| Author | Message | ||
     Oldguycityx |
Just thought I'd throw my two cents into the mix. After reading many comments on BadWeb I decided that I really should have frame pucks on my CityX. When the temp reached 40 I decided to ride to Iron Valley HD/Buell this morning and was pleasantly surprised when I walked in. They had always had multiple Buells in stock, but today they were the first bikes I ran into after entering the dealership (about 7 of them if my memory is any good). I was greeted in a friendly manner (even with my Buell sling bag over my shoulder)  , and was directed to the part I was looking for. The salesman walked over and I told him that from what I had read these things were good at protecting the frame. He asked if I would like to see a better view of the frame. He took me back to the shop and showed me the GM's race bike that was being prepared for next season (he took this season off after a nasty wreck last year). Chatted with him for a while and found out that he test rode a used M1 that was traded and bought it. Also had a Blast to teach his kids to ride. When we talked about the race kit he even suggested getting a Drummer since the race can isn't available anymore. Went up to the admittedly small Buell clothing section. Grabbed a T-shirt and hat and was looking at the helmets when a salesgirl asked if she could help. She told me about a Buell helmet that they had, but appeared to be out of, checked the back room and then took my name and number to call me if they get more of those particular helmets. Admittedly not a huge cash deal for them, a little under $100 to walk out the door with everything I needed....okay, didn't really NEED the T-shirt or the hat. Anyway, I know it isn't nearly as elegant as many of the ideas presented in this thread, but to me it was a fine example of good customer service and they will certainly be seeing me again. (Message edited by oldguycityx on November 04, 2006) | ||
| Cyclonedon |
Oldguycityx wrote, "Admittedly not a huge cash deal for them, a little under $100 to walk out the door with everything I needed....okay" If every dealer had a customer walk out their door that spent a $100.00 on Buell products, just think how much more Buell merchandise they would actually carry! They would have to remodel their stores for more space. | ||
| Sub65chris |
With customer service I have has a great experience ! My 05 city x was having issues , and the antelope valley harley buell dealer was great! They were curtious , respectfull to my sugestions ,as prompt as they could be , and overall very professional . When i did not have a ride they gave me a roadking to drive while my bike was in the shop free of charge , not only that but all 4 times my bike was worked on they never charged me a cent ( all covered under warrenty) this includes a new battery , and an oil change ,and new taillight bulbs. I was initially upset but when dealing with them my frustration with the bike was rechanneled to getting it fixed and back on the road. just my .02 $ again antelope valley hd and buell ,good peoples | ||
| Court |
This is one of the most productive and interesting threads I recall in a long time. I'm printing out and reading during a particularly busy personal time. At the end of the day Friday (about 2 hours before heading over to the Beacon Theatre for James Taylor) I should be wound up with the current project and back in the thick of this. Quickly.... I am learning a lot! From what I am reading, there are some common elements emerging. Seems "attitude" plays a huge role, on both sides of the commercial equation. Keep thinking and dreaming. . . you guys and gals are good. I knew you'd have some great material. Court | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Side Note: Is there anything that can be done from a manufacturing standpoint to allow more durable wheel coatings? Seems that there have been quite a few postings regarding chipped and scratched wheels. Would anodizing them provide a better coating solution? Might also save a few more ounces!  If anodizing would work, how about custom anodized finishes. You want the gold package, you get gold forks, oil lines and brake lines and connectors, rear section, and triple trees all anodized gold. You cold have them in Blue, Red, Black, Orange, etc. What about custom frame colors? Black, White, Blue, Chrome, Polished Aluminum? | ||
| Loki |
Tunes, What you speak of has been done before. Case in point was Orlando HD/Buell. When you walked in the Buell door. That is what you got, Buell and nothing but that. Motorcity Buell was another good set-up. The first thing you saw was the Buell line-up With the Buell sales staffer right there also. | ||
| Loki |
Jeremy, It would be cool to know just how well that same process has/had worked for Victory. As for customer service.... The visual aspect does need to be addressed. It is the first soundbite(mis-used I know) when walking through the door. A clearly delineated space should be there. Not just an afterthought type of spot. Buell warrants the same considerations given to the HD lines. Not with just floor and wall space either. Give them some window also. Let them be seen from the outside. Let the customer walking up know that the dealer cares. The staff, who primarily deal with the Buell line, should be noticeable. Get those shirts on. Let the customer,who comes through the door, know the staff cares. The bikes are different. The customer is different. Might be, the staff needs to be different in every sense. | ||
| Tunes |
