time2cruise
Member
Okay, after wanting a Harley for years I finally bought an 04 Ultra Classic about 6 weeks ago. It has 22,400 miles and looks like it's been well taken care of. After putting a couple thousand miles on it I start hearing a noise in the motor. Because I'd heard of the poor service at the local Harley shop I took it to another shop. They didn't look at anything, just diagnosed the problem as the cam chain tensioner from the noise. They wanted to put S&S gear driven system in and gave me a quote.
The quote was large to say the least so I decided I needed a second opinion. I took it to the local Harley shop last Friday (just before the 3 day weekend). They were pretty nice, got the bike right in and pulled the cam inspection plate. They confirmed that the tensioners were really worn and showed me some troubled spots. They recommended the new hyd tensioner upgrade over the gear driven set up and had good logical reasons for it. What really got me was their bid was about $800 less than the other shop.
I asked then how long to do the repair and they said 4 hours but that any parts they might have to order would be delayed because of the Labor Day weekend. I left the bike there with a good feeling that I should have it back by this weekend. I called Tues, Wed, and Thurs (today) trying to get a status report of the bike. I was surprised they didn't return calls from messages I'd left. Never actually talked to service until today. They tell me that they had to order parts and that it usually takes 15 days to get them from Harley. I'm floored and wished they'd told me that up front. Then they say the cam plate is on back order and won't be available until the 25th and I can expect an extra 10 days to get it here. REALLY????
Is this SOP for Harley? Am I just ignorant and think this is poor customer service? I'm usually pretty understanding but feel they could have mentioned some of this when I left the bike there. It may not have made a difference but at least I would have been prepared for it.
The quote was large to say the least so I decided I needed a second opinion. I took it to the local Harley shop last Friday (just before the 3 day weekend). They were pretty nice, got the bike right in and pulled the cam inspection plate. They confirmed that the tensioners were really worn and showed me some troubled spots. They recommended the new hyd tensioner upgrade over the gear driven set up and had good logical reasons for it. What really got me was their bid was about $800 less than the other shop.
I asked then how long to do the repair and they said 4 hours but that any parts they might have to order would be delayed because of the Labor Day weekend. I left the bike there with a good feeling that I should have it back by this weekend. I called Tues, Wed, and Thurs (today) trying to get a status report of the bike. I was surprised they didn't return calls from messages I'd left. Never actually talked to service until today. They tell me that they had to order parts and that it usually takes 15 days to get them from Harley. I'm floored and wished they'd told me that up front. Then they say the cam plate is on back order and won't be available until the 25th and I can expect an extra 10 days to get it here. REALLY????
Is this SOP for Harley? Am I just ignorant and think this is poor customer service? I'm usually pretty understanding but feel they could have mentioned some of this when I left the bike there. It may not have made a difference but at least I would have been prepared for it.