Mt Eden Motorcycles: Workshop warning

**Mom** · 28th April 2010, 19:51

Originally Posted by Crasherfromwayback

As I said earlier dude...always head to the top if you're not getting the right answers/action. The owners do want to make things right and keep customers. Trust me.

Hope it gets sorted out for you.

I once rang the Sales Manager of Suzuki NZ because I was sus about some issues we were having with a dealer. Totally ignoring our concerns being top of the list and was actually what prompted the call, they had our money and the delivery date of the bike got pushed out months, then more months etc. Amazing how quickly ALL the problems went away after taking it higher up the food chain

**Headbanger** · 28th April 2010, 19:51

Originally Posted by zeocen

With all due respect, Robert, there are times where no matter how a customer tries they just aren't given the opportunity to take it to the top. You can ring and be put to a different person each time, all telling you the same thing. I've been in a similar disruption over the last four mouths regarding an electrical appliance. It took me utilising my job and hanging a civil Court case and Fair Go nipping at my heels to get the email of the big-wig.

Mate, did you not look for a poster? should have been on the wall somewhere.

**-df-** · 28th April 2010, 19:59

Originally Posted by Genie

I do not agree that he has been shafted at all.......and I was speaking in general terms regarding the how and whatevers' of complaining. Geez, like I mentioned, the hospital have posters up because they have realised not all people know how to complain.

Oh I know how to complain, thats why I rang them up and asked to speak to someone "THAT COULD SORT THE PROBLEM OUT" Did I just jump on the internet and complain without speaking to them? NO, did I try and sort the problem out before all this? YES. Did I then get fed up and decided to warn others about a potential problem so they wouldn't waste hard earned money? YES. Did I then notifiy people that it was actually caused by being put onto the wrong person? YES. If the problem gets sorted out fairly for both parties will I then start another thread stating that it was all a bad situation? If they would like me to YES.

oh, btw, calling someone a dimwitted peasant without knowing them sure shows me a hell of a lot about you...Good bye.

**Genie** · 28th April 2010, 20:39

btw...didn't call you a dimwitted peasant...was generalising and as often noted on this forum, one can't read sarcasm.

**Kittyhawk** · 28th April 2010, 20:41

What are the things which people should be aware of in looking for a bike mechanic? Im thinking about new riders here.

**Robert Taylor** · 28th April 2010, 20:53

Originally Posted by Headbanger

So,when a customer gets shafted, ends up out of money, broken bike, Blocked by the very people he dealt with within the company, he is still at fault?

No matter how biased you maybe, surly you have to acknowledge that everyone has a point where they feel communication has broken down to the point that all they can see to do is tell others that they had a shit experience. Or are they just forbidden from ever voicing their concerns forever as they didn't know enough to follow the secret system that apparently works in all circumstances.....

From the start of the thread to the very latest development its looked like he has had a case for not being happy, and your still grasping at straws to berate him for being an unhappy customer.

The full story still has to be established, did he actually get shafted? In fact if the clutch perch was changed as subsequently reccommended would it have cured the problem? Did he actually fry the clutch plates? Until that is all FIRMLY established then I think its still a little out of order.
That I have dared to challenge or for want of a better term scruinise what DF has been saying he is now quite snarky at me, in print. Is that same demeanour how he has been talking to the dealer? If so that just gets people hackles up. Trying to sort a problem over the phone is never entirely satisfactory and a better course of action would have been to go and visit the owner of the company and politely explain the whole scenario. Usually if you are polite ( and I havent seen a lot of politeness in this ) but also leave no doubt that you want a satisfactory resolution you will get a good result. But you do need to have all of your ducks in a row.

We ( CKT ) recently had an experience that I dont want to see repeated in a hurry. Back about September / October last year we sold a full cartridge kit and shock to a MX rider. We sprung it according to the information he gave us re his weight and height, speed etc. Over 3 months went by and the customer rang and spoke to my operations manager stating that he thought the suspension was undersprung. He was asked again what his weight was and it varied to what he originally stated. So okay no problem send the units down and we will respring, when you get them back you will need to do a sag check to confirm the settings are in the right window.
The job was subsequently done and several weeks again passed, then another phone call. ''Im not happy with it'' ...........''did you measure it up''....''No''................''why not, its essential to do so to ensure and its in the instructions that come with the suspension, and with oem suspension you have to do exactly the same thing''........oh but my mate said this and he said that''.......''Remind me again please what you current weight is''....''its such and such''.......................''Ok but thats nearly 10kg different to what you told us last time, how can we set it up accurately if the weight you give us is incorrect?''.......................''Ive never been that weight''

By now the alarm bells are seriously ringing and then it leads to ''I want a full refund'' ......................''No sorry we dont do that, we sort it out, youve had 4 months use out of it and didnt report a problem until after 3 months use''.....................''I want my money back''

