How long does it take?

[Damon]

Last weekend I went bike shopping with my cousin and a mate who were both after new bikes, my cousin ended up getting a TL1000R from Red Barron, a nice and easy thing to do, as it was late on Saturday afternoon we left his bike there to be priced for a trade in and came back in on Tuesday night, had to wait about 30 mins for some chap to turn up so we could fill out the paperwork and we were off.

On the same weekend my friend test rode a really nice ZX7R from Mt Eden, he then called them on Friday to find out when they would be open on Saturday morning and told them that he wanted it rego’d and warranted because he wanted to buy it.
We got in there at about 9:30am, my mate had to ride up from Thames, when we go there they wanted to have the trade in looked over so gave us the ZX7 to go for a ride for an hour, when we got back it hadn’t moved? The sales guy came out and laid on some “we’re so busy” line and took the bike down to the work shop, he came back about 15mins later and then discussed the price for the trade in, we talked it over and made a deal, he then told us he needed to get it warranted and rego’d? as It was almost 12 we headed off for lunch so they could do that, when we returned after about 30 – 40 mins it was not done? So he went down to “push it through” and that took it’s time, then he had to go and get the rego which took longer than anyone expected.

All up we spent more than 5 hours there trying to buy this bike, their one redeeming move was to let my mate send them a cheque for part of the payment as his bank was pissing him around and wouldn’t let him at all of his money (national bank bite!), but I’ve never had to spent 5 hours in a store to buy anything and I seriously doubt I’ll want to buy a bike from Mt Eden after this ordeal.

Is this the sort of time frame you’d expect when buying from a store?

[skidz]

I would have been out of there in an hour or less. If they don't want a sale, just tell them you can't be stuffed getting mucked around. Start moving and if they are any good, they'll sort their shit out.

[kro]

I probably would have walked.

Often its a bitch when the shop has the only bike in your price range, that you like, but thats part of the purchasing process, you never give away any like/dislike info when shopping, and always mention "that ZX7R you saw yesterday, as well as the GSXR you are looking at this arvo", so they know they dont have you over a barrell for choice.

I had only one bad experience like this, and I was going to buy a TRX, and eventually got so f**ked off at the shop in question, I walked away, got on my gix, while the sales manager was busy running after me apologising, and I rode off casually.

I made a point of going in 3 days later on my new bike, for some oil.

[scooterboynz]

i probably would have walked too , they tend to look after the new bike sales rather than the second hand sales

[Lou Girardin]

This is the problem with customer service businesses. For all the kudos Mt Eden have got recently, they now have an unhappy customer bagging them. No one is perfect, mistakes will always be made. This is certainly not an extreme example either.

[MikeL]

And you presumably were the only customer they had at the time, and all the staff were off at smoko, and they simply ignored you...

Seems to me your expectations of "customer service" are rather uncompromising. Did you really expect them to have the bike rego'd and warranted just on a telephoned promise to buy it?? Would you always expect the workshop to drop everything else and do an instant check on your trade-in? What if my bike had been in for service and as a result I had to wait an extra hour or so to get it back?

And they accepted a personal cheque!

Do yourself a favour. Start looking at things from some perspective other than your own selfish wants.

[marty]

should have gone to botany - they have a really tidy TL in there, and if the service was like that when i picked up the busa, you'd have been riding away much quicker than you did. when i bought the bus:

i got dropped off at botany (so had no way other than the bike of getting home)
they lent me their ute to go down to botany township to get a bank cheque and go to the insurance office
the pack rack was fitted while i was away
bike had a full tank of gas
i rode off into the sunset
whole episode no longer than 45 minutes.
i wasn't the only customer.

[marty]

And you presumably were the only customer they had at the time, and all the staff were off at smoko, and they simply ignored you...

Seems to me your expectations of "customer service" are rather uncompromising. Did you really expect them to have the bike rego'd and warranted just on a telephoned promise to buy it?? Would you always expect the workshop to drop everything else and do an instant check on your trade-in? What if my bike had been in for service and as a result I had to wait an extra hour or so to get it back?

And they accepted a personal cheque!

Do yourself a favour. Start looking at things from some perspective other than your own selfish wants.

i'd say spending $11k-odd would be a good starter for 10

[Motu]

I don't think you can really expect 100% service on a saturday,I'm not sure on their staffing level for a saturday,but they are always busy when I go in.It's not just them,but everyone else is on limited staff over a weekend,it all just compounds to problems.I come in on a saturday,but don't get deeply involved anymore,things go wrong and you just can't get it all together like on a week day.

