BAD Dealers and Experiences
#2481
11-21-2017, 08:06 AM
LAWLESS H-D in Renton, Wa. were the WORST most incompetent, most outright blatantly DISHONEST dealership my wife and I have ever experienced. Last month they sold us a used '08 Nightster 1200, (for the wife) we paid $5k cash, signed all tax & license papers, & were told it'd be ready in 3 days. 2+ weeks later after many calls, getting blown off & our calls never returned, we call & they tell her how embarrassed they are but they didnt actually own the bike they sold us, & she isnt going to get it. Salesman said they'd make things right for wasting 3 weeks of our short nice weather season & for disappointing her. We repeatedly told them we had no more $ & werent interested in financing a new bike, he claimed for no additional money theyd put her on a better bike or a new one, & we, like idiots, went down & let them insult us & waste more of our time trying to push much older, higher mileage 883's for additional cost, and then tried to get her to sign a finance agreement for $6k more towards a 2016. Outraged at being lied to & after not being able to get our flippin money back supposedly until the next day we left with my girl in tears. They called & claimed theyd give her a gift card (another lie) when she picked up her refund check, which wasnt ready & took 10 days to clear after we payed cash. They f-ed us off & broke their word over & over, promising what we knew wasnt true & trying to get more money by being super pushy & impatient, telling her thats the only way she'd get a bike. I still cant believe how awful they were to her in front of me. Proof of their incompetence as a business & complete lack of communication with anyone, even within the dealership was when the title came in the mail, in her name, just a few days ago. Ill never have anything good to say about the salesman & finance manager there, & will trash their name til the day i die.
#2482
11-23-2017, 10:39 PM
Road Captain
Riverside Harley Davidson in Riverside, CA.
They bill themselves as the #1 volume dealer in California, and I found out why. Looking at a Street Bob or a Low Rider and thought if they were the #1 by volume, they should absolutely be able to make a deal. Drove up with my dad and my trade. Took a look at the price tag before even talking to a salesperson. I discovered the Street Bob had a nearly $4,000 "Dealer Markup fee" tacked onto the MSRP price as well as dealer prep and freight. A Bone stock, no option Vivid Black 2016 Street Bob with the asking price of $19, 000...... A 2016 Road Glide had a $5950 "Dealer Markup fee" on top of MSRP and fees.
Seeing as though they had 20+ salespeople standing around and hundreds of bikes on inventory, Id say they were the #1 dealer based on volume of money they ripped off their past customers. Decided 5 minutes after getting there from San Diego that they werent getting my money and an extra "Dealer Markup fee". I left promptly after this discovery.
Beware.
They bill themselves as the #1 volume dealer in California, and I found out why. Looking at a Street Bob or a Low Rider and thought if they were the #1 by volume, they should absolutely be able to make a deal. Drove up with my dad and my trade. Took a look at the price tag before even talking to a salesperson. I discovered the Street Bob had a nearly $4,000 "Dealer Markup fee" tacked onto the MSRP price as well as dealer prep and freight. A Bone stock, no option Vivid Black 2016 Street Bob with the asking price of $19, 000...... A 2016 Road Glide had a $5950 "Dealer Markup fee" on top of MSRP and fees.
Seeing as though they had 20+ salespeople standing around and hundreds of bikes on inventory, Id say they were the #1 dealer based on volume of money they ripped off their past customers. Decided 5 minutes after getting there from San Diego that they werent getting my money and an extra "Dealer Markup fee". I left promptly after this discovery.
Beware.
After a couple of years of contemplating a new Street Glide Special (and finalizing my divorce!), I got serious and began to look hard in May of this year. I travel extensively for work during certain times of the year and had been fortunate enough to interact with 20+ HD dealers between San Diego and Sonoma in the preceding 6-8 months.
I ended up at Riverside HD due to the fact they move motorcycles on a volume basis, and certainly would have some great deals. Not.
