My dealings with Mt Eden Motorcycles! (Not all pleasant!)

[SixPackBack]

The only shop I will not even walk into in Auckland is red baron
I have never used Mt eden (service etc) but they where very helpfull when i was searching for a new machine.

I am a colemans fan (only cause of the gsxr) but even with colemans I have not always had the best customer experience but there is one guy there called Dan and as long as he is there colemans will score high on my board

Guess you never heard the story about my yellow GSXR?...bought from Colemans and ran well until 36k. then for no apparent reason the bike would stall for up to 10 seconds at a time; this nearly killed me a coupla times!

After taking the bike back no less than 6 times and Colemans replacing the ECU, loom, ignition, sensors ETC the fucker was exactly the same. It would be fair to say their fault diagnosis extended to replacing parts in the hope of rectifying the fault.

Never again ...

[Nicksta]

Dan at colemans is a good bloke... if i go there, its to see him.... they looked after Bruce so i respect them for that.....
Otherwise, for suzuki, its Haldaynes.... (servicing etc.)

Sorry you had a bad experience with Mt Eden, sometimes things snowball and will never be ok... just bad luck...

[The Joka]

Dealt with them many, many times before. Awesome bunch of guys.

Mike and Chris run a very good shop - I'm surprised if this was their fault at all.

deal with only Mike and Chris straight'cept Selby - but he's just mad.

First of all I gave them credit where credit is due! Did I not? Agree they are an awesome bunch of guys even if I got Selbys name wrong, sorry bro!

They run a shop and a busy one I agree... But when the hell does it become my problem that they are busy? All I want is my bike fixed as quickly as possible and the first time... can you imagine going to a courier company and being told to wait 8 weeks because they are busy! its called customer service!

Just so you know I was dealing with Mike and eventually Chris.. I do rate Chris highly as I got straight answers and no promises from him that weren't kept.

I aint arguing about it that is what happened and no dis-respect to them but I felt I needed to let people know for my own sake to return the pain and frustration it caused me!

Peace out!

[N4CR]

you'll hear shit stories about every shop. if word of mouth is anythign to go by recently it seems the workshop is not as good as they used to be but I ain' tbeen there since ricky (best zxr250 tuner in all of dorkland ) did my old 250. had a few bikes that mates ride coming from there with problems or something slightly not right etc... but it could just be over-reaction or bullshit who knows?! but a bike is a very complex machine and mistakes are made occasionaly. when i'm working on mine sometimes i'll miss a screw (or more >_<) so it does happen. Seems like they sorted out the guy with the hyosung untill insurance was a problem.. same with my work and computers. insurance screws things up and takes a long time sometimes.

arse baron i don't like and have heard more horror stories than anyone else. i've heard some stingy shit happening at colemans and some horror stories too.. haldanes well shit go listen to them 'warm up' the ducatis they're working on in the morning.. it's not pretty.

each shop will be an arsehole to someone at somepoint, be it their own faliure or overreaction and 'the world is mine and i'll do what i want' bullshit attitude some people have..

gah rant over


edit: OMG I CAN WRITE IN CAPS TOO!!11!1!!
WHOA I CAN SWEAR AGAIN!!! THIS RULES!

[avgas]

The good guys fix the bike in front of you go see a real bike shop

[SlashWylde]

So the bike arrives to them 3 days later due to the weekend. I figured that someone would take charge and sort out the work on the bike and let me know the progress, 2 weeks later when I hadn’t received a call from them I rang and asked if I could come and pick it up! Answer: “We have been waiting for the insurance company to assess the bike” so TWO WEEKS later the repairs haven’t even started… WHAT!

I chase this along and get the insurance company to call the repairer.. and WOW they get the claim number and approval for the repairs – a whole 30 second call later!

Which is what you have to do with insurance companies. They DO move slowly and they DO need to be pushed along by their clients. Chances are Mt Eden were simply waiting for the assessor to arrive and assess the bike. No fault of theirs the assessor didn't show up.

