Dealers

[ALLAN]

I have enjoyed reading about everyones feelings regarding dealers. The issue seems to be as passionate as those about the motorbike itself. I like my dealer; always has time for me, goes out of his way to take care all customers, present and potential, and the service work is above any dealer I have been involved with in the past 20 years. I asked the owner/manager about some of the claims on this site. He tells me he has never had a problem with warrenty issues from MGNA. They have never turned down a claim - that they pay warrenty claims every 60-90 days (Japanese brand dealers get paid 4 times yearly). The problem is that some dealers don't have the cash to pay up front to fix a bike and wait three months for the checks to come in. You go to him for a warrenty issue and he takes care of it immediately, the same day if he's able. He recently had to warrenty a set of Ferracci carbon cans. Ferracci wouldn't warrenty them because they are sold as a "race items." Orange County Motorsports warrentied them anyway. This is the price of doing and keeping business. One guy claimed that dealers had to use a shipper authorized by MGNA. Not true. OCMS ships MG's all over the country and they ship with whoever they want. Another gentleman says that those purchasing bikes over the phone from OCMS are taking a chance because the bikes were not given a PDI. Not even close to being true. When OCMS ships a bike the paperwork arrives before the bike, the key is zip-ties to the mirror, the bike is completely serviced - you uncrate it and ride away. I went to the Ramona MG meeting last year and the guy I registered with asked me where I got my bike. I told him and he proceeded to bad-mouth the dealer; he had never met the owner and never even been to the shop. I am totally perplexed by some of the comments of individuals on this forum. You would think they would be elated about a dealer selling a lot of Guzzi's especially a dealer with the outstanding reputation that OCMS had maintained for so many years. Stop by the shop; talk to Micky Cohen, the owner/manager, go back into the service area -they welcome it, and then judge.

[al_roethlisberger]

...excellent that your relationship with the local dealer is so good

 

 

Just a few comments though:

 

He tells me he has never had a problem with warrenty issues from MGNA. They have never turned down a claim - that they pay warrenty claims every 60-90 days (Japanese brand dealers get paid 4 times yearly).

 

Well, I'm sure this varies from dealer to dealer for sure depending on how well they follow up, but the complaints aren't typically that MGNA won't warantee parts.... it's that:

 

1 - A lot of things were breaking, especially on the 00-02 bikes(and '03 cruisers), due to poor QA from the factory. And just like any manufacturer, MGNA only pays the bare minimum to perform warantee work. If the dealer has to do a large % of warantee work as opposed to regular service work(which they can make a profit on), their resources are strained.... perhaps to the point of breaking, or giving up the brand. The latter is what has been happening in several cases.

 

2 - Although it's gotten better in the last year, parts were often backordered for months, which made customers/dealers very unhappy as their bikes sat waiting

 

He recently had to warrenty a set of Ferracci carbon cans. Ferracci wouldn't warrenty them because they are sold as a "race items." Orange County Motorsports warrentied them anyway.

 

....this certainly does represent a positive endorsement of your dealer's parts/service department .... but then again doesn't reflect anything upon the larger issue with MGNA as these aren't MG parts.

 

The core of many folks' observations on this topic were "special deals" MGNA is suggested to have given to certain dealers, negatively impacting others.... which in context to this portion, was that an inordinate amount of expensive warantee work was being absorbed by dealers that never got to "make the sale" due to that inequity.

 

One guy claimed that dealers had to use a shipper authorized by MGNA. Not true. OCMS ships MG's all over the country and they ship with whoever they want.

 

I can't endorse who's statement is accurate or not regarding MGNA's shipping requirements, as I don't know the answer personally...

 

But I do recall that the original post on this topic seemed to have read that MGNA requires a certain shipper FROM MGNA TO THE DEALER, not from the dealer to a customer as your post above describes. So perhaps the folks at your dealer misunderstood the question when answering

 

Certainly a dealer can ship a bike to a customer via any carrier either prefers

 

 

Another gentleman says that those purchasing bikes over the phone from OCMS are taking a chance because the bikes were not given a PDI. Not even close to being true. When OCMS ships a bike the paperwork arrives before the bike, the key is zip-ties to the mirror, the bike is completely serviced - you uncrate it and ride away.

 

That's good to know

 

However, to be fair, I'd like to hear from several "remote" purchasers of OC bikes to verify that indeed their bikes showed up properly inspected and serviced. They may indeed have been, but that's the really meaningful endorsement of course... by the end user, versus the salesman.

 

And, just to be clear, I'm not saying that OC doesn't do so BTW

 

Again, my central issue with the entire affair, and I'll say it again... is "keeping the $$ in the local ecomony". I think that's important, if possible.

 

In your specific case, since you use OC for all your service work as well, then this issue is moot of course

 

 

I think that if the "special deal" issue is true, few have a beef specifically with OC per se(although I guess many would have preferred OC not participated)... but instead with MGNA itself. So don't feel that everyone hates this dealer, as I don't think that's the case.

 

Cheers

al

[Steve G.]

I keep forgetting that the U.S.A. is the lawsuit capital of the earth.

Some good points, but in this world of "retail" it doesn't cut it. So the guy may have had his wife trash the place, too bad, deal with it, or realize you are a basket case and get someone else to greet the public while your anti-depressants kick in.

And as for eating a warrantee claim, well, deal with it, or tell the customer the truth, or go stock shelves at Safeway. I work in automotive retail, and we eat things, it's just part of the business. Once we had to repaint an entire car, [a true beater] because the guy said we put a scratch in it [could'nt identify the scratch].

It seems for decades now that motorcycle shops and the motorcycle business in general has perhaps had a higher percentage than normal of people one would regard as undesirable in commerce. The good operators know this and are concerned. One undesirable drifts away, another fills the hole.

In the past while owner of Ducati product, I had a miserable [as well as most everyone] time with 2 dealers. Now former dealers. I'd like to think that I had a part in their present position as 'former Ducati representatives'. Enough said!

Ciao, Steve G.