The Story of How I Got Ripped Off!

[Team_Oatmeal_Pie]

For some odd reason I was cleaning up some paper work and found an old receipt from the largest Honda dealer ship in Portland, Oregon. This receipt mind you was from 1997. That was the year I purchased a super clean honda xr350. I hadnt ridden in about six years, and had told myself when I was finished with school and working I would get back into motorcycles. As a kid I had a minibike followed by a Yamaha DT100 and

DT 400 both 1976 models. So long story short I bought this great bike and didnt know squat about what the cost of repair and parts should cost. I paid $100 for a 17" IRC intermediate terrain tire and $44 for the labor to mount it. I couldnt believe how ridiculous high the pricing was. I have since found the part dept to be unreliable. The last trip in and I do mean my last I asked the part guy for some brake pads and then started to ask another question, parts guy says hold on I can only do one thing at a time, dont get worked up. I couldnt figuire out why he was such an ass, so I let him go get the pads, come back and then told him all I wanted was another set of pads. I mean I even bought a xr600 later from that shop and still couldnt get any service out of that place. Those in or around PDX know what the BOB I am talking about.

I gladly go to Terrys Cycle Center on SE Division an pay a little more than mail order prices and get it mounted while I wait.

I'd rather give the small local shop my cash any day. Vote with your dollars.

Just the fond memories of high dollar motorcycle repair and rip off.

Keep riding, dont let them stop you.

[Taffy]

my favourite, is when i was 16 i thought it would be "cool" to fit a flourescent headlamp cover to my FS1E yamaha moped. the headlamp was 6" but they sold me a cover that was 10". i went in 1-hour later & they just laughed & laughed!

oh when we were young & foolish hey!

Taffy

[sclaus]

I know about the BOB! I was in there about 3 months ago to pick-up a chest protector that I had purchased. The chest protector was bad from the factory, so they had one ordered for me.

Anyway...

My five-year-old son and I are browsing around, after I paid for the chest protector, and decided he was big enough to ride a PW50. So I made the deal on the little bike, paid for it, and per the sales guy, went to the parts department to outfit my son with boots, helmet, etc, and get a 20% discount on everything I would buy that day.

I had a pile of stuff on the counter and the line was pretty long behind me. The sales-lady and I were chatting about my son's new bike and gear when I realized that I had already paid for the chest protector. So I asked if I could get the 20% off that as well. She said sure, and then turned to the parts manager to ask her how to ring it up.

Here's where it gets good...

The parts manager looks at my son, all the stuff on the counter, and then at me and says, "No, we won't give you the discount on previous purchases!" I said, "Great, then I'd like to return this chest protector please...but don't put it back out on the rack because I'd like to purchase it again now." I was smiling, and half joking when I said it. With that, the parts manager got an evil look on her face and just stared at my son and me. If looks could kill...

So, to try and lessen the tension, I said (smiling), "Come-on, it's my five year-old son's first bike...it's a *great* day!" Her reply (in a *very* loud voice, so all in line could hear), "NOT BECAUSE OF CUSTOMERS LIKE YOU!"

A bit embarrassed, I replied with, "Well, because of that attitude, I'd like to not purchase any of this stuff, return the chest protector, and I'd like to return my son's new bike."

She said (again in a *very* loud voice), "GOOD, MAYBE NOW THE SALESMEN WON'T THINK THEY CAN GIVE AWAY THE STORE JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE PURCHASED A BIKE!"

Now I'm pissed! ? So I asked my original cashier to hold all of my stuff, and I went looking for the store manager. The store manager wasn't there but the acting manager apologized up-and-down after I explained what had happened. He walked me back to the counter, looked the parts manager right in the eyes, and so everyone could hear he told her to give me 25% off of my purchases and to ring it up personally!

She was obviously mad, but complied.

Since then, I have called and made an appointment with the General Manager (who happens to be the son-in-law of the BOB) and will spell this entire situation out to him as well.

