A dealer's perspective - life at Oxford H-D

[Kiranerys-Jat]

well john this thread has been more interesting than some
that has been on lately lol

keep posting and good to hear from the other side
cheers
mac

[fatboyharris]

I find that HD dealerships in the UK have lost a little of the true feel for the longstanding Harley customer compared with the outlook of the limited number of dealerships back in the late 80's early 90's. Back then I knew my dealer principle who was also the owner well, I spent many an hour chewing the cud, drinking his mugs of tea and getting to meet other like minded individuals, often never spending any money. Yet, he opened up the shop on a Sunday to repair my bike before I set off on a European tour, that's true customer service. As a result of that long term interaction I became involved in HOG branch which was in its infancy back then in the UK and gained even more from the experience and enjoyment of harley ownership. His investment in time and energy was repaid by me buying 3 bikes from him in 4 years.

Harleys have always been expensive and invariably breakdown and have warranty issues, but I found that dealership 'goodwill' covered the shortfall by the motorcompany and I never experienced a refused warranty claim.

I'm also sure that the customer base profile has changed dramatically and expectations have grown along with which coupled with the increasing 'americanisation' of the dealership look and feel has IMHO repositioned the dealerships and their corporate outlooks. They are certainly appear to be catering for/to a different market these days. It's not just limited to Harley e.g'. Mercedes recently repositioned itself in the market with major restructure of its dealerships and for quite a while lost a lot of its faithful customer base due to indifference. I never ever used a Mercedes independant for servicing before but now I just won't go back to the dealership, because of the approach of the new franchise to it's customers.

There was a time whether it be my car or bike, when I walked into the dealership, they knew who I was, what I drove/rode, what I had owned prior to that and back beyond that, maybe over the last ten to 15 years and they treated me like a person not a $ sign. Today it all feels very 'manufacturered' and rehersed, with very little real empathy for the customer. The last thing I want to feel when buying something is the salesmans commission sign over my head.

It is refreshing to see a dealer posting......
regards
John

[boogiefool]

I'm guessing (Principal) John, that the dealers and the principals all get to meet up at various events, do you ever discuss the attitude of established customers to dealers and the gripes that you've heard on these threads?

[Principal]

Originally Posted by boogiefool

I'm guessing (Principal) John, that the dealers and the principals all get to meet up at various events, do you ever discuss the attitude of established customers to dealers and the gripes that you've heard on these threads?

Good question.

It doesn't help that there are only about 30 UK official dealers, and they're well-spread throughout the country. The reality is we seldom get together for anything other than H-D UK business meetings, and they only happen once or twice a year. Consequently, what we tend to discuss when we do get together is the content of the meeting we're attending at the time, with a bit of good old-fashioned gossip thrown in for a bit of added spice! As you can imagine, the UK dealers that I met up with when at the Nashville Dealer Meeting a few weeks back wanted to compare notes on the '08 models more than anything else, and when we hit the bars in the evening, business was rarely on the agenda.

As I seem to be the only dealer who is communicating with you guys, being honest, I'm not really interested in sharing what I learn from you with others. Being entirely selfish, if I'm making the effort, I'm looking for this dealership to have the benefit of any reward that may come our way!

Narrow view? Probably!

John

[CrazyIvan]

Originally Posted by Principal

As I seem to be the only dealer who is communicating with you guys, being honest, I'm not really interested in sharing what I learn from you with others. Being entirely selfish, if I'm making the effort, I'm looking for this dealership to have the benefit of any reward that may come our way!

Narrow view? Probably!

John

You thought about joining and advertising this club Or would that conflict with the other dealer-focussed one

[kiwidave]

As I seem to be the only dealer who is communicating with you guys, being honest, I'm not really interested in sharing what I learn from you with others

So you are doing the spadework and being a selfish bastard? Quite right. I like it!

[Principal]

Originally Posted by CrazyIvan

You thought about joining and advertising this club Or would that conflict with the other dealer-focussed one

Another good question.

I wouldn't join any club that would have me as a member!

Seriously, there's nothing that I'm aware of to stop me joining HDRCGB, as I know of some of your members who are also HOG members. Again, being honest, I don't know that I would join HDRCGB or any other bike club, but I haven't really thought about it. In all the 30-something years I've been riding, I've never joined any club.

We can't be seen to be actively promoting any rider's club other than HOG, as HOG is an integral part of the Motor Company. That doesn't mean we can't support other clubs by other means, like raffle prizes for example, and we do/have done. I'm not aware of anything to prevent us being in attendance at any of your events if invited, but I would want to check that out. There is generally a copy of Harleyquin on our coffee bar for our customers to read, and I'm sure that we wouldn't have a problem in displaying the odd poster promoting one of your events, but that's about as far as we could go.

Cheers

[Kiranerys-Jat]

hi up john are we on holiday

or just gone quiet

[Principal]

Originally Posted by Kiranerys-Jat

hi up john are we on holiday

or just gone quiet

No Mac, still here!

A bit light on bodies at the store due to holidays and stuff, so having to work a bit harder for my corn just now!

On top of that, I can't get on-line at home as BT and my ISP can't seem to get their collective act together!

John

[Buellibob]

Originally Posted by Principal

To be truthful LV, it's a bit disappointing to us too. To be fair, right from the launch of these bikes, we were told that the Dyna wasn't going to be available before September, and the Softail until November.

Our Launch Weekend is 1st and 2nd September, and our demo's will be ready for then. As I understand it, that's when most other dealerships are having their launches as well.

John

Popped into my Dealership yesterday for some warenty work (again ) and thre're in the same boat so its just not Oxford that won't have them for demo! Still It hasn't stopped my dealer taking advance orders for 7 Fatbobs and 5 Rockers! Guess they gonna be big sellers whatever?