Kerry (TSS)

[Gubb]

Kerry is an absolute legend, When I was first looking at gear about 3 months ago, he was the only one, from 4 shops I visited, that put in the time, and effort, and explained everything to me in complete laymens terms.

What this wotsit did that was better than that dealy, that this thingy isn't worth the extra $$$ over this do-dacky. Gave me some amazing advice which I intend to follow for as long as possible in my motorcycle life.

Sorry to see him go from a retail site, which it's obvious the man has great passion for.

[NZsarge]

Kerry is an absolute legend, When I was first looking at gear about 3 months ago, he was the only one, from 4 shops I visited, that put in the time, and effort, and explained everything to me in complete laymens terms.

What this wotsit did that was better than that dealy, that this thingy isn't worth the extra $$$ over this do-dacky. Gave me some amazing advice which I intend to follow for as long as possible in my motorcycle life.

Sorry to see him go from a retail site, which it's obvious the man has great passion for.

Yeah, when you find someone like that and they leave it's difficult find someone that will give that un-bias advice.
Paul at Phil Turnbull motorcycles is pretty good too.

[judecatmad]

Drove past today and noticed the TSS sign now says TSS Red Baron - how long's that been going on? And are they affiliated to Red Baron in Auckland? Bit of a worry if that's the case, all the bad press RB get up there (altho we never had any issues with them when we were up there)

I'm a bit out of the loop, so for all I know, the sign's always been like that!! LOL

[chanceyy]

Yeah, when you find someone like that and they leave it's difficult find someone that will give that un-bias advice.
Paul at Phil Turnbull motorcycles is pretty good too.

yeah I second that .. just to clairfy Phil Turnbulls in Palmerston North

[Gubb]

Drove past today and noticed the TSS sign now says TSS Red Baron - how long's that been going on? And are they affiliated to Red Baron in Auckland? Bit of a worry if that's the case, all the bad press RB get up there (altho we never had any issues with them when we were up there)

I'm a bit out of the loop, so for all I know, the sign's always been like that!! LOL

They were just starting to roll out some Red Baron signage when I bought my bike, about 2 months ago.

[Storm]

Yeah, when you find someone like that and they leave it's difficult find someone that will give that un-bias advice.
Paul at Phil Turnbull motorcycles is pretty good too.

David and Graham are switched on cookies too. Steve in the workshop is f^&king awesome, never too bothered to help you out

[Hitcher]

I'll miss Kerry. He's the major reason some (nameless) people who live and work in the city now get their bikes serviced at and buy over 90% of their motorcycling requisites from TSS. But Brenda and Richard are good folks too! I'll just need to check that my "to do" list with Kerry gets appropriately migrated...

And the workshop is the best I've dealt with. It's nice to deal with any motorcycle business that actually understands "customer service".

And Red Baron is bigger than just Red Baron in Auckland. I think that Stu has made this move for commendable reasons as his business grows.

[ceebie13]

Saturday is Kerry's last day at TSS apparently.

Kerry...if you read this mate, many thanks for your help, advice, coffee and freebies...oops! sorry, I meant fabulous discounts!! Good luck at Darby's and enjoy the extra family time.

Richard & Lynda

[Weaver]

Kerry sold me my first set of riding gear (wet weathers). He was very helpful. However, now that hes leaving I shall be taking all my none workshop (TSS have a great workshop) business to Motomart.
Good luck to Kerry and his new job

[Manxman]

Bugger.

Back to being treated like shit then.

Agree with this comment...had a bad experience there last month which means I won't go back for quite some time. After a couple of good experiences, this last one was def not gd: over time, over budget, poor comms/attitude, pretty much as un-customer focussed as ya could get and more 'grab as much dosh from the punters' approach. Bad taste...that plus Kerry going means my business goes elsewhere.

[Hitcher]

had a bad experience there last month which means I won't go back for quite some time.

You should read Jim2's next post, rather than selectively quoting...

Did you raise this matter with Stu? If not, you should. More than many other bike shop owners, he understands the power of word-of-mouth and is doing his very best to run a great business.

Good luck with finding somewhere better.

[Manxman]

You should read Jim2's next post, rather than selectively quoting...

Did you raise this matter with Stu? If not, you should. More than many other bike shop owners, he understands the power of word-of-mouth and is doing his very best to run a great business.

Good luck with finding somewhere better.

...I didn't selectively quote (Jim2's follow-on post wasn't up at the time I was writing/posting).

I didn't raise it with Stu because:
1) I didn't know he was in charge; but mainly
2) being relatively new to the scene, didn't want to appear like a whinger (despite what I felt were reasonable grounds for doing so...like one whole month without the bike, endless delays/excuses/apparent indifference, me having to do all the chasing, TSS hugely underestimating the final cost...did get a small discount, but still paid way over the estimate I received only 2 days before the job was finally complete, oh and two fairing screws were loose and one was missing, and two of the jobs I specifically asked for weren't done...I'm still waiting for my message on these last things to be returned - 3 weeks later)...complaining is not in my nature, but the only vibes I was getting were certainly not positive. However, they did lend me a run around for the last week, so thanks for that.

In the end, I tossed up in my mind between creating a real sh*t fight and escalate it with the boss, or to move on and learn from the experience. Rather than give myself more stress, I concluded to move on. In the end, it's all a learning curve.

Thanks for the good luck message btw...it worked. I've already saved $100+ on a new set of Michelin Pilots by buying elsewhere, and $40 for changing them ($60, compared to $100 for the pair).

I do appreciate that the owners are trying to do a good job, but reality is I got the (big) rough end of the stick this time, on a $2k job...so go figure my unimpressed-ness.

I'll probably get a backlash for writing this, but I'm comfortable with that. After all, when they've done a good job they got good feedback from me in the past.

[Paul in NZ]

Ah hah...

This will explain why I walked away from 2 bike shops yesterday with money when there was something specific I needed...

It was a busy day in all bike shops yesterday but does not excuse the shocking service (given my purchasing record over the years)... Lesson learnt - internet and local (Paraparaumu) shopping here I come...

[short shins]

Went to TSS one friday lunchtime after driving out from Porirua.
Was after a cheap (under $60.00) pair of goggles. My old Smiths had finally died and had a VMX event coming up
Did not have any in stock, dude at counter said come back Saturday will have some from Darbis. paid for them and hoofed it back to work.
Rolled in Saturday morning, no goggles, story was too wet to go and get them:
Never been back. I got a pair of Smith Evo from Invercargill $45.00 two days delivery, Internet for me everytime now.
Very rarely do I enter any bike shops these days but

[James Deuce]

Agree with this comment...had a bad experience there last month which means I won't go back for quite some time. After a couple of good experiences, this last one was def not gd: over time, over budget, poor comms/attitude, pretty much as un-customer focussed as ya could get and more 'grab as much dosh from the punters' approach. Bad taste...that plus Kerry going means my business goes elsewhere.

I've only had service issues at one Wellington Region shop. I've had personality clashes at another, but the service I experienced there was good.

I was being sarcastic/hoping Fergus or Stew would read that comment and wind Richard up.

My apologies to all victims involved.