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

[Black Rain]

My sympathies. Is'nt that the second time you have been burgled? Seem to remember an incident around 2004 when you had some bikes nicked.

[Cybertec™]

Thieving b*stards. Its not so much the 'stolen bits' its the sheer buggerance of sorting out the aftermath innit?

........but I could do with a new pair of shades as I broke me Oakleys

Keep yer chin up, you can always put your prices up a bit to compensate

[Fossil]

Originally Posted by Black Rain

My sympathies. Is'nt that the second time you have been burgled? Seem to remember an incident around 2004 when you had some bikes nicked.

It's actually the 4th, and it's the sheer brass neck of the b*stards that gets me, one of whom was female. We've got the best security systems we've ever had here, but they've still spirited away a lot of stock.

It's exactly right that the mopping-up afterwards is probably the biggest pain, and of course the cost to the business in both lost profits and increased insurance premiums. On top of that, wear and tear on the Dealer Principal's nerves, and stress brought about by lack of sleep!



John

[SX 150]

Sorry to hear of your losses.-
Every market, & bike event, & festival has stalls teaming with counterfeit H-D gear,- it's so easy for them to mix some real stuff in & nobody even notice's.- Sad but true,- but it must be the easiest brand to get rid of.

[MacHarry]

Sorry to hear of your losses

I hope you find the person who did it

Harry

Not a lot you can do about "smash and grabs"; they appear to be the price businesses pay for being in business. When I had a retail antiques business in Boston, I had to make frequent drives there from Worcester (45 miles) due to break-ins. In my case, they generally didn't take stock as it was difficult to fence, but they always seemed to know where the cash was (demonstrates their "professionalism" as I never showed anyone where I put it, and changed it's location regularly). I even had a "rapid response" security company contracted, but the perps still got away with stuff before they could respond - and their response was always less than ten minutes!

The one case where the perp was caught was when a policeman just happened to be going by when the burglary occured and nabbed the guy. Interestingly, this was at a location where the building had a security guard on site, but, according to information that a bystander gave me, the security guard ran off in another direction when the break-in occured! As an aside, I managed to keep my seat during the trial, even though I wanted to deliver a little justice of my own.

Really sorry to hear about this event, as well as others you've had, and that's not only because I'm beginning to regard you as one of us.

[Kiwi]

I heard a rumour on another website that the rubber mount sporties no longer have a trap door to access the gear box and require the cases to be split for gear box work is this true?

[chris h]

Originally Posted by Kiwi

I heard a rumour on another website that the rubber mount sporties no longer have a trap door to access the gear box and require the cases to be split for gear box work is this true?

Yes it is true .

[Fossil]

Thanks for the supportive and kind comments guys.

[Fossil]

Originally Posted by Principal

I thought it might be an idea to introduce my team to you.

First off, me. John Phelan, Dealer Principal.

I've been in the motor business since 1979, but did have 20 years in the car business with Ford, VW Audi and Mercedes-Benz. One of only 2 people who have been at Oxford H-D since the start in June '03. Been riding since 1971.

Darren Nobbs, Sales Manager.

Vastly experienced in the motor business, and knows how to put a deal together.

Jon Crewe, Salesman.

JC's a young man, just 23, but his knowledge and passion for all things Harley is enormous. A little rough around the edges, but is basically a safe pair of hands. Owns an '05 Softail Standard.

Adam Cook, Salesman.

Adam's been with us about a year now, and very much a Harley man. Rides his own Night Train. Spent his first 8 or 9 months getting our Parts Dept. into shape, but has now moved across to bike sales.

Dean Cordall, Salesman.

Dean's a recent recruit, and is having his first taste of the motor business. Looks after Buell and non-Harley used bikes for us. Buell owner.

Colin Bennett, Service Manager.

A fully-qualified motorcycle engineer, Colin has been with us for two and a half years, and like me, spent a good few years in the car business. I've forgiven him for owning a *onda, but it is a 1979 CBX, and he's owned it for 24 years!

Ian Fagg, Technician.

A Tech. from the old school. Very experienced, and has a custom bike building background. Road King owner.

Leighton Gibbins, Technician.

Leighton is an ex-marine, who funded his own way through Tech school in Arizona. Owns a shovel that he takes to bits so often, he's thinking about fitting it with zips! Leighton is the other member of the team that has been at Oxford H-D continually the start.

Gavin Cupit, Technician.

Hugely experienced, and very well-respected in the network. We're very lucky to have him on board. Has a small collection of bikes, which did include an XR750.

Louise Moss, Service writer.

Lou joined us in 2006, and is a much prettier face for you all to look at if you bring your bike to us for service or repair work. She also knows what she's doing!

Neil Hall, Parts & Accessories Manager.

Joined us in May, and again, a hugely respected and experienced Harley man. Owns an '05 Ultra.

Kirsty Wreyford, Clothing and Collectables.

Kirsty's committed to doing a great job for us, but has spent a fair amount of time away from work recently due to illness. Hopefully she'll be back full-time in the next couple of weeks.

Richard Mathews, Valeter.

Simply the best valeter in the business. I've not met anyone who takes as much pride in their work as Richard does. Road King owner.

We've also got 4 part-timers who do jobs like van driving, a bit of valeting, running our coffee bar at weekends and helping out Kirsty with clothing on Saturdays.

So, that's the team. A good bunch of people that I'm generally very proud to have on board.

John

I think an update is necessary, as we've had a few changes lately.

Dean Cordall left us due a change of family circumstances, Colin Bennett has moved on to do a job for the Company in one of our other bike stores, so Neil Hall now takes on the After-Sales Manager's role. Kirsty Wreyford left us for a change of career and has been replaced by Megan Antell, and Richard Mathews has moved on to be replaced by Ian Person. We've also added to the Parts team by recruiting Adam Plumstead.

Megan and Adam are both young people who were able to show us that they were excited about the prospect of working with the H-D brand, and Ian jumped at the chance when we asked him to apply.