''No we will sort it out for you, let me know where you ride, when you can be there and we will send Robert up armed with springs and ( if neccessary valving shims ) and he will stay there and set it up until you are completely happy. Loads of people are using this suspension including several National champions and Rinaldi Yamaha at world GP level''........................then in the face of that the customer starts putting up more barriers, ''oh its difficult for me to get there and its time away, blah blah blah''

End of conversation and he then subsequently rings my business partner, going through the whole scenarios and again we offer that I am sent to a location and a time that totally suits him and we will sort it out. Further to that it was 2 weeks away before we had some Swedish motox suspension engineers visit so it was offered that they would be able to assist in sorting it out / personalising it for him. I THOUGHT THAT WAS A PRETTY AMAZING OFFER.

But alas no, we offered to bend over even more than backwards and that was not good enough. ''Im going to advertise the suspension on Trade me and tell everyone its crap'' And this extremely nasty lowlife did exactly that. We contacted Trade Me and had it removed. He then threatened to print derogatory leaflets and hand them out at the Auckland MotoX champs, the same meeting that our Swedish engineers were going to attend.

I believe that this extremely nasty lowlife would have made good on that threat so subsequently my business partner relented and gave him his purchase price back despite 4 months use and despite his inability to provide his true weight etc etc.

Subsequently we hear that he was gloating in amongst the MX paddock how he got his money back for secondhand suspension.

As an adjunct to this we have subsequently resold the suspension units and the new owner is very happy with it. Also the two main classes at the Auckland MX champs were won by Ohlins suspended bikes.

I have never spoken directly to or met this nasty piece of work but one day I hope to. We subsequently have learnt that he has pretty much acted in the same way with an expensive brand of European car that he purchased and with various other things. He owns some sort of business himself and I really hope that what they say about karma is 100% correct.

So ok this is an extreme example of the dark side of human nature and the issue between DF and his dealer is very mild in comparison. Did we deserve this? I think not, given that we were given totally inaccurate information and that we were prepared at considerable cost to travel and sort out the issue he had. I WOULD HAVE ALSO BEEN ARMED WITH A SET OF BATHROOM SCALES!

How much potential future business have we lost as a result of poison falling out of this bastards mouth to anyone who would listen? Fortunately this is a one off, 99% of our customers are very reasonable people to deal with, we treat them with respect ( as we did with this guy ) and 99% of the time we get respect back.

Such an event as this must not allow one to be mistrusting of everyone else we deal with, but it does lead to even more prudence. Dealers should never have to endure people like this and if you knew in advance youd just refuse to sell them anything and do what has been indirectly suggested on here, BLACKLIST THEM. But you have to have all of your facts watertight first....................

**bogan** · 28th April 2010, 20:58

well one thing seems to stand out to me, he gave them the oppourtunity to put it right which they didn't due to a miscommunication or whatever, how many people here would have rung up again after that? I know i wouldn't then instead of just taking it up the ass (as it would have been from his perspective) he warns others off the shop, because he did that they are trying to rectify the situation, seems to me it was worth starting this thread.

**Headbanger** · 28th April 2010, 20:58

Seriously, I'm not reading any of that.

**bogan** · 28th April 2010, 20:58

ahh fuck, double post, and yeh, I agree with headbanger, TLDR

**bogan** · 28th April 2010, 20:58

aaahhhhgrrrrr triple post even

**Smifffy** · 28th April 2010, 21:09

Originally Posted by Kittyhawk

What are the things which people should be aware of in looking for a bike mechanic? Im thinking about new riders here.

POSTERS!

Lots of em, like in hospitals.

**325rocket** · 28th April 2010, 21:14

Originally Posted by Robert Taylor

I have never spoken directly to or met this nasty piece of work

yet you seem 100% sure you have both sides of the story, which you point out is essential to form an opinion. i'm not trying to be a prick here but you do seem a little one sided when it comes to these anti dealer posts. i agree you should never slag a dealer based on a one off experience and i actually prefer to post about positive dealings but these posts always turn into 'us and them'
and you seem to always be us.

**Robert Taylor** · 28th April 2010, 21:21

Originally Posted by bogan

aaahhhhgrrrrr triple post even

I read it a little differently and this is subject to whether the diagnosis is correct ( in fairness ) They subsequently wanted to fit a CORRECT lever perch, obviously this has to be paid for. He declined, maybe because of further cost. But DF may wish to clarify that. $600 had just been spent on the clutch and only expert analysis of the replaced components will determine whether it was justified or not. If expenditure had totalled say $60 to that point the response may well have been different.
Cost is always an over-riding determining factor in how peoples demeanours change, irrespective of whether the cost was justified.