A Sad Day in Florida
That sucks, I was just there in May, I hope HD wakes up before its too late, not everybody wants to go to a 50,000 sq ft building with high mark ups to pay for stealers who don't care and only want to separate you from your wallet.
Thread Starter
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Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 3,121
Likes: 489
From: sunny florida
The problem is the CEO doesn't understand the true Harley rider , running Johnson Controls may have prepared him for dealing with the unions , closing and consolidating plants which I understand and is hard and effects peoples lives but sometimes is necessary to survive , but the dealers are your contact point to the consumer , without the consumer you have nothing to save , the sad thing is in the long haul this will hurt Harley and they will do a million dollar pay out on the CEO's contract and let him go and change , but that will not help those who lost while he was here , for me I've heard guys say I'm going to Victory and so on , but I refuse to let one indivisual ruin something I've loved for 30 years so I'll stay on my Harley however they will see fewer of my dollars , I will find and independent to do my services and repairs , I will buy non Harley accesssories and quit buying their merchandise , I will only buy parts from Harley that I feel need to be genuine parts , when I want another bike I will buy a low millage used bike from a private seller or independent shop , Harley will still get some of my money but it will be 10cents on a dollar to what they get now and hopefully if others do something similar it will save your dealer by waking them up
Road Master
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 908
Likes: 96
From: Red Deer, AB
tj316, you are the man. It's what I have been doing for years. I won't even buy a t-shirt from a dealer. I think if they want their advertising on my back they should be giving them away. Just saying. Too bad about Fletchers. I heard they were awesome to their customers.
Sorry to hear that! Agreed, wish more dealerships ran their business that way...
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Cruiser
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 212
Likes: 5
From: Left Coast FL
It's only following suit with the "Big-Box" mentality. Greed is winning over morality. Whether it's groceries, automobiles, or chemicals for your RV holding tanks the grass-roots businesses are going by the wayside. We need to support our local small town business and not let corporate greed put good people like Fletcher's to the curb. Fletcher's was one of those places you could not pass by even if you were not interested in buying anything - just good people and a good place to visit. You can already see the "Big-Box" mentality slowly but surely starting to rear it's ugly face at the other "Big 3" group in the Tampa Bay area. My money has been more and more going to the indy's, the guy trying to make a buck at the swap meets, and mail order. Hopefully Harley will wake up and realize what and who got them where they are??? Fletcher's will be missed!!!
Thread Starter
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Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 3,121
Likes: 489
From: sunny florida
I went and talked to them and was told they were forced out , they talked to other dealers that the same thing happened to and were told you can spend good money fighting it and you will still loose or hold your head high and go out on your own terms which is what they are doing , they said the writing had been on the wall that Harley and started changing orders and shorting bikes they ordered and when they called it was always we are sorry it's a misunderstanding but when they talked to other dealers that had been forced out they said thats the same thing Harley did to them so in the end they were not shocked when it happened
Tourer
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 265
Likes: 2
I went and talked to them and was told they were forced out , they talked to other dealers that the same thing happened to and were told you can spend good money fighting it and you will still loose or hold your head high and go out on your own terms which is what they are doing , they said the writing had been on the wall that Harley and started changing orders and shorting bikes they ordered and when they called it was always we are sorry it's a misunderstanding but when they talked to other dealers that had been forced out they said thats the same thing Harley did to them so in the end they were not shocked when it happened
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Tourer
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 265
Likes: 2
I went and talked to them and was told they were forced out , they talked to other dealers that the same thing happened to and were told you can spend good money fighting it and you will still loose or hold your head high and go out on your own terms which is what they are doing , they said the writing had been on the wall that Harley and started changing orders and shorting bikes they ordered and when they called it was always we are sorry it's a misunderstanding but when they talked to other dealers that had been forced out they said thats the same thing Harley did to them so in the end they were not shocked when it happened
Thread Starter
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Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 3,121
Likes: 489
From: sunny florida
So the moco is forcing out all their successful dealerships?? According to the dealerships themselves? Hmmm.... I guess I be the bad guy and say that there's more to the story. The timing is coincidental. My money is on the old man left the kids flush and they don't have his work ethic or love for the business so they closed it after he died. It happens all the time and the reason given is usually not the truth. What are they suppose to say to the community and employees: "dad left us a boat load of cash so that we'll never have to work again, so where our of here. Good luck finding jobs. Sorry" or "Harley decided to close our vastly successful dealership because we were selling so many bikes but wouldn't drink the sunglo and denim koolaid"