Red Baron Rant

**Antallica** · 31st January 2005, 06:56

Just realised my Bandit has/had a few RB stickers on it. Eeww now it feels all wrong, it could be the lack of oil due to broken thread... but hey.

**DEATH_INC.** · 31st January 2005, 07:22

Yeh,I hafta admit I haven't had very good service from them either,and they offered me f-all of a trade in for the 12 too (about $1500 less than holeshot gave me for it with another 3-4000k's).
I'm gonna e-mail a link to my mate who works for the owner of RB in Aus(he also owns the one here)so he knows what's been happening over here....

**Wonko** · 31st January 2005, 19:48

Been into RB with a female friend who was kinda looking at getting a 150. Sales man came up to us and talked to me first - that's said I had a 145, but that we were looking at 150s for my friend. Salesman was ended up trying to sell me a 250, and my friend was ignored. Thing was, at that stage she knew more about bikes than I did, and could have been easily talked into buying a bike(was a toss up between bike and OE).

**cowpoos** · 1st February 2005, 20:55

THIS IS THE REPLEY I GOT FROM RB WHEN I SENT THEM THIS LINK...

Some parts enquiries also may not get answered occasionally. When we are doing them all day long on the phone, and some can be very involved lists of engine or cycle parts, and serving the counter, some might get missed. We do try our best to get back to most people as soon as we possibly can.

Cheers,
Peter Mossong,

Parts and Accessories
RED BARON MOTORCYCLES

299-305 Great North Road

GREY LYNN

AUCKLAND

-----Original Message-----
From: Ryan Withers [mailto:cowpoos@xtra.co.nz]
Sent: Friday, 28 January 2005 9:48 p.m.
To: Parts
Subject: what your customers are say about you

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=8343

**cowpoos** · 1st February 2005, 20:58

BUGGAR LEFT HALF THE MESSAGE OUT.....ERM.....SH*T....MMMM

here is the WHOLE reply from them....errrr....

Hi Ryan. Thanks for the message. There is certainly a lot of uninformed rubbish out there!

Fair enough, there probably are a few people with a genuine gripe, but many never get back to us - just blast off to their mates etc.
This also applies to most shops, not just us!

Some parts enquiries also may not get answered occasionally. When we are doing them all day long on the phone, and some can be very involved lists of engine or cycle parts, and serving the counter, some might get missed. We do try our best to get back to most people as soon as we possibly can.

Cheers,
Peter Mossong,

Parts and Accessories
RED BARON MOTORCYCLES

299-305 Great North Road

GREY LYNN

AUCKLAND

-----Original Message-----
From: Ryan Withers [mailto:cowpoos@xtra.co.nz]
Sent: Friday, 28 January 2005 9:48 p.m.
To: Parts
Subject: what your customers are say about you

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=8343

**Two Smoker** · 1st February 2005, 21:08

Uninformed BS aye???? Most of this was actual experiences... not just to do with parts....

Doesnt give me anymore reason to go to them.... See how they replied to that??? You would think they would be trying to improve and make themselves better??? Ofcourse Critisim is the best thing for when you want to improve....

**gav** · 1st February 2005, 21:23

Yip, don't expect any great improvement in the future judging by that reply, very poor.

Of course, with less customers and less enquiries, they may be more efficient as they won't be on the phone all day !

**ajturbo** · 1st February 2005, 21:29

Originally Posted by Wonko

Been into RB with a female friend who was kinda looking at getting a 150. Sales man came up to us and talked to me first - that's said I had a 145, but that we were looking at 150s for my friend. Salesman was ended up trying to sell me a 250, and my friend was ignored. Thing was, at that stage she knew more about bikes than I did, and could have been easily talked into buying a bike(was a toss up between bike and OE).

funny that ..
when i was up looking after Riff Raff, we went around to a bike shop (cannot remember the name of the place..) and Riff is looking for a monster, the sales rep came up to me first... i pionted to Riff.. and she sat down with him and discusted details colour etc... but he kept on looking at me... ( i was walking around trying to keep out of it.. but i was interesed all the same..)
i did ask a couple of Questions .. but it was all Riff's stage!... i think the guy got the hint in the end......

what do you think Riff Raff?

**Motu** · 1st February 2005, 22:25

I work with the automotive parts industry all day long - and it's all about imports,not just a few odd models.When I ring I have model,year and chassis number ready - 90% of the time we don't even say much....''G'day mate (they have caller ID so know who I am) I wan't a cambelt,tensioner and water pump for a 92 Corolla with a 4A FE''....''That shouldn't be a problem,on a one hour?'' Sometimes they may have to look up something while I'm on the phone,rarely they say they'll get back to me,and they always do.The auto parts industry is very efficient,dealer or aftermarket...most inquiries are dealt with in a few seconds,if we have problems they are sorted in a matter of minutes.I don't see why the motorcycle parts industry can't be as efficient - to me it's particually galling as I know how it should happen.

