Rude Honda dealership...

I had a similar experience with a dealer back in the late 90's. I had cash in hand and was ready to buy a dirt bike. Went in and was ignored for 20-30 mins. Called the dealer to speak with the manager/owner told them my story about how I was there for 20 mins, had cash in hand, was ready to buy, and basically told too bad and then hung up on. I have not gone back and will drive out of my way to give other dealers my business even though the bad dealer is local.

 

All these bad experiences are not exclusive to the motorcycle industry.
In 2012 I set out to buy a new "long wheelbase" Toyota Tacoma. What a joke!
I drove all over South Florida and finally found a salesman that would take my deposit and order a truck for me.
I will never ever set foot in another Toyota dealership.
The motorcycle shops aren't much better but that's normal for the culture around here.
Last year I went shopping for a Yamaha FZ-09. I emailed a dozen or so dealers all over Florida for price and avaliability. Several weeks later I received a reply from Riva Motorsports in Key Largo simply asking how I was going to pay for it and if I owned a motorcycle trailer (WTF). I answered the two questions and of course never heard back from them. The sad thing was the fact I was ready to pay full price for the bike and even wait for it but it seemed no one was interested in doing this.
Actually I was not treated rudely but I sure felt ignored!
I ended up buying one from a friend that had put 500 miles on it and then realized he needed to spend some serious money on the suspension. I saved enough on the purchase to pay for the serious suspension upgrades. This bike had been purchased in Georgia and steeply discounted so the only person that made any profit was the friend I bought it from.
With all the great new entry level bikes coming out of Japan you would think the manufacturers and distributors would be training this "sales force" how to treat this new potential customer base and get away from this "secret handshake" attitude.

 

Another alternative:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uni6MhgaDzs

Buying a new bike is the same thing as buying a new car. Check out some of the dozens of books and websites that provide info and tips on how-to.. This is something I figured out all by myself. What I think you are missing is that the dudes working in those shops deal with tire kickers, BS artists and others who walk in and expect the place to stop and kiss the customers behind.

MSRP can also mean "Mobility Spares Readiness Package". In VFRese that's a R/R you carry under the seat. In Harleyspeak that's aboot 5 grand more. For the rest of the bikes this could just be a shitload of farkles.

 

Village Motorsports in Grand Rapids, MI. Great dealership. The fact that my son is a salesman there has nothing to do with it. eaceful: The funny thing is, my husband bought his first motorcycle, a CB750, from this dealership (fka Honda Village) way back before our son was born. I bought my Suzuki Bandit from them, too, back in 2001. It almost made me cry when I bought my VFR from my own son at the very same dealership all these years later.

 

One might conclude that the dealership might not be all that great and that pissing off one's mom is not a good idea.

 

LOL! He has done that on occasion, but mostly in the teenage years. The dealership has been good long before he got there.

 

LOL.. Sounds like you are batting 1000.

 

I am sure the pride runs both ways. Can you imagine having such a cool mom? All my mom ever did was bitch about my bikes and how I was going to get killed.

 

I have dealt with Riva Yamaha multiple times, three times buying their modified Superjets and countless times buying additional parts and pieces....all while living in AZ. Never had a problem and they ALWAYS took great care of me, even though I never walked into their store in person. I hate when salesmen follow me around, when I'm good and ready, I know what I want, have already done my own research....all I need is for them to get the deal done.

 

There are multiple ways to let salesmen know what you want. This should help some. There may even be one here that is for a quickie in the john.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handkerchief_code

 

LOL! Me mum had five brothers. She knew what she was getting into the day I was born..

 

When I move to a new town, I ride around and ask groups of sportsbikers where they get their bikes worked on. Not a single Honda rider says, "The Honda dealer."



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This ^^^

I too have had bad service.
When I was in car sales I had a guy come in at least once a week for three months and all he wanted to do was talk about cars and motorcycles. I had to get rid of him as not only he would waste my turn in the rotation, but also my time. I was there to sell cars and make money, chatting doesn't pay the bills or feeds my kids and that was the only time I was rude and directly got rid of a customer.

Back on topic. I'm not going to say that I'm glad when these places go out of business, but quite honestly, they deserve it.
I'm still surprised when I go to a local place and the crew makes no effort to make themselves available for a sale or to answer questions. If/when I find an item they don't have in stock, they make no effort to order it or even ship it to me. No effort at all! This has happened in many places, not just one.
And then they cry foul that people buy online, thus putting them out of business? I'm all for supporting the local places, but not when their price is sometimes double what it sells for online.
Having said that, I vote with my money.