Alright,

So last Wednesday the 14th I called up a local indy - Ryan at North County's House of Motorcycles - and asked them if they had Performance Machine's Contour XL Renthal grips (P/N 0063-2010-CH) in stock, and after hearing that he could have them in the next day I went ahead and placed the order. On the 15th, I go to the shop to pick up the grips, and on opening the packaging, it is determined that even though the labeling on the packaging indicates that these grips will work for my 2012 Fatboy, there are no notches to seat the throttle and idle cable ferrules, and in the inside of the right side grip there are notches for a throttle-by-wire application (as in a Touring bike). My guy at the indy tells me he will call PM the next day and get it worked out.

The next day, not only does the indy call PM, but so do I. Indy got Ian and I got Rick, and while Rick and I were on the same page as far as what is going on with the grips, Ian was not. Nevertheless, the indy tells me that PM admitted to mislabeling the packaging, that they are recalling all of the grips that were sent to the particular distributor that Ryan worked with, and is rolling a new batch of grips off the line and they will expedite a set for me. The indy and I agree to give it the weekend for PM to work it out and then call back this week.

Today, I call Ryan and he tells me he has called Ian eight times (!!!!!) with no resolution to this issue, and that he has had to send multiple photos to Ian with the intent of communicating that these TBW grips will very clearly not work with my bike. I called Rick again to see if he could assist as he understood immediately that the grips don't work, and at that point he stated that it's the distributor's problem. As of my typing this freight shipments have closed out and PM has closed for business for the night, so Ryan at House of Motorcycles is going to order the correct set direct from PM and worry about the credit for the TBW grips after the fact.

So what I think we have here is a situation where I feel like Performance Machine is not owning this issue even though they already admitted to mislabeling the grips, and are taking their sweet time fixing this. I could see if I hadn't paid the full $150 retail price for these grips, but I DID, and I also paid for them LAST WEEK and the grips aren't in my hands or on my bike. Conversely, Ryan at House of Motorcycles is really being persistent working this issue to take care of me, and this is all the more surprising as House of Motorcycles primarily services sportbikes and other Metrics.

I ordinarily don't complain about things, and I try to keep it positive on the forums because I'm sure there are a few here that have been riding longer than I've been alive, but in this instance I really feel like I'm getting the short end of the stick on this as the customer. I'm also bummed about this because the grips are of outstanding quality, for his part Rick was very helpful and polite, and I got the previous impression that PM stands by their products.

I'm giving this until tomorrow afternoon when Ryan is supposed to get me the final answer, and if that answer is anything other than the right grips expedited to me, I'm taking my money elsewhere and never doing business with PM again. I don't think that's harsh considering this has been on PM's radar for a week by that point, however if anyone here disagrees then please feel free to provide input.

 

Are the new grips even "off the line" yet? I would be antsy to get my grips too, but it seems like a problem like this, when they seem to not have any on the shelf, will need more than 6 days to be resolved.

 

To be honest I haven't gotten a straight answer from anyone at PM about that. My issue is more with the matter of 1. not getting a straight answer as to how they intend to resolve the issue and 2. not taking ownership of the issue despite the admission that the grips were packaged incorrectly.

If it were a situation where they came straight out and told me they slipped up, and then gave me a time line on when to expect the new grips, then the probability is high that I would not have posted anything.

 

If you need Pm stuff get it from me. I deal with them daily. I have their grips here in stock (contour grips) and sell them at a discounted price. Prior to shipment I always check to ensure that the grips are correct.

Regardless, you happen to be the one guy who got screwed. That is too bad and dealign with a large company such as PM can sometimes be challenging as things have to be done their way and happen their time.

I think I'll have to double check all the grips I have here to make sure they are labeled correctly as well.

 

Well, today we got an answer from them, and their answer was either to re-order from the same distributor (and risk getting another set of Touring grips packaged as cable throttle grips) or send the current grips directly to PM with an RMA, at which point they would then send the correct grips. Ryan at House of Motorcycles wasn't able to reach me because I was at work, so he re-ordered another set with the assurance from PM that getting the same incompatible grips would not be an issue.

You're right - this is being handled on PM's time. The grips come in tomorrow, and if they're still wrong I'm getting a refund and at that point I'll call you - for some grips from a company OTHER than PM.

 

I had the exact same issue with Arlen Ness grips... the were packaged wrong first from the distributor I ordered from and then when my Indy made a deal to get the right ones and just swap em, they ended getting the wrong ones too.. needless to say if they cant even package 'em right I switched brands..