So again I leave the repairs in the hands of Mt Eden Motorcycles who had been good until now.. again not receiving any contact at all in any form, I again call and ask when I can pick up the bike… Answer: “We are waiting on the parts” so now 3 weeks later still no action and the repairs still haven’t started!

Part of my job involves working in the a service department of an engineering firm, so I am intimately acquainted with the financial aspects of that business.

What you have to realise is that most service departments are a pretty busy place and operate on low profit margins. If they put down their tools to try and contact and chase up every single job, they wouldn't get anything done. And then no one would be happy. Like it or not the reality is the customer needs to be proactive and make a POLITE call after a couple of days to see how things are progressing. When I am in the role of being the customer, I normally do this when a job looks like it's going to take more than a couple of days. More so if the equipment will be needed by a given date.

The exhaust was not de-baffled as it was previously so my nice rumble had now changed to a sound likened to a constipated fart!

I presume a brand new exhaust was installed? Well then you'll have to de-baffle it yourself then wont you. You can hardly expect the workshop to do that for you unless you specifically asked them to do that as part of the repairs covered by the insurance claim. Again, time costs money and if nobody is paying for the work to be done, it won't be done.

I again rang Mt Eden on the subsequent Friday to see if the repairs had been done and the bike ready to be picked up. Answer “Yes your service has been done and we put some brake pads in for you as they were getting low” I am now losing my temper and it is one week to Christmasm I ask “that’s great what about the repairs that I asked for?” Answer: “What was that?” Now furious I get possibly the only person that I could get any sense out of thank god for Chris in the workshop… He now takes ownership for my repairs!

HOWEVER the repairs were not completed until the Friday after New Years day! So this is approximately 8 weeks later, bearing in mind that I have never received one call.. that’s right not one call! I had to call every time… I am finally getting my baby back in good working order… and with a whole three days to go riding, Right? WRONG!

Not only did Mt Eden try to charge me for the service that didn't ask for but my bike is still in poor condition! WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO DO??? Maybe I just sell it?

I have since taken my bike to East City Motorcycles to double check the work as I said above I still had issues and have had to spend $300 to $400 to repair the faults.. Including carburettors that were clogged (umm thought you serviced it?), the fairings not being repaired correctly and oil being left on the inside (infact still with a part of the fairing broken completely off) and several other problems! State expect another call...

On this point it sounds like they have let you down and could have done a better job, particularly for a customer who bought a new bike from them and has supported them consistently till now. The flip side is, no outfit is perfect and all shops will let one of their customers down every now and then. One has to look at the average performance to gauge the level of customer service.

My suggestion would be to drop into Mt Eden some time and have a polite friendly word with Mike about the situation. Don't go into a long winded story about what was and wasn't done or that you weren't called at regular intervals with updates, but stick to simple verifiable facts. Explain that you want to keep your business with them and is there anything they can do to meet you half way on the extra expenses and hassles you've incurred.

Mike's a good guy, he's friendly and easygoing and that's why I took my money to Mt Eden and bought from them, instead of the other more pushy unfriendly shops. Establish a good relationship with the man who sells you your motorcycle and it will repay you in time. Plus it's just a much friendlier way of doing business.

[justsomeguy]

Hey Joka - two words -BOTANY HONDA - easily the favourite bike shop of all the East Auckland KB'ers I know.

Since you seem to be out east - go say hi to them when you want something or just for the heck of it.

[The Joka]

Which is what you have to do with insurance companies. They DO move slowly and they DO need to be pushed along by their clients. Chances are Mt Eden were simply waiting for the assessor to arrive and assess the bike. No fault of theirs the assessor didn't show up.



Part of my job involves working in the a service department of an engineering firm, so I am intimately acquainted with the financial aspects of that business.

What you have to realise is that most service departments are a pretty busy place and operate on low profit margins. If they put down their tools to try and contact and chase up every single job, they wouldn't get anything done. And then no one would be happy. Like it or not the reality is the customer needs to be proactive and make a POLITE call after a couple of days to see how things are progressing. When I am in the role of being the customer, I normally do this when a job looks like it's going to take more than a couple of days. More so if the equipment will be needed by a given date.



