Bad Impression - Christchurch First European Motorcycles

**98tls** · 16th July 2015, 21:24

Originally Posted by AllanB

Did you arrive on your bike? Did you have your own gear?

Neithers a reason to not let someone test ride a bike,no doubt a bike shop has plenty of gear out back they could throw on a potential buyer,the one i worked at did.

**tri boy** · 16th July 2015, 21:27

Originally Posted by HenryDorsetCase

Glenn and Phil have sold the business. Chap called Andy now owns it. Good guy too.

Yup, Andy and his wife are who I met.

**TheDemonLord** · 16th July 2015, 21:27

As an addition to my initial comment - I don't wear a suit and tie....

Proof of Funds for me is easy (since I have my banks online banking app) and if needed a quick flash to show them I have the Cash in reserve would settle any overly cautious Sales person. That said I have never had to do that, but have always been prepared, just in case.

**mossy1200** · 16th July 2015, 21:47

Originally Posted by 98tls

Neithers a reason to not let someone test ride a bike,no doubt a bike shop has plenty of gear out back they could throw on a potential buyer,the one i worked at did.

Unless someone turns up wearing clothes that are likely to scratch F3 paint jobs.
I think if I was selling bikes and someone had no suitable gear on to ride I would be reluctant. OP says they were going to allow the ride. When battery was flat did OP ask to return later? If I was serious on a new F3 I would have asked to return.
I only had to sit on my bike to know I couldn't not have it.

**HenryDorsetCase** · 16th July 2015, 21:55

Originally Posted by Oakie

Wow. You've been around since the middle ages?! Kudos to you good sir!

indeed. My suit is a suit of armour which is an utter bastard because of the clanking and limited vision.

.

**sidecar bob** · 16th July 2015, 21:58

I had a pretty shit experience with a pair of amateurs in a yard in Auckland a couple of weekends ago. There will be others cars the same & i won't reduce myself to dealing with 'tards to get one.
My rule of trade is that if things are sour before the money changes hands, it will only get worse after it changes hands.

**HenryDorsetCase** · 16th July 2015, 22:01

Originally Posted by 98tls

True enough,guess we will never know.I do know though that if every time i spoke to potential buyers of demo Toyotas i said "you can only drive the thing if your going to return give me a deposit/looking for kicks" then many of those potential buyers would have told me to fuck off or something to that effect.

Interesting. I was looking to buy a new car in 2012 and thought I might want to try a Ford Focus or maybe one of those I think Kugas? 2l 5 door family wagon soft roader thing. Went in to Avon City ford. Parked the car I was going to trade in the yard and wearing work clothes (suit and tie) wandered about looking at cars. I was completely ignored by every sales fuckwit in the place. It made me furious then it made me laugh so hard I went and bought a new Subaru XV.

I did email the dealer principal and told him that his fuckwit "Sales" staff had cost him a brand new vehicle sale and any chance of me ever buying a vehicle from them ever again... I did get a polite response but they are dead to me. If I ever want a new Ford* I will get it from the one in town.

*unlikely.... very happy with the Fuji Heavy - excellent little vehicle so far.

**mossy1200** · 16th July 2015, 22:03

Originally Posted by sidecar bob

My rule of trade is that if things are sour before the money changes hands, it will only get worse after it changes hands.

Sounds like Sons of Anarchy.

**Gravel Man** · 16th July 2015, 22:28

Went to First European MC almost a year ago to look at the Triumph Bonneville range of bikes. I did not know any of the staff. Was offered a test ride on the demo T100 Bonnie, 2km on clock. I had turned up in a car but had my riding gear. I only had to produce my driving licence & fill out paper work for insurance etc. When I got back to the shop, I thought the T100 was not for me. Saw that they had a used SE Bonnie 2500km on clock & was given the keys to it for a test ride also.
Came back with a grin & bought the bike . Putting bums on bikes, sells bikes.
I have since had a number of dealings with Andy & the team. Always found them great to deal with.

Cheers G M.

**neels** · 16th July 2015, 23:03

Originally Posted by HenryDorsetCase

*unlikely.... very happy with the Fuji Heavy - excellent little vehicle so far.

Haven't got to doing cam belt yet then? And if it's manual, get rid of it before it gets to 150k so you're not up for the cost of a clutch and front bearing in the gearbox shortly after.

Anyhoo.....

I get this treatment all the time, because I am a generally scruffy bastard, salespeople are surprisingly judgemental considering they are for the most paid a minimal retainer and the rest is by commission.

My lovely wife who works in retail has taken my being completely ignored when shopping as a lesson, she makes huge sales to scruffy men like myself who are ignored by the other staff (and probably like myself intensely dislike shopping), but if you need it you need it so tell me how much and I'll pay so I can get the hell out of here.

I had an experience some years back when buying a car, one salesperson told me he could take me for a drive in the car to see if I liked it, the other told me to take it home for the weekend and see what I thought. Guess which one i bought.

