Rant about a pathetic dealer/shop experience (Long)

[CHVYPWR]

Paw Paw Cycle in Paw Paw, Michigan flat out SUCKS!!!

OK, this started because I was in need of a front tire for my '77 GS 750. I called them up on Tuesday to order a tire and get an out the door price so I know what I'm spending. Tire, mounting, and tube $79 out the door. So, I pay half down of the tire price to order the tire, and then plan to go in on Friday. I ask the guy on the phone how long it will take to do the tire since I'll be waiting for it once there, here tells me about an hour (remember that for later in this rant).

Friday comes and I go in to get this tire done as soon as they open at 9:00am. I go to the service counter and tell them I have a tire ordered to put on my bike. The service guy tells me I have to go over to parts to get my tire. WTF, do I work there??? OK, so I go to parts to get my tire (30ft away at another counter within the same building). The parts guy starts searching all over the back for my tire and can't find it. He finally goes out to the racks of tires on display in the show room and finds my tire (that I've already PAID half down on) out there where anybody could have yanked it down and bought it. I take it over to service and get the ball rolling. The service guy says since I'm waiting, they'll get me out asap.

So, while I'm waiting, I go look at new bikes. I've been seriously thinking about buying a Yamaha Warrior and they had one outside for sale. I ask if I can take a test ride on it, to which the salesman replied "Sure you can, but we have to run your credit first to make sure you can afford to buy it". I was again saying WTF???? I told him what if I don't like it, I don't want a mark on my credit for test driving a bike I don't want. His respnse "sorry, thats our policy". What a joke!

This dealer also advertises free appraisals. I ask the same salesman who does the appraisals, he said he could do it. He asks what year my bike was, I tell him '77. He then says that his books don't go back that far, once again I was thinking, WTF????

Back to the tire job, an hour later and still not done. I wander around the showroom some more, check back 45 minutes later, still not done! By this time it started to rain, another 45 minutes later, still not done. Finally, at 11:30am (2.5 hours after I started this ordeal) my tire is done. I went in there when I did so I could be done and home before the rain hit. If they had gotten me out within the hour I was told, I'd been home and dry.

So, I go check out and the guy tells me $79. I said no, my price should be around $65 since I paid half down of the tire cost when I ordered my tire. We then start going back and forth with me getting more P.O.'d by the second. After I grabbed a pen off the counter and did the math for him, right in front of him, he still says I'm wrong and my price is $79 After 20 minutes of argueing with the guy and customers starting to look over to see what all the yelling is about, the parts counter dude come over to re-itemize the bill and when he gets done the other guy says, "Oh, I added it up wrong, I'm sorry, you total is $69".

Almost done, this last part will make you laugh!!!!!!

I then storm through the shop to get my bike, ride home the 20 miles in the rain, fuming the whole time because now all my chrome is going to be covered in road grime (I normally don't ride in the rain). I get home start wiping everything down. I wipe the rag around the front wheel and catch something sticky. It's wheel weight tape residue. Not only did they put a stick on wheel weight on my chrome wheel, but the damn thing FELL OFF on the way home!!!!!!! Upon closer inspection of my front wheel, the old lead spoke weights WERE STILL ON THE SPOKES!!!!!!!! They never took the old weights off to balance my new tire!!!!!!!!! By this time all I did was laugh.

Sorry for the long post, but this needed to be shared. DO NOT do buisiness with Paw Paw Cycle. They are incompetent in EVERY level of service!

[dieziege]

Sounds like you went in with a burr up your "O Ring".


Do some research on standard practices for motorcycle dealers... nothing you mentioned was out of line... except that they are more flexible than many in a few areas... to name two: 1st they worked on your old bike (many shops won't), and 2nd they agreed to a test ride before purchase (many shops say "to ride you buy").

A bunch of moaning about nothing....

[xsyamahadg]

Pretty much standard operating procedure of the bike shops around here. When I was shopping for my V-star, the dealer told me " no test rides" however if I bought the bike, I could put 20 miles of less on it and if I didn't like it, I could return it.

[Big B]

wow, it's not like that at all around here. at the local honda dealer and at the nearby harley dealers, all it took for me to get a test ride was to express interest, and give them my license until i got back with it. i've gone to suzuki and yamaha dealers and gotten test rides just by asking. dunno, maybe the salespeople think i'm loaded or something (nice wish).