Loki, "What you speak of has been done before. Case in point was Orlando HD/Buell. When you walked in the Buell door. That is what you got, Buell and nothing but that." That's great! However, I've never seen this type of treatment before. The best independent Buell type treatment in this area is Meredith, but it's still in the middle of the HD stuff. At least they make an effort and the Buell staff/knowledge is very good. Most of the HD/Buell dealers I've been to just stuff the few Buell's and even fewer accessories they have into a corner. One dealer, I will not name, has a Buell sign outside... and they do sell Buell's... but nothing Buell inside the showroom. All the Buell's are in the back. I asked why. They said the HD stuff took all the room so they had no place for the Buell's/stuff. I said that was an excuse and they came back with the standard answer, "It doesn't sell like the HD stuff." It's their dealership. They can do what they want. However, many do not consider how the Buell customer feels when seeing this and being treated like you're not wanted as a customer. I just take my business elsewhere. It sucks though. With few dealers to begin with, pickings are slim. I know our (BWB's) solution is to deal with our sponsor dealerships... by mail, if necessary. However, sometimes ya just wanna go to the store and buy the item ya need, yaknow! ...And when you see the rest of the floor filled with HD stuff of every imagination, ya just wonder where you are as a customer on their priority list. I'm lucky. I have a choice in my area... most don't. There are huge differences from one HD/Buell dealer to the next. I just noticed I got off a bit... Sorry, it's late (again). Insomnia. Umm, yes. And... ...that's all. | ||
| Naustin |
It occurs to me that the primary problem, from the dealerships point of view is that there aren't enough Buell customers to make it worth the trouble of knowing us, knowing what we want and need, and having staff and inventory to satisfy that need. So, we as Buell customers need to consider this - do we want Buells to be as common as CBR600s or Suzuki Boulavards? Thats they only way that the dealerships will change - with a massive sales volume increase. If we would rather that buell continued to be a low volume, very cool and unique bike that we don't see 12 of everyday - we shouldn't even want to have a high number of dealerships. Personally, I'm fine with only having a handful of Buell dealers. And, i don't mind traveling a long way to get to them. But, If thats how it's going to be, I want those few- and far between Buell dealers to be 100% Buell dealers. I can order stuff online. I can learn how to work on my bike and fix it myself. But, when I get the urge or I'm in over my head on a repair, I wanna be able to go to a BUELL Dealer, with nothing but Buells and Buell stuff - even if I have to drive 300 miles to get there. Whether Buell is destined to contiue as a low volume (relatively) brand, or grow and become mainstream, the step-child situation MUST end. Harley shops should not be allowed to sell buells. They should be forced to stock some basic replacement parts for convience of the Buell customers at HD Corporate's knifepoint - but other than that - they should not be involved except under special circumstances if they can prove they truly love Buell. An example of that would be Appleton and DaveS. If Buell wants to grow, they should grow on their own two wheels, not out the back door of Hog dealers that do more harm than good... Nick | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I think part of the problem is corporate style of marketing. Look at any sales floor for any HD dealership. You usually don't see all the Sportsters together, all the Road Kings together, etc. Most of the time they are all mixed up. Many times there are used bikes mixed with new as well. Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki floors are not this way. You have all of the colors and styles in stock of a particular model in one place, the used bikes are in another place, the ATVs in another place. They are organized. The folks who buy Buell are usually sportbike people. They are used to seeing other sportbike sales floors. HD people are used to seeing a hodge podge. If you plan to mill around for an hour or two, that's fine. I've found that most HD folks are destination riders and most Buell riders are journey folks. (Poker Run vs. Deals Gap) I know that's a gross over generalization, but how many Buell folks would ride to a dealership somewhere and hang out for a couple of hours, unless it was extraordinary? I know I would be good for about a coke and a "deposit" and I'm ready to go ride. I'm sure that the marketing and merchandising is by design. I think Buell dealers should have "sportbike store" marketing training as well. We like to see all the models in one place (preferably not by the bathroom). We get upset when our beloved bikes are lonely in a dark corner. | ||
| Court |
Speak up . . . I thing we are being heard!  It's beginning to get fun to watch the Buell website again. It used to be you never knew what was going to pop up, an owners chat area, new drawings from engineering, a video explaining part of the bike or any number of things. Look what I just found. This is HUGE. The pundits will say that they already knew this . . good for them. But, moving it from tribal knowledge into accessible information is huge. I can only imagine the hoops you'd have had to go through to do this 3 years ago. This sums up what I've been preaching for a while.