[Pathos]

No bike shop has ever been fast for me. They have to keep busy to get food on the table.

But I would have expected more when you're about to hand over a couple of grand.

[Matt Bleck]

Nothin worse than waiting when all ya wanna do is ride

[Biff]

Basic customer service rule - Dont set any expectations and the customer shouldn't be dissapointed. If the bikie shop person (or anyone) gave the impression that the bike would have been looked at/WOFd then didn't do it, then you have a right to be somewhat peeved. I would have walked. Gotta love the laid back Kiwi attitude to customer service. Not.

[Damon]

And you presumably were the only customer they had at the time, and all the staff were off at smoko, and they simply ignored you...

Seems to me your expectations of "customer service" are rather uncompromising. Did you really expect them to have the bike rego'd and warranted just on a telephoned promise to buy it?? Would you always expect the workshop to drop everything else and do an instant check on your trade-in? What if my bike had been in for service and as a result I had to wait an extra hour or so to get it back?

And they accepted a personal cheque!

Do yourself a favour. Start looking at things from some perspective other than your own selfish wants.

:blink: been a hard day Mike?

Under the cercumstances i'd say my expectations of "customer service" are rather broad at the moment, my only problem with the whole process is the time it took, when you have some one in the store wanting to give you $11,000 you wouldn't expect to be asked to hold while the sales person runs off to sell a pair of gloves or what ever he was up to. five and a half hours is a long time to keep 3 people waiting, and by half the responces here i'm not the only person who thinks that.

[T.I.E]

does not matter how much your paying or what for or what day it is. they are selling a product. and keeping someone waiting that long is just shocking. considering what need to be done i might say 2 hours tops. and thats a maxium.
if they couldn't do that then why were they open, why were they offering any products.
i think they need to look at their sales dept or side of things and sort something out.
in any company that is unexceptable.
and i would have walked ages ago. well done for hanging on.

but seriously from a business point of view something needs to be done.
or they should have been straight up from the beginning.

[MikeL]

:blink: been a hard day Mike?



Not particularly. Been quite laid back, in fact...

I realize I'm outnumbered on this one, but I stick by what I said.

If you were dissatisfied with the service you got, did you complain? What response/explanation did you get? Was it unreasonable? Will you be following it up with a written complaint?

Your description of what happened, assuming it is accurate, would certainly justify some frustration and annoyance, but without having the other side of the story it is difficult to condemn the shop outright.

While you might believe your $11,000 purchase gives you the right to jump the queue, what about other customers (who might very well have booked in ahead)? If you are in the shop being served and the salesman says to you "sorry, but this customer's spending more money - I'm going to attend to him", will you smile and say "Sure, I'll wait two hours until you've finished" ??

I took my car into the garage on Thursday morning to see if I could have the brakes done. They told me they were short-staffed because two mechanics were away sick, but they would do their best. I called back at 5 p.m. - they were still working on it as they'd had to go back to the supplier three times because they were sent the wrong pads. Did I rant and rave? I've been going to this guy for 12 years now - never been ripped off, always got good service and one thing I've learnt is that if you're prepared to be understanding when things take longer than expected you can expect them to go the extra mile for you.

I'll be interested to see how you, and Mt Eden Motorcycles, follow up this incident...

[Motu]

does not matter how much your paying or what for or what day it is. they are selling a product. and keeping someone waiting that long is just shocking. considering what need to be done i might say 2 hours tops. and thats a maxium.
if they couldn't do that then why were they open, why were they offering any products.
i think they need to look at their sales dept or side of things and sort something out.
in any company that is unexceptable.
and i would have walked ages ago. well done for hanging on.

but seriously from a business point of view something needs to be done.
or they should have been straight up from the beginning.

I work saturday mornings,used to work the whole day,but decided to get a life.I turn away more work than I do some days,some days nothing happens and I wonder why I came in for $30.I consider I offer a service...ME,I offer it,some people are very happy,others are not....tough.

