Rons Cycle Supply of Brandon almost got me killed, and doesn't care... So far.

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

Wait.. why are you adding fuel stabilizer?

[ohgood]

I'm considering mothballing it for a while. I'm shopping for a cheap cage, and it's in really good condition (asthetically/mechanically) now. I'd rather keep it as close to 'new' as possible.
I can't see selling it, I wouldn't have a clean conscience after all of this, and it's spooked me a little.

Give me a few bright sunshiney Saturdays and I'll put it on the road again.

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

oh, ok. Well, if you do mothball it, be sure to run the engine for a good 5 minutes to get the stabilizer down into the carbs too. Or drain the carbs. Your choice. Pull the battery and put it on a battery tender too.

[RedShift]

Hey OhGood and Gisser.  Thanks for your last few posts.  You have made interesting reading and left us with a story that can happen to all of us.  Great topic, and hope it helps others in the future.   

[ledfingers]

to the devils advocate, while yes, he isn't making much money from a $40 tire change, he has a right to be frusterated at having to take time out of his day, but his frustration is never justified if it's unleashed on anyone, in any situation. i don't care if i'm going to make money from you or lose money from you, i'll treat you as well as you deserve, as a fellow human being. Treat me as less than such, and i'll treat you as less than such, but to yell and scream and throw a tantrum in someone else's place of business??!!?!?! i personally would ensure that the story spread around the area. it's not ohgood's fault, it's the mechanics fault. and don't jump on me for that, i've been wrenching without help since i was 13 and have worked in many shops, i've made mistakes just as everyone else does. i correct them and i move on. Ron should own up, ask his tech to be more careful and move on. personally, if a mistake is handled properly, i'm willing to try that company again. ron, as a business owner, should know if he treats the $40 customer right, they'll come back with $800 fixes, or $1000 fixes. Initial payment is irrelevant.

[scottpA_GS]

I work at a Suzuki dealer and have seen a few mistakes made by our techs ( it happens). They immediately are fixed at no charge and with a smile and an appology. I have even seen bikes that have been damaged by a customer (customer blames us) so our owner will still have a tech fix it free of charge  Some shop owners just dont have good customer service skills 

[pandy]

I work at a Suzuki dealer and have seen a few mistakes made by our techs ( it happens). They immediately are fixed at no charge and with a smile and an appology. I have even seen bikes that have been damaged by a customer (customer blames us) so our owner will still have a tech fix it free of charge  Some shop owners just dont have good customer service skills 

It's GREAT to hear from someone who DOES have mad customer-service skillz!!! 

[scottpA_GS]

thanks Pandy   

I think customer service is everything  When I ran my own Co. I treated every customer with the same respect that I would expect to get 

[ohgood]

I agree completely with treating others as you would like to be treated.

I would think a large dealer would be prepared to absorb the mechanics mistake(s), but if enough were made, the mechanic would likely be moved on. I'm not beating up on mechanics, machinists, ditch diggers, mailmen or women here. It's a business, not JUST to make money. If it were, the owner would sit in a tiny apartment all day trading stocks in the hopes of striking it rich on an hourly basis.

I like to think also that the KIND of folks that run motorcycle and bicycle shops really DO HAVE A PASSION for what they service and sell. Lets face it, there is ALOT more money in services than sales. With the internet cutting deeper and deeper into profit margins, it's the REPEAT services that can really add up.

I'll be taking the bike to Barneys of Brandon one day this week for a 'looksee' by one of their best. I rode it to work today after tinkering for a few hours yesterday evening. I just want to make sure it's 'safe' and nothing is glaring 'hey fix me idiot!'.




I want to specifically make a note that folks coming together like this forum proves it's NOT about the money. It's not about prestige (look up the real meaning, not the common misconception of the word, its a hoot) or having the latest go fast part(s). It's about noise, torque, wind and a little piece of freedom. I'll take mine minus the negative energy, thanks.

hmm, i'm rambling. You folks all should know I respect your opinions by now. And that I appreciate them. time to eat, something.

[pandy]

Well, ohgood, if one of my customer-service reps did to you what that owner did to you, I'd BBQ him. Heck, if the owner of our company did that to any of our customers, I'd BBQ *HIM*, too! 

Even if it was a good lesson to learn (to double-check work), you should never have had to learn it the way you did. And the bike shop added insult to injury through their treatment of you. I absolutely support good businesses with my hard-earned money, and I take my hard-earned money to someone else if it's not appreciated, as was certainly the case with you.

You and your Baby G deserve better than what you got, and I'm glad you shared your story.   

[Gisser]

to the devils advocate, while yes, he isn't making much money from a $40 tire change, he has a right to be frusterated at having to take time out of his day, but his frustration is never justified if it's unleashed on anyone, in any situation.

They don't call it "devil's advocacy" for nothing.  I don't have to justify the other side, just show there is another side.

i don't care if i'm going to make money from you or lose money from you, i'll treat you as well as you deserve, as a fellow human being. Treat me as less than such, and i'll treat you as less than such,

Shop owner Ron seems to have his own scorecard.  And under the circumstances it is audacious for the customer to demand that warranty service be delivered right to his doorstep--especially when the customer is still riding the bike to work.  This is the stuff you might miss in a one-sided narrative.  Luckily, we don't have to read between the lines because we have motive in the customer's own angry words:

The f%$king bolt heads are sticking 1/16 or better out. NOT EVEN SNUGGED. NO LOCTITE, NOTHING !

