| Author | Message | ||
     Hotredjohn |
About a month ago I took my Ulysses to my HD dealer to have the tires, wheel bearings and fork oil changed. I had not bought the Scorpion Synch tires because I wanted longer life of them so I bought Dunlop Roadsmarts online for installation. So the dealer said that he would not install the tires for liability reasons (because I didn't buy them there). So I sought out another dealer to have them installed. My bad was posting my displeasure on Facebook, that I was tired of all the dealers rules for having my bike serviced. I had purchased the wheel bearings and fork oil at the dealer, just not the tires. Well there is the problem, you see I am the assistant director of our HOG chapter, and since I bad mouthed the dealer my position as AD and my membership had been revoked. Gee I have been crying ever since  now that I am not obligated to drum up business for this dealer among other HOG members. The funny thing is that most of our chapter members do not frequent the dealer because of his policies and treatment of his customers, I just spoke my mind. Say La Vie  | ||
| Gater |
Let me guess it is the same dealer who still has 3 new Buell's sitting on the floor up front and a trike sitting next to the service desk. My brother took his Uly to them for warranty work when his belt broke. It took them 4 weeks to get a belt for his bike. I will not take a bike to them for service unless it is my last option. | ||
| Hotredjohn |
Gater, you would be correct. I took my Uly to Frederick HD, a bit of a haul but well worth the trip. Very Buell friendly (they have an extensive racing program) and knowledgeable service department. | ||
| Mmmi_grad |
Pathetic, When I need tires I have always took the wheels to my close and local HONDA DEALER. hd dealers are stuck up clowns who have way too much money. | ||
| Gater |
They have been able to stay in business for a long time. Last week the kids and I went to the farmers market to go ice skating and afterwards we stopped in for the free hot chocolate and coffee. I don't think we stayed 5 minutes. My Brother and I do our own work. They tried to feed my brother the line that they would not do the warranty work because he did not have it serviced that their dealership. He called Buell and Harley and they replaced the belt. I don't know why they were playing games because they were billing it a warranty work. That was the last dealing with them. I have had them order parts for me. One they are close and two it is going to be the same price as any other dealer. There is a guy down 28 in Calverton who services bikes. He is a trained HD mechanic. He as worked at several HD dealers. I don't know if he will work on Buell's. The dealerships that he work at serviced Buell's. Those guys in Frederick are squared away on Buell's. I ran into a guy yesterday who lives near me and he has a XB12R. He saw my Buell jacket and got excited. So we ended up talking for about 30 minutes. When the weather breaks we need to go for a ride. Check out the links below they have good prices on Buell gear. http://stores.channeladvisor.com/sunharleystore/Bu ell%20Blowout http://store.barnettharley.com/index.php/clothing- collectibles/buell-sale.html?limit=39 | ||
| Gater |
I have taken Buell rims and tires to the Honda dealer also. My brother purchased a bead breaker to break the bead. We take them the the Honda dealer to bubble balance the tires. | ||
| Hotredjohn |
I think the guy on 28 you are talking about is Mike, I was not able to connect with him to do the tire replacement and fork oil change. He recently moved and got married, plus it was near the holidays and he could have been tied up. I have his phone number in case you are interested, I can PM it to you. | ||
| 88b |
John I was assistant director and head road captain of my local chapter. I flat refused to put up with all the lies broken promises and BS from our sponsoring stealer. I wanted to trade my Heritage for an Electra Glide but was $6000 better off on the deal with another dealer an extra 30 miles away. So far it's cost the sponsoring dealer 27 bikes. In the end I stood down because they didn't even have the balls to remove me. In the current economic climate shops giving good customer care and service will survive. | ||
| Swampy |
Thats the other problem, dealership after dealership as far as the eye can see. If you start at Flint, Michigan, and drive north up I-75 there are 3 dealerships within 40 miles of Flint on the trek northward on I-75 and one 10-15 miles to the east on I-69. They are horribly oversaturated showing the greed of corporate Harley-Davidson, not caring about the economic health of their dealerships, only collecting the franchise fees from owners with more money than brains. I just checked the dealer locater for Saginaw, MI and there are 6 dealers that show up. Saginaw is no where man! | ||
| Tbird71 |
Kind of sad, and ironic too... We went from waiting lists and only clothes on the showroom floor to the present oversaturation.... PROBLEM IS.... More than a few dealers still have that "Like it or leave it" attitude...the ones with the hard line 90s attitude will eventually fold, and the others who are willing to work with their customers in these tough times will come out the better for it. NO ONE tells ME what I'm going to pay for an HD or anything else for that matter...I tell THEM. We're not stupid, we know about where the dealers have to be to make a fair profit, and still survive. Anyone with half a brain can figure out dealer cost on these, and what a fair trade in value would be. There's always another dealer down the road (literally) now days, and cash is definitely king...I run a sucessful internet business, and you bet I will listen and work with the customer! I wouldn't still be here after 14 years if I didn't. As far as the hard ass dealers who still follow that out dated way of thinking, if they don't want to play ball, screw 'em. (Message edited by tbird71 on January 01, 2010) | ||
