Another Dealer Story

[bumblebee]

Today, it was chilly, but not raining so I got on the bike and started visiting dealers to purchase some new shoes for the bee. I stopped by the local Honda, Kawi, Suzi dealer and they are running a sale on closeout tires, (Dunlop 208's...almost identical to the 207's the bike came with) mounted, balanced and new valve stem for 199 bucks.

Now I know the 208's are not as good as the Powers I have on it, but considering my back tire has 7K miles on it and needs to be pumped up every 2-3 days, I went for it.

The installation was great. They even matched the dot on the tire properly, didn't make a mark or scratch on my rims and had me out the door in under 90 minutes.

And then...I get on the bike to leave. I start letting the clutch out and the bike doesn't move, letting out, doesn't move...untill the lever is all the way out, I mean all the way out, and the bikes jumps out from under me. I almost dropped it in the parking lot.

Now, every bike I have ever owned, I have the clutch lever set so the bike moves when I start letting out.

The service technician thought he was doing me a solid by changing my clutch to the opposite of my adjustment. He reset my preloads and adjusted my rear brake pedal and chain tension "back to the factory specs."

I understand, he was trying to help and thought I was some poser, cluelessly tinkering around with my bike. But he almost got me and my bike hurt. I looked at him and said "Dude, I am 6' 5" and weigh 270 lbs...Do you not think that maybe factory specs won't work for me?"

My next question was why was he F*(king around with my bike...AND WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME BERFORE I GOT ON IT TO LEAVE?????


And the kicker is, the tech and service manager complained about how ungrateful I was.

[PhilB]

Yeah, people need to communicate. He should have asked first, and definitely should have told you about it. My mechanic will adjust and fiddle things, but he's serviced my bike since new (for the last 17 years) and knows what it should feel like and how I ride it, so I can trust his judgement on that.

The only expereince I had sort of like that was on my old CBR600, when the mech gave it back to me with the shift reversed to a GP pattern. In that case, he confused me with another customer with a similar bike who keeps his set up that way. That sure was confusing for a few seconds. But he apologized and put it right and didn't give me any attitude, so it's good.

Every place will make a mistake now and then. Good service doesn't necessarily mean no errors ever, but it does mean that if there is one, they do their best to make it right, and you leave feeling taken care of.

PhilB

[SmoothSimpson]

BB, I am glad you are ok. THey were foolish to not ask you for permission to make the adjustments....wow.

[JulesAZ]

It makes no sense to me that a shop would make unauthorized adjustments to the bike. Well at least he did not charge you for it...

However, in MHO they should have made their recommendations and gotten authorization first.

The correct thing to do would have been to offer to readjust it back to they way you had it. It's unbelievable to me that they copped an attitude with you considering you almost dumped your bike in the parking lot because of it.

Customer service is becoming a lost art

[bumblebee]

It is irritating because now I have to reset things. I have my rear brake pedal adjusted so you have to practically stand up on it to get the rear to lock (I use a lot of rear brake).

The part that upsets me the most is they didn't give me a "by the way, we adjusted some things" heads up.

What I really don't understand is why he would mess with presets, without even looking at me...one look and he would know factory presets wouldn't work with my fat arse

[JulesAZ]

Maybe calling or writing to the GM would be a good idea ...

[LaurenOE]

Wow.. I would have gone ballistic on them!!!
Who the F*** do they think they are messing with those things?
You were there for a tire change. Wow. They had some gall touching those things.
Yes, you could have been hurt.

[not2slow]

I am surprised they didn't say "oh by the way we reset all the adjustments to factory specs so that is an addition .5 hrs labor which will be X dollars" I as you would be pissed if they changed any settings cause I have had my suspension set up by one of the "gurus" in my area. Those guys would have been paying for a recalabration in my case but if they were to do that I would continue to give tham a chance at some more bussiness.

[R1oldguy]

I'm glad I have a tire man in my posse. I'm also glad that between us all, we can do all of our own maintanence. MD998 is also a certified Duc wrencher, so if I ever get one, he will be adjusting my valves. LOL

BTW Bumbles, go easy on those 208's. I never liked them. If the front starts wearing funny, change it out immediately.

[bumblebee]

This will be my 4th set. The bike came from the factory with 207's they lasted about 3500 miles. I put 3 sets of 208's on it up to about 17K miles and have put pilot powers on it since. I bought these 208's because the price was too good.

I have noticed unusual wear and cupping on the fronts...I run about 32-34lbs of air in them