I have no objection to salesman calling me to follow-up as that is the reason I give out legitimate phone numbers and emails to them. I spoke with Lawless, Gateway and Docs and Four Rivers in Paducah over Thanksgiving weekend and looked at what they had on the floor to narrow down a purchase.

Today though, I received a call from a girl from Georgia and the phone number masked as a local number with a 615 area code. That dealer (Gateway in St. Louis) won't get my business if I buy anything in the near future. This poor girl making the $8 an hour to make the calls, I feel sorry for her, because she has to put up with my grumpy *** as I'm answering the phone getting out of the shower. Especially when she reads the script with the question "well my manager wants to know what it would take to buy a motorcycle today"

I didn't have the heart to tell her to convey to his sorry *** that maybe he ought to call me instead of farming out the calls to a call center.

I also received a call from Lawless today in Cape Girardeau/Scott City. That was a good follow-up call and I appreciate it.

 

Gateway is relentless. I sent an inquiry via their website and got hammered with calls and emails for like two months.

 

The owners of Gateway live on the west side of the state where their home store is, just south of Kansas City.

 

Their Home Store is Gails HD outside of KC.
before we bought my Heritage I have now we stopped in at Gateway, I had never been there and wanted to check out the store. nice place seemed like good people and a good amount of bikes and gear. we didn't find what we were wanting there just price and year wise. I didn't want a 2017-2018 used bike for 15k-20k I wanted something older that was a little cheaper. looking back on it now they were a little pushy trying to get me on a bike I really wasn't interested in. I knew what I wanted was a Heritage, they pushed me towards a fatboy. nice bike but not what I wanted. told them my budger was 10k or less and they pushed towards a 14k then a 12k bike.
later that day we went to St Charles HD and I bought my bike there that day an hour after leaving Gateway. great people to work with did a lot for us that day also made us feel like family.

the very next day on a sunday I got a call from the sales guy at Gateway for a follow up. told him I had bought a bike later that day after we left gateway. guy was cool about it and said thanks for coming in and so on. an hour later I get a call from the sales manager there at Gateway. guy is almost half pissed off that I bought something somewhere else. he asked why I had bought at St Charles and I just told him it was the bike I wanted and the price and year and had everything we wanted. Guy had the ***** to tell me " why didn't you tell us that's what you wanted" I just told him that I had told the sales guy the price I wanted to be in and the bike I was interested in. he then proceeded to ask if I had taken delivery of the bike I bought and I told him not yet as my dealer had tires to put on and when we signed papers the shop was closed and I wouldn't be able to get back up there till the following weekend. guy had the ***** again to ask if he found the bike I was looking for for the price I had if I would call St Charles back and tell them I didn't want that bike and buy one from Gateway. I just told him no and said thanks for the time and hung up. later that week I got at least 3 more calls from them for one thing or another and got one about a week ago also. finally told the gal to take me off their call list.
wont be going in that place again.
I guess sales are more cut throat in Bike than when I worked at the car dealer here locally and I thought that was bad enough

 

Yea, I bought my new breakout at St. Charles. I originally needed to wait till spring. I told Gateway that, and they grilled me on why. Well first reason is....it's none of your damn business. I told them it was budgeting issues. Anyways. I stopped by St. Charles on the way home from work all the time, they knew I wasn't buying, and let me sit on different bike all I wanted. Ended up being able to buy sooner, and I got a great deal at St. Charles. No pressure, guys that will help you if you need it, or shoot the crap about cars, kids or what ever if you don't. That is what really sold me on getting a Harley to be honest. I liked the Indians, but not the dealer. I liked the Harley's too, and the dealer so far has been great.

 

a follow-up,

later in the afternoon I received another phone call, this time from the dealership. I answered it because it popped up as a 314 area code and I figured it was them calling and it was. This time it was one of the front desk reception girls calling asking me about the bike I was interested in, if I could come in today, etc.

I apologized to her about 3 minutes later but prior to that I absolutely blasted her about the previous phone call from the call center and what I thought about those kinds of deceitful calls and to pass my thoughts along to the GM. If you've ever watched a SABOT round going down range, imagine that for a minute, that what me looked like talking to her with the earth, wind, grass and shockwave passing over the telephone line. I couldn't work in a place like that where some asshat manager is telling me to make those phone calls

So about a half hour after I got another phone call, this time from one of the managers? Who knows for certain. I was informed that it was their job to use that call center, that's what the dealership was paying them to do. Then there was some terse back and forth about why I live in Nashville and am shopping in St. Louis. I was born in St. Louis, went to Point Elementary through the 3rd grade, my grandparents lived on Winthrop Ct. near Tesson Ferry and Lindbergh, my dad is buried down the street at Jefferson Barracks, I like eating at Rich and Charlies, etc. Sometimes I'm in St. Louis, always over Thanksgiving so I figure it's a chance to look at motorcycles that I'm buying in the near future.

So there's a lot of dealerships around Nashville, within 4 hours of here there are probably two dozen. If I lived in St. Louis, I think Doc's would be my preferred place to go. The sales manager there was a great guy to talk with, knew I didn't live there but has stayed in contact with me. Gateway however, that kind of sales tactic isn't for me. The Road King in my sig pic came from Worth in Kansas City. I have no problem recommending them, that was a great purchase experience, no BS and in 30 minutes we had decided on a price.

Gateway is the reason most consumers are hesitant to give out contact information. I don't like being snake bit and in this case I was. They are probably selling that information as well. I suspect also that this is the kind of dealership that gets you into the finance office and you start negotiating the Zeibart and Scotch Guard protection for your new footpegs and how your payments can be (because you know, it's only another $5 a month if add the GAP and extended warranty.)

 

get one of those auto reply bots. You forward the call to them and they answer making it seem like there's a real person on the phone.

 

I am in St. Charles pretty regularly. I have two of my three Harleys from them, and will buy any and all future Harleys from them. They treat you with respect, don't hassle you if you're just looking, and treat customers like special guests whether in the sales department or the service department. They've always worked with me on price, and always done excellent service when asked.

Doc's is another jewel in St. Louis, but I live 10 minutes from St. Charles, and like I said - I've nothing but great things to say about them.

 

Almost went into Gail's HD a couple months ago. Got dyslexic and ended up at Gate's BBQ!

 

I bought my streeglide from Big St.Charles and was happy with how the sale went, but their service dept. are dimwits. Tried telling me i couldn't install speakers without an amp. My brother had many problems with their service dept. too, getting his bike back with more damage than it went in with. Buying from them is one thing, but no way i would let these people work on my bike. I called Doc's, Big St.Charles, Freize and Gateway looking for a new streeglide and was buying on tomorrow. Gateway called me back and i told them i was buying one from Big St.Charles and told him the price i got and he became a smart *** and told me i better buy it. I said i did ! Best price came from Big St. Charles and Doc's told me they would see if they had one in back and said they would call me back in 10 mins. They call 1 month later and asked if i had bought a bike. What a joke. I did my my Tri-Glide from Gateway because that's where i got the best price ,but they are not very friendly and are down right crabby people.

I absolutely HATE going into dealership anywhere !