issues with dfm

[AXXKicker]

this letter and email i just fired off should explain it all.

i'm obviously in a mood.

Hello.

My name is Brett R. Cxxxxx and I have been a customer at Daytona Fun Machines for more than 10 years now. During that time, I have had 3 bikes serviced there at your dealership, along with multiple parts purchases. In fact, much of my current riding gear was also purchased there.

After some shady dealings with another dealership in town, I have brought my motorcycles to DFM exclusively, and been generally very happy with the service and pricing- even going so far as to recommend DFM as a good place to purchase a used bike, as one friend did in 2000 and another in 2004.

2 years ago, I began a restoration project on my 1994 Honda Magna. The frame was badly scratched and some parts had been vandalized, so I seized the opportunity to disassemble the bike for painting / finishing and part collection.

During this time, I contacted your dealership to ensure that working on an engine that was no longer in a frame wouldn't pose an issue- I was told that it would not.

Career changes have forced me from the area, so my work on the bike has been sporadic, to say the least.

A recent lull at work has allowed me the leeway needed to get this project moving once again.

Calling today to find out the logistics of moving the engine and a price quote left me more than irate: I was told by a service representative (via a direct quote by your service manager) that he wouldn’t work on a bike older than 10 years old.

I am writing this letter to ensure you and your service manager that you needn't worry about me bringing any of my motorcycles back to your dealership to clog your busy shop with my antiquated equipment.

Rather than spend a penny at your parts counter for equipment that is obviously flawed due to age, I will make my purchases online.

Instead of wasting the busy time of your sales staff, I'll recommend that fellow riders find other sources for used and new motorcycles and apparel.

And rather than recommend your shop as I have in the past to fellow riders on cbr1100xx.org, DaytonaSportBikeRiders.com, and a cruiser forum I belong to, I will instead be more than happy to let them know about your service manager’s moratorium on machinery older than 10 years.

Please let me know if this type of customer treatment is typical for your location, which I’m sure is a fact that American Honda would be interested in hearing about.

Thank you for your time.

Brett R. Cxxxxx, MAS
Aviation Security Specialist


man. it felt good to write that.[/b]

[Zeb]

This is not the first time I have heard of this problem with the local "dealers" I have the names and numbers of a couple of local shops that are good at what they do and are more than willing to wrench on bikes that are older. P/M or send me an e-mail and I will give you the info. ( I will not post them on here as that is free advertising) Thanks. Z

[Kris]

until you are a mechanic you will not understand why they do this, i dont blame them to much. This is the luxury that a dealership has because they are always getting new customers. From my experiance working on bikes, people with older bike on an average usually take forever to pay there bills, wont come pick up the bike, will hehaw over the price, and parts are just a pain in the ass to get, and lastly some people have complete neglected the bikes to the point of rediculousness and give you the phrase, "cant you just get it to work" and when it doesnt they do nothing but bitch complain and so forth. I do think if you are a loyal customer you should get "special treatment" on some things and being that sounded like you were pritty loyal i would have bent this rule.

[Zeb]

This is why I am glad that I can do ALL of MY OWN repairs. Most of the "Motorcycle Technicians" in these shops were just reaching puberty when Honda put out the 900RR or Kawasaki released the mighty ZX11. No wonder they won't work on anything that old. Z

[AXXKicker]

if my bike was barely running or if it was rare and unheard of, i could *almost* understand it.

honda sold the EXACT SAME BIKE right up until 2002 or 2003. the only changes were paintjobs.

i've rebuilt a couple of bikes, but always left the engine stuff to the "pros". it seems that i've put my faith in the wrong places.

[Buellbomb]

This is why I am glad that I can do ALL of MY OWN repairs. Most of the "Motorcycle Technicians" in these shops were just reaching puberty when Honda put out the 900RR or Kawasaki released the mighty ZX11. No wonder they won't work on anything that old. Z

Good point, I can screw my own bike up, not pay someone else to do it. :D

[coldduc]

I'm sure I'll regret weighing in on this one but............. :roll:
the only tricky thing about working on older bikes is taking the time to estimate and inform the customers that own them. If you jump real DEEP in an older bike repair without really checking the customer's priorities, and budgets, it's the shop/manager/mechanics own fault, if it's hard to get paid, or customers freak out.
You surely realize that your bike is worth the effort to restore to you, but to 98% of the other Magna owners out there a major engine tune, tires, and suspension refresh bill will make them park the bike in the garage, 'til another time & eventually forgotten. I expect that's a big part of the rationale behind DFM's policy ( and a trend in our business right now) & one I obviously don't agree with. They simply don't put the time & effort into their service departments that most independants do.
What makes me think I know anything about this subject? We've been working on older motorcycles the entire 22 years we've been open, including the periods when we handled new Ducati, Moto Guzzi, MuZ and Moto Morini Motorcycles. At any point an time we could have a new Ducati in work next to a '70s Japanese or 60's British bike. It's all in how you handle your business and your clients.
:wink:
Tony