If I've bothered to take my time to walk into somewhere and ask for a test ride, I expect to be treated like a valued customer from the first second. Sure they probably get a few test pilots, but is that not what they have insurance for, and the alternative is putting off genuine buyers which seems like very poor business sense.

**wind_glider** · 16th July 2015, 23:31

Originally Posted by 98tls

True enough,guess we will never know.I do know though that if every time i spoke to potential buyers of demo Toyotas i said "you can only drive the thing if your going to return give me a deposit/looking for kicks" then many of those potential buyers would have told me to fuck off or something to that effect.

You'll probably never know or hear from the sales rep's side of the story since this event that I'm bringing up was back in January this year.

But here's my side of the story. I know there's two sides to the story and perhaps I'll never understand why he did what he did. But I want to clarify a few things.

1. I bought a L1 GSX-R750 simply because I was going to buy a brand new one and the dude from the other dealership said "hey! why not this one?" I looked at it and had no scratches, had 2000kms on the clock, said they done service on it, put a year's rego and WOF on it for $4000 less than the price of a brand new one. I'm not poor but I'm not made of money either, L5 would have been nice, but the L1 is the exact same bike so why not buy a 4 year old bike with all the other extras included? I was able to afford it so I did? You don't have to buy a Rolex watch or a Mercedes just because you can, if a Casio and a Honda can do the same thing and you want to be smart about how to present yourself then why not?

2. I rocked up with my car, had my gear (boots, gloves, jacket, kevlar jeans), dressed casual, done my research before hand so knew everything about the bike and the questions he asked, and was polite.

3. Not having a cry. Like I said, sharing my experience and my story. Thought about posting this up since I had a tremendous amount of support and discussion from my previous post that led to me learning a ton of stuff thanks to everyone here and a very nice gentleman. Here to share and learn. Getting this off my chest because I feel this'll be an interesting topic to discuss seeing I've not found any talk about the dealership we're talking about currently.

4. Regardless of the battery being flat in a week or not and whether or not you guys thought he was right to have his bike with a flat battery I'll just simply say that he told me I could listen to the bike's exhaust and that he would show me the basics of the bike since he's the one in sole charge of selling that particular bike. Now I work in the hospital, if you see me in the hospital you'd expect me to know my shit when you are looking at me to make your health better. If all of a sudden I'm like "here's your crutches and here's your medication you're cool to go home - oh whoops I just gave you the wrong drug and the crutches aren't working I just noted a loose screw and a dent in that one, oh and if it looks dirty just give it a hose" would you feel satisfied with my service or would you feel trust in the health system? Nope. He told me that the battery was in perfect running condition and then pressed the ignition button. Oops.

5. If I had NOT the ability to afford a bike of that price and that quality I wouldn't have been there in the first place let alone post this up in a public forum for the world to see.

Anyway... This has been really good actually... Learning about emailing/calling ahead of time, bank statement with me always, always bring gear or rock up with my bike...etc Sorry to have made some people salty but I'm just being honest and stating an event. Everyone's a judge and everyone's superman on the internet right? Thanks for everyone's responses... seems like they aren't that bad of a business to deal with... maybe it's just me and my mates... we ride but don't know much about bike maintenance/history/how they work...etc

Cheers!

**mossy1200** · 17th July 2015, 06:14

Originally Posted by wind_glider

You'll probably never know or hear ...................history/how they work...etc

Cheers!

Nah.
Should be able to rock up and ride anything available in the demo range. That's what they are there for. Exception would be if they need prepare something prior in which case they should ask if you would be able to return later.
Hard to answer the no ride decision. I guess I don't have issues because im known in every bike shop in town and I visit them to buy parts but don't ask to trial bikes unless im in the market. My visit test ride ratio is low.

I bought my F4 without a test ride because I had always wanted one and the prices this year were affordable.

**sidecar bob** · 17th July 2015, 06:52

I'll say it again then, what the fuck has your bank statement got to do with being taken seriously?
Don't do it people, it's shit that is nobody's business. Do you have to show your cock to buy condoms?
Any decent amount of money probably isint in the bank anyway, what do you do then, take them a copy of your share portfolio & get them to work out its current value on today's market. I'd bet they wouldn't even know how to do that.
Or alternatively, & Auckland home owners will know all about this, using the newly realised equity in your property to purchase a bike.
What do you do then? take in the rateable value of your home & the balance of your mortgage left to pay & a note from your mum saying you have been a very good boy?

**mossy1200** · 17th July 2015, 06:54

Originally Posted by sidecar bob

Do you have to show your cock to buy condoms?

Im thinking you would get arrested for that.

**Yow Ling** · 17th July 2015, 07:54

Originally Posted by sidecar bob

I'll say it again then, what the fuck has your bank statement got to do with being taken seriously?
Don't do it people, it's shit that is nobody's business. Do you have to show your cock to buy condoms?
Any decent amount of money probably isint in the bank anyway, what do you do then, take them a copy of your share portfolio & get them to work out its current value on today's market. I'd bet they wouldn't even know how to do that.

Agree, they don't even want you to pay cash for it , they get paid extra for you getting finance