Called and set up a 'VIP' test ride. I had ridden an M8 SG already and knew exactly what I wanted. I told the sales guy I wanted a SGS in Superior Blue, and all I wanted was a cash price, O.T.D; no BS and wasting time.
The sticker showed the $4000 markup as reported by others, and I explained that there were dozens of dealers that had no DMU at all. The salesman tried to BS me and tell me they all did it, then proceeded to tell me the attributes of a RG over a SG and that he could make me a great deal on one. WTF? I didn't want a RG!
He went on further to ask what kind of payment I was looking for. I reiterated that I was not looking for a payment, I just wanted the best cash O.T.D. price. He is gone about five minutes, comes back and says they can get the roughly $31,800 O.T.D. price down "to about $30k", but "why don't you save some of that money for accessories and we can get you into a great payment". WITF??? My credit is impeccable but I didn't want a loan!
This was the condensed version, there was far more to it, but what a joke.
I bailed, obviously, and took my business to another dealer, where I got the same SGS for nearly $8k less than the original asking price from Riverside HD. I would never buy a motorcycle from that dealer. Waste of time.
Since July I have referred five buyers to the dealer that treated me right, with many more to come.
#2483
12-04-2017, 03:26 PM
Hey guys, a word of warning about Thunder Mountain HD in Loveland, CO.
I waited for over 1 year before I posted this review, expecting a call back from the dealer on my complaints. I left multiple messages with staff answering the phones and voicemails for management, none were returned. They did, however, put me on a robocall list trying to get me to come in for special events and give them more of my money. My biggest complaint is that they didn't try to get back in touch with me.
I made a used buy here during fall, 2016. Every bad stereotype you hear about happening at a dealership happened.
First of all the sales staff was rude and inattentive. I did come during a major event at the dealership, but nobody acknowledged how busy they were, nor did they attempt to hurry things along when they realized I was a paying customer. In fact, the sales person treated my wife like she was a complete moron, until they realized she was a rider and may be interested in trading up as well. The disrespect was astounding.
The sales staff refused to listen to any of the hard lines I gave them. There were several points during which I said , "I'm not using a negotiating tactic, this is the final price I will pay. If it will not work, that is fine, but don't come back to me with a higher price." I had to do this many times before they met my price. I understand they need to make money, but, if my offer was too low, they should have come out with that in the beginning.
Once we agreed on a price, they said no test rides. I would be walking out if I didn't test, and after several minutes of arguing, they finally agreed if they ran a credit check prior to test riding. That's reasonable, but their opening statement should never be, "We're too busy to allow test rides today."
Once the deal was finally done, I was ready to take off. Finally, ready for my new ride. Not so fast, though - the dealership had forgotten to do the mandated DOT inspection prior to selling me the bike, and would need to do that first. I am willing to understand that, as long as they take care of this promptly. Of course, they should have done this early in case anything was found that needed fixing, but taking care of it quickly should have happend. It didn't. I sat for 3 hours, asking for the status every 15 minutes, while they did this. They mechanincs were busy working with the demo bikes for the event, so of course (sarcasm), they have no time for a customer that just spent many thousands of dollars on a bike. It was already sold, after all.
Wait, we're not done, though! They wanted to wash the bike for me. OK, I appreciate this. I was, again, expecting that it would be done quickly. I was so wrong, however - I ended up waiting another hour for them to wash the bike, even when I told them to not worry about being thorough.
Finally, I'm on the rode. I ride not 200 miles, when I have a clutch cable break. This I can completely understand, as predicting when the cable would fail is very difficult. I also purchased the extended warranty, so I wasn't too worried about cost. This warranty does come with a $50 deductible, though. I called the dealer, as I didn't have my paperwork, to inquire about the process and any restrictions on getting reimbursed for the tow. I ended up not getting a call back for 2 hours, and by then I had made other arrangements.
Given my entire experience so far I elected to take the bike to another dealership for the repair. I did think it was perfectly reasonable, though, after only going 200 miles and with the entire set of headaches, that they would reimburse me for the $50 deductible, or at least offer me some kind of service or gift card. They still have not called me back to this day.
