I never leave bugs on past bikes and certainly not on my 3 week old trike. After I ride if I can't wash the bike before I put it away, at the least, I do a quick wipe of the bugs. So, on dropping my trike off at the dealer for service, my bike was spotless....Today I picked up my trike from it's 1000 mile service and bugs were on the wind shield, fairing, fork, rear fenders! Am I over reacting by being pissed. I walked away to go pick up my new cover in parts while the young lady service writer said "don't worry I'll take care of it"....I come back and she's on the phone. I had to get one of the helpers in the shop to clean it up. ....everyone was apologetic but I was really pissed....I wasn't verbally pissed but left there not happy and doubt I'll return.

Am over it now but my blood pressure was up for a few hours this afternoon! I was thinking...would the owner, who has a few bikes himself, accept his bike from his own dealership in that condition??

Are Harley owners hard to please!

So I ask another question....am I over reacting? As a former owner of a couple successful small businesses I wasn't always perfect but I would always appreciated it when someone brought it to my attention when our service was not up to their expectations...my gut tells me it wouldn't do any good to go to the owner... ....so another question...would you just move on and not tell the owner or let him know?

Sorry for the lengthy post...needed to vent a bit to put this behind me and enjoy my new trike this Mardi Gras holiday week.

 

I would let the owner know. Every time that I had my bike serviced the dealer cleaned it. Not only to remove the bugs that they got from road testing it but to also remove finger prints.

 

I have all of our service done at a small 3 man Indy shop 1 mile from my house. I do not pay him to wash my bikes. I pay him to do the mechanical servicing of it. He charges less for the same (same being relative) service as the HD shop.

 

I prefer others not wash my bike at all. Bugs or grease, I'll get it off without adding scratches. Just like bikini bike washes, watch how often the rag or towel hits the ground then hits the tins.

 

Appreciate the comments....oldmsocko, I will let the owner know. It's the right thing to do. AND, it may just be one of those days that something slipped by, it happens. Now I want to help not let that happen again to others.

Thanks

 

We've bought 4 bikes from the same dealer. It is a very fun 42 mile ride through the canyons to get there, and the bikes get 'buggie'. Bikes are washed and waxed after any service

 

I agree they should be. I've cooled down now enough to write what I believe to be a pep talk to the service department. I'm taking a different approach. Not relieving them of the responsibility to deliver a well maintained clean bike to the customer but attempting to get them to understand it's not the negative issue at hand but how are you going to make sure every customer leaves with issues being resolved. It perhaps can be a subject of conversation at their next weekly meeting....I then cc'd it to the owner.

I know that all seems idealistic and perhaps even futile but it was the first time they screwed something up like that for me....I like them but lately they're making more difficult. They just need to get back on track.

 

You have a very unusual dealer. Where as I have had mine washed but never waxed. Of course I would not expect them to wax it. Possibly because you have purchased several bikes there and are considered a real good customer they wax yours for you.

 

Same here. Never heard of getting one waxed, but the last thing my dealer does before delivering my bike to me is to wash it thoroughly.

 

You did right by informing the service department and the owner. How do they know that they are screwing up unless someone tells them.

I personally don't let them wash my trike after service. Like some of the other posters, I prefer that any scratches come from me and not the minimum wage power wash jockey at the dealership. I let them do it once and when I saw that they used a power washer and a used rag to dry the trike, I decided to do my own clean up after each service. Same thing goes for the bikini washes (they are good eye candy, but they ain't touching my trike).

Bubba