I'm a solo rider and new to HD so please bear with me.

Found a local indie shop using my Google-fu skills and saw stellar ratings not only on their Facebook page, but Yelp as well. I figured I'd give them a go and had them do my 1k mile service and perform all the related "checks". 4 days later I heard a distinct rattle from the front of my motor. Turns out both nuts holding the exhaust flange onto the front port were gone. I hit up the Facebook page and sent a detailed message to the shop (with pictures) at 9:30 at night. The owner messaged me back within 15 minutes apologizing and wanting to make it right. He sent a tow truck to pick up the bike, replace the missing nuts and towed it back all at no charge. He also included a shop t-shirt and some stickers. This was the start of AZ bike week and he coordinated everything via Facebook and his cell phone.

I figured "s*&^ happens" and maybe it was a one-time thing.

I went back today to have my front turn signals relocated to the forks. I had the kit from HD and they were just moving them. Made the appointment earlier in the week where the owner quoted 1 to 1.5 hours labor. Asked if I could hang out in the shop instead of driving home and turning around to come back, and that's what I did. For 3 hours.

I was just about to lose my mind when I was told the work was done. Went with the tech to adjust the levers and came back to pay. They asked if I was quoted for the job, so the details weren't put into the work order. I told them the owner said $75-$100 for 60-90 minutes of work. I paid a bill of $118 "with tax". Thought it was weird to pay tax for a labor rate but wanted to GTFO and looked at the invoice when I got home. I was also billed for "shop supplies" on top of the labor. No detail as to what they were, but everything was included in the kit. I haven't messaged the business again, but I am close to doing so.

Long, long story made short, I think I'm gonna try a different indie shop next. Am I gonna be facing the same situation at the next place, or are most shops hit and miss with poor communication/record-keeping/etc?

Sorry for being long-winded. Felt the details were pertinent.

 

This is a great reason to start doing your own work. Get a lift, a mechanics tool set, torque wrenches in foot and in pounds and a service manual

 

Sorry, but I don't see a problem here. All I see is good service.

 

Very true, however, there are some repairs you may not want to tackle.
My local indy didn't have my bike ready because he was going to the Laughlin River Run. I guess going on vacation is more important than running your business. That's something you have to look out for with an indy, if he's a real small shop, you could be put on the back burner. I'm going to continue working on my bike, but if I buy a newer model, I will probably take it in, depending on what needs to be done.

 

This. What exactly did they do wrong?

 

Why were the exhaust flange bolts removed or loosened? There's no reason for that in a 1000 mile service.

 

I am really not getting this at all. 1K service and 4 days later your exhaust nuts on the front cylinder were gone. Part of a 1K service or IMO any service is to check exhaust and heat shields to make sure all is tight and no leaks. My guess is the tech never looked at the exhaust and most likely the nuts were loose at that time them fell completely off 4 days later. To be honest in all my years I have never seen any all of a sudden get lose then fall right off. If anything they loosen up a bit but when they do you are usually able to hear the rattle.

In either case it seems the shop owner accepted responsibility for his guy not checking it on the 1K and did everything possible to make it right.

Your next visit you were quoted 1-1.5 hrs and someone did make the mistake in not putting it on the work order. Bottom line is it then took 3 hrs, more details would be needed here. From experience at my sons shop, he can schedule a time for a person to come in and just because he tells someone to bring it in at 10:00 does not always mean that the bike will hit the lift as soon as you get there. He and his guys do everything they can to get it on the lift at that time however an appointment that came in before you could have taken longer than expected, the prior appointment could have been late or your job simply took longer than anticipated. You should have asked the owner why they had the bike for 3 hrs instead of the 1.5 you were told to expect and they should have given you a reasonable explanation. Its the practice in my sons shop that if a guy comes in at appointment time and there is a backlog that may delay starting on the job 30 mins or so that the owner is made aware of that when he comes in.

Also I have seen that a quote can be given for 1.5 hrs and then the bike gets in and it takes a little longer, sometimes its because its a bit more involved than anticipated other times it because of other things that have been done to the bike in the past that the shop was unaware of making the job take longer than anticipated.