[CHVYPWR]

Sounds like you went in with a burr up your "O Ring".


Do some research on standard practices for motorcycle dealers... nothing you mentioned was out of line... except that they are more flexible than many in a few areas... to name two: 1st they worked on your old bike (many shops won't), and 2nd they agreed to a test ride before purchase (many shops say "to ride you buy").

A bunch of moaning about nothing....

No, actually I went in there in a great mood! Old bike or not, who cares, a tire swap is a tire swap, is a tire swap. I did my own rear tire in about and hour using a pry bar and a screwdriver. For them to have all the right equipment and take 2.5 hours is unacceptable IMO. As for the credit check to ride, my credit is finally coming aroound to being in good standing again. I dont need spots on my rating just because I'd like to test ride a bike I'm pretty over-protective of my credit these days and the needed personal info being thrown around for somthing as simple as a test ride.

[9000white]

same crappy deal here.the bums make just as much money changing a tire on a 77 suzuki as they do on a 2006 suzuki.here if you ride anything over three years old they treat you like second hand toilet paper.do your own tire work and get other parts off e bay.to hell with them.

[ZooTech]

I brought two wheels and two of my own tires into this new Honda dealership down the street at 6:15pm and they were done in half an hour, with no appointment. I had never even been there before and my bike is not a Honda. The only thing I can really complain about is they inflated the tires a little too low, but that was an easy fix and something I need to check more often anyway.

As for test rides, out of the question around here. They had to pull my Streak out of a crate so I could sit on it and they wouldn't even put fluids or a battery in it until the deal was done. You're pretty much left relying on magazine reviews, word-of-mouth, and whatever seat time you can get in the showroom to decide if you want to drop $XX,that on the thing. I didn't even know what a Streak sounded like until I started it up to leave their prep area.

[Chris8187]

Sounds like you went in with a burr up your "O Ring".


Do some research on standard practices for motorcycle dealers... nothing you mentioned was out of line... except that they are more flexible than many in a few areas... to name two: 1st they worked on your old bike (many shops won't), and 2nd they agreed to a test ride before purchase (many shops say "to ride you buy").

A bunch of moaning about nothing....

I think he is most upset about them taking 2.5 hours to change the tire instead of only the 1 hour they said, and how he had to argue with the guy at the counter to get the right price, and because it took so long, he had to ride in the rain. Those would be things to get angry about..... I wouldn't want to wait 2.5 hours for my tire to be changed.

[Sev]

I think the only things I'd be truely upset about is having to argue over the price for the final install (forgetting to subtract 1/2 the cost of the tire... what kind of tire only costs $20? btw?). Though in that situation, I would have just walked over and grabbed the parts guy who I talked too when I paid for 1/2 the tire. Rather then yelling at the clerk.

And leaving the old weights on the wheels sounds like an amature mistake, but mistakes do happen. I'd take the bike back and insist that they balance it correctly.

How does running a credit check hurt your credit rating? I can understand the store wanting to make sure that you could afford to pay for a bike if you accidently crashed it or something. Otherwise they're out the cost of a new bike. I think you're lucky that they even allow test rides. I only ever got to SIT in the bikes I bought from dealers.

And for the record, putting on a new tire takes between 1/2 and 1 hour. However, that does NOT mean it's the first thing scheduled for the mechanics to do when they get in. There may have been some stuff that they needed/wanted to finish from the day before, or something else that came up (most shops are pretty good about helping you with a quick fix if you're out on a long tour and something goes wrong). Meaning they might have stepped in and helped out someone who broke down.

My last tire change took 12 hours, because they were basically booked up that day. The service manager did me a favour and took the bike for the day (while I was at work) and fitted the tire between working on other bikes.

[rapidblue]

How does running a credit check hurt your credit rating? I can understand the store wanting to make sure that you could afford to pay for a bike if you accidently crashed it or something.

Actaully as far as I know and have heard from a few people, everytime someone pings your credit, it counts as a small negative mark. This is regardless of whether you have the credit available or not.

Here, the only thing you need for a atest ride is a full M/C license and then if you pack it in, you just have to come up with the deductable for the claim. But the insurance here is SK is different from you fools in AB.