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The first couple years of going down to Daytona I was always stressed out .
Who will use their truck this year ? When can we all get away ? all bullchit .
So I started riding down from Ontario Canada the middle of Oct . Takes me 2 days to get down , ride around another couple days . Put my bike in storage and fly home .
I let the other guys know when I'm going . If they can come great if not see ya when you get there . Every year for the last 7 some of the guys made an effort . Some didn't .
Their loss . Then once a month I use air miles to fly down for a weekend . Warm my bones and just clear the cob webs . Makes the long winter go by like a flash . Then sometime in April I fly down and ride home . Same rules apply . I tell the guys when I'm going .
Ft. Lauderdale has some very reasonable storage places . Ends up costing me about $40 a month . And keeps my bike in a warm place out of my frozen garage .
For whatever it's worth " stop depending on others to have fun " .
Hopefully see you down in the south.
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If and when they show up, tell him someone from his company already showed up and took the bike. Then act freaked out and start demanding answers. Shut the door and go have a cold one while you plan your trip minus your bike. I went to bike week a few years back, with no bike, and had a blast. Didn't have to worry about my bike and wandered around for hours looking at stuff. Not to mention free beer at a few places
Good News - My bike is safely on the way and with the original shipper (long story that I'll explain below).
It turns out that this has been a 2 person outfit for sometime. Betsy managed logistics and Lou did the shipping. They recently added 2 new folks in an attempt to expand the business.
After no calls and no email I was of course pretty freaked out, but wanted to rule out someone being in an accident before going postal.
Betsy turned up at my door about an hour ago, with not one but two broken phones, the blackberry that broke previously and the temporary replacement that she had been using - both of them dead.
I had just left bad feedback on uship, because the fact that someone was booking shipments when I couldn't get a hold of anyone was obviously - the worlds biggest red flag.
2 minutes after this Lou emailed me and called me from the dominican republic where he had to go for reasons I'll keep private, because it's his business, but I was able to verify they were legit. He was on uship, but the email goes to betsy so he had not seen my messages
Since he had to go to the DR they decided to have Betsy do my run and didn't tell me, because they figured it would work out clean and easy and they didn't want to stress me out about my trip.
I said "Betsy, right now there is no part of me that wants to even consider letting you take my bike anywhere..." she took everything I could throw at her like a champ and told me that she would refund my deposit on the spot and she didn't want me to send my bike w/ her if I was that concerned.
I told her to give me a reason to believe my bike would be safe and we could walk and talk about it while I got an iced tea at the bodega. I saw she had a boxer in the truck and since I used to be quite involved in showing dobermans I decided to go look at her bitch. I asked her a bunch of questions about her breeder etc.. eventually I found that she uses a vet who happens to be the business partner of my ex-wife (still friends w/ my ex who lives in FL).
Anyway, as you might imagine once I knew who she knew I was able to verify with folks that Betsy is a solid citizen and she wasn't going anywhere with my bike but home to FL where I needed it to be.
turns out that she spent about 4 hours between Newark NJ and my place (which is only 15 miles away). First her GPS sent her through the holland tunnel (no trucks), so the cops re routed her through the Lincoln tunnel at RUSH HOUR, and she couldn't find any clear path to the williamsburg bridge and pretty much got stuck on 42nd street. Eventually needing an officer to help her.
By this time Lou called both of their other shippers from the DR and they both called me and gave me multiple pieces of contact info and I also verified that Lou was on the passenger manifest to miami from the dr tonight. I also verified their insurance (she printed out the cert of liability and I called them) and that checked out.
I got a photocopy of betsy's drivers license and videotaped the loading of the bike (complete with license plate and registration information).
I also made her go through the smell test with my roommate and he felt confident that everything was legit. He also pointed out that my bike is well insured and I have a videotape of her taking it and loading it.
I made sure her bitch got walked and watered and sent her on her way with solid instructions on how to get to the NJ turnpike without going back through Manhattan.
As a new guy to this forum, I'd like to thank everyone (none of whom I know yet) for the responses. I hope the folks who advised me not to let them ship it (and I agreed) understand that the common friends and acquaintances allowed me to get some assurance that my bike was safe that none of us could have predicted. It's not that I didn't head the good advice - but we all had somewhat incomplete information at that point. I made the decision to let them ship it with a whole new set of facts and security.
