I just read this thread. It explains a lot of why this country is the financial toilet it's in. Inability to do math, inability to understand a contract, reliance on finance & finance workers "word", a reliance on credit to have the "newest" & "best"........... Christ, it's a wonder we still have an economy.

 

I might get slammed on this one, but when you bought and took delivery of your new bike, you knew when the first payment was coming due, so therefore you should have had the money. I don't wait till I get a bill/invoice to start thinking about what payments I have to make. Just my .02

 

You know what they say, if I have to explain it to you then you wouldn't understand!

But. I will try and explain. I was never even sent a letter with my account number on it. I got it in a seperate enevlope today at the same time the bill came in a different enevlope. I guess I could have called Harley and asked how I pay for something I bought. Since they didn't have an account set up for me until the last few days they probably wouldn't be able to tell me how or where to pay. The letter that told me my account number was dated 9/4 but like I said didn't come until today.

No offense, but it always amazing me how many motorcycle riders will put up with this crap like you seem to be willing to do. It's not my job to chase after someone to give my money to. I also see this a lot with defects on bikes. We are expected to be "beta testers" for the companies, not just Harley, and they don't want to help or admit any mistakes. Cars, for the most part are not treated this way. Why are motorcycles purchases treated so differently. I think you would agree that we see a lot of problems that we have to live with that we shouldn't have to.

Sorry for being so long.....

 

my dealer ( bear hd in honesdale PA) would never let this happen!
Between me, roadkinglou and a bunch of guys that got bikes there no one never got that kind of thing happned to them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!
If im you, I would never deal with them again. Small details turn to big ones later.

 

EGGSACKLY!!! You did your part, now the dealer and HD Credit (by whatever name) should do theirs. Whoever let the paperwork sit on their desk should terminated. Not only did they inconvenience you, but they also cost the dealership. No excuses!!!!

 

OK - this is not limited to a particular dealer or financial institution. This happens alot. I had essentially the same experience when I bought our SUV. My trade payment was comming due and it still had not cleared. This is over 20 days.

I went to the dealer and informed him that he needed to clear the title that day or I would start legal proceedings. I was really pissed off. They did make it right, but it totally soured me on thier buying experience which was great up until then.

They have sence gone out of business.

The dealer's goal is to sell the trade without having to move his capital around to do it. In general they want that to occur within 10 days. But they may push it if they know the current lean has a 30 day grace period. The dealers know they are liable to your lean holder for the balance of the funds, but prefer to use the funds generated by the sale for pay off.

Financial Institutions have no leway. They are litterally bound by the rules defined in the contract you signed. Not only is this in general a good thing, but its the law.

And I agree, everytime I have financed any major item, I have been asked when I would like the payment (day of month) and been told when that first payment is due. You are totally responsible for making sure you live upto your end of the contract and the financial institution has the same obligation.

...gene

 

Gene, I agree but if they don't have my account set up I don't believe I have to chase them to set up an account so I can pay. I will admit I wasn't watching for the date but come on. I shouldn't have to do that.

Anyway, the whole deal was handled badly. I do like the dealership and will contine to shop there. I met the office manager during the open house 2 weeks ago. She is a total flake. She did tell me how much she loves her job. I guess that's because she doesn't do anything. I had to beg her to get me my plates. I got to think sales must be slow or they wouldn't have waited so long. Here in the Dallas area there are tons of bikes on the floors.

 

don't know about you, but when i bought my bike, there was an envelope included preaddressed to eaglemark. the salesman said that there was a possibility that i wouldn't get the statement before the first payment was due. if that happened, i could send a check in to them in the envelope with the year/make/model of the bike in the memo field.

got the same thing when i bought my house. payment may be due before receiving coupon book in the mail.

was explained to me all 5 times (the 4 bike loans i've had, and the house loan), that i was responsible for the payment even if i did not have the coupon book/statement yet.

incidentally, i received all statements and coupon book before payment was due so no issues anyway.

gotta agree with jinks. you knew when the payment was due, just because you didn't have the statement does not mitigate that obligation.

 

I had a similar problem and HD credit said they have a grace period so you should be ok. I had another problem with my dealer, I canceled the extended warranty plan after I modified my bike (about a month after purchase) and they never sent the paper work in to give me credit off my loan.

 

There's something to be said for a local credit union. When I bought my bike it took a phone call with just a few details about the bike like the price, model, etc...I rode my new RKC to the credit union to sign the papers. Afterwards my lending officer came outside shook my hand and congratulated me. Oh and the interest rate was about 6% less than the rate HD quoted me.