Red Baron Rant

[Two Smoker]

Hey everyone,

Just a bit of a rant about Red Baron. I've only heard bad things about them, if you wish to enlighten me on them doing good things, by all means do so.

My old man crashed his CBR1100XX in early October. Only cosmetic damage was done. I took it for a ride, and thrashed it. Threw it through heaps of different corners, scrapped the pegs, took upto 250 odd and it was perfect. Not a problem at all, handled beautifully...

Now he then on went to take it to Red Baron for Insurance appraisal. A month later, he was told that Red Baron had written of his bike because of a bent frame (WTF? it was mint).

Now this nice guy just knocked on the door, saying he had bought the bike, and was wondering if he had any parts. Turns out Red Baron sold the bike, and had kept all of the fairing bolts and plastic that goes inbetween the fairing and frame. They sound nothing but dodgy to me....

Has anyone else had troubles with them???

Cheers

[aff-man]

Phoned them up to find out about any 600's etc etc so i didn't have to ride all the way down there..... wern't too helpfull.

[Jantar]

...Turns out Red Baron sold the bike, and had kept all of the fairing bolts and plastic that goes inbetween the fairing and frame. They sound nothing but dodgy to me....

Cheers

This sounds like bordering on insurance fraud to me. I would approach the insurance company, tell them what has happened, and ask if the bike was ever put up for tender. I would think that their assessor would also be interested.

[Cary]

I wouldn't say trouble but i've brought 2 new bikes off them in last 2 years (KX250F & YZ250F) and the after sale service sux! Basically there is none.

Got some freebees with the YZ (Yamaha jacket,cap,oil) only at the time of bike pickup the didn't have them in stock and was told the would call me on arrival.

Of course no call and after a month (yea, i know) I called them (Gio) and asked whats up, was again told they had just come in and would courier them out. Another week passed so I went in and finally got it. Course they were all out of jackets but would a t-shirt 2 sizes to small do.............

Guess thats what you get with the bigger shops. Had a similar thing happen with AMPS and a $16k KTM.

:bye:

[Coyote]

Has anyone else had troubles with them???

Outrageous 250 prices, and other dealers then follow them. Come on, 6500 for a ZXR250C, daylight robbery.

[TwoSeven]

I got the feeling that they were putting on extra high prices so they could pretend to be giving a good discount to the poor punters.

[Riff Raff]

I had really awesome service from the salesman at Red Baron when I bought the Rebel. That salesman is now at Colemans. Have been back to Red Baron since then and found them very unhelpful.

[Jackrat]

Been twelve months since they said they'd get some oil seals and wheel bearings for the XS.Reckoned they'd ring me as soon as they arrived.
Ya' think they forgot or what ? :doh:

[NinjaBoy]

The set of events that led to the write off of the CBR sound really weird and dodgy.

However, when I had the Ninja serviced I got great service from Mike and it ran flawlessly.

Been shopping for a 600 and they let me take a couple out and no obligation to buy at all. In fact Gio suggested I should take the 2005 636 out but decided to play it a bit conservative. Shop prices are high but I reckon Cyclespot are more outrageous.

Just my limited experiences.

[avgas]

We'll the stories i have heard bout Red Baron would make you all shudder.
Here's a good one:
Ever wonder why all the bikes there look so good paint wise, well thats cos they have been resprayed.
Infact, If you also notice they usually get 3 (or more of the same bike), yet the bikes will have one average, one nice one and one shabby one.
Infact all the bikes share one thing in particular.......theyre parts, good parts on one, bad parts on another - so they are all frankensteins of 3 bikes, they cover this all up with a repray and some new stickers, but have seen cases of numbers not matching :wacko:
Mate got a ZXR from them recently, paid $5500 - 1st it got pinched, then recovered (fuel cap and barrel replaced - via motohaus, not RB), then all the electrics went fut, on a bike with only 20,000ks (obiously not the right speedo for this particular bike :msn-wink: ).
My bike has done nearly 3 x the k's, yet its in better repair then his (on the inside), and mine burns less fuel. But his is only 12 months out of the shop, mine is 5 years.
Got more stories, the old man told me - but the rabit warren goes in to gang turf so ill stay silent

[Firefight]

Not sure what to make of them.


Couple of years ago took my mint WR250 in to sell, they offered me what I thought was unreasonable price, took same bike to Greg Boyd in Hamilton he offered me NZ$ 2,500 more than RB !, so sold it to Greg.

When I bought my 04 R6 I took it to them for its 10k service, as the local Yam dealer seemed too exspensive. Well :buggerd: me, they we NZ$70 cheaper ! :unsure: .

