I know dealers get a hard time, and sometimes we ask if it's warranted. Well...
After having my chrome fork lowers installed I found the oil drain on the right side was leaking. No big deal, I can take it off and just replace the washer. What I found was more than that. My forks were not even screwed all the way into the tree, and my spacer (2inch) was also not done up all the way! FARK ME!!! Both were probably 2 full rotations from being tight!
WHY???
Scary! I was riding my Softail home from work on Friday, three days after receiving it. I noticed a quiet knocking noise coming from the front end whenever the forks compressed. When I grabbed some front brake coming into town, there was a loud bang and I noticed the front caliper flapping up and down. The upper bolt had fallen out and the slider pin was loose. Luckily I was able to source a 2"x3/8" UNC bolt to replace it. Makes you wonder, eh?
Looking at the wiring jobs on my cruiser ute's CB, dual battery setup and elockers I was disgusted by the use of snap lock joiners. These people walk among us.
I agree, dealers just don't do themselves any favours. They're just another commercial enterprise out to make money by skimping on service, care and attention, because time is money to them.
If you're lucky you might get some face to face time with the mechanic that has worked on the job but usually not. You can't get past the person at the service counter who knows bugger all.
Unfortunately I'm not mechanically minded, but I've been lucky enough to find a great mechanic with his own business who cares about his work, taking great pride in making sure the customer understands the overall condition of the bike. He quickly found and fixed up all of the problems that the dealer ignored or didn't care to tell me about.
Preventative maintenance and how to bundle jobs together to make it easy on my wallet, keep the bike on the road longer and out of the shop.
In my opinion I now have a far superior and safer bike that is a pleasure to have and ride.
So what did they say or do about it when you told them???
Back when I first bought my FXR, in 2008, it had been sitting for a while (all chromed up and looking pretty but needing some engine TLC). I priced around Indy shops and the local dealer, this was Toronto in Canada, and the Dealer's quote (price and turn-around) for a top-end recondition and change of handle bar won. They actually did a good job on the recondition, BUT with one small hiccup. When I picked up the bike, the tech charged with completing my job had turned over the final rebolt to a junior tech. Who had not rebolted a few things! Just totally overlooked them. So I putt putt out the Dealer driveway, accelerate down the road, and as I do so, everything is clanking and it seems like the whole thing is gonna fall apart. The tech had not tightened the bolts holding the tank to the frame, nor the exhaust bracket, nor the bolts holding the sportster-style light, or the carb cover.
Only silver lining is the Dealer owner was mortified and gave me two years storage and service free (in Canada, one stores the hog for 4-5 months of winter).
