Quote:
Originally Posted by Admiral Beotch
Just curious, What's your history with Ride Now?
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Where to begin...
Okay, thirteen years ago I bought my first bike from Red Carpet Kawasaki/Honda (if you have been here long enough to remember them) on BOulder Hwy south of D.I.
It was a family owned business, and I got to know quite a few decent folks that worked there, even got an offer as a lot person since I was hanging around the service bay so frequently LOL Anyways they gave 10% discounts to anyone who bought a bike from them as far as their parts department goes, and I ended up earning 15 and ultimately 20% off over time.
Enter Arizona Motorsports Group, circa late 2000/early 2001, who makes the owner an offer that can't be refused (it was something like $6 million for a business that was worth about $4.5mil). Good bye Red Carpet, hello Motorcycle City. What followed was the typical corporate restructure: drop everyone's wages to minimum until they quit/leave/self-terminate etc and they can repalce them with new stooges for the same coin. The lead tech (whom I was friendly with) was about the only one who survived the takeover. Initially anyways. They cut his wage from $30/hour to $10/hour. Keep in mind this guy was certified to work on Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, and even Harley Davidsons, taking all the update courses from Kawasaki and Honda before the takeover.
He eventually quit in the summer of 2002 (AzMG claims he was fired) and opened his own shop (Green Valley Motorsports, he only works on sponsored racebikes now). The guy who replaced him received minimum wage and had no certifications, as did the rest of their tech staff. In other words, Motorcycle City ended up paying Green Valley Motorsports to honor some warranty work from MC customers whose bikes MC techs could not put back together. Seriously, GVM received a basket case every week, sometimes several per week.
On a whim, I went to see what they would charge me for a 16K mile service on my VLX. Red Carpet's practice would be to pull the Honda service schedules out for quotes, and it was a 3 hour job plus parts. Motorcycle City's practice was to pull the Arizona Motorsports Group service schedule and it said the 16K was a FOUR hour job. Oh yeah, did I mention they jacked the labor rates from $65/hour to $80?
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So we have now established that AzMG pads their jobs, charges a higher rate, and pays their McDonald's graduates with a $5K line of credit for Snap-On tools a minimum wage (which was about $6-something/hour back then).
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But wait...there's more. Let's take a gander at their parts counter droids.
Day One of Motorcycle City's grand opening saw the dismissal of any and all former RC discounts, and they followed through witht hat premise by not offering any to customers who bought bikes from MC. Now common business practice says you don't give a customer something and then take it away. But that's not the big issue here. The big issue here is they kept nothing in stock. I mean nothing, not the common stuff everyone needs like chains, sprockets, spark plugs, oil filters, fork seals...just oil and helmets on their shelves.
I needed a new front sprocket one day and went in to get it (I had the new chain and rear sprocket already from elsewhere). Now they have a few sprockets tagged and bagged on the wall behind the counter, and I can see the empty space where the one I needed used to be, along with the price posted above the hanger. Parts counter droid looks up the part I need (despite my mentioning that what I needed was the empty space behind him...you know, get the part number there) and gives me a price that matches what's on the wall:
"Okay, that'll be $18.99 (the price on the wall) plus tax and shipping."
Me: "Shipping?"
Droid: "Yeah, you have to pay S/H on any special order part."
Now I've worked retail before, the MSRP includes the cost of shipping. You don't charge the customer for it twice unless you receive the merchandise and ship it to his home afterwards. That, and the price on the wall for the exact same part says $18.99, not $18.99 plus shipping.
That turned into a tooth pulling experience that involved the parts counter manager, sales manager, and eventually the store manager before they finally waived the second S/H charge.
"We'll call you when it comes in, should be 3-5 business days."
A week goes by, no messages onmy answering machine, so I call. "Hold on please..." lengthy pause) "Sorry, it's not here yet."
I call back in another week, same thing.
Week three rolls around so I venture in, the entire parts counter staff is bustling about trying to find out where my part is, making phone calls, pecking away at computer terminals, to no avail. I leave with a promise that they'll get it in soon, but without receiving a single apology.
Week four rolls around, and the excercise repeats itself again. And just to shorten the story this excersise repeats itself every week until week eight rolls around. Week eight finds me in the store demanding a refund, which results in the same tooth pulling experience that the S/H waiving turned out to be: parts counter manager, sales manager, and eventually store manager (all three of which are new and different people). Still no apologies, still no part, and a big run around to get my money back.
And just as the store manager authorizes the refund to the cashier, one of the parts counter droids finds the part and presents it to me. It's covered with a light layer of dust and the invoice taped to it reads receiving it three days after I ordered it!
Yes, it sat there for the entire eight weeks and nobody could find it, nobody could confirm that it was delivered and received, week after week, for TWO WHOLE MONTHS. And I never received a simple apology.
And despite all that incompetence, I was foolish enough to give them a second chance later on. This one's really pathetic, just in case you thought it impossible to top that one. I needed a battery for my Rebel a few years ago, and opted to go there since it's close to my house.
Me: "I need a battery for a 96 CMX250 Rebel"
Parts Counter Droid: "Okay, what kind of bike?"
Me: "CMX250 Rebel"
PCD: "Who makes those?"
Me (rolling my eyes): "Honda, y'all sell those here, right?"
PCD: "Oh, yeah...Honda. We carry that stuff. Hang on." Lots of page flipping going on with the various parts catalogs (Accessories Unlimited, every parts shop uses that system) "What year is it?"
Me: "1996"
More page flipping. PCD hits the computer terminal, and goes back to more page flipping. "Sorry, we don't carry stuff for that model."
Me: "Okay, so do I have to order it then?" (painful memories of the sprocket experience resurface).
PCD: "No, I mean we can't get stuff for that bike."
Me (raised voice): "You mean to tell me that those Rebels out there on the showroom floor will get sold to owners who will never be able to get batteries for them later?!"
Parts Counter manager arrives now, and like before, it's a whole new and different guy. "Is there a problem here?"
Me: "Yes, your guy here is telling me that your Honda dealership can not get parts for a Honda Rebel that is manufactured and sold by Honda."
PCM: "Exactly what part do you need?"
Me: "A battery. Don't worry about it, I've done this song and dance with you folks before. I need a battery and if I have to wait two months for you to get one, I'll need a carb cleaning too."
Naturally the two months bit was lost upon everyone there, seeing as they were all new employees.
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(to be continued...too many characters for a single post)
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