Buying a used motorcycle can be a risky business, as with any vehicle. One should expect, though, that all of these things not happen in a single transaction. This dealership is one that should be avoided by anyone looking for even an average buying experience, let alone great service.
I waited for over 1 year before I posted this review, expecting a call back from the dealer on my complaints. I left multiple messages with staff answering the phones and voicemails for management, none were returned. They did, however, put me on a robocall list trying to get me to come in for special events and give them more of my money. My biggest complaint is that they didn't try to get back in touch with me.
I made a used buy here during fall, 2016. Every bad stereotype you hear about happening at a dealership happened.
First of all the sales staff was rude and inattentive. I did come during a major event at the dealership, but nobody acknowledged how busy they were, nor did they attempt to hurry things along when they realized I was a paying customer. In fact, the sales person treated my wife like she was a complete moron, until they realized she was a rider and may be interested in trading up as well. The disrespect was astounding.
The sales staff refused to listen to any of the hard lines I gave them. There were several points during which I said , "I'm not using a negotiating tactic, this is the final price I will pay. If it will not work, that is fine, but don't come back to me with a higher price." I had to do this many times before they met my price. I understand they need to make money, but, if my offer was too low, they should have come out with that in the beginning.
Once we agreed on a price, they said no test rides. I would be walking out if I didn't test, and after several minutes of arguing, they finally agreed if they ran a credit check prior to test riding. That's reasonable, but their opening statement should never be, "We're too busy to allow test rides today."
Once the deal was finally done, I was ready to take off. Finally, ready for my new ride. Not so fast, though - the dealership had forgotten to do the mandated DOT inspection prior to selling me the bike, and would need to do that first. I am willing to understand that, as long as they take care of this promptly. Of course, they should have done this early in case anything was found that needed fixing, but taking care of it quickly should have happend. It didn't. I sat for 3 hours, asking for the status every 15 minutes, while they did this. They mechanincs were busy working with the demo bikes for the event, so of course (sarcasm), they have no time for a customer that just spent many thousands of dollars on a bike. It was already sold, after all.
Wait, we're not done, though! They wanted to wash the bike for me. OK, I appreciate this. I was, again, expecting that it would be done quickly. I was so wrong, however - I ended up waiting another hour for them to wash the bike, even when I told them to not worry about being thorough.
Finally, I'm on the rode. I ride not 200 miles, when I have a clutch cable break. This I can completely understand, as predicting when the cable would fail is very difficult. I also purchased the extended warranty, so I wasn't too worried about cost. This warranty does come with a $50 deductible, though. I called the dealer, as I didn't have my paperwork, to inquire about the process and any restrictions on getting reimbursed for the tow. I ended up not getting a call back for 2 hours, and by then I had made other arrangements.
Given my entire experience so far I elected to take the bike to another dealership for the repair. I did think it was perfectly reasonable, though, after only going 200 miles and with the entire set of headaches, that they would reimburse me for the $50 deductible, or at least offer me some kind of service or gift card. They still have not called me back to this day.
Buying a used motorcycle can be a risky business, as with any vehicle. One should expect, though, that all of these things not happen in a single transaction. This dealership is one that should be avoided by anyone looking for even an average buying experience, let alone great service.
We had a salesman come up to us and let me tell you, the guy was drunk, like really drunk. He started asking us what we were looking for and when he talked I had to take a step back the smell of alcohol was so bad. We told him we were just looking around and that we came in for the vent, and he started following us. Eventually I humored him and asked him if they had any of the New Lowrider S's in (this was early 2016 when they had just come out) and he took me to a Softail slim. I told him that was not a Lowrider S and so he took me to another one, a Softail pro street breakout. He tried to explain to me that the Lowrider S looked like a Softail but wasn't (again, this was almost two years ago, long before the revamped dynas)
At this point we bailed. After we discussed it later we came up with a few theories, either the salesman got into the beer a little too heavy and forgot everything (or was so new he shouldn't have been on the sales floor), or a guy who knew nothing about Harleys was wearing the same Harley polo as the rest of the salesman was drunk and pretending to be a salesman.
