August 19, 2010 6:51 PM PDT
my dealer is HONDA OF RARDEN. its just a little shop, thats been there for as long as ive been doing business with them. i bought my first 93 goldwing from them. so thats what? going on 20 years!!! we are all on a first name basis, and yes i will do a run over there, to just hang out with "my boys!" they have always treated me with the utmost respect, and like another poster said, they will bend over backwards to help me out! i have bought two goldwings from them, for me, sold two more for them, to two different guys at work who were going someplace else to get a better deal. so i called my boys at rarden and said, guy is going to another dealership, for a wing. you gotta beat this price, and ill deliver him to you!!! they beat it by $ 250.00. my son bought a shadow from them, my buddy bought another shadow from them, and a few others that i took there bought bikes from them. if my baby so much as sneezes, i will do a run over there, and ask my boys to look at her!!! as they take off the tupperware, im right there with the honda spray and a rag, cleaning her up!! they will say, rick, hand me a screwdriver, and i grab it for them! or here, hold this!! and if a guy comes in wanting to look at a new goldwing, hell man, im right there, telling him its the best bike on the road and to take a look at mine!!!! i have gone there at 8am when they open, and been there till 9 pm when they close! they are a bunch of good people who know what they are doing!!! keep on winginit rick
August 27, 2010 8:18 AM PDT
Hey Lucky, I know Maverick Motorsports well and they are great people. I bought my quad from them and have it and my Harley serviced there.
August 27, 2010 8:58 AM PDT
I’m lucky I have 3 HD dealers within 15 miles of my house and place of work. That along with dozens of independent shops some as close as 2 miles from the house. Since my bike is under warranty I have Manchester (NH) Harley Davidson work on it and I have not had a complaint. They take it on the days I’ve what to drop it off on. They also a no appointment service for small things. Just drop by and they will get it done as quick as can be. I’ve had an oil change with no appointment done without an appointment done in little over a half hour. Ok you may as why don’t I change it myself. It’s cheaper if they do it then me. They charge less for the parts and I don’t have the hassle of properly disposing of the old oil. There parts guy have been very helpful in the all manners of parts and accessories.
They also have a Thursday bike night in the parking lot during the summer.
So far so good. I think they know that there are any number of independent shops that will do the same thing in our area.
August 27, 2010 12:50 PM PDT
Just read this and had to add my little bit.
My HD dealer is SY'S at Liverpool New South Wales Australia.
I have been dealing with this HD dealer since I bought my first HD some years ago. They have never treated me as anything else but FAMILY.
And yet I didn't know them from a grain of salt. Having said that I got to know everyone from SY himself down to the cleaner and all have been helpful to a fault. I can highly recommend that if any other Australian reads this in the Sydney area give them a go and you wont be disappointed.
I have had all my services done there and buy all my accessories from this dealer. You might say I'm loyal but we have a saying in Aust.
WHEN YOUR ON A GOOD THING STICK TO IT.
I have and will stay with this dealer!!!!!!!
May SY's be around for a long time as I plan on a few more bikes from there in the future....
If anyone contacts SY's feel free to use my name HOSS.
As you can see I have an unusually name and they never have forgotten my name and I mean anyone that works there!!!!!!
September 16, 2010 6:54 AM PDT
I bought my most recent bike from Northwest Harley Davidson in Olympia Washington and at first they were awesome... until I rode away! Then when I came back to do other things most of the staff acted as if they had never seen me before!?!?!
I blew off at first and decided that they were busying themselves with other prospective customers until I'd come in asking about new tires. I had wanted the new Screamin' Eagle wide tire and kit for my 2007 Dyna and the Service Manager acted as if I had stabbed him in the neck with a number two pencil, well after he quoted me $734.00 I just laughed and replied I paid less than that for the new tires on my truck and he looked at me stone faced and said "Well that's the price, take it or leave it." Needless to say I no longer do any business with them.
Then there's this place in Coeur D'Alene Idaho called Lone Wolf Harley Davidson that brought bad customer relations up a knotch or 4. I was having trouble with my battery, a new battery in fact that a dealer had installed and some how the negative cable came loose from the terminal after a 400 mile trip and managed to melt my negative battery terminal unrecognizable. Lucky for me I had my reciept with me and brought it to the closest dealer I could find to see if there was anything they could do to help me get back on the road. So I was the ONLY guy at the Service Writers desk right in front of the Service Dept so I tell the SW what was going on showed him the reciept. The SW took my battery and reciept and sat it aside as two service customers rolled in, I politely gave up my place in line and let them do business and so forth, scheduled appointments and so forth, so I sit down and wait patiently not saying a word just reading through the new Screamin' Eagle annual and looking around and listening to people carry on about how they want to do this and that to their bikes. Did I mention I was polite and didn't complain about waiting during all their scheduled appointments. Being a Harley tech myself I understand what it means to get your customers in during these appointments and getting their bikes taken care of in a timely fashion.