| Mmmi_grad |
Tell it like it is Tbird!!  | ||
| Iman501 |
not really anythign to do with dealers being dumb, but i compleately understand were your coming from with the whole facebook being the cause for trouble thing! i life guard during the summer, and this past summer i decided to work 2 different life guarding jobs just to get more money, so i went to a local health club that had pools and were in need of life guards, got hired, and worked the whole summer there part time. during working there i made some really good friends with the other life guards, but our boss was horrible, up front she was just really fake which was annoying in itsself, but she would make us do "in-services" which is were she said it was mandatory that we came to the pools, and practice our saves and cpr, and all that stuff, which was a good thing, but she wouldnt pay us for the 2 hours of time we gave up each week to go to these "in services" but still made us go. then she treated all us guards like crap all summer, and blamed us for things that we had no control of. but to put the icing on the cake, she told my friend william one day to go clean out the bathrooms with this cleaner she bought at wal-mart called "crew" or something like that. and she said "just pour it into this bucket, and then go fill it up with water, and mop out the bathroom with it. long story short this cleaner she gave william had amonia in it, and the day before our boss used that same bucket that william is now using and she had bleach or chlorine or something in it....and once he poured the amonia product into the bucket, he suddenly made chlorine gas, and was hospitalized, and at first our boss wouldnt let william go, she said that your at work, you cant just leave. william basically said F#$k you, and left anywayand had had his mom take him to the hospital. William ended up makeing a facebook group called "i hate the she devil" and of course all the lifeguards joined it, and eventually she found it, and now none of us old lifeguards are allowed back at the health clubs lol | ||
| Gater |
Iman501, First you should have gone to her boss and told them what was up and demanded to be paid. If they would not pay you for time worked all of you guys should have walked out. | ||
| Iman501 |
i called the labor offices, and they sent me a claim form and all, but i figure i'd see how the rest of the summer played out first, i never did end up filling it out or anything, but i did aproach my boss about not being paid for the in services, she said she didnt need to pay us (while i according the the labor office lady told me that she did) and have you ever tried to talk a group of teenagers into walking out on their only source of income?....it doesnt work to well! I know that the whole facebook group thing was horrible, and i feel bad to a certain extent about joining it and all, the name was pretty harsh, and some fairly mean things were said about her on the facebook group, but she really was a horrible boss | ||
| Paw |
The dealer is lying to you...Brunswick has a sign saying they will install any part on your bike not purchased there for extra in labor charges. Just a way to get you to buy from them. I bet your dealer won't install any part unless you buy it there...Shit is there something different on the tires you have as compared to the same ones they would order in for that liability issue? The only liablity claim there is if they screw up at installing the tires!!! Go get yourself a different dealer. I travel and extra 15 minutes to Brunswick after dropping Spitzie's. (Message edited by paw on January 15, 2010) | ||
| Hotredjohn |
Agreed, I have an option of another dealer close by, so I now go to them. Funny thing, a lot of the employees of the offensive dealer moved to this other dealer last year. Including the parts manager who had been at the dealer many, many years. | ||
| Gater |
HotredJohn, One of the sales guys quit this past fall. I can't get over why that dealer has way over priced used bikes. A 11 year old Road King with 34K miles for $13499. Or a 18 year old Dyna that has 20K miles on it for $11K. | ||
| Nevrenuf |
got a letter last week from the head guy of the local stealerships about calling him a •••••• after hearing about a badwebbers mother being let go from one of the stores. wanted to know what my problem was with the store and frankly, i won't given him the benefit of the doubt by saying anything that has happened as of late or anything that has happened in the past and just not show up there anymore for anything. i might have to go a little further, but there is a dealer that is not only a buell friendly dealer but also became a sponsor here. so i'll make a statement with my dollars which is what i already did with the latest purchase of the scg and the 12r. the thing that got me was that when he wrote the letter, he sent it to like 5 other people within the dealership. he didn't even keep it between just us. i could go on and on but i'll just leave it at this. rant off. | ||
| Hotredjohn |