#2484
12-04-2017, 04:18 PM
Tourer
#2485
12-05-2017, 01:26 PM
Road Captain
I've also had a poor experience with Thunder Mountain. The wife and I and a few friends had driven down to Ft. Collins/Loveland from Wyoming for the day and I wanted to swing by because they were having an event. We didn't really go in for anything in particular, just to look around.
We had a salesman come up to us and let me tell you, the guy was drunk, like really drunk. He started asking us what we were looking for and when he talked I had to take a step back the smell of alcohol was so bad. We told him we were just looking around and that we came in for the vent, and he started following us. Eventually I humored him and asked him if they had any of the New Lowrider S's in (this was early 2016 when they had just come out) and he took me to a Softail slim. I told him that was not a Lowrider S and so he took me to another one, a Softail pro street breakout. He tried to explain to me that the Lowrider S looked like a Softail but wasn't (again, this was almost two years ago, long before the revamped dynas)
At this point we bailed. After we discussed it later we came up with a few theories, either the salesman got into the beer a little too heavy and forgot everything (or was so new he shouldn't have been on the sales floor), or a guy who knew nothing about Harleys was wearing the same Harley polo as the rest of the salesman was drunk and pretending to be a salesman.
We had a salesman come up to us and let me tell you, the guy was drunk, like really drunk. He started asking us what we were looking for and when he talked I had to take a step back the smell of alcohol was so bad. We told him we were just looking around and that we came in for the vent, and he started following us. Eventually I humored him and asked him if they had any of the New Lowrider S's in (this was early 2016 when they had just come out) and he took me to a Softail slim. I told him that was not a Lowrider S and so he took me to another one, a Softail pro street breakout. He tried to explain to me that the Lowrider S looked like a Softail but wasn't (again, this was almost two years ago, long before the revamped dynas)
At this point we bailed. After we discussed it later we came up with a few theories, either the salesman got into the beer a little too heavy and forgot everything (or was so new he shouldn't have been on the sales floor), or a guy who knew nothing about Harleys was wearing the same Harley polo as the rest of the salesman was drunk and pretending to be a salesman.
#2487
12-06-2017, 12:54 PM
Road Captain
#2488
12-07-2017, 03:01 PM
Outstanding HDF Member
Unbelievable.........250 pages of “bad” dealers. It must be true that “folks will quickly complain but praise is hard to come by”. I certainly hope there are more “good” dealers out there than bad dealers. Perhaps I should start a “good” dealer thread, oh wait there is one.... But only 240 pages. It is very disappointing to read so many unhappy experiences from so many folks regarding what should be a positive experience and less comments to the positive side. My experience were and are good. I am fortunate enough to have over ten HD dealers in my area and before I shopped bikes I shopped Harley dealers. I must agree I found many different experiences, fortunately none as bad as I have read here but some not as great as others.
Last edited by BigRed117; 12-07-2017 at 03:10 PM.
#2489
12-07-2017, 03:10 PM
Unbelievable.........250 pages of “bad” dealers. It must be true that “folks will quickly complain but praise is hard to come by”. I certainly hope there are more “good” dealers out there than bad dealers. Perhaps I should start a “good” dealer thread, oh wait there is one.... it’s only a couple of pages. It is very disappointing to read so many unhappy experiences from so many folks regarding what should be a positive experience and so few comments to the positive side.
Good start.
Welcome aboard.
#2490
12-07-2017, 03:17 PM
Outstanding HDF Member
No lecturing just commenting about human nature. Probably should have read my updated post. I visited 14 dealers before I purchased latest bike. My comments are focused upon the sad relationship of dealerships and customers. As far as the length of membership....I find nothing relevant in that to the subject at hand. Thanks for the welcome though.
Last edited by BigRed117; 12-07-2017 at 03:19 PM.