A good example is a guy brings a bagger in for a rear tire change which my son charges a flat rate for. On the phone the guy ask how long it will take because he wants to wait, he is told less than an hour. Once the bike gets there you see it is a mess, all kind of crap added that has to be removed to get to the axle, nut/bolts cross threaded or rusted and an axle that probably has not been out in 10 years and never saw grease which turns in to an ordeal to remove. That less than 1 hr time frame is now extended because of the half *** way it was maintained

I am not insinuating your bike was not maintained properly just pointing our all of the reasons that a job can take longer than anticipated.

As to the tax on labor I can not speak to what the law is in AZ but in MS we are required to charge tax on that labor. As to the add on of "shop supplies" again that is common practice in some shops. That is usually just an add on to offset all the small things that are used on a job that your can't really price on an invoice. Things such as electrical tape, spray lube, shop towels, loctite, zip ties, penetrating oil, a nut or screw. There is really an endless list of small items like that that are used and are a cost to the shop but it is hard to invoice for 2 sprays of lube and a drop of blue loctite on the invoice. As I said some shops will add a nominal charge on each invoice for "shop supplies" to offset those cost, others will just build it into the hourly rate.

All in all to me it sounds like you found a good shop. They accepted responsibility for the exhaust flange nuts with no questions asked and made it right. On the second job although it took 3 hrs they stood by the quote you were given and only charged you the quoted time

 

Scratching my head on that as well.

As far as finding a good/great Indy, word of mouth would be better than social media that can be rigged. I know some awesome Indy shops and all small scale, privately owned entrepreneurs. Venture to say there are a number of folks on here that work out of their own shop.

 

You took your bike to an indy for a 1,000 mile service.
An indy is generally less expensive than a dealer.
I guess that is a brand new bike since you are getting a 1,000 mile service and you indicated ownership of a 2017 Low Rider S.
Did someone change the entire exhaust system prior to delivery?
Was it the selling dealer?
I see a listing for Bassani Road Rage 2 under original post.
Who installed the Bassani Road Rage 2?
Did you contact that installer?
Has the installer done anything for you?
But, it also appears like the independent did not review those two bolts during the 1,000 mile service.
Looks like indy took some responsibility by acting quickly with the tow & T-shirt.
What did the selling dealer or installer of Bassani Road Rage 2 exhaust say ?
What did the selling dealer or installer of exhaust do for you ?
Remember you paid for set-up or exhaust installation.
Did you contact selling dealer or installer of exhaust?
The turn signal thing is nothing in my opinion since it was #1 word of mouth, #2 with different people and #3 at different times.
The guy at the register wants to just run the register and not get yelled at by mechanic and owner for undercharging.
I would have dealt directly with the person i interacted with during the loose bolt/towing situation before...i would guess it was the owner.
The tax situation is based on jurisdiction and you can research your location to see if it was correct.
If there was a concern then i would have waited a moment and clarified with owner before payment.
When a shop talks book hours like in your case of 1 to 1.5 hours it does not mean you bring bike in at 1pm and bike is done at 2:30pm.
Book hours are a way to charge..if it takes 30 minutes and they take 1 hour,well you pay 1 hour like was told up front.
If they told you 1 hour on invoice and they take 2 hours, then you pay 1 hour.
Book hour is unrelated to wall clock hours.
At no time does book hours mean they stop everything to start work on your bike the moment you bring the bike into the shop.
A 1 hour service could have you waiting 1 hour or a day since it is a book billing term..
I do not like shop fee's but some shops push them...most times they are 10% or $25-$35(whichever is less) of bill..For example a $100 job gets charged $10, A $200 job gets charged $20, A $500 job gets charged $25-$35 max.
In general an indy is a bit more loose than a dealer. For example, you indicated that levers were adjusted...that was probably not in your original verbal quote of $75-$100
For the money aspect in this case, i would look at the whole bill, what work was performed and not the classification of line items.
You indicate an original verbal quote of $75 - $100 for 60 min-90 min.
So $75/hr....1.5 hours= $112.50 being charged $118 is rather close to your verbal quote...especially if they have any shop rag fee.
I would not change shops but i would alter my interactions and try to deal with the owner each time until the mechanics learned i was a regular.

 

Threads like this explain why there are shops that fire the customer.....