This is me venting some frustrations, call it a rant if you will...

My Deuce, '00 model, has ~28k on the clock. Picked up a screw in the rear tire in mid-late June. I have the ESP with tire & wheel coverage so I took it into the stealership, told them to take care of the tire and while it was there to inspect my small primary leak and non-functional fuel gauge (both minor concerns at best, but hey while the bike is there I might as well right?). Figured it was due for an oil change and I wasn't going to have the time so I authorized a 2-hole fluid change (since the primary would be covered under warranty I wasn't going to say 'change all 3' out of pocket).

Fast forward almost a week, I get a call from them saying that my warranty isn't valid, it never was, and never should have been sold to me back in March. Apparently my bike is too old (Harley ESP only goes back 12 model years according to the finance manager, my bike is 13). So for over a week there's a big time of limbo where my bike is in pieces in the shop while the finance manager, myself, and the service manager are all playing phone tag and going to battle with the warranty company, trying to sort this out. Eventually the warranty company concedes that while I shouldn't have this warranty, it was sold to me and I did pay for it so suck a nut, I have a warranty. They also never notified anyone that they dropped the policy so egg on their face for that too.

Once that was all sorted, back to the task at hand; dealer replaced the rear tire, "fixed" the fuel gauge, changed the fluids, and resealed the primary (which also included replacing the stator assembly, according to the invoice - unbeknownst to me). I get the call on July 1st that my bike is ready, frankly I'm ecstatic. I needed a good ride, work has been hell and not having my bike has been a real downer.

So I go to pick it up on the morning of July 2nd, get told that despite all of the newfound warranty coverage I'm still paying ~$250 out of pocket on a 2-hole oil change and warranty deductible ($50). ****in A, really? You initially quoted me $175 for a 3-hole oil change, how is a 2-hole more expensive? And why isn't there a listing for the engine & trans fluid changes on my invoice? After some discussion with the stand-in service advisor who can't answer any of my questions with certainty, I begrudgingly pay the bill and want to leave. They bring my bike around, and it's filthy. Covered in greasy fingerprints...even the service advisor was embarassed (especially because the bike was washed right before I picked up the screw in my tire so the bitch was clean when I dropped it off). So he, being a former detail guy quickly grabs some cleaner and goes to work on the bike. Honestly I was glad he did that, and appreciated his conviction to customer service, and understanding of my discontent of not having my bike for 2 weeks because of a warranty issue with a flat ****in' tire.

This is where it gets fun. I hop on the bike, roll out of the dealer and hit the highway since I lived ~20 miles from the dealer. About 1 mile in, cruising at 70mph in 5th, I start getting a 'slip/bang' from the transmission. Yup, rolling along, the trans would slip out of 5th for 1-2 seconds then almost violently 'BANG' back into gear. It did this a good 8-10 times before making it ~6 miles from the dealer. I pulled off the highway, topped up the tank (it was on fumes), and decided to roll back to the dealer - hoping it wouldn't do it again for whatever reason. It did it with the same severity as when I left. I did notice that if I dropped it back into 4th, no problems. Shift up into 5th, and it does it. **** my life. *facepalm*

I got back to the dealer, the advisor saw me coming up the street and met me in the parking lot. I told him what I was experiencing, and that this did not occur before I dropped it off. He was very apologetic about the whole situation, and immediately wrote it up for a diagnostic. I called my girlfriend to come back to the dealer to pick me up since I wasn't on the bike, and left.

Fast forward to July 5th, 10 minutes before the service dept closes. I get a call saying they can't duplicate my clutch slipping while shifting gears. WTF? I didn't complain about that. By the time I got the voicemail, they were already closed for the evening. I called the next morning and corrected the advisor regarding my concern. They said they'd have the tech take it back out for another test ride.

Now we're up to this morning, when the advisor calls me to say that they still can't duplicate my concern, but the tech does recommend rebuilding my carb, because he saw some fuel dribble out of the overflow tube when it sat overnight. Uh...are you serious? You can't duplicate a rather serious concern that wasn't there when I dropped the bike off, yet you have the ***** to try to upsell me something completely unrelated? I told him I have a rebuild kit from CVP sitting on my shelf at home, don't worry about the carb. But I am concerned they couldn't duplicate my 'slip/bang' 5th gear concern. No resolution there, the only advice they could give was "if we can't duplicate it, we can't have the warranty cover a clutch job." So...you recommend a clutch now too? Is that the problem? "We don't know, we couldn't duplicate the concern."

So now is where I'm told that I'll have to pay $106 to get my bike back, that's $53 per test ride the tech took. I have to pay for the test ride the tech took while he was trying to duplicate a concern I didn't have, plus the test ride for the concern I do have...on a issue that wasn't there when I dropped it off. As a auto master tech, this doesn't fly in any dealers/shops I've ever worked at. If a customer comes back, you do the initial road tests for free. But I digress. I'm so floored at this point, I'm half tempted to trade her in on a new FXDWG just to be done with this cluster****.


...and to think, this snowball started because of a screw in my tire. On the positive side, I know for certain that I do have a warranty on the bike. Small miracles I guess. *sigh* I go to pick up the bike tomorrow, it better be sparkling damned clean.




Sorry for the long winded BS. If you actually read all of this, thanks for your time. I needed to vent this somewhere...

 

I'm frustrated reading it too my friend! Glad I never had to use my ESP and more happier that I learned to do my own maintenance and repairs.

 

Did someone check to make sure they actually put trans fluid back in after they drained it?

 

I wasn't able to check that at the time, but judging by how much fluid was around the fill plug on the trans when I initially picked it up (before they cleaned it), I'd have to assume they did refill it.

Something tells me the tech went back over everything he did. Hard sayin' not knowin' though.

 

damn. man that really sucks. I run an auto repair shop. That's def. not how business is done. Being you have the warrenty your stuck with the dealer. I'd say find the next closest dealer and try them. sounds like the one your going to doesn't know what their doing.

 

Good God. What a cluster***k. Kiss those clowns goodbye!

 

Wow......... just Wow.

 

Holy Sheep Shiat Batman !!! Thats enough to **** off the pope.

I too am in the auto service industry and there is no way we would even try to charge someone for road testing for a concern after repairs done. hell even if we did try, no one in their right mind is going to pay to road test the vehicle. which brings me to say..

there is no way in hell i would pay any 106 bucks for road tests. I would be in the managers office laying it all out just like you did here..

 

More perfect examples of why I will NEVER go to a Stealership. I'm feeling your pain. There isn't a whole lot worse than having to put up with that kind of crap when all you want is what you were told, quoted and your bike to be taken care of.....and not getting bent over to get it done.

 

I will be laying it out to them when I go to pick it up. And I don't want to, nor do I feel that I should have to pay that $106 for a come back complaint ($53 maybe, if the second road test had revealed the root cause to be a non-related item - but then the warranty would have kicked in anyway so it'd be moot). It's not like they did a tear-down diagnostic either, he rode the scoot only.

Making a customer pay for a road test to verify a concern that is directly related to the area that was just serviced is beyond insane to me. I know no customer in any shop I ever worked at or managed would cough up money on that.


...I should look into the BAR, see if they're the overseers & deities for motorcycle repair shops like they are with the automotive industry. Google, here I come.

EDIT// The BAR does oversee motorcycle repair shops too, good. If this gets any worse I'll be calling them to intervene.