I owe everyone who responded (on this thread, by PM, and especially the guy who figured out my # and called me) several beers when we meet.
I'll be in Daytona (and should be on my bike) after lunch on Friday. Please drop me a line if I can make good!
my apologies for the half ass writing of this message, I'm going for a beer and I'm just not up for editing!
Filing a cmplaint withe the BBB is a waste. I mean really, how many people actually call or go on line to the local BBB and check out a business before using them? *Few I guarantee it*. Then on top of that the BBB has no authority to do anything, nadaa, nothing to any business. The BBB itself is a business and it is in the business of selling it's logo to businesses.
What do you base your statement on, only your experience? Are you some sort of a BBB expert? I don't know what dealings you've had with them if any, but I can gurarantee you it does make a difference that is, with people who take the time to check on a potential business. "I have and many I know have and it works", even if a complaint keeps just 1 person from using that business, it's worth it. Getting an attorney and the states attorney general involved are also options, which I have used and they also work. This is the smart thing to do with any businesss, that is unless you prefer to roll the dice and maybe get f---ed. Do nothing and nothing happens.
__________________
"See You In The Promised Land.... Arrivederci Baby!!!!"
What do you base your statement on, only your experience? Are you some sort of a BBB expert? I don't know what dealings you've had with them if any,
Well yeah I kinda am. I've owned my on business since 1994 and have not been and have been a member of BBB and again there isn't CRAP they can do to a business and I have never had 1 single customer ever say BBB says this or say that about your business. Nope, not one. BUT I do get dozens of calls a year from BBB wanting me to give them hundreds of dollars to me a "member". BBB is a JOKE.
__________________
2008 Vivid Black Road King Classic
2010 Vivid Black Street Glide
The Cost of Freedom is Not Free....Let Us Never Forget
The first couple years of going down to Daytona I was always stressed out .
Who will use their truck this year ? When can we all get away ? all bullchit .
So I started riding down from Ontario Canada the middle of Oct . Takes me 2 days to get down , ride around another couple days . Put my bike in storage and fly home .
I let the other guys know when I'm going . If they can come great if not see ya when you get there . Every year for the last 7 some of the guys made an effort . Some didn't .
Their loss . Then once a month I use air miles to fly down for a weekend . Warm my bones and just clear the cob webs . Makes the long winter go by like a flash . Then sometime in April I fly down and ride home . Same rules apply . I tell the guys when I'm going .
Ft. Lauderdale has some very reasonable storage places . Ends up costing me about $40 a month . And keeps my bike in a warm place out of my frozen garage .
For whatever it's worth " stop depending on others to have fun " .
Hopefully see you down in the south.
i've done this before as well. i have friends who are happy to let me park my bike in FL and i often leave it down there for a couple of months over the winter. I'll ride down to about 40 degrees pretty happily, so there's only a month or two where I can't ride in NY.
I'm with you, I can't stand having to worry about others not screwing things up. I was planning to ride down to daytona, but I have a pretty big deal i'm nursing home that pays a lot of bills and i just couldn't add risk to it by leaving early and driving, particularly since i can't really take calls on the bike. Also, the biggest ride my girl has been on w/ me was 700 miles over 3 days, not sure she was ready for straight down the highway to daytona in the rain.
thanks again to everyone for the great advice and i hope to see you all in Daytona.
Glad you're happy with the way it turned you dude. I hope she stays legit and gets your bike there safe and sound. Good luck. Oh and forget the BBB...........lol
__________________
2008 Vivid Black Road King Classic
2010 Vivid Black Street Glide
The Cost of Freedom is Not Free....Let Us Never Forget
You are so right! They , the BBB, do no research or discovery of any facts. All they do is post the complaint legit or not and then try to scam the business into belonging to the BBB. Done wasting money with them a long time ago.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Pig
Well yeah I kinda am. I've owned my on business since 1994 and have not been and have been a member of BBB and again there isn't CRAP they can do to a business and I have never had 1 single customer ever say BBB says this or say that about your business. Nope, not one. BUT I do get dozens of calls a year from BBB wanting me to give them hundreds of dollars to me a "member". BBB is a JOKE.