Gater, Many of the used bikes for sale there are on consignment, the consignee names his/her price. I sold a Wide Glide there a few years ago, sales provide a guide for pricing, but it is up to the seller to name the price. Not sure how many trades are for sale on their floor at any one time. That being said, you are correct though I have seen many that are way over priced. The biggest advantage buying from the dealer is financing. The dealer we are talking about also always over-priced the new bikes as well. When I purchased my Road King in 04, I wound up buying in MD at the Elkridge dealer. A much better deal was had. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
At our dealership, we just love people. Sure there are jerks, but on the whole, we simply love to hang out and share a common interest with those we are fortunate enough to have frequent our shop. We try to treat them the way we would want to be treated buying a bike, buying parts, servicing a bike, or buying clothes. You can tell the dealerships who don't operate that way. You can tell it when you hit the door. You can also tell it when you walk in the door of great dealerships. Most of that attitude, good or bad, starts at the top. Meet Tom once, and you'll see the attitude of our entire dealership encapsulated in one person. It's really cool to watch. We simply hope what we do can allow us to be called and to call ourselves one of the "good ones". | ||
| Jeepinbueller |
Hotredjohn, Are you talking about the Frederick, Maryland dealer? I'm going to need service on my CR soon and I'm kind of having trouble finding which dealers in MD are Buell-friendly or not. | ||
| Oddball |
Josh, I don't think you should have any worries about Fredrick. Granted, I've only been there and met Joe (Ratbuell) and the rest when I picked up my cityX but they all were cool. And I think it's safe to say Joe is rather pro-buell. Can't believe Hotredjohn got a deal at Elkridge on anything. Good for him if he did. I've seen them price models 5K over MSRP in the past. | ||
| Hotredjohn |
Jeepinbueller - Yes I was referring to Frederick HD. They are one of the good dealers, Buell friendly. Oddball, the deal I got was MSRP as there were other dealers charging over MSRP at the time. I also got a discount on my accessories and installation. I also knew the folks there as it was my dealership when I lived in MD. The kind of relationship fostered by the dealer was well put by Ft_bstrd, these are the kind of dealerships that we all wished were our own. Unfortunately that is not the case for many of us and in fact is to the detriment of HD. | ||
| Crackhead |
Joe (Ratbuell) in Frederick, Maryland is a great guy and they are good a Buell dealer. They even stock parts for Blasts. | ||
| Court |
I rode down to Frederick and was really impressed with what I saw. The Buellthusiam was evident in not only Joe "RatBuell" but also in the Dealer Principle. Support from the top down is an essential element nearly always present in the dealers who "get it". I'll be going back and look forward to it. | ||
| Littlebuggles |
Too bad they let Ratbuell go... | ||
| Yamafreak |
This is a note I sent to Harley about my Dealer This winter my wife and I bid and won a 08 Buell XB12XT on E-Bay that was in Texas, and had it shipped to Maryland. When the weather got above freezing we started racking up the miles. One day when we took a right hand turn at a stop light the bike stalled. In the next few weeks the bike started fouling plugs, and stalling all the time on right turns. Having been a life long Yamaha racer and rider I was rethinking the hole Buell thing. After hearing stories about Buell owners being treated like a "Red Headed Step Child" I took my chances and called Williamsport H-D and set up a service. Now my nightmare was real, I had to turn over my new baby to some grease monkey's a Harley dealer.When I took her down to Williamsport I was invited into the cleanest shop I had ever seen. That is were I met Joe Hess a fellow Buell rider. He told me not to worry and I would get a call when she was fixed. I went home feeling a lot better about my baby. After lunch I wondered what I would do for the next few weeks as they solved my problems, then my cell rang. It was the service manager at Williamsport, your bike is ready for pick-up Mr Nicholas, I was SHOCKED! I called a buddy and got a ride to Williamsport were I had a great talk with Joe as he walked me thru the fix. Long story short, the Great staff at Williamsport Harley-Davidson has turned my Nightmare into a Racing Red Wet Dream. Now if I can just stop riding, to get my pulsing front brake fix I will be in heaven. Thank You for a Great dealer and Tech's like Joe Hess! My Suggestion is to keep an eye on Williamsport H-D. With service like that, they will need a Bigger Building Soon. William Nicholas Hagerstown MD. | ||
| Court |
Great to read. The pulsing brake is well documented here (deposits on the rotor) and easily fixed. Thanks for sharing. | ||
| Reepicheep |
(and the fix is new pads, and the 6mm Erik Buell Racing rotor and mounting kit) | ||
| Gater |
Hey Yamafreak, Great letter. All I have heard about those guys at Williamsport HD were good stories. I live in NOVA near Manassas about a hour from Fredrick. I should ride up there on day. | ||
| Iamike |
Wow, your dealer called to say your bike was ready, that would have been nice. | ||
| Rkutzner |
Was ticked that Battlefield HD stopped carrying Buell to make more room for HD clothes and junk, right after selling me my TT. Needed some warranty work (leaking rear valve cover gaskets) so I decided to try Frederick HD. They took care of everything professionally and I'll be going back there for everything I need. | ||
| Hammerhead |
I don't know how some of those dealers can stay in business. I have been a Hog member for many years and supported HD even though I drove Buells but I think if they treat their members that way I just may have to spend my hard earned dollars on something else. |