Those bastards.  That does push it over the edge.  Now it's not just an innocent mistake.  Now it's obvious it's all around shoddy workmanship.

Or, is it?  Really, as someone who's turned a wrench you'd know that you might leave bolts visibly loose until they're ready to be torqued down so they are not mistaken for bolts that are torqued down.  And you would know that you don't apply Loctite until the final installation because it would harden in the threads prematurely.  So, non sequitur....an innocent mistake is all it ever was.

You could say that the customer was actually unleashing his passive aggression on shop owner Ron by dictating--in a polite voice--the terms and conditions of the follow-up repair.

ron, as a business owner, should know if he treats the $40 customer right, they'll come back with $800 fixes, or $1000 fixes. Initial payment is irrelevant.

Maybe Ron isn't in it for the money after all. 

/devil's advocate 

[ohgood]

gisser, you pull off the advocate quite well. your way of thinking 'both sides' of a topic is interesting. blah blah blah, i'm out the door to work (arrrgh) so i'll just leave the compliment and move.

[ledfingers]

well played devil's advocacy. though while your nice little explanation of leaving the bolts 1/16"out is clever, it doesn't hold water when removed from it's d.a. heaven. As someone who's turned a wrench i know that a good mechanic would never send off something with bolts that need to be torqued loose. something less though still vaguely important, perhaps, but torque-required bolts would never leave my shop loose. they'd be checked at least twice. thats not good business, thats common sense.


pandy, i wish i could bbq one of my fellow baristas. i went in to my cafe on one of my off days to get food and my paycheck and with 3 other people in line the fool answered then spoke on his phone for a good minute and a half. i was appalled! you should come bbq him for me, he's a worthless employee but his parents know the owner so he's unschmearable.

[pandy]

pandy, i wish i could bbq one of my fellow baristas. i went in to my cafe on one of my off days to get food and my paycheck and with 3 other people in line the fool answered then spoke on his phone for a good minute and a half. i was appalled! you should come bbq him for me, he's a worthless employee but his parents know the owner so he's unschmearable.

Yeah, this sort of thing drives me crazy. I would have apologized for interrupting his phone call and asked if he were going to be much longer...cuz if he were, would he kindly have his supervisor help us. And then if that got no result, I'd simply have gone to another coffee house (perhaps permanently). We had one barista who was extremely surly and unpleasant, and that's absolutely NOT what *I* want to see first thing in the morning, so I voted with my dollars, and guess where I went.... right next door to another coffee house.  If I'm feeling particularly offended, I'll get a note off to corporate if I'm unhappy. In a majority of the cases, I get a satisfactory response, and I try them again. If I get no response, or if I get a response that doesn't satisfy me, then the company has generally lost a customer for life (like Flatout Motorcycles...remember them? Their "customer service" hung up on me when I called to inquire about the status of my order).

If Ron didn't want to come fix ohgood's bike, he simply should have said so. At least ohgood would know what the score was up front. And I don't for a moment buy the innocent-mistake theory. We absolutely all make mistakes, but some of these innocent mistakes can cost us our lives, so I expect double and triple checking of work done on my bike, car, anything that might kill me! I prefer that their innocent mistake doesn't make me their innocent victim! 

[ledfingers]

actually i just walked around the counter and made my drink and food then rang it up myself. i work there too. and while the bosses are really cool, they have an idiot streak when it comes to that kid so despite the fact that we recieve daily customer complaints on his service as well as from other employees, he remains. but he pissed off one of the owners yesturday right as i got to work, i think his days are finally numbered.

and i know, i sound preachy, but i would suggest going to coffee shops that don't have any corporate to write complaints to. not only so you're supporting locals, but because often times they have better coffee and depending on the location, theres generally far fewer regulations/restrictions on the employees (ie uniforms, scheduled breaks, blah blah blah) which makes it more pleasant to go to work, which means you get better service.

sorry for the off topic, lets just have a bbq. i'll people from my $h!t list, you all bring some from yours?

[pandy]

but he pissed off one of the owners yesturday right as i got to work, i think his days are finally numbered.

and i know, i sound preachy, but i would suggest going to coffee shops that don't have any corporate to write complaints to. not only so you're supporting locals, but because often times they have better coffee

My favorite coffee house is a local one that has only one branch...and the owner makes the coffee. The personal service is fantastic. If I can't go there, then Peet's is next...if I get desperate and start shaking from withdrawals, then I break down and go pose at *$....

[ledfingers]

glad to hear that. i'll have my own cafe within a year or two so its nice to see people not going to starbucks

[ohgood]

I'm happy to report I've gone through the bike again. I still have a 'bad taste in my mouth' but the bike is sorted proper. Did a few wheelies for ma nephew (woot) and I'm postponing any possibitity of sale indefinitly.

If the carbs freeze solid with sludge i'll slap on new ones. If the frame cracks, I'll put it up for FREEBIE parts to the good folks here.

Otherwise, I'll just keep riding it and enjoying cheap transportation.

[pandy]

Otherwise, I'll just keep riding it and enjoying cheap transportation.

Now you're talkin'! 

(Careful about sayin' freebies around here.... I'm surprised no one has started calling dibs yet!  )