ALSO there are two types of dealership owners: the first type is a fellow rider and appreciates what his employees do for dealership and rewards them, not with a lot money or whatever but going on rides or puts together bbq's and the there is the second type: the bean counters! They are THEE worst people to work for! I know they have a lot riding on the dealership but some of them don't really ride much to speak of and their bike is a show piece in their garage or game room... these guys have their sales staff on the phones through most of December when sales are down, hell they have service managers calling customers to check on services and so forth, that is the nature of the beast and I can understand that but good owners make for good dealerships, they understand who they hired and they take care of them, not threaten them with their job because sales slow down around Christmas.

My quarter's worth.

Never have "bashed" HD per se, but do love to jump on.

HD management or at least Wandell and the idea of marketing a "lifestyle" instead of selling motorcycles.

AND

The sensitivity of some HD riders


HD is an American icon, I am a "buy American" kind of guy. Dealerships are local businesses, I am a "shop local" kind of guy. -
Any criticism is intended to improve HD's revenue & the bottom line of any viable dealerships.
(Oddly enough Wandell has not yet contacted me.)

Good luck sir, but their PR department calls and their motor division will respond... when I bought my new Switchback I got a call from the motor division and was asked why I wasn't interested in their alarm system or the ABS breaks I told them "Well I've been riding bikes for years without all that stuff so why do I need to change now? Also the price tag changes dramatically because Harley Davidson boasts that they are selling the bike for $15,999 and when you factor in the two "systems" it changes the price dramatically and is really misleading when you floor dealerships with all that crap on em!" Answer "Fair enough are you planning on buying a new Harley Davidson motorcycle in the near future?" My answer "Uhhh I just bought a 2012 model in 2011! What do you think?"
The lifestyle thing is pretty asinine, it's like you sign up and then you're in a huge group of individuals? Dumb!

Sometime this winter will have to start a thread - "If I was CEO of HD"

If there are any shrinks on board they might start a thread on desensitizing HD owners - If somebody criticizes the HD corporate culture or some HD dealerships or even, God forbid, their machines we are not criticizing the owners AND we are not jealous of their manhood.

Right after I got the Buell HD was on me pretty good - Now that they have orphaned me, not so much - Probably, correctly, figured am not in a mood to get anything new from them

Back to the original thread.
All the forums have winners and losers and even some Darwin award recipient's.
No forum is immune and it does not matter which brand you go with, they all have some problems and the parent company is doing it all wrong. etc. It is their loss if they kick someone out for contributing.

I kinda choose who I will respond to. If someone posts something like, my bike won't start. It's been sitting for 5 years. What's wrong?.... I am not going to reply.
If someone has a problem and is thinking things through and has at least a basic understanding of mechanics and electricity. I will help him if I can.

Find a forum you like and you enjoy going to and just have fun. Life is too short.

Black9
Topics: 20 Posts: 303
Male Quote Black9 wrote about 2 days ago, Modified about 2 days ago
I've worked for Harley Davidson off and on and when they charge the customer $100 an hour labor rate and then turn around and give the mechanic $15 to $20 an hour you kinda understand
First off I am not out to bash harley. I could care less. I ride what I can afford. as of this time I cant afford to ride H.D.
2nd What I am about to say is going to piss off a few. And as for those that have missed the boat. Its not your talant or your coustmer service skills or even you abilty to do your job. In todays world its all about the proper brown noseing. The right people in the lower postions make the Lord and Master feel as though he doing all of us a favor by thowing us a few table scraps.
3rd years in service, hours of work, days cover the other guy, Mean nothing if you cant breath and praise the Master.
4th The out right bashing of the vary thing that made componys PAY us a some what fair shair from the basics of medical care. To covering vaction time. Unions

 I'm not following what you're saying and THIS is where you lost me completely:

In todays world its all about the proper brown noseing. The right people in the lower postions make the Lord and Master feel as though he doing all of us a favor by thowing us a few table scraps. 
3rd years in service, hours of work, days cover the other guy, Mean nothing if you cant breath and praise the Master.
4th The out right bashing of the vary thing that made componys PAY us a some what fair shair from the basics of medical care. To covering vaction time. Unions 

Well Bro Black, guess this comes under the heading "DILLIGAF"... You have always been straight and tried to help with your posts. There is a old Indian saying "Never argue with an idiot, he will drag you down and beat you with experience." Don't sweat the small stuff, you give good advise, I ride a 85 Geezer Glide, gonna need some help/service soon... and I know just who I'm gonna ask! Have 'built' (assembled) a Pan, a Shovel two Triumphs and a BSA. All choppers, so for a stocker, I'm gonna need advise. Hope you are around to help!
Edge

Edge anytime bro, you're gonna have fun if you're doing the steering head:-)

I'm also a Harley "lifer". And I'm sure everyone can say they've had a bad experience at one time or another. That could be said of any large company. As for the "boutiquing", well that's surely the economy putting new strains on an already lagging sales department. They are trying to appeal to a much broader base of customer demographic, than they could once rely upon. They "know" for instance, that there ARE more women rider's, and therefore, "dress things up" to appeal to that demographic. There are parts and accessories for the "Iron Elite"-(Black Riders) and the "Harlista's" (Latino's), because there's a much broader base of customer to try and satisfy.
This is not your Daddy's H-D anymore. It's a new world, and I'm all for it. A place doesn't need to smell of grease, to prove anything to me. As long as they back it all up with customer service. When that goes, they will have
spread themselves a little to thin, and it'll show. I hope they have the foresight to read pages like this one, to find out what the "customer" is really thinking. A smart move. You can't fix somethin', if you don't know it's broke....

Ride Free
Tweek

I like all bikes and love all Harleys, but who could argue with anything negative about the "stealers". I do take mine to the dealership occasionally for service but try my hardest to stay out of there. On a positive note I did have an exceptional experience with my last service, which was my first time at Red Rock Harley in Las Vegas, NV.

Well then I'm an asshole because I literally despise the whole "one size fits all" experience... I am of the opinion that not EVERYONE needs to own or ride a Harley. People will buy Harleys and you're right about the boutique concept it's way to sell anything and everything with their bar and shield brand and gets so far away from motorcycles its laughable. I'm thinking that's why this whole new sub culture of 'old school' rat chopper riders are coming from. Harley tried to cater to this demographic, the all blacked out riders, and then shoved them aside because the old farts lined up and said "Hey what happened to all the Easter Eggs?" Nice job Wandell... now I'm seeing ZERO down on Dealership windows!?!?! I have NEVER seen that advertised, HD usually expects a minimum of 10% if you're dumb enough to go through them for financing. Looks like desperation but then it is winter so sales are down. Maybe they'll rebound this spring... BUT they have to pay back a 300 million billion gazillion dollar loan so this could be their hungry year or decade... time will tell.