First bike servicing

[jay_89]

My Suzuki VL250 is ready for its first service but i have no idea where a good place to get it serviced.
Anyone have any good experiences anywhere or know of a good place to get it done? I live in Auckland by the way

Cheers

[SS90]

This may sound silly, but........er how about the same place you purchased it from.

I realise you forked out good money for it, but they didn't really make a big profit from the sale, and the business plan relies on you getting it serviced there.

Any reason you aren't taking it there?

[The Everlasting]

Yup,take it to one of the Suzuki dealers in auckland,Colemans,Haldanes,Holeshot.

[Raelynn]

Do not take it to Colemans Suzuki - just been there and done that.

Almost $1000 and 8 months later all the work I had done there is in the comments box on my WOF sheet. I went back to Coleman's to point out that the brand new chain, sprockets, rear disc, and rear pads at 100kms a week (no touring, only commute) should not be showing such signs of wear and tear as noted by VTNZ.

At Coleman's the woman was rude and didn't believe me despite the odometer readings on the Coleman's Suzuki invoice and WOF sheet proving the low milage between the work done and now. Not only that, she didn't hesitate to point out they gave me the rear pads for free! Later I discover the aftermarket Metalgear discs (which I had paid for obviously) come with free pads (how nice of Colemans not to charge me for them). Later when I took the bike to Red Baron for a service they said they throw those free pads away because they're rubbish, and hazarded that the disc wasn't properly cleaned off before being fitted explaining the spongy feel to the rear brake. They mentioned the pads because they said they would need replacing before my next WOF. Super. Good of Coleman's to guarentee repeat business by using inferior parts. The chain and sprockets are showing evident signs of wear and tear as noted on the WOF sheet, while my bike is kept in the garage out of the rain and parked inside a parking building when I'm at work, and I give it a coat of chain lubricant after each tank of gas.

Now I can understand maybe an individual there was massively hung over and did a huge amount of bad work and I'm unlucky. But to take it back with legitimate greivances and to have the front line staff be rude to me is another thing again, especially given the amount I had already spent with them. Thanks for pointing out the free brake pads! My guess is no one would pay money for them, which would explain why they are free. I'm selling the bike on at a loss now because I need to get the work redone. Coleman's has managed to provide one of the worst instances of customer service I have experienced so far.

I haven't had much opportunity to shop around but I've used Red Baron and Eden Motorcycles once each, and neither place provided rude behaviour or resulting shoddy work that comes up on the WOF sheet 8 months later. Both places were quick, efficient and not expensive. I know where I'll be going for any future work.

[The Everlasting]

Yeah I have found them to be rude on several occasions,I don't go there anymore now.

[p.dath]

What suburb do you live in jay_89?

[dipshit]

This may sound silly, but........er how about the same place you purchased it from... Any reason you aren't taking it there?

I thought I would support the Suzuki shop I brought my last new bike from. Never again! It would help if being an "authorised dealer workshop" actually meant something in the way of professional workshop service.

Feeling sorry for them because they didn't make much profit on the sale of the bike doesn't cut it.

[motorbyclist]

Do not take it to Colemans Suzuki - just been there and done that.

I haven't had much opportunity to shop around but I've used Red Baron and Eden Motorcycles once each, and neither place provided rude behaviour or resulting shoddy work that comes up on the WOF sheet 8 months later. Both places were quick, efficient and not expensive. I know where I'll be going for any future work.

really? would you be so kind to PM me with what they did because $1000 is a lot of money for just pads and sprockets... especially on an FXR150, and it would hazard a guess that either they didn't replace the parts, you bought sprockets made of play-doh, or VTNZ as per usual don't have a fucking clue ;)

I've personally heard far more horror stories about mt eden than colemans, and Red Baron is the place to be for high prices and I wont even go into the so called warranty they offered on my bike.

all that said, colemans did a beaut on my mate who got a leaky fork seal on his bandit250 shortly after buying it - they fixed it under warranty and then a month later the other seal started leaking! we ended up having to buy another pair of seals (can only buy them in pairs) and redoing the job because colemans only replaced the leaky seal and left the other one hoping it wouldn't blow within warranty, keeping the other seal for the next unsuspecting customer. To top it off the fork they had repaired had been assembled in a different order to the one they never opened, and leaving one fork with new oil and another with old oil at a different height is not conducive to safety