There is no excuse for poor work from a dealer.....just cause the business has grown to the 10th best in a short period is bullshit, if the mechanic is letting bikes go out the shop in an unsafisfactory condition the buck stops with the service manager or the head mechanic or both, all the checks and balances should be in place with regard to apprentices work if the dealership has the proper quality assurance procedures. If I picked up my bike from a dealership and the work that had been done was shoddy and the mechanic said "oh sorry I've had my arse hanging out" I would be very fucked off. The bastards charge around the$110 hour man, I want the best at this price. You should not have to go over your bike to see if its been done right by a dealership. What if Dazza was going on a long ride after picking the bike up???

 

Rant over.

Dazza, Can be frustrating when you get stuffed around by others, but never hurts to learn the guts of your ride, cause their may come a time when when its all up to you get it rolling again!

Dealers are dealers, they will sell bikes and accesories, when it comes to mechanical repairs, services etc that's a different story.
Bike dealers, Car dealers, I have had experiences with both, not good.

Does HD have a standard dealers work to or does it depend on the day there mechanic is having?
No excuse for shonky workmanship, blame the apprentice is no excuse either, they are there to learn a trade, head mechanic should check it before customer picks it up.

Like brainstap said, What if Dazza had an accident.
If an accident was due to poor mechanical repairs/servicing would the dealer take blame?

A business growing in a 5 year window is no excuse for poor workmanship, 5 years is pleanty of time to get there act together, NO excuse!

When you have had a few bad experience from dealers and get told otherwise it cirtanly changes your attitude.

Just my 2cents worth.

all i can say is if you go around dogging your local dealership then when the time comes that you need them for a smash repair that has to be done by a authorised dealer or if you happen to have a crank run out problem like in 07 with the dyna range a few of my mates had them replaced out of warranty and all they had to pay for was labour, goodwill waranty does exist. and you can only get it at a harley davidson dealership,

Dazza,

Sorry to hear about these issues.

I have had work/services down at the place in question and their northern competitors and bought a harley from each of them. Their sudden growth would more than likely be at least partly attributable to the fuckups performed and attitudes up north.

I like the DP down there. I havent spoken to the one up north...he wouldnt know who i was.

What has been the attitude to getting your bike fixed?

cheers
Surly

My bike was supposed to come with a 103 stage 2 in, got told he forgot to order it !!!

When I rang last week about it, the staff there can't find any record of it being ordered, now have to wait for DP to get back from the dealers convention before they will give me an answer.

I am thinking of getting 1 sent from the US and paying someone to do it or have a go at it my self.

What has happened to customer service down there?  Certainly gone of the boil!  Can't even order a simple 103 kit FFS.

Dazza,

I had big bore Suzukis from 1989 to 2003 and would say that the same process has gradually happened in the jap bike circles and automotive circles generally.

Every time you drop your bike off for work the mechanic has changed and you have no idea if he is a good tradesman or a dickhead. The sales guy has changed too so he doesnt "remember" the last 4 bikes you bought from them when you start jumping up and down.

Other than doing as you suggest and buying an older bike that you could rebuild in your sleep I don't think your experience would be a lot different with a different dealer or a different brand.

cheers
Surly

Today the dealer tells me they are going to try and get the 103 kit flown over, so will know on friday weather that was successfull or not.

Your right there RT!
They can't even fit the blng right.
Buy the manual and parts book an work on it yourself, you may need a few tools too.

recently a friend had a spill on his bike, nothing major
his insurance dictated that the local dealer do the repair, as their preferred repairer
unfortunately, things went very wrong from the outset
damaged items were not included in the initial quote, and upon enquiry, the reason given, and I quote, was
"I only had a quick look"
obviously, unacceptable from many viewpoints
they chose not to send the paintwork off until near the end, which resulted in an additional 3 week delay
I found that hard to understand
Upon return, things were not really done how I would have imagined, especially in the area of bolt tightness
I have known some staff there for many years, and I know that thee are a couple of really good "service technicians" there
but clearly an unsupervisied "detailer" did most of the work
The best effort was the derby and "points, if you know what I mean" covers
all installed one hole out, so to read them you had to tilt your head
The potential is there, and they certainly have the tooling and equioment
but to interact with their "workshop" is a miserable experience
yet there seems to be an endless stream of motorcycles there, assmably from people who are happy with the level of service,
or, as I am sure is common, are unable or unwilling to perform their own work
Given the cost of servicing at dealerships, and the standard of service offered, it does not seem to me to be a very appealing option

Dazza

It's not just the bike industry. It's the same all over. Mining is the same (as an example)

Everyone is worked to the bone, Gen. Y don't give a fuck, Gen. X is too busy to watch over Gen. Y, and the $ margin dictates what's right or wrong.

It's almost like the rest of Australia is catching up with Darwin!! No such thing as customer service, let alone quality workmanship. I think their called 457 visa workers

had a call from the stealer this arvo and having the 103 stage II kit fitted on thursday, (bout bloody time).

He is also giving me a lend of his demo FLHX for a day or 2 while they do it, it's only got 300km on it, will have a lot more than that on when he gets it back