Not sure how they are now, I heard their workshop Foreman left and went to another Yam dealer.

had the same sort of problem as Jack, ordered a part a year ago, still no word.

However, when I have gone in there to kick tyres and look at bikes, they were very helpful, had no problem if I had wanted to take a bike out.

So like I said, not sure what to make of them.

F/F :ride:

[enigma51]

Havent had any problems as such with them just bad service I was going to buy a demo model from them but it had rust on it and they said that I will have to pay to have it sorted so I thought no why should and bought a gsxr

[Motu]

I've only tried to buy parts there - no one knew what the XLV750 was,or was even interested in finding out...we'll ring you....never,ever have they rung me.I bought one oil filter for the Honda there - 80s Hondas have two oil filters,a big one and a small one,the XLV takes the big one - oh dear,even that's too complicated.OK,how about you show me the filters you have in stock and I'll pick out the one I want...that worked,but never went back for Honda parts.Have bought filters for the XT400E there,only one guys knows it's just a XT600E in disguse,the rest are totaly lost.

Well they lost me a long time ago.

[ktulu]

Thats just fucken dodge chris, surely the insurance company would want to know about that because there must have been some laws broken.

Shit some of theses stories make you wonder about what happens to YOUR bike behind closed doors... luckily my mechanic has built the championship winning superbike in new zealand for the last 3 years, must be ok :D

[justsomeguy]

I guess it all depends....... I've had good service from them, when I went to buy safety gear, etc. Always gave me like 5-10 dollars of parts. And the prices were good - as I had phoned around other places before I went shopping.

But I never seem to be able to hear anything good about them, the guys upstairs in parts and accessories seem like decent fellas others I have had no contact with.

On the other hand I got ripped off by a mechanic who came highly reputed by KB'ers and who works for another highly reputed shop. Only thing he did the work from home as a private job, dicked me around when it came time to give me some proof of work done, and when I got suspicious and went elsewhere for a 2nd opinion I found out I had been ripped off :angry: both in terms of cost and work done. All this from someone who everyone says is a nice fella...... who I KNOW is a bare faced liar.

So go figure :unsure:

[Zapf]

when there when I want to buy my 250... had 7k in the pocket... didn't want to talk to me.... stupid!

And then later when I bought my new VTR250, honda sent me a letter saying that Red Baron is no longer associated and is no longer an authorised service center.... . And that is pretty bad, if they were doing anything close to a reasonable job Honda wouldn't have ditched them.

So.... I myself won't be going there again, unless they were the only bike shop left in NZ.

[Two Smoker]

So.... I myself won't be going there again, unless they were the only bike shop left in NZ.

And for me, if they were the last bikeshop.... I would start looking overseas rather than going to them.....

[loosebruce]

The guys up n parts n accersoires (sp) i find pretty sweet, i've got a few thing like helmet visors, gloves etc through them, if it wasn't in they were pretty onto in saying when it'd be in and calling me when it was in.
BUT, i brought an engine to fit into my flatmates ZZR250 from them, they wouldn't put a garuntee on it, and only said that as far as they know it was in running condition, it was cheap so I took a gamble and got it, sure enough it was a runner, but something was wrong with the cooling system internally on it and it kept overheating, a bit bummed by it, but there is noway i'm going back there ranting ya sold me a dodgey engine n shit.
No bad feelings towards them, just i perfer to take my business elsewhere, to where i always get good, quality service, Wellington Motorcycles ( long way to go but it's worth it) apart from that skinny little wanker of a salesman on a silver K3 gixxer :ar15:

[Waylander]

This is why i like to do all the work on my bike on my own. :apint: One of those and some good music and ill be in the garage all day. Only have problems when it comes to ordering parts. Took the yamaha dealership dpwn here just off TeRapa 2 months to get my parts here from Australia only to find out that they werent the right parts. Seems yamaha redesigned the idler gear sets back in '98 and nobody new that. But i talked to them about it and threatend a little and we got it all sorted. Everything has been cool since and we even laugh about the whole situation. Now if i can just get the LTNZ to do the same thing everything will be sweet. :Oi:

[TonyB]

Bought my bike there, and got good service. I'm still good mates with the sales man, but he no longer works there. I forget the exact story, but the gist of it is they said "we want you to work longer hours for less pay", my mate quit and so did 2 other salesmen. I get letters from them saying 'bring it in for a service' but it's a bit far to go...

[NC]

Service with a bitchy attitude, that's all I got from them. Never went back.

