I apologize for how long this is but it is an accounting of my most recent experience with a HD dealer service center.

I am a middle school teacher now but I spent 25 years working my way up the ladder from trainee to master tech and then my own shop in general aviation maintenance and avionics. When it comes to service centers, I have BTDT which gives me a pretty high tolerance for how maintenance service works and the difficulties that comes with working on people's pleasure vehicles and managing technicians of all skills and abilities. I will try to work with a shop doing maintenance for me and teaching tweens has given me the patience to keep my cool when things turn to crap.

HOWEVER, having said that, I am so pissed off at the dealer that did recent work on my '01 SG that it is probably a good thing that they are closed today and tomorrow and I have time to cool off or I would be in there raising hell over their incompetence and unprofessional maintenance practices.

It all started when I had starter switch go bad 90 miles from home at the end of a 1500 mile road trip. I took the bike to the dealer I purchased it from for warranty repair and 35K mile inspection and fluid change. Pretty simple stuff for an experienced technician and well within my own personal skill set. One thing that I learned from my aviation customers was that dropping in unannounced to check on progress if a job seems to be taking too long is a very effective way to communicate expectations.

After not hearing from them for 4 days, I dropped in and asked to see my ride. I was taken back and talked to the technician about the problem and when it would be ready. I immediately noticed that my tank and front fender were not covered and were smeared with greasy fingerprints and my new Mustang seat was haphazardly tossed on a workbench on top of tools. I asked the service manager to put covers on and find someplace else to put my new expensive seat before it got damaged or messed up as well.

It was closing time when was able to get by to pick up my bike and I was in a hurry so I did a quick look over and rode home. The next day I did a more through look over and was not pleased with finding that most of the plastic screw covers on my primary had been pulled off with pliers and messed up bad, screw covers were missing from my throttle control clamp, the clutch was not adjusted correctly, the rear exhaust pipe and heat shield were all out of alignment (they had to pull the top pipe to service the trans), there was a thumb-size spot of anti-seize compound and grease smears on the bucket of my seat, my cigarette lighter adapter was disconnected, and the bike had not been cleaned very well before delivery. I took it back and personally reviewed these issues with the service manager.

A couple of days go by without any word so I call him for an update. He starts the song and dance routine about the covers being cheap plastic and the clutch is adjusted by the book and that the tech said that he never touched the rear exhaust pipe and could not explain how the compound got on the seat. I countered with if the plastic screw covers were so cheap and since they charged me a shop materials fee, then why did they not have some on hand to replace the ones they damaged, how did the tech service the transmission if he did not at least loosen and move the rear pipe away from the dipstick, the clutch lever had far more play than my shop manual called out and it was grinding and clunking going into 2nd and 3rd, why did he even need to disconnect the cigarette lighter adapter, and how extensively do they clean and prep for delivery? When I called back the next afternoon to check on the bike, I was put on terminal hold and no one returned my calls. When I dropped in on them the next day, it was ready so I checked it over and most of the things had been fixed with the exception of the screw covers (they were out of them) and the seat still had the spot on it. They cleaned the seat real quick and promised to let me know as soon as the covers came in.

At this point, I was mostly satisfied…that is until Friday night when I was cleaning and polishing for a ride to a bike show and the bottom muffler actually fell off in my hand because the clamp and rear mounting bolt had not been tightened. I discovered that the top clamp was loose as well and the flange nuts on both cylinders were barely finger tight. (I had noticed that it sounded different). I put it all back together and torqued the flange nuts, and had a great 200 mile ride yesterday.

I will go in Wednesday and have a long come to Jesus talk with the general manager and it is very unlikely that they will ever again touch my ride.

 

My Dyna been at the dealer since memorial day and every night as I lay trying to sleep, THAT is what I think of.

 

I do most of my own service work and if I make a mistake well I,m paying for it ?
I buy tools I may only need to use once because it,s cheaper .
All you really need to work on your bike is time tools a Manual and a brain .
no one cares about your stuff like you do .

 

I dread the day I must take my ride to a dealer for any work be performed that I can't do myself. I thank this Forum for being here to allow me to delay that for as long as possible.

 

I'm not here slamming all dealerships and all dealer service techs however most are entry level or ones who's main focus is to beat the book time in an order to bill the most hours possible. This does not start and end with Harley dealerships. Having said this, some dealerships including Harley dealerships maintain an excellent skill level staff. Now personally I only bring any of my vehicles to a factory dealership for warranty work. The experiences expressed in this thread are in my opinion UNACCEPTABLE and if my vehicle was setting at a shop, any shop for weeks or months for any other reason than documented back order parts I would pick it up and tell them to shove the bill into a dark stinky place. I would only pay for parts which were actually required and already installed.
JMHO

 

And this is why my bikes never go past the doors of doom at a dealership.

 

Sometimes a (come to Jesus meeting) is in order. I would be way upset about this.


Im glad my local Dealer does good work and im always satisfied. FTHD

 

After the dealership did my first 1k service and then my fork seals covered under warranty...they will never touch my bike again. They put the fork tubes in at different heights and my bike was scratched and left out in the rain

 

That's why I always stress, whether on this forum or any other, or amongst my friends, LOCAL INDEPENDENT BIKE SHOPS are the way to go. I have had very few good experiences at any HD dealerships.

Although I did buy some parts at the one in Slidell, Louisiana the other day and they were extremely helpful.

But for the most part, I avoid the dealerships like the plague.