I have to tell you that things coming out of Buell in the last year, from racers to some of the recent changes, point to blue skies ahead. I'm thinking a photo essay would be in order on the Buell Customer Service folks. I'm not sure, given the expansion in the number of Buell owners of the past couple years, that some of the new folks realize that on the other end of that phone number are some of the greatest Buell fanatics around, including a Land Speed racer. This is great news. That's the way I see it . . . . Court | ||
| Borrowedbike |
If Dealers don't see the numbers in Buell riders, perhaps a few organized rides would change that? I'd love to ride mine to each of the dealers in the tri state area... Swarm in 20 or 30 strong (or more!), go straight the the Buell merchandise, vote our buck with a big old helping of "All of these Buell riders live withing riding distance" Spend an hour at the dealer and swarm to the next. If we did some detailed planning here on the BadWeb, we could pick up a roving group, ride to as many dealers as we wanted, then drop off. With luck we'd pick up about as many as we lost at every city... Think Poker run, but start a month before homecoming and end at homecoming after visiting just about every Buell dealer in the States! | ||
| Tunes |
I just received a letter from BMC, authored/signed by Erik Buell and Jon Flickinger. This is the letter I expected to receive before I heard of the demise is BRAG elsewhere. That said, at least the letter was penned and sent. All that most people expect is an honest effort from their m/c builder. I still believe Erik and BMC really care what the owners have to say and feel about their bikes. I also went to buell.com and registered. Didn't have a lick of problems, entered my two bikes and all that... except that I promptly forgot my username when I went back to the site. I sent an email to buell asking for my username... and I received a reply, even though it said it was an automatic response. Now THAT is the kind of service I have come to receive (and expect) from Buell and the reason why I'm still an owner. I have never received this kind of service from ANY motor vehicle company. I still hope this BRAG demise doesn't hurt the experience. Time will tell... Go Buell! (Message edited by Tunes on November 12, 2006) | ||
| Daves |
Ummm, that would be Jon Flickinger | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Don's his brother and does all the "hatchet" work. | ||
| Court |
Actually a story about Jon Flickinger will be in the hopper for future "Tales from the World of Buell". Jon is a fascinating guy, a genuine rider and is leaving his mark, a good one, on Buell. Court | ||
| No_rice |
his dad frank was just in here the other day and finally broke down and bought some heated pants. i told him he must be getting old, lol. | ||
| Daves |
Yes, he is! | ||
| Old_man |
Borrowedbike, "go straight to the Buell merchandise" Couldn't do that here in western PA. Absolutely NO Buell merchandise, other than bikes, to be had. | ||
| Snub13 |
Oh, come on Jack, you could get at least one shirt from Cerinis and New Castle has some more stuff. Nothing like Daves (Appleton) or the web site. | ||
| Woody1911a1 |
same here , just bought my buell and live near a major metropolitan area , boston , searched the buell www and the nearest was manchester hd/buell . drove 1 1/4 hrs . hundreds and i mean hundreds of chrome laz-e-boys and maybe 8 buells that were squished together so you couldnt walk between them or see the sides of them . the only and i mean ONLY buell thing was ONE and i mean ONE buell leather jacket !!!!!!!!!!!! every f'ing h-d do-dad , walls and walls of chrome , but not a single buell t-shirt , hat , key fob !!!!!!!!!! | ||
| Borrowedbike |
Old_Man, That's why a large group would be so effective. Imagine 25 riders walking into a Dealer that sold no merchandise. 25 people eating the free HD hotdogs drinking the free HD soda, and asking "Where's the Buell stuff?" Having dismounted your trusty Steed, the'll know you can ride there again, if they offer a reason. | ||
| Naustin |
I doubt they'd react any differently than if 25 guys on Suzuki GSXRs pulled up and asked to see the Suzuki stuff. They'd just get pissed and make you pay for the hot dogs and then whenever anybody with a buell came in from then on, they'd tell him to get lost. Nick | ||
| Oldog |
