I am finding over the many years of owning and being in the Harley community, more and more Americans are becoming "victims" of these s*** shotty Harley dealerships. Just research this site alone and see how many people have had "issues" with their Harley dealerships. Even the simpliest of things go wrong. It's countless. I wish more people would put it to Harley directly and not let up. They need to be held accountable. Harley has a serious, serious lack in the quality and interigerity of it's mechanics and service personnel. Not to mention, form the lowest manager to the dealerships owner all need to take classes in charm school. The general attitude for service personnel, sucks! We are loyal customer's. This is how they treat the people that keep them in business. It's time to put a stop to it.

 

1,800 miles in a year?!?! I say good thing there was a problem and you had to go back and forth to the dealer or you might have less than a 100 miles on it.

That is why I bought a service manual. I do all my own maintanance. If I have a problem I have a local indy I can go to. I know you have no choice on warrenty work. I avoid the dealer like the plague.

 

I fully agree HD needs to start paying attention to the customer service we receive after the sale......They are hanging by a thread right now and only us in the buying public can save them.

I strongly suspect many dealers are hurting and many of them are resorting to every penny pinching tactic they can throw at us. It's also a sad fact that many dealers secretly aren't 'into' the Harley lifestyle, they are simply businessmen looking to turn a profit. ......I've often sensed they secretly look as us as fools that are addicted to HD like typical drug addicts.

 

there are crooks in every business. GM and Ford were happy about their dealers business practices for years until the Japs came in. Then they found out that they could not control the dealers and the same thing that happened to you would happen to the buyers of their cars. Problem is, the people who suffer the most have little to do with it. Harley makes a nice bike, the people who make it try very hard to do their job, and the dealer screws everyone. What is really wrong here is the model of the independant dealers. Dealers should be employees of harley and dedicated to serving the customers so they will return. I have had bad experiences with many dearers of many brands and it's always the same old sorry story.

 

It has truly come to epidemic preportions for Harley owners. Year after year Harley owners are used and abused by the dealerships. Harley corporate has got to know the reputation of their dealerships are atrocious. It leaves us with no choice but to walk away from having anything to do with Harley Davidson, especially in states like Florida where the applicants they hire are sub-standard. We pay the price for their low standards. It figures.

 

man I feel your pain, sounds like a royal pita. I do have a question tho that I am curious about, if anyone here can answer for me.

in post # 9, the OP says:
"I find out from a non-Harley custom shop and $70.00 later, the rear wheel was out of alignment and the belt was way too tight."

I understand the belt too tight thing, but not sure I understand how it can be out of alignment? The tension adjuster works off of 2 cams, one on each side of the axle, that are syncronized (for lack of a better word) that in theory should keep everything lined up... wondering if now this is not the case? I remember this being one of those little things I was happy about the 1st time I pulled the wheel of the roadglide vs my roadstar, which has independent adjusters on each side and is a manual process to line the back wheel up.


edit: o yeah I will also add that I would not buy free air from Rossmeyer, not that he would ever GIVE air away...

 

Those axle nut cams are great, but they only align the wheel to the swingarm.

If the belt is too tight and/or out of alignment, it makes an odd noise as the cogs on the belt are forced into and pulled out of the cogs on the pulley. The belt must run exactly parallel to the pulley and centered on the pulley.

 

Exactly. They said it was too much off, allowed by law. It was out 1/8 of an inch, you are only allowed no more than 1/16th of an inch, and the belt was extremely tight to boot. Dealerships like these 2 have been getting away with s*** shotty business practices for years. The 2nd dealer just recently replaced the entire service department with a whole new crew. Too bad they are worse then the last one. It's no wonder why so many are taking those AMI/Wyo Tech mechanic classes to do their own maintenance. The only problem is, you "must" take it back to a dealer while it's still under warranty. That's where they've got you. I'm running out of options as far as having any dealer I can trust to fix any future problems. Hence, this is where I will no longer buy another Harley. Big Dog is looking better and better everyday! And hell, they even take Harley trade ins!

 

I have decided that it is probably best if I just traded in my 2008 Harley Road Glide for a non-Harley, maybe a new Big Dog. I am looking around this week. I can no longer stand the idea that I may some day have to bring it in for some mechanical reason and have to deal with the typical Florida Harley dealership attitude and incompetence. I am burnt out over it. I see no other choice. I truly feel Harley Davidson doesn't care, and they don't. To them I'm just 1 customer, I don't count when It really comes down to it. What else can I do? It is finished.

 

I'm sorry you have to go through this with a brand new bike. Like you, I've sworn I'd never own another Harley Davidson many times in the past. My latest is an 09 Ultra. Seems like there's always an issue. My HK radio is a piece of junk. After about halfway up on volume, it doesn't get any louder, except for a brief second when I depress the volume switch. It "spikes" in loudness, then returns to the plateau level around halfway. All the diagnosics say everything is OK...but the diagnostics only determine if the switches and AVC are working. After taking it to the dealer and hearing the fabled "they all do that" B.S., I contacted the Harley "customer service" line. They in turn contacted the dealership, who echoed their "they all do that, it's normal" B.S.
The customer service rep just repeated that same old B.S. to me. I am totally convinced that the dealerships are not good for anything more than a simple oil change. Beyond that, you are gambling...and I'd even check after the oil change! This is my fourth Harley, and likely my last new one. The QC has peaked and is now on the down slope in my opinion. Blame UAW over-priced labor; blame the lack of stringent QC, or blame anything you want, but it's true. BTW...I'm solving my radio issue by throwing money at the problem...Biketronics amp and speaker upgrade, and possibly a new radio as well.
Good luck! If it's any consolation, you are not alone. I would expect more support from the dealership on a $25K motorcycle...but shoddy workmanship combined with marginal customer service is a bad combo for the consumer.