting up and walking away and finding it cheaper elsewhere was your right to do. However, if you were selling something and felt that you would be able to sell it for what you were asking, would you sell it for less than you wanted to somone who offered a lower price? I wouldn't.

I applaud you for trying to talk some sense in the midst of this self righteous circle jerk thread populated by the easily ruffled and inexperienced wheeler dealer wannabes.

You're crazy. But I respect this kind of crazy.

[TrashCan]

Originally Posted by kraven

I applaud you for trying to talk some sense in the midst of this self righteous circle jerk thread populated by the easily ruffled and inexperienced wheeler dealer wannabes.

You're crazy. But I respect this kind of crazy.

What...What...What are you talking about???
The (customer) is always right, whether he is a buying or not.

[RedShark]

No. The "customer" is NOT always right, in fact - they aren't even always the customer.

Some customers need to be 'fired' - the point is often lost on some that IF the dealership is to see a profit from sales, then they need to make X margain on all units moved. Just because someone makes an offer does NOT mean that the dealer cannot get their price from another shopper.

[mr. matteeanne]

I have bought a lot of bikes in my day, but have never bought one from our "local" shop as it is quite evident the sales people know nothing about bikes. I have gone as far as to say this to the owner of the shop and it fell on deaf ears.
I try very hard to use the local shop whenever I can for parts and repairs I cannot handle. I want them to succeed, just as I want my business to succeed. But they sure make it hard.
I had a leak on the primary gear/seal and took it to them. When I got the bike back it was making a racket, I took the front sprocket cover off and they had forgotten to bolt the sprocket down. The owner was not happy to see me that day. He made it right, but wow.