The ONLY motorcycle dealer who works to the efficiency of the car dealers is Malcolm Kirkby at Econohonda - I tell him what I want,he says that shouldn't be a problem and I see it the next day.Why,why why can't the motorcycle parts people get their skill levels up to standard - perhaps they should spend a week with Malcolm and learn how it's supposed to go.

**gav** · 1st February 2005, 22:44

And your right its not that hard, until you get some odd bods. I had a 86 VFR750, comes standard with a 16" front wheel. I happened to have a 1990 CBR600 front rim, 17" surplus to requirements, and guess what, it fitted like a glove, same size axle, same speedo box, spacers etc, VFR discs bolted straight onto rim. So it meant I could run better rubber, but when I sold it, I'm damn sure its gonna puzzle someone somewhere. "86 VFR750, front tyre, yeah gotta 16" here" "No its a 17" oh, must be a 88 model, hang on says 86 here, WTF.
I worked in Honda parts for about 4 years, can be a shit of a job at times, especially when you ask for year, chassis number, engine number etc. "gotta XR250, mate, want one of those thingys, you know?" "Its a red one, mate, fer fawks sake,"
But yeah, I've even emailed Casbolts the parts number for bits, and still managed to get dicked around, "oh yeah, sorry deleted that msg, umm, what was it again?"

**Mr Skid** · 2nd February 2005, 00:00

Originally Posted by Two Smoker

Uninformed BS aye???? Most of this was actual experiences... not just to do with parts....

Doesnt give me anymore reason to go to them.... See how they replied to that??? You would think they would be trying to improve and make themselves better??? Ofcourse Critisim is the best thing for when you want to improve....

Too true. I would have thought after being confronted with a thread like this, that it might have made sense to signup and attempt to address some of the criticisms.

Off on a tangent, I can think of a few places that contribute to KB and/or the greater NZ m/c community and/or sponsor riders - names such as Colemans Suzuki, Motohaus, Wellington Motorcycles, and Motomart come to mind (Did I miss anyone?)

I make an effort to support shops such as the above, as they contribute to the m/c community, but I am less inclined to spend my money at places that don't appear to be putting anything back into the community.

I can't recall any contributions to the community by Red Baron. If this is a case of selective memory, could someone set me straight?

**Dodgyiti** · 2nd February 2005, 07:50

Yes, you missed out AMPS, who are hot onto making people happy
Now if I could only get last years XB9R for under 17k.......

**Yokai** · 2nd February 2005, 09:02

I've had nothing but good sales from them, but service has been a bit dodgy...

1 - Dallas is great for getting me appointments.
2 - Mike has done good work on the service front (as far as I can tell cos I'm soooooo technical)
3 - Parts - I'm still waiting for a call back on a Givi screen, a new set of Igblock, Lockbox and Tank cap and a new set of rear springs... 2months and still waiting.

I'm looking for someone new, because:

a) For a slipping clutch at the start of december, I had to wait until after Christmas to get my little Magamiko back.... TOOO long without a bike.
b) I'm worried about the little things that have started to go ... um... weird (Exhaust bolt vibrating loose??!?? should that happen?)
c) I want to get friendly with someone that will tell me what they are doing and why and how long... I've heard that Mt Eden are Ok... I really do want a Yamaha dealer though (as I have a Jap/Aus yamaha, not common here)

**vifferman** · 2nd February 2005, 09:39

My experience with Red Baron isn't current, but that's because I've had little to do with them since then.

Firstly, I got an appraisal for my VF500 from them, as a potential trade-in. They basically said it was a piece of shit and wouldn't consider it. Sold it privately for $1800, and could've got $2500 for it.

I bought my VFR750 from them - they were apparently selling it on behalf of a customer. It was WAAY overpriced, so I waited till the price dropped from outrageous to just ridiculous.

After taking delivery, I discovered that this bike which had been offered for sale as "NZ New" on the tag, was actually a Jap import! So, I pointed this out to them, and they said it wasn't their fault, they knew nothing about it. But, to give them credit, they said, "What do you want to do? Do you want your money back?" They could really have been in the shit for misrepresentation if I'd shopped them for it. I decided to keep it, and they gave me a free disk lock or somesuch.

Had a few WOFs and a bit of work done by them, but it was too much effort, so after the couple of people who worked there that I was semi-friendly with left, I stopped going there. I've been in a couple of times to look around, but that's it.

I really value good service, honesty and being treated fairly. As a result, there are a couple of shops that have lost my trade, others that I will only shop at if they've got summat I need that I can't get elsewhere, and some that I make a point of giving my business to, even if they're dearer or it's more inconvenient (further to go) to use them.