Is there a motorcycle shop in this country that wants my money?

[skidMark]

i used to work in a motorbike shop.

you cannot expect discounts and free gear unless you ask.

it just means they make less margin.

so why would they offer it , you cannot expect to get anything , if you don't ask.

SM

[canarlee]

i used to work in a motorbike shop.

you cannot expect discounts and free gear unless you ask.

it just means they make less margin.

so why would they offer it , you cannot expect to get anything , if you don't ask.

SM

i did ask for discounts when i bought the bike, the busa petes were there with me at the time and guess what i was told? NO DISCOUNTS!!! i asked for a pair of gloves (how cheap?) to be thrown in with the deal and they said no! mind it was a pom wanker that i was dealing with! (and before anyone says owt im a pom!)

[Toaster]

i did ask for discounts when i bought the bike, the busa petes were there with me at the time and guess what i was told? NO DISCOUNTS!!! i asked for a pair of gloves (how cheap?) to be thrown in with the deal and they said no! mind it was a pom wanker that i was dealing with! (and before anyone says owt im a pom!)

Welll that sucks!!!! Tight-arsed poms huh.

[Max Preload]

i did ask for discounts when i bought the bike, the busa petes were there with me at the time and guess what i was told? NO DISCOUNTS!!! i asked for a pair of gloves (how cheap?) to be thrown in with the deal and they said no!

You've got to be prepared to walk away and take your custom elsewhere, and make damn sure they know that before you even start talking turkey.

Remember, cash is no longer king - they'd rather you finance because they get a kickback on the interest.

[Max Preload]

I recently fitted new rubber to my bike at Haldanes. I wanted Pilot Road 2's front and rear, and was quoted when I walked in and asked (a couple of weeks earlier, when I thought it was about time I started looking).

They were close to where I was working, and the price I was quoted was fair. However, once I got my shit together and actually got the bike in to them on the day, they didn't have the front in stock, and it wasn't due for at least a week. So I asked about doing a Pilot Sport CVT front instead for the same price and they agreed.

They called to tell me it was all done, and when I turned up the bill was $65 more than I was quoted. I wasn't too happy about that, especially when I had raised the issue of cost with them when I'd dropped the bike off that morning and we'd agreed on a figure for the tyres I wanted.

Chris decided that I as the customer (who I always thought was always right, within reason) was wrong and that the original quote was for Pilot Roads, not Pilot Road 2's (although I had certainly never even asked about Pilot Roads as I wanted the dual compounds).

Tony however was more diplomatic and I felt he was genuinely embarrassed by the stuff up and after much umming and ahhhing I agreed to pay a little extra, but not the full difference. It ended up a little more than what I would have paid at Cycletreads but given the convenience of their location for me, I figured that was worth it.

However, it has left a bad feeling in that an agreed upon price was reneged on, but having had good service from the guys in the workshop on a recent occasion, I'm prepared to I'm prepared to write it off as experience. It's not even the issue of the money - it's the fact I was looked upon as trying to pull a fast one on him. I know what I asked for and I know what I was quoted. If it had been anything other than tyres, I'd have cancelled the sale right there and then, but with them already fitted, I was a bit cornered.

Next time I will insist on a written quote, be it Haldanes or otherwise.

[sunhuntin]

ifn ya dont mind the ride, i always hand my dosh to paragon, here in wanganui. anything the bike needs, leave it for a day and its done. only thing that cant come into that is when parts are needed, but they are usually there within a week. the boys are friendly, and go the extra mile. always happy to see a person and have a yarn.

i also tried two other shops, one was joe lett [suzuki] who treated me as if i didnt know what the hell i was on about. [just another chick wannabe biker] the other was whitlock suzuki. 5 weeks for a speedo, fluid all over the front of the bike, and the same shite all over the lock of my top box. crap sales service [bought a brand new gn from them] and they also baulked at chucking in a helmet. we had to nag to get it.

have used dowman honda in the past, but only in emergencys [flat tyre, broken brake lever after a drop] good service from them, too.

[gammaguy]

poor service certainly isnt limited to motorcycle shops,but it seems rampant in them for sure.