Interesting thread, If I may Daves, Buell produces a "box of spare items"? that every dealer should have? whats in it? I have had to wait for common wear out items does it realy take 2 weeks to get an air filter?. I don't think that direct order parts are fair to the dealers, I like having the option of dealing with the badwebb sponsors though. Is there a minimum order amount for Buell parts that the dealer must buy? I waited 2 weeks for 2 brake pad retaining pins less than 10$ ( last order and the last time I will order from my local dealer ) Just one bad incedent with a service writer localy and he is gone, all of the other folks have been wonderful, but no parts, no stuff, an '03 demo bike, The "harley guy" that sold me my bike had lots of enthusiasiam(sp) for bikes in general }} Guess thats why he manages the Jacksonville NC store what would help. wearout / tip over parts on hand no excuses , most parts like brake pads fit several models. I waited 2 weeks on those before too. the local parts Guys here try hard, and do a fine job, but they cant give you what they dont have quick ship option. M-F if the part is ordered by noon and a quick ship is charged in addition to the selling price. ( the customer must understand that He/she is paying for premium shipping 24 hour guarntee if the part is in stock) The part is shipped from factory stock to either Dealer or Customers choice of attended location and no additional charges or special freight if the part is NIS. [Buell is large enough to command good rates with er Fed Ups] I needed swing arm dust seals I paid over night, and had American Sport Bike send them to me 5.00$ for the seals 35.00$ freight, I was using a friends garage for the work and had a time table to keep. If you are not going to have Buell stuff put out the goody book, me I would have ONE shirt and ONE hat on a maniquin with the book on a table ajacent to it there are about 6 "custom" rims sitting in the parts room door visible from the counter and have been there for a while. one wheel is several tee shirts I don't know how many Buells they sell only 2 showed up for the 15th anniversary | ||
| Daves |
If I may Daves, Buell produces a "box of spare items"? that every dealer should have? whats in it? It had tip over parts,bulbs and an air filter I think. This was when the XBs first came out. I don't even know if they still have such a kit? I already stock all that stuff so I wouldn't order their kit box anyway. I have had to wait for common wear out items does it realy take 2 weeks to get an air filter?. No, unless it was a race filter, those have been on and off backorder more times than i can remember. I don't think that direct order parts are fair to the dealers, I like having the option of dealing with the badwebb sponsors though. I like that too.  Is there a minimum order amount for Buell parts that the dealer must buy? No, they are ordered right along with HD parts I waited 2 weeks for 2 brake pad retaining pins less than 10$ ( last order and the last time I will order from my local dealer ) It should not have taken that long unless they were on back order or something. | ||
| Old_man |
Maybe if Buell offered their merchandise on a consignment basis to their dealers, more would see fit to stock some. The dealers here tell me they don't stock any because it doesn't sell. I say you can't sell what you don't have. | ||
| Daves |
Buell isn't going to consign stuff to dealers. They shouldn't. Each dealer needs to make the decision to be in the Buell business or not. Doing it half assed doesn't work. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Dave, I would agree, but right now most of the dealers are half assing it, so consignment is a better alternative. I think that Buell needs to run their own merchandising. That way there is at least a minimum allotment of merchandise and floor space. If the dealer balks about the designated Buell "space", you pull their ticket. I don't think 20 X 20 is too much floor space out of a 10,000 sq ft store. It could be done on a percentage of total. Smaller stores would have a smaller space devoted, larger stores a larger percentage. It would be up to the store to devote more, but no dealer could remain a dealer with less. What ever they are doing isn't working, so something has to change. | ||
| Daves |
You are right, most dealers are half assing it. Forcing them, as independent, and often hard headed business people isn't the answer either. I do not have the answers but I've never taken to being forced to do anything. Pretty sure you are the same way? That would, however thin out the dead weight quite a bit. I think Buell has to focus on educating dealers that the gravy years of HD waiting lists,over MSRP and making money in spite of themselves, for dealers, is over. Most dealers already know this but many do not know how to fix it. Buell needs to show them, when done correctly, Buell can add to the bottom line. Then, and only then, will they look at Buell as an asset to their business and start to give their Buell business the support it need to grow. It can be done  | ||
| Old_man |
I agree that no dealer should be forced to stock Buell merchandise. But if it cost them nothing but some store space to handle some, I'm sure that many, who don't stock any now, would, at least, have some in their store. |
