I'm not one to try and hurt anyones business but i had an experience that id like to share with all of you....This weekend myself and four friends made our annual trip to northern Ontario to take in the beautiful scenery and the awesome riding.. Making the 500km trip from Tillsonburg we headed up to Sundridge Ontario to stay a a small lake called eagle lake. We had a wonderful time logged many km's (just over 2000km in 4 days) . Unfortunately one guy in our group had some battery trouble with his 600f4i so we call north bay cycle and ask if they have a bettery for his bike and they say oh for shure come on up. So we ride another 100 or so kilometers to north bay and arrive at North Bay Cycle. Upon asking the service manager for a meter to confirm the batteries condition we were promptly met with. "Well i dont let anyone touch my tools and if you want me to do it thats fine but it will be two days because im just too busy" I looked at him in disgust . I said "your telling me that you cant take one second and put your friggin multimeter an this battery (that was already out of the bike by the way) and just say yeah its dead. even though were some 650 kilometers from home?". "yes thats what im saying" he replied. Well i must say ive never been so disgusted im my life. luckily a nice kid at a shell station up the road gladly let us use his multimeter to confirm our suspicions that the battery was indeed dead. And the we returned to North Bay Honda only to get HOSED 170.00 for a new one. SHAME ON YOU NORTH BAY HONDA!!!!!! what happened to helping out your fellow motorcyclist? my goodness what a disgrace. Well aside from this our trip was great and the VFR preformed awesome....
That's really unfortunate but good for you for keeping your cool. Here you guys are far from home and they won't help in any way other than shafting you for the battery. I think I would report them to each and every make they sell. They are probably the only shop in town and can do, charge and behave anyway they please. Simply stupid. We have the same problem here with a stealership. They rape you for a tire change. They charged me $70 just to change a tire in addition to the tire cost for the rear tire on a viffer!
Make sure you know which staff member treated you so hospitably.... I'm really hoping it wasn't one of the two owner/operators at the top. IF it was one of them - then you're likely wasting your time.
THat attitude just sucks. I bought a batterry for my 6th gen last week, down at THe Gap at Wheelers, and it cost me $80 USD. He is in Motorcyclings MEcca - yet he always makes time to help out, charges fair prices, and is very hospitable. SOunds like NB cycle is a two bit operation in comparison.
Make sure you know which staff member treated you so hospitably.... I'm really hoping it wasn't one of the two owner/operators at the top. IF it was one of them - then you're likely wasting your time.
THat attitude just sucks. I bought a batterry for my 6th gen last week, down at THe Gap at Wheelers, and it cost me $80 USD. He is in Motorcyclings MEcca - yet he always makes time to help out, charges fair prices, and is very hospitable. SOunds like NB cycle is a two bit operation in comparison.
Yes I agree, thats the way a business should be run. I doubt it would matter Ken where Mr Wheeler set up shop, he would be successful. I mean free Plexsus to use for the shield, bucket and a hose to wash the bike sheesh all nice touches for sure :thumbsup:
I'll never go to North Bay again. LOL. Wheeler is awesome, last time I was up there I had a chain emergency and even though he was really busy, he let me borrow tools so I could fix it myself and get back on the road, as I was in a hurry. Great guy, some of the best service that I have ever gotten, anywhere.
Make sure you know which staff member treated you so hospitably.... I'm really hoping it wasn't one of the two owner/operators at the top. IF it was one of them - then you're likely wasting your time.
THat attitude just sucks. I bought a batterry for my 6th gen last week, down at THe Gap at Wheelers, and it cost me $80 USD. He is in Motorcyclings MEcca - yet he always makes time to help out, charges fair prices, and is very hospitable. SOunds like NB cycle is a two bit operation in comparison.
Yes I agree, thats the way a business should be run. I doubt it would matter Ken where Mr Wheeler set up shop, he would be successful. I mean free Plexsus to use for the shield, bucket and a hose to wash the bike sheesh all nice touches for sure :thumbsup:
I'm not surprised, they look like a bunch a dweebs. Especially like the shot of the guy eating the sandwich. They are probably charging some customer $120US/hour to eat the sandwich...errr... service a bike.
That bugs me more than you know. Here we try to get people to visit, play, relax and vacation while spending cash which helps support the local economy and this is what you get!! Dumb a$$ doesn't understand its the customer who butters his bread.
Definitely send links to every manufacturer they deal with.
I'm not surprised, they look like a bunch a dweebs. Especially like the shot of the guy eating the sandwich. They are probably charging some customer $120US/hour to eat the sandwich...errr... service a bike. [/quote]
LMAO.....""hey come back later, eh...I'm eating my sandwich!". What pud knockers on that service opportunity!