Fortyfive minutes goes but and finally the Lone Wolf Harley Davidson Service Manager comes out and literally slams the batter down in front of me at the table I was sitting at and says "Hey bud you better take this back to the dealership you bought from and have them deal with your problem!"
So I look at the guy and say "well that dealership is 400 miles down the road and this battery aint gonna get me there, anyway you can help me out, I have the reciept?"
He just looked at me and said "Talk to parts!" and walked away and I looked at his SW and said "wow!"
So I left the dealership and got a ride to the local mom and pop shop just 3 blocks from the Lone Wolf HD shop as I was riding I called their General Manager/owner and told him what I had just experienced in his shop and he informed me that he had just had a conference with the SW and SM and said I was being rude and pushy and obnoxious and I informed him that was most certainly NOT the case and that if that's how they treat their fellow HD techs and general public I would never step foot in their shop ever again and if I had to pay twice as much for a battery elsewhere I would before I ever stepped foot in their dealership again.
The manage/owner told me if I came back he would do his best to make things right and get it all sorted out... well, I was pissed and at that point I wanted both of those individuals burned on a stake I decided rather than go in and state my case and risk one of them losing their jobs they so don't deserve I did go elsewhere and since I don't live in the area I wasn't interested in the hassle. I informed the owner that I would be telling anyone and everyone I knew who go through their town to continue on because as I saw it I would never want my friends and family treated the way I was treated!
Long story short I went to the mom and pop shop and got a Harley AGM battery WITH the warranty (for what its worth) for $79.99, they gave me a big discount after the story I told them about Lone Wolf which is a relatively new store in the area the owner of the mom and pop shop called Lawerence's told me he's been picking up a lot of their business lately.
Dealerships are now hurting for business big time and over the past 10 to 15 years of treating people like shit and saying "If you don't buy it someone else will." they're now feeling the crunch the rest of us are feeling and I will most likely never buy a new Harley Davidson again. They should learn some good customer relations skills and manners.
I've been a mechanic for a while now and I worked for a few mom and pop shops and we usually bend over backwards to do the right thing for our customers if possible.
As far as the battery was concerned I wasn't looking for a hand out but a nice discount would've been the polite thing to do, don't ya think?
September 16, 2010 4:10 PM PDT
My local HD dealer is Lonestar Harley, Tyler, TX . They ALL knew me by name the second or third time I walked in, and that was a year before I bought my 5 year old Road King. (from them) They even know my boys who both ride metrics. We don't use the metric dealerships at all, for anything, service related. The Suzi/Yama dealer wanted us to drop off the son's bike and he would get to it in a week or two for an insp. The local mom n pop, Scooter Pete's, gets all their service, parts, and accessory business.
September 16, 2010 8:45 PM PDT
Mine all suck...morgan and wacker in brisbane fried my electrical doing a service........Then i tried to buy a bike from team moto virginia.....they lost my paperwork twice and i told them to go f@ck themselves........Then the cherry on the cake LAe racing in Geebung.. My Buell was sent there for its final tune before i was suposed to get it back after the crash. Someone broke in to their shop , moved 2 ducati's and a truimph out of the way smashed the front doors and stole my buell. So racefans if you live in Brisbane the only safe place to have any work done on your bike is HARRY'S CUSTOM CYCLES or HEAVY DUTY...The rest of them are ****** dickheads..
September 17, 2010 1:59 AM PDT
Well..the Omaha metro has 3 between the 2 in big O and one on the IA side of the Mississippi in Pacific Junction. All seem to be rather full of themselves and out to make a buck off anyone. One won't give any donations for local events unless you got a bike from them. Hard to blame them I guess when there are a gazillion poker runs etc. every weekend and everybody hitting them up constantly for donations. As for service, all are up to the stringent H-D qualifications. But as for personability..SUCKY
September 17, 2010 2:12 PM PDT
MY local shop Lake Erie H.D. in Avon Ohio is great. Most of the guys know me by name and I never got a bike from them or had any service done by them. The guys in the parts dep just shake there heads when they see me coming caus most of the time they dont have what i need for my 1969 XLCH but they sure try to help in any way they can. One of the techs who rides a pan and is an old timer, keeps asking me when am I going to bring the bike in caus he loves working on the old ones
September 17, 2010 11:23 PM PDT
We have three Harley Dealers in proximity to my house.Two are Very accommodating, and always go out of their way to help. I could detail many a time they helped. The third is OK. The owner is an ASS but his employees (especially one guy) are good. I don't use them much because of the owner.
September 18, 2010 7:55 AM PDT
Only one dealer near us and they have been good to us.We get our service done at Attillas Hut,he is a Harley trained master mechanic.He had an emergency once right before we were to get some service done and we had to scoot over to the dealer.We were leaving next morning for a 2600 mile trip and somethings needed doing!We had no appointment and it was the end of the day and the dealership got us right in and did a great job.On a side note the techs there have always gone the extra mile for me when I have had nonstandard or custom application questions. Probably I drive them crazy!
