Never judge a book. I blew off a rough looking dude once when I sold sailboats in Miami. After the guy left a customer told me that was Mel Fisher.

 

Wife and I had the same experience at our local dealership. 3 times we walked in to buy a new bike and was completely ignored. Don't look like a Harley rider. We traveled 35 miles to buy one a week later. The original salesman is still there, living with the owners daughter! Still ignores me when I go in for warranty work. I never miss an opportunity to tell anyone who will listen on how I was treated including the owner. When I get ready for another bike, I'll go somewhere else!

 

One rule that we have in my store is not to judge the person by the way they look, usually the person that comes in looking all flashy has real bad credit and is a dead beat, the regular joe that comes in does not ask for much just treat them right, give them a good deal and dont lie. Our salespeople do not go on the floor untill they complete one week training and then they work with a sales-pro for another week then we monitor them and see their performance..We are not only looking for a sale today we are looking to establish a relationship for years to come. We sell 400-500 cars & trucks a month..

 

Looks like you have a well planned and executed business Big Al. That's why you sell what you do and others are crying the blues.

 

Lots of stories regarding this topic....

I had the same treatment on buying a new bike, Cash in hand and wouldn't talk to me. I wasn't wearing a suite and only own jeans. I bought from Houston, about 2-1/2 hours away, the next day.

I then wentback to thelocal dealer part numbers in hand for about $1100 in chrome. Engine Kit, Bag rails, so on. The said I was wasting my money trying to dress up a turd. Guess he didn't like baggers. Ordered my parts from a dealer in San Antonio about 130 miles away.

I never stepped foot in there again until they closed the doors and got a new owner. They are excellent now. Can't ask for better folks or service.

Many people around here complained about the jacks that ran the old store.

 

Yup... see it time and time again. I can not wait to ride up to my old dealer(who I bought a brand new '07 with cash from) and show them the 08 I bought from another dealer due to their lack of interest or customer service. Guess they figured I was out of the market or something... I even talked to the owner. He did nothing, so I bought nothing, from them that is...

I hope you make them feel like SHlT Hack! Make sure you all post the outcomes of these events, and maybe the rest of us can email these idiots just to let them know the story has been shared???

 

Good for you!... DETERMINATION. Reminds me of this guy that rides around town here on an old kick start shovel head with the jiffy stand on the right side. He too rides on one leg... don't know how, but he does!

 

This is the one thing Harley needs to work on......When I hit the service center at my local shop I'm usually met by a guy who will look at me and grunt. If not a grunt, then I get an attitude. No fun and it takes the ummph out of getting what I need. When I can, I do business with a small shop who knows me by name. I'm willing to pay a bit more for someone to say "Hi, how ya doin?" Of course, a postal clerk went postal on me the other day....so a-holes have no limits.

 

You go get 'em, Bobby!

I'm glad you had a good experience at Chattahoochee HD...so did I. I continue to get good treatment there, too. I wonder many times when I hear folks talking about the nightmares they have at their local dealers, I wonder if I'm just naive or don't realize what's really happening, but we sure seem to have a good bunch of folks in our local HD shop.

 

Hack you aren't going to change Daytona HD. If they can't get a few grand over list they are not interested in selling it. Every RUB in the country flies in and buys a bike from Daytona rides it around during bike week and ships it home.

I had 50k cash in my pocket and walked into a BMW dealer wearing ratty jeans and a paint splattered tee shirt. They wouldn't give me the time of day. As I walked out I told the salesman "your loss" holding up my roll.