I presume a brand new exhaust was installed?

Great post! but...

The assessor had assessed the bike at the tow yard hence the delay... Not saying that the the insurance company is blameless coz they were crap too! and I am changing my supplier there! so a 30 second call would have resolved that!

As for the service industry - you are trying to teach a grandma how to suck eggs! I have been in the service industry for International Perishable goods for 11 years recently turning to recruitment (playing with peoples lifes!) imagine the tempers if you piss people around in recruitment! sucessful businesses survive on repeat business.. So as the customer I couldn't care if they had people away sick or were busy! get more staff not my problem! I thought I had made it clear that I had called several times.. ohh well!

and the EXHAUST everything on the claim should be restored to the previous status.. meaning that the insurance company where paying it was an attention to detail thing!

But great post..

[McJim]

Funny situation with there being so many bike shops in Auckland and so many KBers in Auckland too.

I have to confess I've wandered into a few bike shops in the past year and have been ignored by some, shown disrespect by others and even treated well on occasion. You can physically se some of the staff in bike shops trying very hard to swallow their disrespect for the fact that you are an old guy on a 250 - they seem to think "He can't know much about bikes so he doesn't have any life experience either" Yeah well I can read the fuckers like a book.

In some shops you go in one day and get shabbily treated - prolly the guy's wife aint puttin' out or summat. The next day he treats you like farkn V. Rossi who stumbled into the shop.

I bought my bike from Red Baron and have been very happy with it.
I get my bike serviced by Botany Honda coz I can walk home while they fiddle with it.
I have spent shitloads on gear from Motomail coz I like them - was seriously considering buying my next bike from Motomail too 'cept they don't do a fully faired Raptor - and the only fully faired bike they've got I can't really afford.

So there are good stories and bad stories about every shop - my advice? Take them as you find them.

[BarBender]

I aint arguing about it that is what happened and no dis-respect to them but I felt I needed to let people know for my own sake to return the pain and frustration it caused me!

Peace out!

I read your post about your positive experience with East City Motorcycles a few days ago and I find it strange that you would publicly vent concerns about an established provider and at the same time revisit yet again how you think the sun shines out of another providers ass - all in the same post.

I dont doubt you had some difficulties and I dont want to minimise your experience. I just felt you could ease up on marketing B.S. I got all of that the first time.

[eviltwin]

In my opinion mt eden motorcycles are wicked bro!
You have to expect that a good shop is always going to be a busy shop.
They have always bent over backwards to help me out, give me advice, shoot the shit and share cigarettes.
When i upgraded from my tlr1000, my decision to buy a zx10r over a gsxr had less to do with the bike and more to do with the team behind it...ohh, ok...and because it goes like a MUTHA FUCKER!

[Bulldog]

I'm sorry mate but you're delusional to think they're going to replace your bike to how it was when it was when trashed (debaffled exhaust).

When you get insurance they ask you if everything is standard for a reason, if you didn't state that you had a debaffled exhaust there is no way the insurance company and or Mt eden are liable to replace that. When you get a 'replacement' value it doesn't actually mean that. Read your policy again mate.

I agree that service from most bike shops is shit in Auckland. I've dealt with most of them over the years. Generally comes down to a lack of caring about the customer and perhaps a lack of resources. I've had to get nasty with several of them over the years especially over not calling me back etc.

You only incurred additional costs because you took it somewhere else. The only way you will get things done at the insurance companies cost is for them to keep fixing it. Taking it elsewhere is not the answer.

[SlashWylde]

Great post! but...

You're welcome. Glad to be of help

[Hellraiser]

Now whats the moral of this post ...........

Currently Mt Eden Motorcycles has more arse kisser's than East City Motorcycles.

[Paul in NZ]

Disappointment and anger such as yours is the result of the gap between expectation and reality. I'm afraid if you don't shift your expectations you are not going to enjoy your motorcycle experience.