[Dodgyiti]

When searching for a CBR1000, I went in there and found prices on that model were higher than everywhere else, and one of them had the alt cover bogged over, I mentioned to the salesman that they were supposed to have 3 retaining screws, not 2 [ as the third one was bogged over !!!] and he reconed that was factory for that year :laugh:
If you have a Yammy, and you are in Auckland- then go to Henderson M/C's.
They are tops in my book- top service, top prices

[XTC]

Service with a bitchy attitude, that's all I got from them. Never went back.


At least you got service. :)

[Riff Raff]

Service with a bitchy attitude, that's all I got from them. Never went back.
I don't think they like women. I've walked in there with a male and they've done all the talking to the male, and I've gone in there on my own and been totally ignored, but a male who came in after me was pounced upon. I hate that shit :angry2:

[Motu]

I hate that shit too - walk in and straight away some salesman races up and wants to help me...fuck off arsehole,I can look at bikes myself and make up my own mind without your ''help'' to get me to spend more money.

[Waylander]

Was helping a friend of mine to go look at bikes, i even taught him the basics of riding and helped him get his licence by practicing on my Rebel. When it came time for him to get his own bike we walked into a Suzuki dealership. He had cash to pay for a bike right out and we even looked around at the bikes. he sat on a few and decided wich one he wanted. I cant remember wich bike it was but it was about $8,000 USD. Through out the whole time no salesmen approached us or even said hi. No one else was in the showroom and the shop bay didnt look busy. When it came time to arrange payment and all that we tried to ask a salesmen for assistence and he said "give me one second and ill be back". he said this in a rude way but we were like ok whatever we will wait. 45 minutes later nothing and no word so we just walked out. He ended up buying a brand new Yamaha R1 full price off the floor. This one because the salesman actually helped us. Just goes to show you good service is what makes the money.

[Blakamin]

I was ignored for 20 mins when I went to buy the Duc.... but most of the sales staff were still comin back from the GP in Aussie that monday...
guy said "can I help you?"
I said... I want that thanks"
he said "for a test ride?"
I said "nah... i'll ride it when I take it home"
and 1.5 hours later it was mine.... (he coulda got the warrant during the paperwork!)

[Zapf]

Was helping a friend of mine to go look at bikes, i even taught him the basics of riding and helped him get his licence by practicing on my Rebel. When it came time for him to get his own bike we walked into a Suzuki dealership. He had cash to pay for a bike right out and we even looked around at the bikes. he sat on a few and decided wich one he wanted. I cant remember wich bike it was but it was about $8,000 USD. Through out the whole time no salesmen approached us or even said hi. No one else was in the showroom and the shop bay didnt look busy. When it came time to arrange payment and all that we tried to ask a salesmen for assistence and he said "give me one second and ill be back". he said this in a rude way but we were like ok whatever we will wait. 45 minutes later nothing and no word so we just walked out. He ended up buying a brand new Yamaha R1 full price off the floor. This one because the salesman actually helped us. Just goes to show you good service is what makes the money.

yep. cause some customers always suprise you... (good or bad). But, and R1 for a new license... is that not a bit ... .. errrr.... fast? :eek5: (i mean what can he upgrade to when he gets bored? :P )

[Waylander]

I told him not to get it but he wouldnt listen he wanted a bike that would look cool i dont think he was really looking for a nice ride or good handeling. im expecting an email from him one day saying hes wrecked it. I hope not cause then I would have to kill him. He is also a big guy and sits on the thing like a monkey on a football, but hey atleast he likes it. maybe once he gets used to it he might buy a Ducati heh.

[Zapf]

make sure he gets some "cool" leathers as well :) hopefully it'll keep him safer..

[Antallica]

Just realised my Bandit has/had a few RB stickers on it. Eeww now it feels all wrong, it could be the lack of oil due to broken thread... but hey.

[DEATH_INC.]

Yeh,I hafta admit I haven't had very good service from them either,and they offered me f-all of a trade in for the 12 too (about $1500 less than holeshot gave me for it with another 3-4000k's).
I'm gonna e-mail a link to my mate who works for the owner of RB in Aus(he also owns the one here)so he knows what's been happening over here....

[Wonko]

Been into RB with a female friend who was kinda looking at getting a 150. Sales man came up to us and talked to me first - that's said I had a 145, but that we were looking at 150s for my friend. Salesman was ended up trying to sell me a 250, and my friend was ignored. Thing was, at that stage she knew more about bikes than I did, and could have been easily talked into buying a bike(was a toss up between bike and OE).

[cowpoos]

THIS IS THE REPLEY I GOT FROM RB WHEN I SENT THEM THIS LINK... :sleep:


Some parts enquiries also may not get answered occasionally. When we are doing them all day long on the phone, and some can be very involved lists of engine or cycle parts, and serving the counter, some might get missed. We do try our best to get back to most people as soon as we possibly can.

