Mt Eden Motorcycles - Not going there again

[sidecar bob]

Lol, yeah I was going to mention this earlier, but didnt, my old man had his new holden ute serviced by the holden dealership in his town, and it came back with the oil overfilled. He rang to see about them putting it right. The snot nosed 'mechanic' said "yeah it will just burn off". My old man was "Like fuck it will, cos I'm coming in tomorrow and you'll be draining it and refilling it to the correct level."

Yep, the room for error in this job is virtually nil. People are less aware when the pilot of the 747 they are travelling in makes a wee fuck up than their mechanic, & every bastard is an expert.
Ive had idiots phone me the day after a service to say the automatic transmission is hugely overfilled, i ask, "are you checking it with the engine running"? No?. Well youre a munter then arent you.

[Smifffy]

Then why are there 2 marks on the dipstick and a note in the manual to ensure that the level is between them?

[Smifffy]

Yep, the room for error in this job is virtually nil. People are less aware when the pilot of the 747 they are travelling in makes a wee fuck up than their mechanic, & every bastard is an expert.
Ive had idiots phone me the day after a service to say the automatic transmission is hugely overfilled, i ask, "are you checking it with the engine running"? No?. Well youre a munter then arent you.

From the news it seems when the 747 pilot fucks up, he also blames his mechanic.

And again the perception thing can come into it. The pilot may nearly ditch the thing into the Pacific, and the passengers are oblivious, but the hosty serves up a cold Mrs Mac pie masquerading as "Beef Stroganoff encased in pastry" and the same passenger might not fly on that airline by choice for a good long while.

[Katman]

I've seen it from both sides of the fence.

When I first got into motorcycling I was horrified at the "my shit don't stink" manner displayed at some bike shops.

Since I've been involved in the motorcycle industry from the other side I've been dismayed by the number of motorcyclists who display an arrogance that has to be seen to be believed.

I treat every one of my customers the way that I would like to be treated - but I also expect my customers to treat me the way they would like to be treated.

[kwaka_crasher]

II treat every one of my customers the way that I would like to be treated - but I also expect my customers to treat me the way they would like to be treated.

I'm down with that, so long as you're not a sadomasochist.

[Hiflyer]

Couldn't be bothered quoting everyone who said "this shows how businesses view their customers blah blah blah blah"


Shut the fuck up.

I bet that most of you have sat behind whatever desk you work at or whatever, and whenever a customer comes through not knowing shit and needing help, you would have become angry at the incompetent customer. But when the tables are turned you expect to be treated nicely etc.

It's human nature to get pissed off at people that aren't as skilled at what you do every day for a job. So long as you get the goods in hand, for a good price and they are nice to you face to face, what's the problem?

If you go overseas for your goods you'll have some yank processing your payment on eBay calling you a twat behind your back cos you entered in some details wrong

Get over it. It happens.

[Robert Taylor]

Sorry Quasi, you got the part about me tarnishing your business 100% wrong. You guys are successfully tarnishing your own businesses by carping on about all the bad customers eg lets have a consumer show about all the bad customers (there must be sooo many if we're going to start a show about it) etc etc etc.
I'm doing the decent thing and pointing it out because it appears you guys are oblivious.

Sure he should take it up with the manager of the place as a first step, no question, but he didn't, he posted here. Politely pointing this out to him is all that was required - then leave it to DMNTD to sort.

I've had my say, I'm out of here you guys can either listen to customer feedback or not. It's your businesses and your choices. God knows some companies spend millions researching how their customers feel. You get it for free and you get pissed off. Go figure.

The reality is Noel that 95% or more of our customers are great, sincere people, as I would hope 95% of motorcycle dealers are. As in anything its that troublesome 5% or less that captivate a disproportionate amount of your time, the natural reaction is ''why didnt I just tell them to go elsewhere?''

We had a situation very recently that could have and nearly did develop into something like Quasi had to suffer. It was a real insight into human nature and had it gone to a small claims court or other form of litigation the guy would have lost big time. Im semi tempted to post the whole thing as it will blow people away. Things like this cant get you down and you focus on the fact of providing excellent service and making customers very happy. Thats what we do.

Again, I object to the way this customer went about it. Irrespective of who did what and who said what.....

[Robert Taylor]

Dunno about that Robert, doubt you'd like my language while I drink. It's the same as I often use here!

You havent seen the complete character change I go through when I drink then!!!!

[Robert Taylor]

I'm awesome when I'm drinking.

I think I'm funny and I know everything.


So, Its just like when I'm sober, except louder, less coherent, and it always ends badly.

It sounds then like a good drinking team. Only Im a bit of a panzy because I drink merlot.

[Robert Taylor]

That pisses me off too. Had one of the "compulsory" services on a new SV1000 done at a dealer workshop not long ago, and when picking it up noticed the oil was way overfilled. Nothing but solid oil in the sight glass straight after shutting the engine off with the bike vertical.

Checked a couple of times at the side of the road to make sure then it rode back into the workshop. The foreman came over for a look and proceeded to lean the bike waaaay over until we could finally see the top of the oil in the sight glass.

He then without blinking an eye told me I just need to hold the bike level to take the reading properly and sent me on my way again.

I have come to realise that the lot in the industry couldn't give a shit and that they treat us like we are stupid.

Talk about it online... you bet I fucking will.

Yes that is unacceptable. I worked in a big dealershipn in London for many years, before I made it to service management I worked with some right idiots and there are more of them over there! Ive seen salesmen fob off customers who noticed similiar scenarios. I also recall saving a fellow ''mechanics'' skin once with a 6 cylinder CBX he had just ''serviced'' The oil drain bolt was only hanging in by 2 threads....
There are a lot of very good mechanics in NZ, also rather a lot that I wouldnt entrust to repair my lawnmower

[Owl]

Has anyone in the bike industry ever linked "Hard to please" customers with any particular occupation? In my industry it's school teachers and air-force personel, though the later seems to be getting better.

[sidecar bob]

Has anyone in the bike industry ever linked "Hard to please" customers with any particular occupation? In my industry it's school teachers and air-force personel, though the later seems to be getting better.

Architects & draughtsmen. Want everything for nothing pedantic broken arsed pretenders.

[Motu]

Has anyone in the bike industry ever linked "Hard to please" customers with any particular occupation? .

IT workers - self professed experts on everything.

[Robert Taylor]

Has anyone in the bike industry ever linked "Hard to please" customers with any particular occupation? In my industry it's school teachers and air-force personel, though the later seems to be getting better.

Perhaps because the once proud RNZAF we had was amputated of several limbs to suit the stupid pacifist ideals of that very ugly bitch we had running the country for 9 long years....

[Robert Taylor]

IT workers - self professed experts on everything.

BTW Im ex RNZAF and dont regret the skills and discipline instilled one iota. My father was ex RNZAF on attachment to the RAF during WW2. We buried him in his full dress officers uniform so there is a real affinity to that service, to the same level as there is utter hatred for what Helen Clark did.