September 19, 2010 4:36 PM PDT
there are three harley dealers near me and the best one is probably San Diego Harley Davidson, there attentive and there parts and service dept heads are older guys that go out of there way to help you get what you need done. Biggs Harley Davidson is a mess there moving from there current location and if the owner was smart he would leave all his employees behind. The staff is brain dead and more interested in who got a new tattoo and how cool they think they are for working at a dealership, whatever! Quaids in temecula is a really nice place for parts but there bike prices are a little high but they have a big showroom with lots to choose from, and the staff is friendly and knowledgable.
September 20, 2010 4:07 AM PDT
My dealer is Deluxe H-D of Casper/Gillette/Sundance. Chuck Deluxe worked on my dad's bike and does all the work on my bike. While some people find him hard to deal with--I love these people! When I broke my arms and had to basically give up my bike due to the permanent damage to my right arm-Chuck came up with some very innovative things to get me back out there and riding again. And now that the Company has come up with these "garage parties", Chuck has taken it a step further and invites us all to learn anything we want to know about any make or model bike. He just told a group of us ladies last Saturday that if we wanted--we could be rebuilding our own engines by the end of winter and if we could not get our bikes to the shop to work on during class, he would send a truck and trailer to pick up our bikes for us. And being out here--we come from several towns in two states and he is still willing to do that! He and his wife Maria along with their crew have done everthing possible to keep me on my bike and I am eternally grateful to them and their service to my and my family.
December 14, 2010 12:50 AM PST
I was doing a weekend trip this past summer heading the IA when the bike started sounding funny. Pulled over to find that I had a crack in my Super Trap muffler right at the weld where it gets wider. It was mid-week so I called ahead to Big Barn Harley Davidson in Des Moines and low and behold they had the Supper Trap slip-ons in stock.
I pulled in to what has the be the most unique Harley Dealer I have been too...It is actually a BIG BARN! The guys in service were great, even though they seemed to be pretty busy that day, they got me right in since they knew I wanted to get back on the raod to make that days destination. They got me checked in and recommended a good BBQ place right around the corner for me to get some lunch while they worked on the bike. I got back no more than 45 minutes later and there was my bike ready to hit the road.
It was great that the service writer there appreciated my situation and made sure that I was back on the road just as fast as possible. Thanks Big Barn HD!
December 14, 2010 5:34 AM PST
Our local Harley shop is great. We purchased the extended warranty and they loan us a bike when ours are in thier shop getting maintenance or upgrades. Though when I told the sales person on Thursday that I would be back on Sat. to buy two bikes he treated me like an airhead bubble head dreamer. When I returned on Sat and purchased two bikes his attitude changed...I think he likes me now.
December 14, 2010 8:04 AM PST
The old Honda shop just closed its doors overnite a while back. Found out later that the IRS closed it for them. Understand the mech's had a time getting their tools and all back but they finally did. New shop is about 20 miles away (a short ride) and they seem to really go the extra mile. Another shop opened at the old location (not the same management) but I haven't checked them out yet.
December 14, 2010 8:58 AM PST
I have been to our local Harley shop, B & B, only 3 times, gurrrr! Not good! I will only go back if I can not get the part some place else!
December 25, 2010 2:09 PM PST
I do a lot of my own work - especially on my old Kawasaki bikes. But The Kawasaki dealer in Garden City, KS, Garden City Powersports; can't be beat. I took my '81 Spectre up to get some work done - valves adjusted, etc. He had the courtesy to call and give me an estimate, treated me like a valued customer. Needless to say when I needed new tires for my Shadow, they got the business. kelly does a good job and treats customers exceptionally well!
December 26, 2010 8:33 AM PST
My local dealer, 5 season sports, Eveleth, MN is just great. Good reliable service,polite, easy to deal with and he really sponsors HOG rides well. This dealer really went out of his way after my engine went bad on my 2008 Schreaming Eagle Ultra. Warranty was expired but he managed to get me a new engine. I am really pleased.
December 27, 2010 5:19 AM PST
Our dealership in Bossier City, LA are very good to us. We would recommend them to anyone. Ladies, Suzette is the absolute best when it comes to dressing you up.
January 13, 2011 10:46 PM PST
My local dealers (Myers Duran & Route 66 HD) never seem to have the parts for my '86 Sportster. My '80 Sportster sat at Myers Duran over a month just to get tires changed. Got tired of waiting so I went back and got my bike. Had tires changed at Spark America bike rally.
2 good mom & pop shops shut down but we still have Jacks Motorcycles that carries some parts that the HD dealers don't keep in stock for older bikes. And usually better prices.
January 14, 2011 12:29 AM PST
My Local dealer is Appletons Harley Davidson in Clarksville Tennessee Great bunch of guys and gals there they helped me and my wife buy or first harley's and the team was great if ever near ther stop in and say hi
January 14, 2011 1:16 AM PST
"American 'V'-Twin" in Corning, NY has served me well, what little I have used them + has really cute females @ the desk.
They will take the time to look up Buell part #s & will order small quantities from their sister dealership in PA.
Have a passing fair stock of new & used HDs
I'm still PO'd @ HD for dropping Buell tho & will be a long time before I order anything except parts