I run my own workshop in Chch and always try and remember what it was like when I was on the other side of the counter.

sadly other shops seem to have forgotten this and lots of shops have guys working there who dont even ride.

its all about communication,no one likes surprises do they?last i checked,a TXT cost 20c.a lost or pissed off customer costs a shitload more than that.

(heres a hint guys,get them to TXT you the prices of stuff,then you have a written record,I do this all the time now with any major purchase)

[Babelfish]

Just tried to find a 530 chain for my vitter. Tried 6 shops before finding one that had some in stock....and fucking chain ffs! I'll tell you what, when I find a shop thats good, I'll hang onto them like gold!

[caesius]

Ain't too many bike shops in Hastings, one I find is generally good apart from the grumpy as hell mechs. The other I couldn't comment on as I've never been there. Try whichever Hastings store you haven't been to, if the one you tried wasn't the one I'm thinking of you may be pleasantly surprised.

[Max Preload]

Ain't too many bike shops in Hastings, one I find is generally good apart from the grumpy as hell mechs. The other I couldn't comment on as I've never been there. Try whichever Hastings store you haven't been to, if the one you tried wasn't the one I'm thinking of you may be pleasantly surprised.

Could you be a bit more vague, please? :slap:

[caesius]

^^^ Just keepin' names out of the equation. He'll know what I'm talking about.

[Babelfish]

Its amazing what can fuck up an experience. A good example for me was some shite service I got at an italian place in Petone. Decided to splurge on the missus (oo er) and have a posh lunch so no expese spared. Met a nice girl on entry (double oo er) who showed us to our table and nicely served us throughout the lunch. After spending around 120 on the lunch, then buying a bottle of the 30 buck wine we had some SLUT take my money that treated me like I was invisible. Thats all it took...20 seconds of transaction at the end of an otherwise really nice lunch and I wont step foot near the shithole again.

[Mr. Peanut]

Wheels of Thames gives me a discount on most everything. I don't have to ASK for anything, because they're reasonable people.

The Business started in the first place, because he was so frustrated at the shit job the local Honda dealership was doing.

[tri boy]

NZ has had poor/slow/bad service right across the retail industry for ever.
Thats why Harvey Norman etc have and will continue to base themselves here.
There are good retailers out there, but doing your research to arm yourself with purchasing power is a must.
Most retail assistants only view their industry from the NZ experience, unlike our new citizens from Europe, Asia etc who have a much wider understanding.
Please be patient with us Kiwis, we come out at night, barely lift our nose off the forest floor, and waddle our way through life.
But we can be an endearing, trustworthy lot, who go about our business without trying to Nuke everyone with different views of the world.

[ambler]

Weeelll... after living in Japan for so long, the 'service' I get in when I'm back in NZ on visits is quite a shock. But I don't want to just blanket label the whole place like that. If you get the owner of the shop, your service will be impeccable, downright friendly and highly inducive of many more return visits to that shop. Get someone who just works there (particularly younger staff) watching the clock and is far more interested in their cellphone email than earning their paycheck, and your experience will be the exact opposite. Seems like these latter types get adjusted to a routine and when called on to do anything more than that (ie. helping a customer) they get pissed off as if it's not their job or something. I believe this is called laziness?
Organizing my wedding in Auckland earlier this year I had dealings with a good number of services, and it wasn't long before I figured out how to do it right: find out the name of whoever is the first type of person I mention above, and ask for them. Otherwise just call back later. If you are actually going in to the shop, try to go when they will be there.
Overall I think I prefer NZ though... the really great times are when you come across someone who at first glance could be a 'clock-watcher' but turns out to have a real enthusiasm for what they are doing. These people really make my day. I remember one time I was getting a coffee somewhere and remarked to the guy about how noisy the grinder was, to which he responded by cheekily pretending to say something, mouthing the words silently as if the grinder was so loud that I couldn't hear him. Compare that to Japan where everyone is very robotic - every thing they say is kind of 'scripted', and if you make some off hand comment about the weather or whatever, they have no idea how to respond :/