[SARGE]

my policy has always been 24 hours from the time the deposit is paid.. gives me time to get everything ready (WOF/ REGO.. final checkover etc) without anyone feeling rushed and cutting corners and turning it into a clusterfuck


you can have it right, or you can have it right now.

i never promise anything else.. if i can get it done faster, i will and that way, the customer is pleasently suprised that i was able to deliver early

[The_Dover]

my policy has always been 24 hours from the time the deposit is paid.. gives me time to get everything ready (WOF/ REGO.. final checkover etc) without anyone feeling rushed and cutting corners and turning it into a clusterfuck


you can have it right, or you can have it right now.

i never promise anything else.. if i can get it done faster, i will and that way, the customer is pleasently suprised that i was able to deliver early


And I come in on Saturdays to help him with the big words....:stupid:

[kerryg]

The problem with bagging a shop on a public forum like this is that potentially hundreds or even thousands of potential customers get a bad impression of the shop but the shop gets no chance to put its side of the story. I actually had a bad experience with one of the bike shops named in this thread so I'm not leaping to anyone's defence, but it feels unfair. What if the complaining party is a ratbag (I'm not saying that is the case here, but it could happen)and has no basis to his complaint? Still the shop gets bad rep. I'm glad I don't own a bike shop.

[judgeshock]

The problem with bagging a shop on a public forum like this is that potentially hundreds or even thousands of potential customers get a bad impression of the shop but the shop gets no chance to put its side of the story. I actually had a bad experience with one of the bike shops named in this thread so I'm not leaping to anyone's defence, but it feels unfair. What if the complaining party is a ratbag (I'm not saying that is the case here, but it could happen)and has no basis to his complaint? Still the shop gets bad rep. I'm glad I don't own a bike shop.

I agree to some extent, its really hard to please all the people all of the time.
I guess when we are spending a few thousand k we all want to be treated like we are number one.

What alot of people dont realise is that if they actually tell the customer what is going on or even admit that they have made a stuff up, then that customer is more likely to be more accepting of the situation.

Im not defending anyone here but lets look at the bigger picture and that is that we are all human and even in customer based industries we cant please all of the people all of the time.

:blip: :doh: :rockon:

[The_Dover]

To be honest in my experience Mt Eden offer excellent customer service but they are just a very laid back outfit.

Last bike I bought off them on a Saturday I made the decision late in the day but Mike still did everything he could to get me on the road by that evening. I then had a great Sunday of riding!

I'd rather deal with a laidback, friendly and knowledgable bunch like Mt Eden than a bunch of salesmen who just want to get my money then ship me out of the door!!

[SARGE]

And I come in on Saturdays to help him with the big words....:stupid:



yea .. when you were cleaning the toilet last week, you missed a skidmark dumbass

[Biff]

The problem with bagging a shop on a public forum like this is that potentially hundreds or even thousands of potential customers get a bad impression of the shop but the shop gets no chance to put its side of the story. I know where you're coming from Kerry, and I hope that anyone that reads this thread also bears in mind the fact that the overwhelming majority of people that have posted on KB about Mt Eden have nothing but praise to say for them. However....I'm a firm believer in shaking up the service people get from businesses. They are, after all, there to service the consumer, not just to make money for their respective owners. The fact is that we would all moan to our friends about bad service somewhere, and they'd tell their friends etc etc. A public forum just happens to open up this constructive (and valid) criticism to a wider audience. And I for one want to hear about it. To blanket ban people from referring to the establishments where they've experienced bad service on the interweb is wrong in my book. Power to the consumer. (why the hell has the formatting of KB gone to ratshit when i use my works pc - cant post images, new paragraphs, smilies etc. hmmmmm)

[The_Dover]

yea .. when you were cleaning the toilet last week, you missed a skidmark dumbass

Er, wasn't that why we hired Cibby?:shake:

[Cibby]

Er, wasn't that why we hired Cibby?:shake:


na... I was told it is cause they needed something cute to balance with the ugly mug they hired a few weeks back... :whistle:
:shake:

[pyrocam]

yeah pfft dont goto mt eden. goto colemans. (A) cibby works there and (B) a couple other small-time kiwibikers, I forget their names work there.

but seriously when I wanted a bike I pm'd sarge and I was sold on it by about 12:30ish paperwork went through an hour later so it was all good to go. I left it there overnight for rego and wof and I think it was ready around 9/10 the next morning. even had been cleaned and polished.

I dont think you can get much better service than that

[DMNTD]

...even had been cleaned and polished.

I dont think you can get much better service than that

Don't forget the coffee and lollies too :blip:

[kerryg]

na... I was told it is cause they needed something cute to balance with the ugly mug they hired a few weeks back... :whistle:
:shake:


Jeez....then you must be REALLY good looking.....

