Dealer service

Well here’s the tale…

A few weeks ago I decided to take advantage of the Open weekend at a Harley dealer and get the bike serviced and enjoy the chat, burgers and a ride on a new model too, I would have said “My Local Dealer” But since the dealer is over 350 miles away with a round trip of 12 hours coupled with the fact that I have to pass 2 other dealers to get there that could be stretching it a bit.

However I do class them as my local dealer as I have bought 2 bikes from them so far, and I have recommended them to mates who have bought 6 bikes. So far I have had great service from friendly staff that always give you a warm welcome.

So all went well, the burgers were great, test ride good and bike was ready in just a few hours, which gave me time to grab another burger! Weight watchers here I come… Do’H!

Anyway, weather has been pretty crap so I only managed a few short runs since getting home. Bike going good and no problems until my first long run that is…
Getting ready to head off I noticed a small amount of oil between the casings. This turned out to be coming from the breather on the AC… F*”k… My thoughts were that they had overfilled the oil during the service… Not a very happy bunny really.

So I head off to work and as I am riding I notice the small white spots on my black bars, not sure what it was so didn’t think much more about it until I got to work 40 miles later. Rubbed them a bit and realised that it wasn’t spots it was bare meal showing through the black paint! The brake reservoir was leaking… WTF!!

Then I noticed the white spots on my tank (Denim black) By now as you can imagine, I was less than ecstatic. I called the dealer (It was a Sunday and I knew there would be no one in service, but I still felt the need to vent a little) got one of the salesman who listened, apologised and said he would get Louise to call me first thing Monday.

Sure enough, 8.30am the phone rings, I missed the call but called back later and Grant the sales manager answered. “Hi Bill, really sorry to hear about the bike. Hold on and I will put you through to service”

“Hi Bill” says Louise…

I explain the problem calmly and quietly and tell her I have no idea when I can get back down. “Let me call you back” she says. I wait for the call apologising and telling me that when I can get the bike down they will sort it out…

5 minutes later the call comes… with their solution.


They will send a van up to pick up the bike this week, they will leave a loan bike with me (Even gave me a choice of various new 08 models) they will make all the necessary repairs and then return my bike to me!!!!!!!!!


I was stunned; apart from stammering a grateful thank you I didn’t know what to say.
You could argue the point that this was their fault, and I would agree. But it’s not their responsibility where I stay and I was fairly sure they would sort the problems out without too much hassle. What I didn’t expect in this day and age was this level of customer service. All I can say is that is has only made me a greater advocate of the dealer than ever.

So here’s a very heartfelt Thanks to all the gang at Just Harley’s in Newcastle.


kb

[Chris L]

Good result. Makes you wonder why they changed from DOT 5 tho, dont it ?.

[Maggar]

Bloody hell Bill you're not going to make many friends on here by praising dealerships you know!

Glad you got a good result and well done for making it public, we're f*ckin' quick to slag them off when it's wrong.

Mag

[logo]

I had a experiance just like Kiltbills at a dealer
Then I woke up

pete

[Nimrod]

It seems to me that the Dealer did no more than they should...

From what you say the standard of their work was abysmal ;-)

[Roy]

I always say (and often do..), if nots that you f'up, its how your recover. It seems like your dealer has done so.

Your resovoir leaking was bad luck and not neccesarily a service item to check, so fair play they are sorting this out. Although wholeheartably agree with Maggar; praise for stealerships is an unsual thing ;-)

Which 08 model did you go for (standard HD seat to look fwd to though...)?

The follow up!

Bastar*s

Bloody dealers!

JH in Newcastle did everything they said they would do. Including dropping off a loan bike. 08 RK Classic. Then they said we are in Edinburgh next Friday if you want to meet up and swap bikes over, or we will drop your bike off the following Friday.

Well I did have Friday off and it seemed like a good idea and a chance to see what the RK was like. So off I head 2 Fridays ago. Sun shining and feeling great. The RK was damned comfy and that screen sure makes a difference. But not really my kind of bike.

Then the rain came on in it's usual Scottish torrential mode! Ride down wasnt't too bad, but to cut a very long story short. The ride back was fekin sh*t. Bones ached, headlamp was next to useless (Was after 9pm before I reached the final 100 miles to home) and on the last 10 miles I developed the worst ever form of tourettes in my helmet.

Anyway, it was so bad it nearly put me off biking forever, but this seems to have cured the ailments of old age...









See what the B'stard dealers did by lending me the RK... It's a konspiracy I tell ya!

[BaZa®]

Good thread Bill I enjoyed reading it. Anyway did they do a good job to your paintwork that was damaged?

I agree with Maggs credit where credit is due.

If Phil read this thread from his USA dealership he would say that good service is standard to them because the customer will walk (not far) with their plastic card to the next dealer.

So when are you getting your pipe and slippers like me and Maggar?