Kerry and Motohaus, a very bad situation made good.

[zeocen]

I was debating whether to put this up on KB, as majority tends to focus on the negative, even when there is a positive. Please focus on the positives in this post!

Well after the crusade to get my much beloved Avon Storm STs, Kerry came to the party on Friday morning so I scooted over to have them put on. As always was a very friendly atmosphere in the shop, asked if I wanted a coffee and a seat etc (even gave me a free Continental tyre hat!), I even got talking to a man who recently gave up his Hayabusa for a Buell !!

All sorted, rode home happily enough in slow typical motorway riding (new tyres + big fatty bike = zeo too scared to lane split!). The weekend was used as 'quality time' with the girlfriend so I didn't get back out riding until Sunday arvo.

So I was riding out on Sunday arvo, the usual route for breaking in some tyres around here.. Alfriston -> Clevedon -> Maraetai -> Whitford loop, enough to finish off the 100 - 120km scrubbage.
As I got to Maraetai I actually saw my old man out riding, so I waved him down as we past and I u-turned to meet him and decided to go back the way I came (sweepers rather than twisties). After a while my front wheel felt really strange, I thought maybe I just wasn't used to the new tyres, then as I came up to a bend (_WELL_ under the speed limit) I put on the front brakes and it almost threw me off! It braked, then went free, then braked again.. so I resorted to the rear brake before I turned in and some how managed to not plow straight into the bank!

After that there was a loud knocking on my front wheel, I found the first safe place to pull over and had a look at my front wheel.

My right hand brake caliper had lost it's bolts!!! I was gob smacked, the thing was dangling around the disc freely. The bloody mechanic at Motohaus hadn't tighten the screws properly. I firmly believe that had it not been for the bird's LBS putting on some of the rear brake as well as the front, I may have been toast!

My dad came back and immediately came to the same conclusion. I have a perfect bike, I get tyres change, I ride for 80kms or so, bolts fall out.

We weren't far from home, just around cleveland area so my Dad offered to hop on and take it cautiously home, so I hopped on his ZZR 1200 (I even got to use the hazard lights, for realsies!) and rode behind him. Had I kept going on through the skinny little maraetai twisties and the brakes did what they did on the sweeper... well.... ;/

The next morning we rang Kerry from Motohaus and told him the situation, as anyone would, he defended his mechanic but at the same time offered to come out after work and take it in tomorrow morning. Well he did come over, baring gifts in the form of fresh caliper bolts from the local Honda store. Now, as far as he was aware, according to the mechanic and the tick sheet, the bolts were tightened, but at the same time, he gave other reasons for why they could have come loose. (That was the general concensus, a few KB guys came over and agreed that there was no doubt that they came loose due to human error, it actually worried me on how worried THEY were, I knew it was kind of serious.. having no brakes and all that.. but....).

Kerry got straight to work, it was about 7pm now, we had a good yarn, he said he had a good talk with his mechanic, in 13 years nothing like this has ever happened. He was as baffled as us, but he was 100% straight up, he said at the end of the day he wasn't there at the time, the tick sheet shows everything fine but clearly it wasn't, his words were "I honestly haven't got a fucking clue" in straight up Kerry fashion.

The bike was fixed in minutes, I had my beautiful blue cardinal back! He then asked if I was due for a service, I said "probably", he said head on over on Wednesday and he'll give my bike a full service on the house, emphasis on "HE". He was straight up, apologetic and at the end of the day, there was no harm, no foul.

Basically, in a nut shell, Kerry stepped up to the plate. He was big enough to admit fault on his part as much as he could and offered service on behalf as an apology. He even stayed around for a few afterwards while we chatted about the state of euro bikes, I left very satisfied and my business will stay with him.

Not many professional shop owners would step up to the plate with the swiftness and straight up attitude he did. I am very impressed, and very happy!

/pointless happy thread over



(Jesus why do I always type so much when I start threads)

[gijoe1313]

.......... I knew late braking was a style used by bikers, but thats taking the biscuit! Glad to hear that all is well in the house of zeo, you only just got back into biking from your last crash/bin/off/accident

Asphalt and Pillion Angel working overtime to make sure your Dad was there ... glad to hear you kept it rubber side up and that you got 100% Satisfaction.

[jrandom]

Yes, it's well known that Kerry is a Good Cunt (tm).

Never hurts to reiterate it for the folk who don't know it yet, though!

[sprag]

Man I am glad you did not take up the invite to come for the ride on saturday to meet justin for lunch in taupo then :P

It would have been a very long walk back for you

[Firefight]

not suprising,

he's one of the good cunts !


well done again Kerry,

good on you Matt for sharing.


F/F

[Usarka]

Yeah my bike had an unusual "incident" in his shop, rather than point fingers or sidestep he sorted it out professionally and quickly. i never posted about it at the time because it might have looked bad for him, but the way he handled it means i'm now a regular customer and i have nothing but postive things to say.

sometimes shit does happen (often imho), and it's how these guys respond which can be what differentiates them.

[R6_kid:Me]

only heard good things about the guy!

[Gubb]

So whereabouts is Motorhaus? Need a service and some go-faster bits soon.

[zeocen]

sometimes shit does happen (often imho), and it's how these guys respond which can be what differentiates them.

Exactly, shit happens, people can't be perfect 100%.. how Kerry stepped up to the plate and handled it is what impressed me and will definitely keep my business with him (as well as my old man's).

So whereabouts is Motorhaus? Need a service and some go-faster bits soon.

It's in Western Springs right next to the Motomail Outlet store. If you're going west bound on the N/W motorway you hop off at the Zoo off ramp, turn left and the first left is the road. Just keep going down that road and you'll eventually see a platter of exotic bikes on display outside.

[Gubb]

It's in Western Springs right next to the Motomail Outlet store. If you're going west bound on the N/W motorway you hop off at the Zoo off ramp, turn left and the first left is the road. Just keep going down that road and you'll eventually see a platter of exotic bikes on display outside.

Ooooohhhhh. Motomail AND Motohaus. There goes next month's pay.

Cheers.

[shingo]

So whereabouts is Motorhaus? Need a service and some go-faster bits soon.

6 Western Springs road, right next door to the motomail outlet store.

[shafty]

Good post - it's the putting right that counts, bling on its way!

[discotex]

Kerry is a wicked guy. I love dealing with him as a person and there's no question he knows his shit but Motohaus may be a victim of it's success in this case.

They're so busy these days the risk of stuff slipping has increased since Kerry did all the work personally.

Quality control should stop that sort of thing happening as brakes and tyres are the difference between life and death. Personally I think a shop that specialises in tyres should do better than apologise. I'd want to know what systems they've put in place to prevent a recurrence.

[SlashWylde]

...we had a good yarn, he said he had a good talk with his mechanic, in 13 years nothing like this has ever happened.

Not true. Kerry fitted a new set of tyres put to my bike a year ago. Within a week the front axle nut had come loose and was about to fall off. Just wasn't tightened up enough. I re-torqued it and it's been fine ever since. He also fitted the rear tyre the wrong way round (for a directional type).

I tried calling him to bring it to bring it to his attention but couldn't get an answer so I sent him an email but never had a response.

Yes he is a good cunt, but he's rushed off his feet having to answer the phone all the time (or at least he was a year ago) and this leaves the door open for mistakes.

[Disco Dan]

Kerry is top bloke, have only great things to say about the guy.

Helped me out many a time, and I ride all the way from the north shore just to keep giving him my business.