A couple of years ago, the only HD dealer close to me shut down. I have a few options within 90 miles of me. I am trying to order a 1/2 ounce bottle of the black texture touch up paint to touch up some spots on my motor. The bottle is $14.95 and must be purchased in a dealer store and not on the website. I call the closest one to me. They wanted $40 to ship a 1/2 ounce bottle of paint to me! Not because of hazards or anything. They said to ship anything was $40. Freaking ridiculous. I then called a dealer that was one state over and they said they couldn't sell to me since I was not in their sales area, even though our HD dealer closed. I called another dealer that was a little bit further away than the first and they said they could ship to me since the store that closed was their sister store. I am waiting to hear back from them as the parts guy was tied up and will be calling me back.

To me, this just shows the disconnect Mother HD has with their customers who have supported them through the years. Some of these dealers just do not give a crap about anything except selling t-shirts and these over priced machines they sell today. The closest dealer could have easily ordered the bottles (I asked for two) and had them shipped to them, boxed them up in the store, and shipped them to me for like $10, but they chose to just say its $40, take it or leave it. Complete lack of customer service.

 

My new $25 brake pedal that I bought on Amazon from some Chinese company. I wanted the $80 one on HD.com but they won't ship it to me. They want me to ride 150 miles RT to pick it up at the dealer.

 

Yeah, there’s a fairly large majority of members on this site that have reached the same conclusion as you. It’s been that way for years. Welcome to the club.

 

I agree and disagree. It's not easy or simple for a retail business to ship anything unless they're set up for it. They're going to have to pay an employee to go scare up a box, pack the item, secure the box properly, label the box, get postage and possibly even take it to the PO. That is all assuming that the parts guy communicates to someone that your part arrived and also doesn't take into account that the dealer is not setup to receive payment, except in person. By saying $40 flat, they are discouraging customers from asking.

Where I agree with you is that it's stupid of the MoCo to expect you to drive out of the way to get a "dealer only" part. Their internal systems are more than capable of checking your zip code against that of the nearest dealer and, seeing that you have none, make shipping available to you. HD online IS setup for eCommerce and could easily handle all stages of fulfillment.

 

Call Black Hills HD. I was told by the parts guy that they help people out all the time from other states.

 

This particular dealer takes payments over the phone for in stock items that they will ship also. They have it set up to ship items and they do all the time. UPS and USPS pick up there. They just do not want to take the time to calculate actual shipping and to charge you that. They will happily charge you $40, pay $10 to ship it, and then keep the rest as extra profit. They are greedy.

 

"Over the phone" meaning you read your card number to them? Merchants pay extra for keyed entries when the card is not present. And you're right, why would they want to get a scale out to weigh a box to get postage just right to charge you? Again, they are not setup for mail order service as a regular part of their business. They'll do it, but you're going to pay, Sounds like capitalism in action to me.

 

Just one observation on that shop you are talking about.
They could have a bunch of USPS priority boxes and just charge you the cost of shipping that small, Med, or Large priority box. it's a set cost. $40 is pretty damn steep.

 

You call it capitalism, I call it greed. Especially since the other dealer will happily ship it to me for $10. And they are owned by the same person, they just have different store management. This particular dealer is also their largest and is stuffed with clothes and such.

 

So, as an end to my griping, I ordered the paint and decal today from another HD dealer. The parts folks there have postal shipping boxes and he charged me $11.50 to ship the two small bottles and decal. He also took my card info over the phone. So, yes, capitalism worked. The customer, me, took my business elsewhere to another HD dealer that wasn't ripping people off and who charged a fair price.