Cheers,
Peter Mossong,

Parts and Accessories
RED BARON MOTORCYCLES

299-305 Great North Road

GREY LYNN

AUCKLAND



-----Original Message-----
From: Ryan Withers [mailto:cowpoos@xtra.co.nz]
Sent: Friday, 28 January 2005 9:48 p.m.
To: Parts
Subject: what your customers are say about you


http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=8343

[cowpoos]

BUGGAR LEFT HALF THE MESSAGE OUT.....ERM.....SH*T....MMMM

here is the WHOLE reply from them....errrr.... :beer:

Hi Ryan. Thanks for the message. There is certainly a lot of uninformed rubbish out there!

Fair enough, there probably are a few people with a genuine gripe, but many never get back to us - just blast off to their mates etc.
This also applies to most shops, not just us!

Some parts enquiries also may not get answered occasionally. When we are doing them all day long on the phone, and some can be very involved lists of engine or cycle parts, and serving the counter, some might get missed. We do try our best to get back to most people as soon as we possibly can.

Cheers,
Peter Mossong,

Parts and Accessories
RED BARON MOTORCYCLES

299-305 Great North Road

GREY LYNN

AUCKLAND



-----Original Message-----
From: Ryan Withers [mailto:cowpoos@xtra.co.nz]
Sent: Friday, 28 January 2005 9:48 p.m.
To: Parts
Subject: what your customers are say about you


http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=8343

[Two Smoker]

Uninformed BS aye???? Most of this was actual experiences... not just to do with parts....

Doesnt give me anymore reason to go to them.... See how they replied to that??? You would think they would be trying to improve and make themselves better??? Ofcourse Critisim is the best thing for when you want to improve....

[gav]

Yip, don't expect any great improvement in the future judging by that reply, very poor. :eek5:
Of course, with less customers and less enquiries, they may be more efficient as they won't be on the phone all day ! :o

[ajturbo]

Been into RB with a female friend who was kinda looking at getting a 150. Sales man came up to us and talked to me first - that's said I had a 145, but that we were looking at 150s for my friend. Salesman was ended up trying to sell me a 250, and my friend was ignored. Thing was, at that stage she knew more about bikes than I did, and could have been easily talked into buying a bike(was a toss up between bike and OE).


funny that ..
when i was up looking after Riff Raff, we went around to a bike shop (cannot remember the name of the place..) and Riff is looking for a monster, the sales rep came up to me first... i pionted to Riff.. and she sat down with him and discusted details colour etc... but he kept on looking at me... ( i was walking around trying to keep out of it.. but i was interesed all the same..)
i did ask a couple of Questions .. but it was all Riff's stage!... i think the guy got the hint in the end......

what do you think Riff Raff?

[Motu]

I work with the automotive parts industry all day long - and it's all about imports,not just a few odd models.When I ring I have model,year and chassis number ready - 90% of the time we don't even say much....''G'day mate (they have caller ID so know who I am) I wan't a cambelt,tensioner and water pump for a 92 Corolla with a 4A FE''....''That shouldn't be a problem,on a one hour?'' Sometimes they may have to look up something while I'm on the phone,rarely they say they'll get back to me,and they always do.The auto parts industry is very efficient,dealer or aftermarket...most inquiries are dealt with in a few seconds,if we have problems they are sorted in a matter of minutes.I don't see why the motorcycle parts industry can't be as efficient - to me it's particually galling as I know how it should happen.

The ONLY motorcycle dealer who works to the efficiency of the car dealers is Malcolm Kirkby at Econohonda - I tell him what I want,he says that shouldn't be a problem and I see it the next day.Why,why why can't the motorcycle parts people get their skill levels up to standard - perhaps they should spend a week with Malcolm and learn how it's supposed to go.

[gav]

And your right its not that hard, until you get some odd bods. I had a 86 VFR750, comes standard with a 16" front wheel. I happened to have a 1990 CBR600 front rim, 17" surplus to requirements, and guess what, it fitted like a glove, same size axle, same speedo box, spacers etc, VFR discs bolted straight onto rim. So it meant I could run better rubber, but when I sold it, I'm damn sure its gonna puzzle someone somewhere. "86 VFR750, front tyre, yeah gotta 16" here" "No its a 17" oh, must be a 88 model, hang on says 86 here, WTF.
I worked in Honda parts for about 4 years, can be a shit of a job at times, especially when you ask for year, chassis number, engine number etc. "gotta XR250, mate, want one of those thingys, you know?" "Its a red one, mate, fer fawks sake,"
But yeah, I've even emailed Casbolts the parts number for bits, and still managed to get dicked around, "oh yeah, sorry deleted that msg, umm, what was it again?" :brick:

[Mr Skid]

Uninformed BS aye???? Most of this was actual experiences... not just to do with parts....