They do have a nice 1990 VFR w/ 71,000 kilometers for $3100 **
Not a good way to win customers and encourage they're return ... but
they probably think that you guys won't be back, ever.
I would send a letter (not email) directly to Mr. Brian Newton Technician/Owner
I would suggest that you were not shown much respect or given any assistance.
I would point out that the pricing on the battery borders on extortion, is that common practise?
I would also indicate that a copy of your message has also been sent to Honda Canada.
I would send a copy to Honda Canada attention sales and marketing manager.
Express your concerns but make no accusations, just point out how this affects your attitude towards Honda.
Point out that it will have lingering influence upon you and your 3 Honda riding buddies.
It really does go beyond the dealership and reflects upon Honda Canada principles.
Since they are a multi-line dealership, they have just done 9 rounds with Honda Canada over stupid changes.
They may be still reeling from that and not even sure if they really are, or are not still a Honda shop.
My understanding is that we can thank Blackfoot for defusing that little bit of silliness.
Not much you can do really, they were within their rights, sad as that might seem.
dang motorcycle batteries, they do seem to be at the center of mucho mayhem. SBFS
any thoughts on why the battery actually failed ?
The folks at honda canada were quite interested in what i told them and also quite disgusted....... as i told the customer service rep on the phone "I've never been ashamed to ride a honda until i met these creeps."
Were you truely "ashamed to ride a Honda" or "ashamed of Honda Dealer service"?
That sucks and hopefully the phone call and link to this forum will educate the dealership on what their riders think/expect from dealerships. The interesting thing about your thread is that the expectations set forth by everyone who commented are not unrealistic or so far out of line that it would have caused the dealership financial distress. No one (in all of the threads about dealers) have ever said that they dont' want the dealership to make a profit or stay in business.
You would think that the dealerships would know there customer base better and know that a lot of motorcycle riders do some troubleshooting, maintenance, work on their bikes out of necessity (riding on some back road by yourself) yet the majority of dealerships still think that you should be happy for coming into their store and buying their prodcuts.
Were you truely "ashamed to ride a Honda" or "ashamed of Honda Dealer service"?
That sucks and hopefully the phone call and link to this forum will educate the dealership on what their riders think/expect from dealerships. The interesting thing about your thread is that the expectations set forth by everyone who commented are not unrealistic or so far out of line that it would have caused the dealership financial distress. No one (in all of the threads about dealers) have ever said that they dont' want the dealership to make a profit or stay in business.
You would think that the dealerships would know there customer base better and know that a lot of motorcycle riders do some troubleshooting, maintenance, work on their bikes out of necessity (riding on some back road by yourself) yet the majority of dealerships still think that you should be happy for coming into their store and buying their prodcuts.
Does Canada have the equivalent of the US's Better Business Bureau? I would file a formal complaint if you do.
Yes we do, has the same name, but they only take complaints about their memebers, so unless this place keeps up their memebership the call is a waste of time.
The only time I go into dealerships anymore is when I happen to buy a new bike, or need tires swapped on/off rims and balanced (I bring the wheels in, not the bike). I never set foot in them or hang around them otherwise.
Order my OEM parts online, do my own work.
Japanese bike dealerships (in general) leave a lot to be desired.
The folks at honda canada were quite interested in what i told them and also quite disgusted....... as i told the customer service rep on the phone "I've never been ashamed to ride a honda until i met these creeps."
Hopefully they will at least call them and admonish... write a letter to the editor of the local paper... That might carry more weight as Honda needs the dealer to sell the bikes....
I received an email from the mayor of north bay yesterday.....
Thank you for your note, which I have shared with our Chamber of Commerce. As these businesses are Chamber members, I will ask them to follow up and perhaps share your e-mail with them'.
Regards,
Victor Fedeli
it was nice to get some kind of response. i also received an email from the north bay chamber of commerce assuring me that this would be discussed at a future meeting.
I received an email from the mayor of north bay yesterday.....
Thank you for your note, which I have shared with our Chamber of Commerce. As these businesses are Chamber members, I will ask them to follow up and perhaps share your e-mail with them'.
Regards,
Victor Fedeli
it was nice to get some kind of response. i also received an email from the north bay chamber of commerce assuring me that this would be discussed at a future meeting.
Good to hear someone has given you their time and attention. Between Honda Canada and the North Bay Mayor's office and Chamber of Commerce...it appears North Bay Honda will get the point that they are a service industry member who's actions not only represent their own business but those manufacturers they sell and the community they do business in. The ripple effect is greater than their own small world of "$170 dollar batteries and I'll get to you in two weeks" attitude for those needing help when they are 1,000 Km from home.
End of thread · 32 posts recoveredWayback Machine snapshot 20 Apr 2013
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