Since then, I didn't give them a chance to make me a deal on my '01 WR last month, and certainly won't purchase my wife's Raptor there. The shop in Oregon City gave me a great deal, so I'll do my shopping there in the future.

I'll post the GM's comments after I meet with him...

Till then…AVOID THE BOB!

[Dave_B]

SCLAUS

That was a great story, I really enjoyed it. That situation is definetly a pet peeve of mine. Here we are, spending tons of hard earned dollars, we don't ask for a discount, but it is offered to us and then some jerk wants to make us feel bad for it!! Give me a break!! Boneheads like that need to realize that without customers like us, soon there job is history. How true it is that when one person has a bad experience lots of people hear about it. Myself I'll drive 20 minutes furthur for friendly and helpful service from people who know and care enough to serve the customer properly with integrity. Hats off to all the good businesses out there that we enjoy shopping at.

[aftershock]

I would laugh too Taffy, that's hilarious.

[Bill]

Taffy,

It would figure, even at the tender age of 16. You could get the 10" to work in place of the required 6" light.

We love ya buddy ?

Bill

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97 KDX220, 86 TTR225, 99 WR400f, WR timing, throttle stop trimmed, air box lid removed, White Bros head pipe, silencer and air filter. De-octopussed. Works frame guards and Thumper Rad Guards, Scotts steering damper. Odometer and headlight removed. Moose hand and mud guards. YZ stock tank, IMS seat and number plate. Renthal Jimmy Button "highs" and Renthal Soft half waffle grips. AMA, SETRA, Happy Ramblers MXC.

[This message has been edited by Bill (edited 04-14-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Bill (edited 04-14-2001).]

[tonymontana]

Originally posted by Taffy:

my favourite, is when i was 16 i thought it would be "cool" to fit a flourescent headlamp cover to my FS1E yamaha moped. the headlamp was 6" but they sold me a cover that was 10". i went in 1-hour later & they just laughed & laughed!

oh when we were young & foolish hey!

Taffy

taffy i know how you feel but every dog has his day.

when i was a kid i purchased a set of open stacks to fit the carb on my honda cb500 four. the owner of the shop told me that i would not have to re-jet the carbs ( and i believed him !) needless to say the bike would not run at all. when i tried to return them, i was told that as i had used them, he wouldn't take them back. we argued for a long yime but he was adamant. i left the shp feeling like a fool (that i was )

more than ten years later, i became the spare parts manager of one of the largest retail shops in melbourne. the sweetes day of my life was when one of my staff came to my office and asked me to see a new motorcycle parts importer who wanted to do business with us. when i came out, guess who the new parts importer was????????

yep Mr NO REFUND!. HA HA.

[berudd]

That is cool. Tell us more. Did he recognize you?

[BillyinColorado]

Good story, revenge is sweet, especially when justified.

So how much do the dealers make on parts, is it 40% markup from cost or what? I paid $35 recently for an old Suzuki carb needle valve and seat, that couldn't have cost more that $5 to produce. Im not against a reasonable profit, but some prices seem like downright thievery. I always wondered.

[tonymontana]

Tony, in the eighties,dealers would make 100 % on parts ( I don't know about the US ) but you have to consider that they have to write off a lot of "dead stock" every year. The total of whicdepends on how good an inventory system they had, and the person managing that department. Now I understand that the distributors want a bigger slice of the cake and also want to capture the "aftermarket parts" sales like sprockets brake pads chains etc, so the dealer gets a hell of a lot less markup on these items to keep the retail price competitive and he loses out on other items because they "yamaha kawasaki etc) want a biger share. sorry to go on but the dealer is not always the bad guy.

But i know how you feel as i just bought an 8mm bolt with a short shank that cant be more than mm long for my xjr and it cost me $40.00 for gods sake.

Damn the torpedoes full steam ahead

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Tony Montana

[John_H]

Funny how some dealers always seem to sell at retail and others usually sell a bit below.