Doesnt give me anymore reason to go to them.... See how they replied to that??? You would think they would be trying to improve and make themselves better??? Ofcourse Critisim is the best thing for when you want to improve....

Too true. I would have thought after being confronted with a thread like this, that it might have made sense to signup and attempt to address some of the criticisms.

Off on a tangent, I can think of a few places that contribute to KB and/or the greater NZ m/c community and/or sponsor riders - names such as Colemans Suzuki, Motohaus, Wellington Motorcycles, and Motomart come to mind (Did I miss anyone?)

I make an effort to support shops such as the above, as they contribute to the m/c community, but I am less inclined to spend my money at places that don't appear to be putting anything back into the community.

I can't recall any contributions to the community by Red Baron. If this is a case of selective memory, could someone set me straight?

[Dodgyiti]

Yes, you missed out AMPS, who are hot onto making people happy
Now if I could only get last years XB9R for under 17k.......

[Yokai]

I've had nothing but good sales from them, but service has been a bit dodgy...

1 - Dallas is great for getting me appointments.
2 - Mike has done good work on the service front (as far as I can tell cos I'm soooooo technical)
3 - Parts - I'm still waiting for a call back on a Givi screen, a new set of Igblock, Lockbox and Tank cap and a new set of rear springs... 2months and still waiting.

I'm looking for someone new, because:

a) For a slipping clutch at the start of december, I had to wait until after Christmas to get my little Magamiko back.... TOOO long without a bike.
b) I'm worried about the little things that have started to go ... um... weird (Exhaust bolt vibrating loose??!?? should that happen?)
c) I want to get friendly with someone that will tell me what they are doing and why and how long... I've heard that Mt Eden are Ok... I really do want a Yamaha dealer though (as I have a Jap/Aus yamaha, not common here)

[vifferman]

My experience with Red Baron isn't current, but that's because I've had little to do with them since then.

Firstly, I got an appraisal for my VF500 from them, as a potential trade-in. They basically said it was a piece of shit and wouldn't consider it. Sold it privately for $1800, and could've got $2500 for it.

I bought my VFR750 from them - they were apparently selling it on behalf of a customer. It was WAAY overpriced, so I waited till the price dropped from outrageous to just ridiculous. :blink:
After taking delivery, I discovered that this bike which had been offered for sale as "NZ New" on the tag, was actually a Jap import! So, I pointed this out to them, and they said it wasn't their fault, they knew nothing about it. But, to give them credit, they said, "What do you want to do? Do you want your money back?" They could really have been in the shit for misrepresentation if I'd shopped them for it. I decided to keep it, and they gave me a free disk lock or somesuch.

Had a few WOFs and a bit of work done by them, but it was too much effort, so after the couple of people who worked there that I was semi-friendly with left, I stopped going there. I've been in a couple of times to look around, but that's it.

I really value good service, honesty and being treated fairly. As a result, there are a couple of shops that have lost my trade, others that I will only shop at if they've got summat I need that I can't get elsewhere, and some that I make a point of giving my business to, even if they're dearer or it's more inconvenient (further to go) to use them.

[fastford111]

last time i looked insurance companys wrote bikes off not bike shops so if it is dodgy i would be speeking to the company that the transaction

[NC]

last time i looked insurance companys wrote bikes off not bike shops so if it is dodgy i would be speeking to the company that the transaction
Maybe they are all in cahoots! :shit:

[crashe]

I really do want a Yamaha dealer though (as I have a Jap/Aus yamaha, not common here)

Yokai,
Give Henderson Motorcycles Ltd a ring...
They are at 6 View Rd, Henderson, West Auckland.
(09) 8385899 and they are also Yamaha Dealers..
Adam Inta is the owner.
:2thumbsup :banana: :2thumbsup :wavey:

[toads]

I don't think they like women. I've walked in there with a male and they've done all the talking to the male, and I've gone in there on my own and been totally ignored, but a male who came in after me was pounced upon. I hate that shit :angry2:

I hate that shit too, it happened to me at a place in town ( not a bike shop) and I won't go there again

[ajturbo]

I hate that shit too, it happened to me at a place in town ( not a bike shop) and I won't go there again



:banana: hey toads... :banana:
there would't be many shops in "your" town .. :lol: :lol:
from what i remember... there is a pub..and ..ummmm that's all

which leads us all to ask...........what did YOU do??? :lol: :banana: :shake: