I hate taking it to them, I have tried different dealers and always the same.

Need to folow behind them and rework to my standards
Always experience a new scuff of light scratch - that requires polishing

I say something about it everytime, but they don't get it. So in turn I do most all of the work myself. It suck you pay so much per hour and they treat your baby that way.

There is no love or trust between me and the dealer.

 

Just an observation...the common denominator in all of your bad dealer experiences with multiple dealers, rather auto or Harley, is YOU. Something to think about...

 

I do not use the dealer. First is they left scratches on the saddlebag lids. Second, I asked them about the noise my compensator was making. They said is was fine, they all sound like that. I decided it was not, opened the cover and found it was not tight. I torqued it back to spec and now it sounds fine.

They do it so much they get casual with customers bikes. When mine was a new bike I was talking with the service writer and we heard a crash. A customer bike fell over. I had to ask myself, how often does that happen?

 

If you dont trust your dealer you should find a different one. There are good and bad every where.

I do 90% of my work but if I have a warranty issue or something that i dont want to tackle or have the tools for I have no issue using my local dealership

 

My local dealer (Route 43 HD) does a great job on the routine maintenance. I'm amazed at how nice the bike feels after they are done with the service. I use them for the big services, 1K, 10K, 20K, 30K. I can do the in between oil changes and accessory part swaps.

 

I witnessed 2 different dealerships' service departments. There weren't many bikes in either one and they were clean. I brought mine in for a radio flash. The tech had to move another street glide out of the way and he just pushed it backwards by the fairing while on the jiffy stand. That seems like a little undo stress on the stand not to mention the possibility of scratching the fairing. When they were done with mine (I was back there with them the whole time for the flash), the tech had another person in there reinstall my saddlebag and then proceeded to wipe it down with a dirty microfiber towel. I quickly stopped him and said that I was going to wash it when I got home anyways. Just so he wouldn't feel bad.
I guess for owners, we treat our bikes like a prized possession. The techs, because they work on them everyday and are forced to quickly get them in and out, treat them like an old project you have sitting in the back of your garage that you just want to hear run by slapping it together.
I purchased the service manual when I bought my bike and will only take it to a dealer for something that requires a dealership's computer. It may take me 10 times longer to do my maintenance than a dealership, but I take great pride and satisfaction in knowing that it was ALL done correctly.

 

Not impressed with mine at the moment. For piece of mind, I brought my bike in for a "once-over" before the warranty ran out and the tech botched up a simple clutch adjustment that I ended up having to fix. One would hope that these people at dealerships are professionals and can add a higher level of competence, but I think it's best to do as much as you can comfortably do by yourself and take it in only if necessary.

 

I'm done with using a dealer for repairs. Indy for anything I don't have the tools for.

 

Same here.
I even tell them not to wash it and it still gets washed.

 

When I bought my bike new, they delivered it to me because there was snow on the ground. Went to put my new exhaust on and found about half the bolts in the exhaust weren't tightened and the saddle bag mounts were loose. On a bike with 0 miles on it. Had them come pick it up to take it back to go through and do an actual pre delivery setup on, when they brought it back to me the kid who loaded it in the trailer had tied it down with the straps running inside the forks, which rubbed and put a scratch on the fender, and also rubbed and put rub marks on the fork legs and the chrome bell slider thing. The bike was sent back again to have the fender replaced, the fork legs replaced, and the sliders replaced. All before i had ever even ridden the dang thing.

Only up side is that because of all the trouble they let me keep the scratched parts. The scratch on the fender is about 1/4" long but is down to the metal. The spare forks and sliders are in the process of being powder coated black now and I'll hopefully put them on once it warms up.

So the long and short of it is that my bike will never see another dealer.