[Lou Girardin]

Well I've got cash burning a hole in my pocket and the dealer can't even get me a bike RIGHT NOW!
They must be freighting the bloody thing from Japan or something.
IT'S NOT BLOODY GOOD ENOUGH.
YA HEAR ME SARGE.:violin:

[The_Dover]

na... I was told it is cause they needed something cute to balance with the ugly mug they hired a few weeks back... :whistle:
:shake:

Fuck, Sarge has been there for months...:shake:

[marty]

bottom line is, if they knew they were going to make you wait for a couple of hours, then at least have the decency to tell you 'it'll be ready at 4pm,. as we have to sort some stuff out.' they had warning you were coming (a phone call as i understand it) and coul dhave warned you of the impending delay at that time. it's just too casual for me. personally, i would have either walked, or become the squeaky wheel

[Damon]

If you were dissatisfied with the service you got, did you complain? What response/explanation did you get? Was it unreasonable? Will you be following it up with a written complaint?

A couple if times i told the sales person we were on a time frame as we needed to be in whangamata, but i dont recall a responce, as for a written complaint, no i wont be doing that, i cant be bothered.


While you might believe your $11,000 purchase gives you the right to jump the queue

I hardly think the size of my purchase gave me that right, it was more the fact that we were there from just after they opened until after 3pm


If you are in the shop being served and the salesman says to you "sorry, but this customer's spending more money - I'm going to attend to him", will you smile and say "Sure, I'll wait two hours until you've finished" ??

This is one of my points, we were there from just after 9:30 until after 3pm, thats 5 and half hours of "I'm going to attend to him"

We had expected this to take a couple of hours but not as long as it did

[Damon]

but seriously when I wanted a bike I pm'd sarge and I was sold on it by about 12:30ish paperwork went through an hour later so it was all good to go. I left it there overnight for rego and wof and I think it was ready around 9/10 the next morning. even had been cleaned and polished.

I dont think you can get much better service than that

This is all good and well when you live in Auckland, i did it when i got my last bike from a shop, my cousin did it when he got the TLR but when you live more than a hour out of town and the local shops only sell farm bikes, what can you do?

[The_Dover]

Ride a farm bike?

[Damon]

Ride a farm bike?

hahaha perhaps but he pretty much had one of those already

[pyrocam]

Ride a farm bike?
what do you mean ive given out to much rep in 24hours. sheesh
nice line though

[boomer]

Ride a farm bike? Advice you should listen to? :doobey:

I would have walked, i struggle over here with the laid back attitude but you cant have your cake and eat it, can you?

[The_Dover]

Cheers Boomer, I'll save the farm bike for when I need to patrol my plantation up norf!!

[SARGE]

Well I've got cash burning a hole in my pocket and the dealer can't even get me a bike RIGHT NOW!
They must be freighting the bloody thing from Japan or something.
IT'S NOT BLOODY GOOD ENOUGH.
YA HEAR ME SARGE.:violin:



yea.. i hear ya Lou... im ignoring you :doh:

kidding man... your Bandit will be in the showroom after the first of the year.. i tried to get a DL1000 for a customer last week and was told its on the same shipment as the Bandits ( early Jan at the earliest)

i'll tell Mark you are not happy and you can come over and whip his pretty ass

[SARGE]

Fuck, Sarge has been there for months...:shake:



yea.. been there 5 months .. seen you total $50,000 worth of bikes and gear.....












sucking dick must pay well..

[The_Dover]

Ask your missus bro, I only take 50%..............................


I don't know what you heard about me
But a bitch can't get a dollar out of me
No Cadillac, no perms, you can't see
That I'm a motherfucking P-I-M-P

[SARGE]

Ask your missus bro, I only take 50%..............................




shows how much you know about women then dont it?

[Lou Girardin]

yea.. i hear ya Lou... im ignoring you :doh:

kidding man... your Bandit will be in the showroom after the first of the year.. i tried to get a DL1000 for a customer last week and was told its on the same shipment as the Bandits ( early Jan at the earliest)

i'll tell Mark you are not happy and you can come over and whip his pretty ass


Are you positive about that?
Mark was saying it's due mid-December.

[SARGE]

Are you positive about that?
Mark was saying it's due mid-December.



possibly as early as that .. i try to quote on the later edge so as not to get anyone's hopes up.. if i can get it in earlier, you will be the first to know ..

[TLRulz]

I would like to add my perspective on the whole day, because i was there! I bought the TL1000R which I LOVE!!

I think blame needs to be allocated to the buyer here as well as the store. My purchase was easy because I knew what I wanted, I knew how to pay for it and I made sure the bike shop understood my needs and I understood what they were able to deliver.
In this case with Mt Eden the buyer did not handle things the same way I did. He wasn't sure he wanted the bike when he got there on Saturday, he was pretty sure but hadn't commited. If he had commited he would have done something during the week to prove his commitment, like providing a deposit, this would have given the shop confidence enough to get the bike WOF'd and reg'd.
The bike shop however could have provided faster service, or at least accurate information on what was happening. My perception was that the salesman(I think the owner) was trying to look after everybody and the other staff seemed to be standing back letting him do all the work. Ultimately everybody received less service than they could have.
I think that if you are going to do something on Saturday at any bike shop, you need to be prepared otherwise you will have to wait.
Our lovely labour goverment has made it expensive for businesses to have staff on over the weekend so we have to live with it for another three years.
I feel better now!

[Lou Girardin]

Our lovely labour goverment has made it expensive for businesses to have staff on over the weekend so we have to live with it for another three years.
I feel better now!

I assume you're talking about the new holidays act reqirements applying to PUBLIC HOLIDAYS?
If you're going to bitch about Govt's at least get it right.

[MikeL]

Our lovely labour goverment has made it expensive for businesses to have staff on over the weekend so we have to live with it for another three years.
I feel better now!

Is there anything you CAN'T blame the Labour government for??

Of course some of us can remember the days when you couldn't go shopping for anything on the weekend. If you didn't get it before 9 p.m. on the Friday you had to wait until Monday. Stupid really... It just forced you to spend your weekend on pointless and economically useless activities like playing sport, going to the beach, family picnics, relaxing... Thank goodness some progressive government (National, no doubt) put a stop to that, so that we can now spend both Saturday and Sunday shopping till we drop, propping up the national economy and providing something for all these shop employees to do instead of wasting their time on useless activities like playing sport, going to the beach...

[TLRulz]

I assume you're talking about the new holidays act reqirements applying to PUBLIC HOLIDAYS?
If you're going to bitch about Govt's at least get it right.

Hey,budy, settle down. You must be one of those types that goes around looking for litle details to pick on other people with. I didn't make my first submition to this web site for a grumpy old fart to take a shot.

[kro]

Seems to me your expectations of "customer service" are rather uncompromising.

In fairness, customer service defines a company's reputation, and if that service is not consistently good, then if there is local competition, they will benefit from those who are dissatisfied. If this was a one off bad day, then thats allowed to happen, no one person/company can maintain perfection.

Hell, I work for a company that sells drainage pipe, and related items, and the expectation of customer service, even among the drainlaying/water reticulation fraternity, is such that, if you try to source something overnight for a customer, and the courier lets you down, that customer of mine can go to 5 other places in Nelson alone, to get it, and he will, and bitch about it the whole time to our our competitors, and other drainlayers.

Service is a savage beast of a thing, and can consume a business in a week, if it is allowed to. I don't condone bad customer service, from lazy inattentive morons, who obviously don;t want to be where they are, but keeping an uncomprimising expectation of service keeps everyone honest I think.

[MikeL]

keeping an uncomprimising expectation of service keeps everyone honest I think.

"Uncompromising" to my mind means no give and take. All take and no give might keep the shop on its toes, but I don't see how it can build up the sort of relationship based on both respect and goodwill that might benefit the customer when he needs a special favour. Or do you not think that there should be any limits to a customer's demands?

[inlinefour]

Or lack of it?
I got my new bike after waiting for it to come into the country. I was given a few dates for when I could expect the bike to be ready for me. However due to the ship being late and what ever else, it did take a bit longer than originally expected. Not a problem I said to them. I'm not worried about how much longer it will take, just let me know once its ready to be ridden away. Which they did and I'm back in the saddle.
Sometimes good things take time and if your too quick to walk out on a good thing, you'll never have anything to be happy about...:thud: :doh:

[kro]

Or do you not think that there should be any limits to a customer's demands?

I'll be honest Mike, I absolutely agree with you 100%, and hate, with a veangence what the definition of customer service has become, because of exactly the reasons you say, there does need to be reciprocation, and understanding on both sides, but the stark reality these days is all of this business bullshit, that says the customer is always right, and the companies who have set the dangerous precedent of always licking butt, have spoiled some consumers into thinking their business is more important than anything in the world.

The customer is NOT always right, infact, I have caught my customers lying thru their teeth at me, and set them straight, because I thought exactly what you said, and figured these guys needed to do some giving, and not so much taking.

I was playing devils advocate, coz I like a good debate. :P

[Lou Girardin]

Hey,budy, settle down. You must be one of those types that goes around looking for litle details to pick on other people with. I didn't make my first submition to this web site for a grumpy old fart to take a shot.

Don't go picking on our Darling Fuehrer without good cause then. And it's spelt submission.
(And welcome to pedants anonymous):hitcher: